Sheraton or Inter-Continental Valparaiso

[englishmum]

I am staying in Valparaiso for three nights prior to my South American cruise in January.Celebrity have given me the choice of the Sheraton or the Inter-Continental Hotel,which one should I choose for easier access to the main tourist sites.Could anyone tell me how far they are from the downtown area.

[7SeasLover]

Try going to TripAdvisor.com and search for both hotels. You can click on links they provide to see if you can get some distance/location information. Also has customer reviews and ratings.

 

You might also try to find a tour company in Valparaiso and ask them specific questions about the hotels.

 

Good luck.

[craven3]

We've stayed at the Intercontinental twice, and it's more centrally located. The Sheraton is farther out. The subway system is good, though. However, I liked the IC because it was within walking distance of most sights, and we felt completely safe in the area.

 

Charlotte

[englishmum]

Thank you both for responding,much appreciated.Celebrity have now confirmed it will be the Sheraton,however I think I am going to stay just 2 nights in Santiago and book one night in Vina del Mar.I have read that the city has a lot of smog and as I suffer with Asthma I don't want to tempt fate,also it is approx 70+ miles to Valparaiso where I will join the ship so I thought it would be a good idea to get a transfer from the hotel the day before and spend the night in Vina del Mar.Has anyone any suggestions for a hotel in this area?

[Bahama Kid]

We stayed in Santiago for two nights and then another two nights at the Hotel Del Mar in Vina del Mar. Nice hotel with a very helpful front desk that arranged a short tour and tranfer to the ship for a reasonable price. All the rooms have an ocean view and we found the "coffee shop" on the second floor had excellent food and ate dinner there twice.

[xpcdoojk]

We stayed at the Sheraton in December, it is about a 3 block walk to the main shopping district. It is a nice enough hotel. We booked it on our own and not with the cruiseline. We paid about $99 a night. Which was a lot less than the cruiselines price.

 

jc

[dileep]

I would spend more time in Santiago and just drive through Valparaiso and Vina del Mar before boarding the ship.

 

We stayed at the Santiago Marriott but I have heard good things about the Ritz Carlton too.

 

Check out my notes on this board (see link below) if you want details on what to do in Valparaiso and Santiago. We debarked in Valparaiso and and toured it before going to our hotel in Santiago.

[cruiserus]

Hi dileep! I am really interested in your notes, but couldn't locate your link. Any chance you can repost it?

 

Thanks!

[gerena]

We chose a 3 day pre-cruise stay in Santiago and Valparaiso. It was a tough decision, but worked out well. We could have seen more of Santiago, but glad we chose the 2 days in Valparaiso. It was delightful.

 

I have posted the excerpt from my log previously posted to this site. Our HOtel Brighton was a delightful old home converted to like a B&B. If you like this type of think, I highly recommend it. I was a little leery at first as in a foreign country, I'm never sure about conditions, but I had read enough from some other postings, I knew it was going to be fine.

 

"We arrived at our hotel, checked our bags and took off walking to the park where the cable cars were. It was a very pleasant walk through a residential neighborhood just outside our Hotel Orly. ($77US per night) We took the cable car and to the Cerro San Cristobal and the Virgin Mary statue. Fortunately, we had a fog free view. We returned by funicular to the city and walked by the river for several blocks and ate at Donde Agosto at the Mercado Central. Along the way we walked in the area of the lapis shops. We headed downtown via the pedestrian street and the Plaza de Armas, eventually taking the metro back to our hotel. We stopped for a soft drink and then took the city bus to the craft market, Los Dominicos Art and Craft Village. Returning to the hotel, we ate dinner at our hotel and retired for the night. The Hotel Orly was very nice and very easy to get to the metro, bus, etc.

 

Day 3---Monday, January 9, 2006 VINA DEL MAR AND VALPARAISO, CHILE

 

After a lovely buffet breakfast, used the free computer to send e-mail to family and friends and were met by our tour guide and driver taking us on a tour to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar where we would spend the next 2 nights. We contracted through Victor Alabi of Enturchile. The tour was OK and we saw the highlights He didn’t give us as much information as our tour guides we had later.

Our main concern: We knew our meals were not included. A word to the wise. They took us to a restaurant and there seemed to be a concern as to the reservation. The guide and driver moved us from a table for 4 to a table for 6. I motioned for the driver and guide to join us. We had a nice meal. We noticed the men kept eating, eating, drinking, etc. Then we got the bill. Since we had motioned for them to come join us, we were expected to pay. I can accept that to a point, but they just kept running up the bill. My husband and I ate for $18. The men’s total bill was $35. We got that settled and they took us to a few more sights in Vina and Valparaiso and then we located our Hotel Brighton---quite a challenge to get to the remote location. We bade farewell to our guide and driver, tipped them against our better judgment, but we were just caught off guard.

 

The Hotel Brighton (our room was $77 US ) It was a delightful, bright yellow old hotel perched high above the city atop Conception Hill, overlooking the bay. As we later found out, it wasn’t as remote as we once thought, but in what will soon become a “high rent district.” It had a million dollar view. We were met by Tatiana, a very delightful young lady. All the rooms were different. We had a large room that looked toward downtown. It was up a narrow circular flight of stairs which was a little of a challenge with our heavy luggage. The night lights were beautiful. We had our own bath, however my only complaint was that one could not sit in the bathtub and when showering, the water temperature fluctuated greatly. Our friends had a small main floor room that looked on the bay and had a small balcony. They had a regular sized bathtub, however. We sat on the outdoor terrace and enjoyed the view with a coke. It was beautiful. The missing luggage had not arrived, but Tatiana was diligent in calling for us.

 

 

Day 4—Tuesday, January 10, 2006 VALPARAISO, CHILE

 

We walked Valparaiso, taking in several of the ascensors, There are 15 of the original 29 still in use. They are listed as a UNESCØ World Heritage site. Busses are available on the water level, but unless one wanted to climb up and down hills or take taxis, this was the way to go, and very reasonable. We enjoyed a walking tour that was listed in International Travel News. It took us to many neat sights. We met a couple who had moved there from Germany and they gave us some pointers on where to walk and what to see. It was very hot, so we consumed lots of water. After touring downtown Valparaiso we then walked up to the city cemetery. We could see it from our hotel, but had to go down and then up. It was quite a hike and the locals encouraged us to take a bus to the top, but we did the walk.

The cemetery has two sections, one of which was Chile’s first non-Catholic cemetery where thousands of European immigrants are buried. Also there is the Catholic cemetery. The cemeteries, as we would also notice in other cities, are beautifully landscaped and are family plots, some very lavish in design.

 

That evening we ate at Café Turri, near our hotel, overlooking the bay. It was very good. We were pleased to return to the Hotel Brighton and find the missing luggage had arrived"