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Viña del Mar
THE CITY OF THE GARDENS,
BEACHES AND TOURISM
The city known as ‘Garden City’ was founded on December
29th, 1874, by the engineer José Francisco Vergara Echevers,
and it is considered as the capital of the Chilean tourism, being also the
most important resort in Chile and along the South American Pacific
shoreline.
Viña is part of the Fifth Region, next to the Regional Capital, and it
is located next to the regional capital city. Its access goes through
route 68 from Santiago, Capital city of Chile (117 km. away). Besides, it
is 213 km. away from ‘Los Libertadores’ pass, in the border with
Argentina, in the middle of the Andean Cordillera, which is one of the
most important access routes to the beaches and ports of the national
Pacific Ocean.
Tourism of Excellence
The ‘garden city’ is ahead in relation to tourism in the South American
Pacific area, being the economic and socio-cultural aspects its main
activities.
It offers high quality tourism facilities, which includes lodgings and
gastronomy, trekking, shopping centers and sports activities, such as
soccer, rugby, golf, water ski, cycling, basketball and tennis, among
other ones.
In relation to its night life, the city has adequate facilities to
satisfy the most demanding needs of any visitor; in this way, there are
cabarets, pubs, discos, piano bars, coffee rooms, and some others, where
the activities may live up to early hours of dawn. An unavoidable
tradition of the city for residents and tourists is watching the daybreak
in the beaches of the city.
In general, the city nightlife places offer dancing, suppers,
cocktails, not only for young people, but also for older people, who enjoy
a wide variety of options, depending on the tastes and styles. At the same
time, Viña del Mar is next to Valparaíso, which also offers some bohemian
alternatives in this aspect.
In the commercial aspect, the city stands out by the diversity, quality
and warmth of the services. There is a great stock of national and
imported products to cater the different markets. From the picturesque to
the most exclusive items.
Viña del Mar, as tourism center, has well defined
commercial sectors. Along the famous Valparaíso Street, and around José
Francisco Vergara Square, there are stores to satisfy the different
commercial, financial and service requirements; in this way, we can find
different clothing stores, supermarkets, home and sports equipment,
drugstores, exhibits and sale of cars, jewelry stores, toy shops, phoning
services, handcraftsmanship, etc. Whereas in the financial area there are
banks, financial businesses, and so on. On the other hand, there are
important and huge boulevards, which offer excellent food and coffee
services in general, completing this wide commercial
offer.
Don’t miss...
Fine Arts Museum: This beautiful building is located
in what we now know as ‘Vergara Palace’, old residence dating
back the beginning of the century, built by Mrs. Blanca Vergara,
daughter of Viña del Mar founder, Mr. José Francisco Vergara.
The mansion is surrounded by beautiful gardens, containing exuberant
vegetable species from all over the world.
Municipal Theater: This beautiful building is located
in front of the Vergara Square. Built in 1925, and inaugurated
on October 11, 1930, the municipal theater has, as a special
characteristic, its evident classical inspiration, and its elegant
architecture, being an indisputable attraction of the city.
The indoor, decorated with the most exclusive materials and
furniture of those times, offers an unparalleled atmosphere
for each event carried out there.
Museum of Archeology and Natural History Francisco Fonck:
A classical archeological and cultural palace gives lodging
to this interesting museum, which exhibits particular garments
and remains that formed part of the Chilean prehistory: Araucanian
silverware and pre-Columbian pottery. Another section exhibits
a collection of natural character, where there are samples of
fossils and minerals, preserved insects and stuffed animals,
where you can observe the different species and their anatomies.
Municipal Casino: It is the main center of gambling in Chile and
Latin America. It is located in a majestic building, built in the early
30’s. Its incomes have been fundamental in the development, progress and
promotion of the local tourism.
Cultural Center of Viña del Mar: It works in the Carrasco
Palace, which was built in the fist decade of the present century
by a rich saltpeter dealer, who never lived in it. In 1934,
the municipality of Viña del Mar bought this building.
At present, a wide variety of cultural activities are carried out here,
such as exhibit of all types, speeches, conferences, plays, concerts and
some others; besides, in the same building, the library ‘Benjamín Vicuña
Mackenna’, works permanently in there. This library has more than 20,000
books, including present and classical themes, which can be consulted by
students and all kind of people.
Vergara Pier: A popular image is that of the old pier,
reshaped today for tourism use, not only for the place where
it is located, but also for its impressive crane. Inaugurated
in 1938, it was first used in the loading and unloading of coal;
later, it went to the disappeared sugar refinery ‘Crav’. It
was in 1983 when it became a tourism center.
This building is located next to the beaches ‘Acapulco’ to the south,
and ‘El Sol’ (the sun) to the north, and, besides, it has facilities such
as restaurants, tea room, disco, a tourism information stand during the
high season, and places for sport fishing. At the same time, along the
shoreline next to the pier, there is a group of craftsmanship stands with
the most varied products, techniques and styles.
Flower Clock:
This is another beautiful tourism attraction, maybe one of the most
photographed of the city. It was inaugurated on May 15, 1962, the same day
the world soccer championship started, where Viña del Mar was one of the
seats of this outstanding sport event, played in Chile, where our national
team obtained the remarkable third place.
It is located on the foothills of ‘Cerro Castillo’, at a
very short distance from ‘Caleta Abarca’ beach, and some steps away from
the ‘Miramar’ railway station, where you can take the train going from
Valparaíso City to Limache City, in the inland of the region. The flower
clock is remarkable due to its particular natural appearance: its numbers
and the name of the city are made with colorful and beautiful flowers and
plants, which are a symbol of the garden city
atmosphere.
No doubt that Viña del Mar is a city worth to visit and enjoy full
time; the city, the people, its privileged climate. Consider
it.
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