Things to do
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Cachagua
A village a few kilometres south with a beach close to two kilometres long, a golf course behind the dunes and almost no commercial front. The sand shelves quickly and the current runs hard at the southern end, and the path to the penguin lookout leaves from the road above the beach.
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Hotel Isla Seca
A converted house on the point at the northern edge of the bay, with terraced gardens dropping to the rocks and a pool facing open sea. It is the only hotel of any size in the village, its restaurant serves non residents, and the summer months book out well ahead.
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Isla Cachagua
A granite island a few hundred metres off the Cachagua sand, protected as a natural monument and holding a breeding colony of Humboldt and Magellanic penguins alongside cormorants and pelicans. Landing is prohibited, the colony is watched from the northern end of the beach, and binoculars make the difference.
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Maitencillo
A line of houses strung along two beaches about ten kilometres south, one long and open to the swell and the other tucked behind rock at Aguas Blancas. This is the surfing end of the coast, paragliders launch from the hill above the road, and the village runs to a single street.
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Papudo
A resort town on the next bay north, with one long sheltered beach, a smaller rocky one past the point and a nineteenth century church above the front. A coastal walk links the two beaches around the headland, and the seafront fills with day traffic through the summer.
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Playa Zapallar
A sheltered crescent of pale sand between two rock headlands, calmer than most of this coast because the bay faces north and the swell breaks outside it. The paseo above the sand runs the length of the bay past the older houses, and the water stays cold enough to shorten a swim in any month.