City South America
Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a port city in Chile. Colorful houses cover its steep hills, and little cable railways carry people up and down.
Valparaíso is a busy port on Chile's Pacific coast, built around a bay on steep hills. Founded in 1536, it became the leading port on South America's Pacific coast in the late 1800s. Its historic quarter, with hillside neighborhoods and funicular "elevators," is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Chile's National Congress meets here.
Valparaíso, capital of Chile's Valparaíso región, wraps around a broad Pacific bay 140 km northwest of Santiago. Founded in 1536, it was the first and most important merchant port on the Pacific coast of South America from the 1880s until the Panama Canal opened in 1914. UNESCO inscribed its historic quarter in 2003; Chile's 2024 census counted 284,938 people in the municipality.
Photo: Draceane, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a city by the sea in Chile.
It is built on steep hills around a big bay. Houses painted in many colors climb up the hills. Ships come and go from its port.
Valparaíso is a port city on the Pacific coast of Chile, about 140 kilometers northwest of Santiago, the capital. It sits on the south side of a wide bay, and the city climbs the slopes of a half-circle of hills that ends at a rocky point called Point Angeles.
The flat land by the water holds the port, offices and shops, while homes spread up the hills, linked by stairways, zigzag roads and funicular railways. About 285,000 people lived in the municipality at the 2024 census. Since 1990, Chile's National Congress has met in Valparaíso.
Valparaíso, capital of the Valparaíso región of central Chile, lies on the south side of a broad, open Pacific bay 140 km northwest of Santiago. It stands on the slopes of a semicircular spur of the coastal range ending in the rocky peninsula of Point Angeles, which shelters the bay from southerly and westerly winds but leaves it open to northerly ones. UNESCO describes an amphitheater-like city: the bay, narrow and largely artificial coastal plains, and steep hills cut by ravines.
Chile's 2024 census counted 284,938 people in the municipality, down from 296,655 in 2017 (Britannica gives 263,499 for the city in 2002). Its population grew slowly in the mid- and late 20th century, and even fell, as residents moved to Quilpué and to neighboring Viña del Mar, a resort that became a residential suburb. Chile's bicameral National Congress has sat here since it was reestablished in 1990.
- Country
- Chile (capital of Valparaíso región)
- People in the municipality (2024 census)
- 284,938
- Distance from Santiago
- about 140 km
- National Congress
- meets here since 1990
Famous places
Valparaíso has little cable railways called elevators.
They carry people up the steep hills in small cabins. At the top are lookouts with views of the bay. Many church towers poke up from the hills.
Valparaíso's historic quarter is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On the flat land by the bay are Sotomayor Square, the Prat Pier and the old La Matriz church. On the hills of Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepción, built up largely by German and English immigrants, there are squares, lookout points, alleyways, stairways and the top stations of some funicular elevators.
The elevators are small cable railways that climb the steep hillsides. UNESCO counts them among the city's well-preserved early industrial infrastructure.
UNESCO's historic quarter combines five interlaced neighborhoods: La Matriz Church and Santo Domingo Square, between hills and plain; Echaurren Square and Serrano Street, with the Port Market and busy street trade; Prat Pier with the Sotomayor and Justicia squares, the main transverse axis; the area of Prat Street and Turri Square, with monumental architecture; and Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepción, planned and developed largely by German and English immigrants.
UNESCO stresses the vernacular urban fabric adapted to the hillsides and dotted with church spires, in contrast to the geometric plain, and the survival of early industrial infrastructure, especially the funicular elevators and trolley systems. Britannica adds that the administrative buildings group around Plaza Sotomayor, and that the cathedral, theaters, cafés and a few colonial buildings, notably La Matriz, stand in the lower city, with the naval academy on the slopes above.
- UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Historic Quarter of the Seaport City of Valparaíso, 2003
- Historic quarter
- 5 interlaced neighborhoods
- La Matriz
- a surviving colonial church
The Pacific's great port
Long ago, a Spanish explorer named this place after his home town.
Sailing ships stopped here on long trips around South America. The port grew busy and rich. Earthquakes and fires sometimes damaged the city, and people rebuilt it again and again.
Valparaíso was founded in 1536 by Juan de Saavedra, a Spanish conquistador who named it after his birthplace in Spain. Over the centuries its buildings survived pirate raids, storms, fires and earthquakes; much of the city was rebuilt after a terrible earthquake in 1906.
After Chile became independent in 1818, the port grew with the new Chilean navy and steamships to Europe. From the 1880s, ships sailing between the Atlantic and the Pacific through the Strait of Magellan made Valparaíso the most important port on the Pacific coast of South America, until the Panama Canal opened in 1914.
Britannica dates Valparaíso's founding to 1536 by Juan de Saavedra, who named it for his birthplace in Spain, though another account has Juan Bautista Pastene's soldiers calling the place Val del Paraíso. Colonial buildings survived pirate raids, severe storms, fires and earthquakes; much of the city was rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake, and further damage came in 1971, 1985 and 2010.
After independence in 1818 ended the Spanish trade monopoly, the port grew with the Chilean navy and steamship links to Europe. UNESCO describes it as the first and most important merchant port on the Pacific sea routes that linked the oceans via the Strait of Magellan, with major regional influence from the 1880s until the Panama Canal opened in 1914; slower growth afterward allowed its harbor and urban fabric to survive as testimony to the early phase of globalization. A fire in 2007 and the 2010 earthquake damaged several buildings in the historic quarter.
Getting around Valparaíso
To climb Valparaíso's hills, people ride funicular railways, take long stairways or walk up zigzag roads.
Big ships load and unload at the port. Roads and trains go to other cities.
Getting up Valparaíso's hills is an adventure: funicular railways, elevators, stairways and zigzag roads connect the lower city by the water with the neighborhoods above.
The port is still important: most of Chile's imports arrive through its container port, and several international shipping lines call here. Railways and highways link Valparaíso with Santiago, and another highway crosses the Andes Mountains to Mendoza in Argentina.
Funicular railways, elevators, stairways and zigzag roads connect the lower city with the upper; UNESCO counts the funicular elevator and trolley systems among the historic quarter's defining features. The container port receives most of Chile's imports and, while its exports are a small share of the national total, it is paramount for Chile's internal sea traffic and a terminal and major port of call for international lines.
State railways connect Valparaíso with Santiago and with Chile's main cities and ports from Pisagua to Puerto Montt; highways run to Santiago and to resort towns north and south, and one crosses the Andes to Mendoza, Argentina. Domestic airlines link the city with the rest of Chile.
- Up and down the hills
- funiculars, elevators, stairways and zigzag roads
- Port
- most of Chile's imports enter through its container port
- Highway across the Andes
- to Mendoza, Argentina
Weather and seasons
Valparaíso is mild all year.
It never gets very hot or freezing cold. Summer is in January, because Chile is south of the equator. Winter is in June and July.
Valparaíso has mild weather by the sea. Chile is in the Southern Hemisphere, so January is summer and June and July are winter. At the Punta Ángeles weather station, the monthly average temperature in 2025 ranged from about 12 °C in June to 18 °C in January.
Since 1970, the station has never recorded a temperature above 31.2 °C or below 1.6 °C, so it has not frozen there in more than 50 years of records. The rocky point that shelters the bay blocks winds from the south and west but not from the north.
Chile's meteorological service publishes records from the Punta Ángeles lighthouse station, at 51 m in Valparaíso. In 2025 its monthly mean temperatures ran from 12.2 °C in June to 18.0 °C in January, a narrow annual range; the extremes recorded between 1970 and 2026 are just 1.6 °C and 31.2 °C. These are single-year means and records, not 30-year climate normals, which the World Meteorological Organization does not list for the city.
Britannica notes that Point Angeles shelters the bay from southerly and westerly winds but leaves it open to northerly ones, and lists severe storms among the hazards the colonial city survived.
- Monthly mean temperature in 2025
- from 12.2 °C (June) to 18.0 °C (January)
- Hottest temperature recorded, 1970–2026
- 31.2 °C
- Coldest temperature recorded, 1970–2026
- 1.6 °C
Living in Valparaíso
People in Valparaíso live in houses on the hills.
They climb lots of stairs! Students go to big universities. Families visit museums about nature and art.
Valparaíso is a city of students: it has several universities, including the Federico Santa María Technical University, founded in 1926. Families can visit its Natural History and Fine Arts museums.
Many people work at the port, in factories that make goods such as chemicals, textiles, sugar, paints and clothing, or in government, since Chile's Congress meets here. UNESCO says people from around the world settled in Valparaíso, giving it a diversity that sets it apart from other Latin American cities.
Valparaíso is preeminently a commercial and industrial center, with foundries and factories producing chemicals, textiles, sugar, paints, clothing, leather goods and vegetable oils; an oil refinery stands at nearby Concón on the mouth of the Aconcagua River. It is also a cultural center, home to the Federico Santa María Technical University (1926), the Catholic University of Valparaíso (1928), the University of Valparaíso (1981) and the Natural History and Fine Arts museums.
UNESCO stresses that the port city was populated and influenced by people from around the world, giving its urban fabric and cultural identity a diversity unusual in Latin America. The commercial quarter, with its port works, warehouses, banks and shopping center, occupies land reclaimed from the bay, while poorer dwellings cluster on the highest parts of the hills.
- Federico Santa María Technical University
- established 1926
- Catholic University of Valparaíso
- 1928
- University of Valparaíso
- 1981
Valparaíso on the map
Find Valparaíso on the globe.
Look for Chile, the long, thin country on the west side of South America. Valparaíso is in the middle part, by the Pacific Ocean.
Valparaíso is on the Pacific coast of central Chile, in South America, about 140 kilometers northwest of Santiago. Its neighbor, Viña del Mar, a seaside resort, has grown right up against it.
The city wraps around the south side of a wide bay, with steep hills behind it, a shape UNESCO compares to an amphitheater.
Valparaíso lies at about 33.0° S and 71.6° W on the south side of a broad Pacific bay, 140 km northwest of Santiago. The city's commercial quarter occupies reclaimed land along the bay; residential quarters and the naval academy climb the encircling hills, cut by ravines.
The historic quarter runs from the coastal plain partway up the hills where the city first developed. Viña del Mar, once a separate resort, adjoins it, and an oil refinery stands at Concón at the mouth of the Aconcagua River to the north.
- Latitude
- about 33.0° south
- Longitude
- about 71.6° west
- Neighbor city
- Viña del Mar
Amazing facts
-
Little railways carry people up Valparaíso's hills.
Valparaíso's funicular "elevators" carry people up steep hillsides. UNESCO counts them among the city's treasures.
UNESCO highlights the numerous funicular 'elevators' on the steep hillsides as well-preserved early industrial infrastructure.
-
Valparaíso was named after a town in Spain.
Juan de Saavedra, who founded Valparaíso in 1536, named it after his birthplace in Spain.
Britannica gives two accounts of the name: Juan de Saavedra's birthplace in Spain, or soldiers of Juan Bautista Pastene calling the place Val del Paraíso.
-
Chile's lawmakers meet in Valparaíso, not in the capital.
Chile's capital is Santiago, but its National Congress has met in Valparaíso since 1990.
Chile's bicameral National Congress has been situated in Valparaíso since it was reestablished in 1990.
-
German and English families helped build two of the hills.
Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepción were planned and built largely by German and English immigrants.
The hills of Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepción form a single neighborhood planned and developed largely by German and English immigrants.
-
Much of Valparaíso's flat land was once part of the sea.
Valparaíso's commercial quarter, with its port, warehouses and banks, is built on land reclaimed from the bay.
The commercial quarter occupies reclaimed land beside the bay; UNESCO calls the narrow coastal plains largely artificial.
Words to know
- port
- a town or harbor where ships load and unload
- bay
- a part of the sea that curves into the land
- funicular
- a small railway pulled by a cable up and down a steep slope
- conquistador
- a Spanish soldier and explorer in the Americas in the 1500s
- reclaimed land
- land made by filling in part of the sea or a swamp
- amphitheater
- a curved, rising space like rows of seats around a stage
- Southern Hemisphere
- the half of the Earth south of the equator
Discovery challenge
-
Which country is Valparaíso in?
Valparaíso is a port city in which country?
Valparaíso is the capital of a región in which country?
- Chile
- Spain
- Mexico
Show the answer
Chile
Chile, in South America!
Chile, on the Pacific coast.
Chile; it is the capital of the Valparaíso región.
-
What carries people up Valparaíso's steep hills?
What are Valparaíso's famous 'elevators'?
Which industrial-age transport does UNESCO highlight on Valparaíso's hillsides?
- Funicular railways
- Hot-air balloons
- Ski lifts
Show the answer
Funicular railways
Little funicular railways!
Funicular railways that climb the hillsides.
The funicular elevators, along with trolley systems.
-
What meets in Valparaíso?
Which part of Chile's government has met in Valparaíso since 1990?
Which institution was reestablished in Valparaíso in 1990?
- The National Congress
- The Supreme Court
- The Olympic committee
Show the answer
The National Congress
Chile's Congress, where laws are made!
The National Congress.
Chile's bicameral National Congress.
-
What slowed down Valparaíso's port long ago?
Which new route, opened in 1914, slowed the growth of Valparaíso's port?
According to UNESCO, the opening of what in 1914 ended Valparaíso's commercial heyday?
- The Panama Canal
- The Suez Canal
- The Erie Canal
Show the answer
The Panama Canal
The Panama Canal, a shortcut for ships!
The Panama Canal. Ships no longer had to sail around South America.
The Panama Canal; before it, the Strait of Magellan route made Valparaíso the leading Pacific port.
-
When is summer in Valparaíso?
Which month had the warmest average temperature in Valparaíso in 2025?
At Punta Ángeles, which month had the highest mean temperature in 2025 (18.0 °C)?
- January
- July
- October
Show the answer
January
January! Summer comes in January south of the equator.
January, at about 18 °C.
January; June was coolest, at 12.2 °C.
Nearby places
-
Watch
City
Santiago
Santiago, the capital and largest city of Chile, lies in a basin in central Chile with the high Andes to the east. Founded by the Spanish in 1541, it mixes colonial churches with the tallest skyscraper in the city, the 300-meter Gran Torre Costanera. About 5.25 million people lived in the city in 2017.
-
Watch
Natural wonder
Aconcagua
Aconcagua, in the Andes of Argentina near the border with Chile, is the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere. Its height has been measured several ways: a 2012 expedition backed by Argentina's National Geographic Institute found 6,960.8 meters. Aconcagua formed from an old volcano, but it is not an active volcano today, and climbers first reached its top in 1897.
-
Watch
City
Concepción
Concepción is one of the largest cities of Chile, in the south-central part of the country, near where the Biobío River meets the Pacific Ocean. Founded in 1550 and moved to its present site after a great earthquake, it is now a center of industry and learning. Its commune had 230,375 people at the 2024 census.
-
Watch
Natural wonder
Atacama Desert
The Atacama is a cool desert in northern Chile, squeezed between the Pacific coast and the Andes mountains, about 1,000 to 1,100 kilometers long. It is one of the driest places on Earth: the city of Arica, on its coast, averages less than 1 millimeter of rain a year. Its dry, clear air makes it a top place for giant telescopes.
-
Watch
City
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, lies on the Río de la Plata, 240 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean. Founded twice, in 1536 and 1580, it grew into South America's largest port and a city of wide avenues, lively neighborhoods and the tango. About 3.1 million people lived in the city in 2022.
-
Watch
Natural wonder
Andes
The Andes run down the whole western side of South America, from the Caribbean coast to the continent's southern tip, through seven countries. Britannica measures them at about 8,900 kilometers, and their highest peak, Aconcagua, rises to 6,959 meters. They are still growing as one plate of Earth's crust slides under another, which is why the Andes have so many volcanoes and earthquakes.
-
Watch
Natural wonder
Salar de Uyuni
Salar de Uyuni is a giant salt flat high in the Andes of Bolivia. It covers 10,582 square kilometers and was left behind when ancient lakes dried up. NASA calls it the largest salt flat in the world.
-
Watch
Natural wonder
Iguaçu Falls
Iguaçu Falls, on the Iguaçu River where Brazil and Argentina meet, is a system of many waterfalls and rapids almost three kilometers wide, with drops of up to about 80 meters. Clouds of spray keep the rainforest around it green and wet.
Explore next
-
Watch
Country
Chile
Chile stretches about 4,300 kilometers along the west coast of South America, between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, but it averages only about 180 kilometers wide. Its north holds one of the driest deserts on Earth, and its south is cold, wet and full of fjords and ice.
-
Watch
City
Santiago
Santiago, the capital and largest city of Chile, lies in a basin in central Chile with the high Andes to the east. Founded by the Spanish in 1541, it mixes colonial churches with the tallest skyscraper in the city, the 300-meter Gran Torre Costanera. About 5.25 million people lived in the city in 2017.
-
Watch
Natural wonder
Andes
The Andes run down the whole western side of South America, from the Caribbean coast to the continent's southern tip, through seven countries. Britannica measures them at about 8,900 kilometers, and their highest peak, Aconcagua, rises to 6,959 meters. They are still growing as one plate of Earth's crust slides under another, which is why the Andes have so many volcanoes and earthquakes.
-
Watch
Natural wonder
Atacama Desert
The Atacama is a cool desert in northern Chile, squeezed between the Pacific coast and the Andes mountains, about 1,000 to 1,100 kilometers long. It is one of the driest places on Earth: the city of Arica, on its coast, averages less than 1 millimeter of rain a year. Its dry, clear air makes it a top place for giant telescopes.
-
Watch
City
Lisbon
Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, is the westernmost capital in mainland Europe, on the hills above the Tagus River near the Atlantic. By the 1400s it was the base for Portugal's voyages of exploration. Destroyed by an earthquake in 1755 and rebuilt, it is a city of steep streets, viewpoints and a famous tower at Belém. About 546,000 people lived there in 2021.
- Watch Geography Hemispheres A hemisphere is half of a sphere. The Equator divides Earth into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and the prime meridian and the 180-degree line divide it into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Every place on Earth is in two hemispheres at once, one north or south and one east or west.
-
Watch
City
Concepción
Concepción is one of the largest cities of Chile, in the south-central part of the country, near where the Biobío River meets the Pacific Ocean. Founded in 1550 and moved to its present site after a great earthquake, it is now a center of industry and learning. Its commune had 230,375 people at the 2024 census.
-
Watch
City
Bogotá
Bogotá is the capital and largest city of Colombia, built on a high plain in the Andes, 2,625 meters above sea level. Founded by the Spanish in 1538 on land of the Muisca people, it is home to about 8 million people (2024) and a famous museum of ancient gold.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Valparaíso on the Pacific coast of central Chile.
- Explain how a port's importance can change when new trade routes open.
- Describe how people build and travel in a city on steep hills.
- Explain why seasons are reversed in the Southern Hemisphere.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- The Panama Canal made ships stop sailing around South America. How can one new route change a whole city?
- If you lived on a steep hill, how would you get your groceries home?
- Valparaíso's Congress meets outside the capital. Why might a country spread its government across cities?
Try at home or in class
- Build a funicular: tie a small box to a string, run the string over a pencil at the top of a tilted board and pull the box up the 'hill.'
- On a world map, trace a ship's route from Europe to Valparaíso around South America, then a route through the Panama Canal. Which is shorter?
Key vocabulary: port, bay, funicular, conquistador, reclaimed land, amphitheater, Southern Hemisphere
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Natural Earth vector data , Natural Earth (NACIS) (Public domain)
- Valparaíso , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Historic Quarter of the Seaport City of Valparaíso , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Reporte comunal: Valparaíso (population, 2017 and 2024 censuses, INE) , Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile
- Temperatura histórica anual: Punta Ángeles faro (330002) , Dirección Meteorológica de Chile
- Ficha de la estación: Punta Ángeles faro (330002) , Dirección Meteorológica de Chile
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 27, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.