We decided to take a day trip from Santiago to visit Valparaiso. Chile’s most colorful seaside city, and of course, given that we were passing through wine country, we had to stop there too! 

The Casablanca Valley

If you are a wine lover, you could easily make a day trip of just Casablanca and go wine tasting. There are several vineyards through the valley, many with beautiful estates, restaurants and tasting rooms. Given we were limited on time and Adam is not a wine drinker, my goal was to get a taste of Casablanca without doing a full wine tour.

From my research, everything suggested we should visit either Kingston, Emiliana or Casas del Bosque. But I was keen to avoid going somewhere really touristy. Therefore, we did quick stopover at Vinedos Veramonte, just to see the sheep and alpacas on the land. We then headed over to Vinamar because they were famous for sparkling wine, my favourite.

Vinamar was certainly more low key than some of the others but it was absolutely lovely. We wandered the grounds and tasted three different sparkling wines, paired with a cheese board. There was a beautiful terrace to enjoy the wine and cheese from, and we were also free to roam the property, where we got to see the grapes growing, as well as visit with the dogs and chickens.

The Coast

We continued along but instead of going straight to Valparaiso, we drove to Renaca Beach. A few had told us that it was worth driving along the coast line and checking out Renaca Beach (and even Concon for its sand dunes just slightly further North) and then making our way back to Vina del Mar and eventually Valparaiso. So we did the drive. While it was pretty, it wasn’t the best use of our time and I’d say it’s not better than the other coastlines we’ve driven along.

Valparaiso

The city center of Valparaiso is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the buildings are all painted colorfully and covered with street art

We got to Valparaiso just in time for the 3pm walking tour. The walking tour took us up when of the funiculars and helped with providing some of the color and context of the art around the city. We saw plenty of great art / murals, some street musicians, and even saw a street artist painting one of the many staircases around the town!

Following the walking tour, we stopped for a bite to eat, before heading back to Santiago.