Middle Chile Travel Guide - Plan your Middle Chile vacation. Middle Chile flights, tours & hotel reviews

Middle Chile

There are lots of things to see and do in middle Chile.

Take a tour of historic Valparaíso, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visit Mercado Central for some seafood and ride one of the almost vertical ascensores (funicular elevators) up to the heights of the city.

Join the locals on the beach at Viña del Mar to ring in the New Year watching a spectacular fireworks display.

Take a day trip to Sewell, the city of stairs. Sewell was founded in 1905 as a mining city, but was abandoned in the 1970s because of pollution. It’s now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Go skiing or snowboarding in one of the ski centers and conquer the Andes mountains.

Go camping in Reserva Nacional Rio Los Cipreses, close to Rancagua.

Enjoy a day out with a real Chilean cowboy at the Puro Caballo ranch (www.purocaballo.cl) about one hour from Santiago.

The most beautiful beaches

Lobos del Pacifico Escuela de Surf

Those hippies in old surfing movies were telling the truth. Surfing can be more than a sport - it can be a spiritual experience that changes your entire outlook on life. And there is no better place ...

Types: Surfing
Location: Pichilemu, Chile

Puerto Deportivo

If you want to go diving, take a windsurfing class, kayak around the bay, or try your hand at sailing, this is definitely the place to go. Situated at LAT 33º 02’ 08’’ LON 071º 36’ 26’ ...

Types: Diving
Location: Valparaíso , Chile

Beaches

Vacationers from around South America and the world flock to Viña beaches during summer months (late December to late March). Put on a bathing suit and soak up rays on one of the many Viña beaches, ...

Types: Beach
Location: Viña del Mar, Chile

Puerto Deportivo

Types: Diving
Location: Valparaíso , Chile

Lobos del Pacifico Escuela de Surf

Types: Surfing
Location: Pichilemu, Chile

Lobos del Pacifico Escuela de Surf

Types: Surfing
Location: Pichilemu, Chile

Puerto Deportivo

Types: Diving
Location: Valparaíso , Chile

Beaches

Types: Beach
Location: Viña del Mar, Chile

Fun markets to browse

Mercado Puerto

Located in a time-worn building at the heart of Valparaíso's Old Town is the city market. Here you'll find a smattering of produce; vendors sell basic fruits and vegetables alongside some more ...

Types: Market
Location: Parte Antigua, Valparaíso , Chile

Plaza O'Higgins Antique and Book Market

One of Nobel prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda’s favorite pastimes was to come into the city while away at his home in Isla Negra to pick through the antiques at the weekend markets scattered around ...

Types: Market
Location: Congreso Nacional, Valparaíso , Chile

Feria de Verduras

On Wednesdays and Saturdays, a huge outdoor farmer's market of fruits and vegetables opens early in the morning to sell all kinds of local produce dirt-cheap. Here you can get a kilo of kiwi for CLP ...

Types: Market
Location: Congreso Nacional, Valparaíso , Chile

Mercado Central

Talca boasts one of the best markets in middle Chile. On the Mercado Central located on 1 Sur between 5 Oriente and 4 Oriente, locals hawk a wide assorment of knick-knacks, handicrafts, fruit, ...

Types: Market, Other Activity
Location: Talca, Chile

Feria de Chillán

The open-air market offers all the fresh produce one could desire. Most of the action is within the streets of Isabel Riquelme, Arturo Prat, Maipón and 5 de Abril, though it does overflow into ...

Types: Market
Location: Chillán, Chile

Coastal & historical: top towns in Middle Chile

Valparaíso

Lovers of right angles beware: when you enter Valparaíso, you’re entering a labyrinth that defies all structural reason. Streets twist whimsically as though with a mind of their own, leading the ...

Types: City
Location: Valparaíso , Chile

Viña del Mar

Viña del Mar, or Viña, as the locals call it, is located on the central coast of Chile. Covering an area of 2.359/km² (6.1/sq mi) and home to a population of just under 290,000, it is the fourth ...

Types: City
Location: Viña del Mar, Chile

Quintay

Quintay is a tiny, mostly residential beach town hidden among wooded seaside hills and relatively untouched beaches about 40 minutes south of Valparaiso. Since this tiny dot on the map is only ...

Types: City
Location: Quintay, Chile

Cartagena

Cartagena, advertised as the “Capital del adulto mayor” (senior citizen capital) was once a beach resort for the moneyed elite, but now shows evidence both of its glorious past and of its ...

Types: City
Location: Cartagena, Chile

San Antonio

A grimy seaside town publicizing its poetic underbelly, San Antonio is Chile’s largest and most important port. Located to the south of more popular tourist destinations like Isla Negra, San ...

Types: City
Location: San Antonio, Chile

Concepción

Concepción, founded in 1551, is the second-largest city in Chile behind Santiago. It is also one of the country’s most important due to its universities, commercial activities such as the local ...

Types: City
Location: Concepción, Chile

Pichilemu

Augustín Ross Edwards envisioned a European-style resort town when he pictured Pichilemu in the second half of the 19th century. However, the modern version is overrun with surfers seeking the ...

Types: City
Location: Pichilemu, Chile

Portillo

World-class skiing is synonymous with Portillo, so it is no surprise the U.S., Italian and Austrian Olympic teams flock to this beautiful and exclusive spot next to the alpine lake Laguna del Inca ...

Types: City
Location: Portillo, Viña del Mar, Chile

Los Angeles

Los Angeles is an unspectacular agricultural town without any true must-see places to make it worth a traveler's while to go out of their way to visit. The Plaza de Armas is typically nice, but not ...

Types: City
Location: Los Angeles, Chile

Chillán

Chillán is known throughout the nation as the birthplace of liberator Bernardo O’Higgins. On a not so positive note, it is also famous for the earthquakes that have battered the town during the ...

Types: City
Location: Chillán, Chile

Santa Cruz

Situated in the middle of wine-making country, Santa Cruz owes much of its success and popularity among tourists to former arms dealer Carlos Cardoen. He owns the magnificent and swanky Hotel Santa ...

Types: City
Location: Santa Cruz, Chile

Lobos del Pacifico Escuela de Surf

Puerto Deportivo

Beaches

Puerto Deportivo

Lobos del Pacifico Escuela de Surf

Lobos del Pacifico Escuela de Surf

Puerto Deportivo

Beaches

Mercado Puerto

Plaza O'Higgins Antique and Book Market

Feria de Verduras

Mercado Central

Feria de Chillán

Valparaíso

Viña del Mar

Quintay

Cartagena

San Antonio

Concepción

Pichilemu

Portillo

Los Angeles

Chillán

Santa Cruz

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