Planning to visit Valparaiso and Viña del Mar? Check out this super-easy, step-by-step guide (with video) to get to these coastal cities from Santiago de Chile

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If you have 2 or 3 days extra in Santiago de Chile, you should definitely consider paying a visit to the coastal cities of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar.

Valparaiso used to be the most thriving harbor city in Chile on the Pacific coast. Nicknamed “Valpo” by the locals, this city is full of history and its historic city center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. The influential Chilean writer, Pablo Neruda, used to live here. During the California gold rush in the 1800s, ships from around the world looking to join the gold mania always made a stop at Valparaiso, before they continued their journey to California. No wonder that in this city you will find countless traces of foreign traditions, monuments, and buildings from around the world.

The neighboring Viña del Mar is a quiet and much smaller city compared to Valparaiso. Nonetheless, you will still find many things to do here. Every year, it proudly hosts the oldest and largest music festival in Latin America, Viña del Mar International Song Festival. A very convenient tramline connects Viña del Mar and Valparaiso to each other, so you can easily combine your visit to both cities.

One of the easiest and cheapest ways to reach Valparaiso and Viña del Mar is by bus. Buses (instead of trains) are the most common mode of intercity transportation in Chile. You will see that even Chileans also use buses for their day-to-day intercity commute as well.

In this post, I am going to help you to navigate your way from Santiago de Chile to Valparaiso or Viña del Mar, starting from buying a bus ticket until you arrive in these cities.

I hope that this guide will make it really super easy for you, especially if Spanish is not your strongest language.

How To Easily To Get To Valparaiso & Viña del Mar From Santiago de Chile

To make this guide crystal-clear for you, I will break this guide down into: (1) how to purchase a bus ticket; (2) how to go to the bus station; and (3) how to board your bus at the bus station.

The whole journey from Santiago de Chile to Valparaiso or Viña del Mar will take approximately 2 and 2.5 hours respectively. If you are more visually oriented, there is a video available down here that will help explain this to you.

#1 – Purchasing a bus ticket to Valparaiso and/or Viña del Mar

Purchasing bus tickets in Chile is surprisingly simple. You can buy it online or at the bus station.

There are two major bus companies with extensive networks across Chile that you can choose from: Turbus and Pullman. However, in this post, I will focus on Turbus since I used their service. You can access their website and purchase tickets here. It is super easy and you can pay with all major credit cards, like Mastercard and Visa.

Both Turbus and Pullman buses depart from two major bus stations in Santiago de Chile: Alameda and Pajaritos bus stations. You should choose the departure station based on where you stay in Santiago.

If you happen to stay in Santiago’s downtown area around Plaza de Armas, Providencia or Las Condes, the best bus station for you is Alameda bus station, since Pajaritos is located further away on the western edge of the city’s downtown.

After purchasing your bus ticket online, do not forget to print it out and bring it to the bus station.

#2 – Going to the bus station

Both Alameda and Pajaritos bus stations are easily reachable by public transport, especially with the metro/underground.

For Alameda bus station, take Line 1 (red line) to Universidad de Santiago metro station. For Pajaritos, take similar Line 1 to Pajaritos metro station. Allow yourself enough time and arrive at the bus station at least 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time.

Once you arrive at both metro stations, simply follow the signs toward the bus stations (“Terminal de Buses”) and you are going to be there within no time. If you would like to see that visually, watch the video here below (for Alameda bus station).

#3 – Waiting and boarding your bus at the station

At the bus station, go to the counter of the respective bus company that you choose (Turbus or Pullman) and ask them from which platform your bus will depart. At Alameda bus station, Turbus also has a Customer Service corner, where you can speak to friendly customer service staff that speak English fluently.

Head to the bus platform (follow the sign “Andanes”) and wait for your bus either inside or outside. Spot the platform number of your bus, and get in the bus 10 minutes before the scheduled departure time.

If you have luggage with you, just approach the bus driver. He will sticker your luggage and provide you with a ticket, with which you can retrieve your luggage back on the destination. Then board the bus and take the seat allocated to your ticket.

Again, the video below will help illustrate this to you visually as well (for Alameda bus station).

Have you been to Valparaiso and Viña del Mar?

So there you go! I hope that this guide will make it super easy for you to visit Valparaiso or Viña del Mar from Santiago de Chile.

Please let me know if this post is helpful for you, and do not hesitate to share your experience. Also, if you feel that there is something unclear from this guide, just let me know.

Do you like this post and want to receive some more travel updates regularly? Please make sure that you subscribe to my email updates. In addition, check out my other blog posts for many more helpful tips for traveling, including this step-by-step guide on how to get from Taipei to Jiufen. See you in the next blog post and until we Greet again!