This working clock keeps time with Swiss mechanics, but its face is made entirely of living flowers.
About Flower Clock (Reloj de Flores)
The Flower Clock was created in 1962 to mark the football World Cup held in Chile, and it quickly became the signature landmark of Vina del Mar, the coastal resort known as the Garden City for its parks and gardens. Maintained ever since with Swiss precision machinery and seasonal floral plantings, it embodies the city's reputation for greenery and refined seaside leisure.
The Flower Clock of Vina del Mar is a much-loved landmark of Chile's elegant coastal resort city, a large working clock whose face is planted with vibrant flowerbeds on a green hillside near the sea. A symbol of Vina del Mar's identity as the 'Garden City', it has kept time amid the flowers since the 1960s.
Telling Time in Flowers
The clock was installed in 1962, the year Chile hosted the football World Cup, and has functioned ever since with precise Swiss clockwork mechanisms beneath its floral face. Its hands sweep over a circular bed of brightly coloured flowers that gardeners replant through the seasons, set against the backdrop of the Pacific. The Flower Clock has become the definitive emblem of Vina del Mar and a favourite photo stop for visitors to the garden city.
The Experience
You stop at the hillside clock near the seafront to admire its floral face, replanted in changing colours through the year, and snap the obligatory photograph that nearly every visitor to Vina del Mar takes. It is a quick but charming sight, easily combined with the city's beaches, gardens and the nearby coastal road. The clock is at its most colourful when the flowers are in full bloom.
Why It Matters
The Flower Clock is the defining symbol of Vina del Mar and its identity as Chile's Garden City, a charming fusion of horticulture and timekeeping. A beloved local icon, it captures the elegant, leisurely character of the country's most famous beach resort.
Why Visit
The iconic Flower Clock of Vina del Mar, a working clock with a face of living flowers, the emblem of Chile's elegant Garden City by the Pacific.
✦ Photo Gallery
Best Season
🌤 Vina del Mar is pleasant in the Southern Hemisphere spring and summer, roughly October to March, when the flowers are most colourful and the coast at its best.
Quick Facts
Best time to visit
Vina del Mar is pleasant in the Southern Hemisphere spring and summer, roughly October to March, when the flowers are most colourful and the coast at its best.
Getting there
In Viña del Mar, Chile; reach Viña del Mar first, then continue to the site.
Location
Viña del Mar, Chile
Type
attraction
Insider Tips
- 1
The floral face is most colourful in spring and summer.
- 2
Combine it with Vina del Mar's beaches and gardens.
- 3
It has kept time since the 1962 World Cup in Chile.
