Paseo 21 de Mayo, Cerro Artillería & Museo Marítimo Nacional Guide

Guarding the western headland of Valparaíso Bay directly above the customs house and container terminals, Cerro Artillería and adjoining Cerro Playa Ancha offer the single most commanding viewpoint over the entire amphitheatre of Valparaíso's forty-two hills and across the water to Viña del Mar and Concón.

1. Ascensor Artillería (1893) & the Paseo 21 de Mayo Belvedere

Walk west from Barrio Puerto and Iglesia La Matriz to Plaza Wheelwright opposite the historic 1855 American-built Edificio de la Aduana (Customs House), where the lower station of Ascensor Artillería stands:

• The 1893 Funicular Ascent: Inaugurated on 22 January 1893 and expanded in 1908 with a second parallel pair of tracks to handle crowds of naval cadets and Sunday promenaders, the 175-metre-long funicular climbs straight up the cliff face to the timber-arcade upper station (if the funicular is undergoing maintenance, shared colectivo taxis and microbuses run up Subida Carampangue in three minutes).
• Paseo 21 de Mayo (Opened 1911): Named in honour of the 21 May 1879 Naval Battle of Iquique, this tree-shaded cliffside balcony hangs directly above the port's gantry cranes, tugs, and cargo ships. Browse the artisan leather, copper, and lapis lazuli stalls lining the promenade and look across the entire sweep of the bay from Barrio Puerto and Cerro Concepción all the way to the golden sand dunes of Concón.

2. Museo Marítimo Nacional (Former 1893 Naval Academy) & Playa Ancha

Directly behind the Paseo 21 de Mayo pergola stands the monumental neoclassical former Escuela Naval Arturo Prat (built between 1887 and 1893), which since 1988 has housed Chile's Museo Marítimo Nacional (National Maritime Museum):

• Cape Horn Clippers, War of the Pacific & the Fenix Capsule: Across seventeen exhibition halls and outdoor cannon courtyards, the museum traces the maritime history of the South Pacific, from sixteenth-century Magellan and Drake voyages and the golden age of nineteenth-century Cape Horn windjammers to Admiral Thomas Cochrane's independence squadron, original relics from Captain Arturo Prat's corvette Esmeralda, and the actual Chilean Navy steel rescue capsule Fénix 2 that hoisted thirty-three trapped miners to safety in the 2010 Atacama rescue; check the museum website for Tuesday-to-Sunday opening hours.
• Playa Ancha, Avenida Gran Bretaña & Punta Ángeles Lighthouse: From the museum gates, stroll ten minutes west along leafy Avenida Gran Bretaña in Playa Ancha past turn-of-the-century wooden villas down to the coastal promenade of Paseo Rubén Darío and the 1857 Punta Ángeles Lighthouse.