Viña del Mar Things to Do

Brunet Castle - Castillo Brunet - Chateau Brunet

At the other side of the river (Estero Marga Marga), you find Cerro Castillo (Castle Hill).

One of the castles is Brunet Castle.

It was designed by architect Alfredo Azancot. It was built in a Medieval Style; it looks like a castle from a fairy tale.

At the corner of 4 Norte and Calle Libertad, you find a beautiful Villa, it is the Palacio Carrasco.

This Palacio Carrasco is now used as cultural centre which houses temporary exhibitions.

By the way, at the same grounds, just around the corner you find the museo archeologico Fonck, see previous tips.

Best way to discover Vina del Mar is on foot, with a street map it is pretty easy, also because the city is formed by straight streets forming square blocks, so it is pretty easy to find your way, and on the map the horizontal streets were all named Norte with a number (from 1 Norte up to 15 Norte), and the vertical streets were named Poniente with a number (like 1 Poniente up to 6 Poniente), and further on there was the same system wit a number of Oriente streets.

So it was not possible to loose tracks over here.

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One popular way of sight seeing in Vina del Mar was by horse drawn carriage.

However the weather was not as ideal as we were visiting Vina del Mar, and also we were also short in time as we only arrived here in the late afternoon, and the next day we wanted to visit Valparaiso.

Besides the part of the Easter Island archeologics there was also an interesting part on Chilean history with all kind of objects from the mainland, and of course the Mapuche culture.

There was even a mummy.

At the second floor there were all kind of local stuffed animals (condor ...)

And also a small section on the headhunters (showing the techniques to make small heads . . .)

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In front of the Museo de Arquelogico e Historia Francisco Fonck, there was an original Moai.

A big part of the collection of this Museum Fonck was dedicated on the culture and mysterious Moai statues.

If you are passing by in Vina del Mar this is surely a spot you can not miss (of course if you are interested a bit in this stuff)

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As I had just visited Easter Island (Isla Pasqua), I surely wanted to visit Museum Fonck in Vina del Mar.

The Museo de Arquelogico e Historia Francisco Fonck is specialized in Easter Island archaelogico and Chilean culture.

There was a very interesting part of the exposition dedicated to Easter Island, which was very interesting as I had just visited Easter Island a week before.

Entrance fee was 1.500 pesos

The rich seaside town of Vina del Mar has the summer palace of the President of Chile, which is at Cerro Castillo. There is also a huge Casino, built in the 1930s and set in gorgeous gardens.

The town is not a stop-over for the usual backpackers. I was here because I met a Vina del Mar family and was invited to stay with them. As it turned out, I really like the pleasant weather, the beautiful beaches and the pretty modern town centre.

But many Chileans make a trip to Vina del Mar during the summer holidays to swim, tan, enjoy seafood or have a game at the casinos. The streets are bustling with shoppers and horse-drawn carriages called ‘victorias’.

Every February, there is an international song festival too.