Valdivia Travel Guide
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839km (520 miles) S of Santiago; 145km (90 miles) SW of Pucón
Valdivia is a large University town that always gets mixed reviews from visitors. Chileans tend to enjoy visiting here more than foreigners. It's a funky city with some charm evident through its colonial homes and vibrant waterfront, but it is as though every building from every decade from every architectural style were thrown in a bag, shaken up, and randomly scattered about the city.
The city is vibrant, bustling, and very tenacious. Valdivia has suffered attacks, floods, fires, and the disastrous earthquake of 1960 that nearly drowned the city under 3m (10 ft.) of water. During World War II, Valdivia's German colonists were blacklisted, ruining the economy. So if Valdivia looks a little weary -- well, it's understandable. If you're in Pucón or Temuco, Valdivia makes for an interesting 1- or 2-day diversion, especially to visit the tiny towns and ancient forts at the mouth of the bay that protected the city from seafaring intruders. There's a pleasant fish market and several good restaurants. Some of the best museums and galleries in Chile can be found here, too.
Valdivia, with about 125,000 residents, is divided by a series of narrow rivers, notably the Río Valdivia and the Río Calle Calle that wrap around the city's downtown area. Along the Río Valdivia is the city's bustling waterfront, where fishmongers peddle their fresh catches of the day and pleasure boats disembark for a variety of journeys around the region's twisting waterways. These rivers have produced some of the world's top rowing athletes, and many mornings you can see spidery figures plying the glassy water. Across the Río Valdivia is the Isla Teja, a residential area that's home to the Universidad Austral de Chile, the reason you see so many students riding bikes around town.
