Valparaíso is one of the world’s great cities for walkers — a UNESCO-listed Pacific port of 42 hillside cerros connected by antique funicular elevators and covered wall-to-wall in some of the most extraordinary outdoor street art on earth. This companion post accompanies a real valparaiso walking tour filmed in 4K, the video Valparaiso Walking Tour, Chile — 4K — The City of Street Art, which explores the essence of Chilean art and culture on the hillside cerros of this remarkable city.

About This Walking Tour

This 4K walking tour explores Valparaíso as the “City of Street Art” — the characteristic that has made this declining Pacific port one of the world’s most photographed small cities. The video moves through the labyrinthine hillside streets of the cerros that are the city’s heart, capturing the extraordinary density and quality of murals that cover building walls, staircase risers, retaining walls, and any available surface. The Victorian tin-clad houses in vivid blues, reds, and yellows that cascade down the steep hillsides provide the backdrop.

The walking tour covers the iconic cerros Alegre and Concepción — the two hillside neighbourhoods most densely covered in street art and containing the finest Victorian architecture, originally built by German immigrant families. The route uses the historic ascensores (funicular elevators, the oldest dating from 1883) that connect the port-level lower city (El Plan) to the hillside neighbourhoods. Pablo Neruda’s La Sebastiana house on Cerro Florida — one of three eccentric homes the Nobel laureate built — and the original Museo a Cielo Abierto (Open Sky Museum) on Cerro Bellavista, 20 murals by Chilean artists painted directly on building walls in 1991, are among the highlights.

Highlights of Valparaíso

The ascensores of Valparaíso are a UNESCO-listed element of the city’s World Heritage designation — electric funicular lifts that have been carrying residents and goods up and down the steep cerro slopes since the 1880s. At their peak there were 30 operating; around a dozen survive in varying degrees of functionality. The Ascensor Artillería (1893) and Ascensor Reina Victoria (1902) are among the most atmospheric. Cerros Alegre and Concepción contain the highest concentration of street art in Valparaíso — the murals here range from small decorative pieces on staircase risers to building-scale works by internationally known artists.

La Sebastiana, Pablo Neruda’s Valparaíso house, was completed in 1961 and reflects the poet’s obsessive collecting — maritime objects, carousel horses, stained glass, and a mast-like observation tower from which he watched the New Year’s Eve fireworks over the bay each year. Neruda’s poetry collections Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair and Odes to Common Things were partly written here. The Museo a Cielo Abierto on Cerro Bellavista was created in 1991 with 20 murals by Chilean artists painted on building walls — it preceded the global street art museum movement by nearly two decades.

A Brief History of Valparaíso

Valparaíso was one of the most important ports in the world between 1848 and 1914 — the primary stopping point on the Pacific side of Cape Horn for ships travelling between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans before the Panama Canal. British, German, French, and Croatian immigrant communities built the Victorian architecture and institutions that give the cerros their European character. The opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 devastated Valparaíso by eliminating the need for Cape Horn passage; the city entered a prolonged decline.

Valparaíso’s reinvention through street art began organically in the 1990s as artists moved into the affordable derelict buildings on the cerros; the city government eventually embraced and encouraged the practice. UNESCO designated the historic quarter of Valparaíso a World Heritage Site in 2003 specifically for its exceptional landscape townscape of cerros, funiculars, and Victorian architecture. The city hosts an extraordinary New Year’s Eve fireworks display visible from the entire bay, and the Semana Musical Valparaíso festival in January.

Practical Tips

Chile’s currency is the Chilean peso (CLP). Spanish is the official language. The Merval commuter train from Santiago Alameda station takes approximately 1.5 hours to Valparaíso. Within the city, the ascensores (a small fee per ride) and walking are the primary means of navigating between El Plan and the cerros. The cerros are hilly and uneven — comfortable walking shoes with grip are essential. The viento sur (south wind) can make the cerros cold and gusty; bring a windproof layer.

Best Time to Visit

December through March for Valparaíso’s dry summer — the Pacific light is finest then and the street art is most vivid. September through November for spring colours and the possibility of seeing whales in the bay. New Year’s Eve brings Chile’s most spectacular fireworks display to the Valparaíso bay front.

Watch & Explore More

Watch the 4K Street Art City walking tour above and let the colours of Valparaíso’s cerros fill your screen. For more Chilean city walks, see Santiago: Barrio Italia to Cerro Santa Lucía. Subscribe to @walkingtoursvideoscom for walking tours from cities on every continent.