In 2003, UNESCO declared the historic area of the port of Valparaíso a World Heritage site, recognizing an exceptional piece of urban planning: a city that grew organically over steep terrain, solving the connection between the flat downtown and the hills with funicular elevators, many of them still running since the late 19th century.
What makes its architecture unique
The mix of styles -European influence brought by immigrants from different countries during the 19th-century port boom, combined with improvised solutions for building on very steep slopes- is what gives Valparaíso a visual identity found nowhere else in Chile. The zinc-and-wood houses painted in bright colors, far from purely decorative, originally responded to the need to protect homes from the port's humidity.
Exploring the heritage area
The declared heritage sector is concentrated mainly on Cerro Concepción and Cerro Alegre, where the layout of narrow streets, staircases and passageways remains almost the same as it was over a century ago, and where restored heritage houses coexist with the street art that became, over the last two decades, another hallmark of the city's identity.
To tour the historic quarter with a guide, there are walking tours and free tours: we compare them in our guide to the Valparaíso and Viña del Mar day trip.
