Discovering More of Chile's Beaches

Because it's still summer here in Chile, it seemed obligatory to spend at least one day at the beach before the weather gets colder. Even though it's been a very busy time since I arrived three weeks ago, fortunately Claudio and I were able to squeeze in a day trip to some beaches I'd never been to before.

As Chile is such a long country, it has a tonne of beaches to discover, and there are many great ones which can be reached within a few hours or less from Santiago. We'd already been on day trips to the beaches around Algarrobo and the beaches around Viña del Mar, so this time we decided to explore some of the beaches in the northern part of the Valparaíso region.

After driving for around two and a half hours, the first place we ended up in was La Laguna, a fairly quiet town with a long sandy beach. I was surprised when getting out of the car that the weather was still as hot as it had been in the city - during our trips to Algarrobo and Viña, the weather was cold, windy, and even cloudy. It seems that going that hour or two further north makes a big difference in terms of weather.

We had a little walk around before moving on to our next stop, Maitencillo, a bigger town, which is known for being a surf hotspot. Here we had lunch at Beach Break restaurant, which was kind of southeast Asian inspired, with a lot of Buddha statues dotted about. None of the main courses on the menu were vegan, so I ordered two side dishes (potato wedges and a quinoa risotto) and the plate of food I received was so big I couldn't finish it! But it was really tasty, as was the passion fruit juice I ordered. Sitting there, with the sun and the sea within view, I really started to feel like I was on holiday!

Our next stop was Cachagua, a very popular destination amongst wealthy santiaguinos. This was where we had our first swim of the day - the water was cold, but not as bad as I'd been expecting!

One of Cachagua's main attractions is Monumento Natural Isla Cachagua, an island rather like Isla Pájaros Niños in Algarrobo, where birds including pelicans and penguins live. The island is a bit of a distance from the beach, but as far as we could tell, there were lots of pelicans there and a few Humboldt penguins!

About a 10-minute walk from Cachagua along a rocky coastal path, you can find Las Cujas beach, and that's where we went next. Las Cujas is a place that Claudio found out about on TikTok, and it is said to be one of Chile's most beautiful beaches. It's definitely a very picturesque place, with turquoise water and lots of trees surrounding it, and it does feel like a sort-of secluded, paradise beach, although there were quite a lot of people there. Swimming there, in those amazing surroundings, really reminded me why I chose to come and spend this year in South America!

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the beaches at Las Cujas and Cachagua, and then we started the journey back to Santiago, stopping off at Maitencillo again to pick up some drinks and snacks. We arrived as the sun was setting over the ocean, which was beautiful to see.

We had a great time exploring these stunning beaches, and we plan to come back to the area soon to see some more beaches, such as Horcón, Zapallar and Papudo. This trip was the perfect start to what I hope will be a year of amazing travels (it's already been better than last year, that's for sure!). Not quite sure where we'll be heading next, but we'll definitely try to go somewhere exciting during the Easter bank holiday in April, so I'm looking forward to planning that soon!