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During the last week in the year, Valparaiso holds an annual carnival that everyone should experience at least once in their lives. Each year the festival centers around a different country, from which performers and artists are invited to come and represent their culture and their work in theater, music, and the performance arts. Most activities are free and are held outdoors. The celebration culminates with a New Year firework display that within five of the most beautiful in the planet. But get ready in time because the city's population triples on those dates.
Naval and Maritime Museum
This museum is dedicated to military naval exploits and battles, and puts a large focus on the Chilean victory against Peru and Bolivia in the War of the Pacific.
The central square near the port and the heart of the old seaport city.
one of three homes of poet Pablo Neruda
Similar to La Chascona in Santiago, this house offers included audioguide tour of Pablo Nerudas house in Valparaíso.
Fine arts museum with mostly Chilean artists but it also has a section of artists of European origin. The palace is a mansion, formerly owned by a Croatian businessman, Pascual Baburizza, and is a sight of itself. It was turned into museum in 1971.
Chilean Parliament
The National Congress of Chile (parliament) is surprisingly not in Santiago but in Valparaiso, and heavily guarded. It is not possible to visit, but it's next to the bus station and in the middle of the commercial district.
Two floors of exhibits, focusing on the natural history and geography of Chile, particularly the cross-section Juan Fernandes, Valparaiso and the Andes following the latitude of the former two. Biogeography and geology dominate and the museum does a good job showcasing Chile's incredibly diversity both on dry land and the Pacific Ocean.