Current Time in Viña del Mar, Chile

Viña del Mar lies on the Pacific coast of central Chile, in the Valparaíso Region, about a hundred and twenty kilometres northwest of Santiago. It occupies a sheltered bay where the Marga Marga stream reaches the sea, hemmed in by coastal hills and joined without a break to the port of Valparaíso next door. The Humboldt current keeps the water cold and the air mild, producing a Mediterranean climate of dry, sunny summers and damp winters, and the sea mist that rolls in on many mornings has long been part of the city's character.

Around three hundred and thirty thousand people live here, and the population swells greatly each summer when Chileans arrive for the beaches. Known throughout Latin America as the Garden City, Viña del Mar is the leading seaside resort of the country and one of the best known in the southern cone, a place of parks, palms and flowerbeds that grew as the elegant counterpart to the working port beside it.

The city was formally founded in 1874 by José Francisco Vergara on land that had belonged to a colonial estate, the vineyard by the sea that gave it its name. The railway from Santiago and Valparaíso had already reached the valley, and wealthy families from both cities built summer residences among the gardens. Sugar refining and textile mills brought industry, while the opening of a grand casino in 1930 and the growth of tourism confirmed the resort character that still defines it.

The most photographed landmark is the flower clock on the hillside above Caleta Abarca beach, its face planted with living blooms. Nearby stand the turreted Wulff Castle on its rock above the surf, the Palacio Rioja and the Palacio Vergara, both survivors of the belle époque, and the Fonck museum, which displays archaeological collections and guards a genuine moai brought from Easter Island, one of very few outside its homeland. Long beaches run north through Reñaca towards Concón, and dunes, seafood restaurants and sea lion colonies line the shore.

Every February the Quinta Vergara amphitheatre hosts the Viña del Mar International Song Festival, the largest music event in Latin America, broadcast across the continent and famous for an audience that can make or break a performer. The casino, theatres, a busy calendar of open air concerts and a large student population give the city an energetic nightlife, while the botanical garden and hillside neighbourhoods offer calmer pleasures.

The Valparaíso metro provides frequent trains along the coast and inland, motorways link the city to Santiago in about ninety minutes, and the region's port and airport are close at hand. Several universities, including branches of the Federico Santa María Technical University and the University of Valparaíso, make it an important centre of higher education.

Viña del Mar is popular for its beaches, gardens, festivals and easy elegance beside the Pacific.