Considering its annual activity agenda, touristic attractions, heritage and infrastructure, the International Bureau of Cultural Capitals confirmed the capital of the Los Rios Region of Chile as the Cultural Capital of America for 2016.
 

The main benefit of this election will be the media exposure that the city and its cultural tourism will obtain through foreign television networks that will transmit its attractions, such as the Antena 3 and Discovery Network channels.
 

The Regional Tourism Director, Pedro Burgos, has very positively appraised this denomination, “Valdivia is a city that has lived eras of magnificence and has demonstrated its capacity to reinvent itself and to bloom throughout history.  A metropolis composed by its river and that is able to offer such diverse activities, from cultural to entertainment, all of them in one unique natural environment surrounded by the Valdivian Rainforest”.
 

“Without a doubt this recognition will allow Valdivia to emphasize on all of its attractions even more, strengthening the work we do at Sernatur (National Tourism Service), with the support of the Regional Tourism Policy approved by the Los Rios Regional Counsel, that has incorporated cultural and heritage tourism as the main thrust of our work”, he explains.  During low season, for instance, the city will be hosting 7 big cultural and gastronomic events, among these a film festival on one end and a theater one on the other, a spring carnival, as well as many other cultural activities.
 

This distinction is a valuable opportunity to present this city to the world, originally inhabited by Mapuches, founded by the Spaniards in 1552, invaded by Dutch pirates and forged by German colonizers, with a privileged location on the confluence of the Calle Calle, Valdivia, Caucau and Cruces Rivers, giving its fluvial identity.
 

It is very interesting to tour its past running through the Spanish fortifications, museums and traditional architecture left by the German colonization.  Enjoy its urban parks or fluvial market with the always present sea lion colony, while admiring the Olympic rowing teams train in the calm river waters.
 

A university city, of science and knowledge, home to the renowned International Film Festival of Valdivia and cradle of craft beer.  The city has a wide variety of activities that include bars, a casino, restaurants, breweries, traditional fairs and cafés available all year round.

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