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Colorful Valparaiso

Spotlight

Colorful Valparaiso

Once the pearl of the Pacific, Valparaíso is now a vibrant city reborn in urban art and graffiti.

Country
🇨🇱 Chile
Region
South America
Destination type
Cultural
Best months
October–April

We spent a day in Valparaíso back in 2019 during our tour of the southern cone of South America. It is conveniently close to Santiago and it’s definitely worth exploring as it offers such a unique view into the life of the sailors and port workers of Chile.

Concrete stairs painted in blue and white lead past a mural spelling "Valparaíso de mi amor" — a mustachioed figure in a yellow hat above a Chilean flag on the risers.
Cerro Alegre
A narrow stairway painted in yellow, green and red — each riser stencilled with a line from Calle 13's "Latinoamérica," walls layered in graffiti on both sides.
Painted stairs
A figure in a yellow shirt climbs a wide staircase painted as a hillside of pink, blue and yellow houses — green handrails tagged on both sides.
Cerro Concepción
A smiling girl with hands in her hair dominates a long wall on cobblestones — purple hibiscus, striped panels and a hummingbird beside a Hostel Voyage sign.
Mr Papillon
A blue wooden doorway framed by a rainbow arch and flowing teal leaves — the whole facade painted in purple dots and green accents on stone blocks.
Pasaje Gálvez
Two crowned figures in purple robes and pink halos flank a doorway on a fuchsia wall — crenellated battlements painted above barred windows.
Cerro Alegre
Two stylised women with star earrings and pink lips on corrugated metal — bold flowers and wavy blue water below a Papudo street sign.
Cerro Concepción
A hostel entrance painted as a hillside of stacked yellow, blue and pink houses — "Casa Valparaíso Hostal" in red lettering beside a black cat silhouette.
Pasaje Gálvez
An orange octopus tentacle curls across a sky-blue door scattered with white teardrops — a Chilean flag painted at the centre, "Gálvez 11" on a wooden sign above.
Pasaje Gálvez
A three-storey mural — the Little Prince on his planet above colourful cerro houses, an open book floating in the sky, a golden face with blue hair below a terrace railing.
Cerro Alegre
A cobalt-blue wall covered in nautical folk art — flying sailors, mermaids, seahorses and fish painted around a white door on a steep lane.
Cerro Concepción
A cream-and-red funicular car clings to its track above the port — stacks of Maersk, ONE and Hamburg Süd containers and gantry cranes stretching to the bay.
Ascensor Artillería

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