Valparaiso
We are on our second visit to Patagonia, one of our favorites places.
Several people talk about getting to Valparaiso because it is not included on the Tauck tour. I’ve never done much research about the town and we did not have time to visit when we were in Santiago before. Yesterday we went there.
It takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get there. The town is set high up on several hillsides, packed with houses in precarious settings and states of repair. I don’t think I have ever seen such a densely packed historic town in all my travels. The homes are brightly painted and everywhere are murals. I definitely recommend going there if you go to Patagonia and not sure why Tauck does not include it in their itinerary.
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fantastic pictures, thanks a lot.
Good pictures. We went there in 2017. The main thing I remember were the funiculars. We rode two of them and they were fairly old and creaky. One of them was almost straight up - almost like an elevator. I read that there used to be about 25 funiculars in Valparaiso but there are only about eight working now.
The other thing I remember was that the pisco sours were good and the empanadas were not so good.
I found some pictures of when we were there. Not as interesting as British's pictures - https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2017SouthAmerica-04.htm#Valparaiso
When I took the Essence of South America tour I booked a private tour to go there as well as Vina del Mar another nice town, as Tauck didn't go, Valparaiso is an incredibly interesting town, the murals are very well painted. and there's a lot of small art stores along the way.
Also on my own I went to La Chacona (Pablo Neruda's house) and The Chileno Museum de Arte Pre-Columbino, well worth seeing.
Yes Mike, not many funiculars operating, we went on two.
Gladys, we went to Pablo Neruda’s house last visit. And we recommend it. Not far from the Tauck hotel if I recall correctly.
We’ve had a few empanadas and they do vary. Our local tour guide told us today that Chilean people do not like spicy food.
Thank you so much for posting about this and for the lovely photos! We are doing the Patagonia tour in February and have organized a day trip through the concierge at the Ritz Carlton to go to Valparaiso! Hope you had fun on your recent Patagonia adventure! I hope we have weather like you did!
The weather is always very very windy in Patagonia in their summer. Advise layering. This trip, we again wore our long John’s under our regular safari type pants and had our windproof waterproof pants at the ready to add to those. We wore warm hats and gloves. I had had a sleeveless puffer and regular mid length puffer jacket. Sometimes I put the sleeveless puffer over my regular one. A total Michelin. No need for warm socks as it’s the wind rather than it being cold. I can’t recall about the amount of hiking on the Tauck Patagonia tour but on this tour I found a hiking pole useful.
Here I am o![](https://us.v-cdn.net/6030777/uploads/editor/ag/5x3mlr586dt6.jpeg "". )on a trek down from a volcano near Puerto Varas
We are booked for Patagonia in December 2026 and hoping to extend and go to Iguazu Falls.
Igauzu Falls is spectacular, especially if the water levels are high.
British - thank you so much for all of the advice and suggestions. We are extending and going to Iguazu Falls when the tour ends in Buenos Aires. For those that are interested in pursuing this add on - there are 2 airports to fly into Iguazu. The city airport in Buenos AIres is much closer than EZE and offers round trips on Aerolineas Argentina. Book in advance because the prices definitely creep up closer to the date and are much less expensive for carry on only rather than checked bags. We arranged with the Sofitel to hold our large bags, and booked an extra night there after Iguazu. While in Iguazu, for us, it was more convenient to stay on the Argentina side. We got the best prices at the Melia, which is in the park, by calling. It was a significant difference in price ($900 versus $500). The Tauck travel insurance will still cover our flights back to the US and any medical issues which may come up while we are in Iguazu. It will not cover the flights to and from Iguazu nor will it cover the hotel in Iguazu. We have another extra day in BA and plan on taking the ferry and going to Colonnia in Uruguay. If any one is interested and wants specifics, PM me.
We went to Iguazu falls in 2017, as a post cruise excursion. You can see what it was like at https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2017SouthAmerica-11.htm
Photography is not very good but you can tell what's going on. It was an interesting excursion.
We thought about going to Iguazu, but at the time there was a visa requirement which was later postponed. We were on an18 day tour and really wanted to get back as it’s a busy social time of year for us right now. We went to Niagara for the first time last year and on our Patagonia tour we visited incredible waterfalls which wound their way through volcanic rock areas just a drive away from Puerto Varas. We’ve never seen such beautiful falls. I’ll post a photo, oh, not downloaded from my phone yet.
One couple on our tour went to Iguazu first and another went on to Easter Island from Santiago. They are going to report back
I was there three days ago. Lovely town with a picturesque fish market and the colorful alleys and street art are outstanding and creative.
Lovely pictures, I loved that town.
Just wondering, can you use US cash for tips and things in Chile and Argentina?
They are not going to refuse them !
We did not exchange any money. Credit card use everywhere