Travel Tips: Ten More of My Favourite Beach Destinations

I still have a few more free days before starting my new job, and I don't have much planned, so I want to use the time to write my first Travel Tips blog post in a while!

This one is going to be a sort of sequel to a post I wrote in May 2021 about my 10 favourite beaches. At the time I wrote that post, I was living at home with my parents, the UK was still under some lockdown restrictions, and I was unsure when I would ever be able to move back to Chile (something I'd planned to do in 2020), as there were still very strict restrictions out there. During this extremely challenging period, my blog was a source of escapism for me, where I could reminisce about past travels and dream about future ones. The beach post was definitely one of my favourite ones to write, as it brought back some great memories, from childhood holidays to more recent trips.

At the end of the post, I wrote a list of the beach destinations I planned to visit once I was living in Chile, which were as follows:

- Zapallar (Chile)

- Bahía Inglesa (Chile)

- Iquique (Chile)

- Arica (Chile)

- Cartagena (Colombia)

- Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

Fortunately, in early 2022, I was finally able to get out to Chile and have my year and a bit living there with my partner, Claudio. During that time, we managed to visit four out of those six destinations - it would have been five, but unfortunately we both came down with Covid just before our planned trip to Bahía Inglesa, so that remains on our list for future travels in South America, as does Cartagena. 

After my time in Chile, I spent three months of this year working in Malta, so had the opportunity to visit even more fabulous beaches.

And now my previous list of favourite beaches is in serious need of updating! So here's a new list of ten of my faves, but made up entirely of beaches I visited in the 18 months between February 2022 and August this year...

Las Cujas, Chile

This is a beach not too far from Santiago that Claudio found out about on TikTok. The video he saw made it seem like a kind of secluded, "secret" place, which turned out to be far from the truth! But although it was very busy when we visited during the height of summer in February 2022, it was still a great experience to visit this picture-perfect beach with sparkling blue water, surrounded by vibrant green vegetation. We actually went there during my first week back in the country, and it felt like the perfect start to a year of amazing travels!

Read more here!

Iquique, Chile

Our first big trip of last year was to the city of Iquique, in the far north of Chile. This was the first beach destination located in the tropics that I ever visited, but it's not exactly a "tropical beach" per se - it's located on the edge of the Atacama Desert and has a dry, desert climate. That's not to say that the beaches there aren't great places to visit though - quite the opposite! The city has several beautiful beaches, which are ideal for surfing - the most famous being Playa Cavancha, a huge stretch of sand dotted with skyscrapers and palm trees, which reminds me of photos I've seen of Miami.

Read more here!

Arica, Chile

Arica is the furthest north city in Chile, right next to the border with Peru. We went there in June 2022 for some winter sun, as the weather there is sunny and nice all year round, which is not the case for the beaches nearer Santiago. The city has a huge beach, Playa Chinchorro, with big waves for surfing, but one of its smaller beaches, Playa El Laucho (pictured above), is probably my favourite beach in the entire country, as it's so picturesque and also has gentle waves which make it perfect for swimming.

Read more here!

Zapallar, Chile

This beach town near Santiago gets crowded in the summer (it's where many upper-class people have their summer houses) but when we went in the middle of winter 2022, it was so tranquil and peaceful. It has various examples of European-style architecture to look at, as well as some interesting rock formations, and is definitely one of the prettiest beaches in central Chile.

Read more here!

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

It was a dream of mine for many years to visit Rio de Janeiro, so going there with Claudio last December was really an incredible experience. Even though the weather was bad for most of our week there, we still enjoyed swimming and spending time at the city's beaches, of which there are many. Copacabana is a very lively beach and the perfect place to enjoy a caipirinha, but our favourite beach was Ipanema/Leblon. The view from Pedra do Arpoador of the beach and Morro Dois Irmãos is absolutely breathtaking.

Read more here!

Arraial do Cabo, Brazil

Our last day in Brazil was spent on a boat trip around the paradise that is Arraial do Cabo, a few hours away from the city of Rio. On this day, we were lucky to have sunshine at last! During the trip, we visited two beautiful white sand beaches, one on an island and one on the mainland, and we also jumped out of the boat at one particular spot to snorkel around a coral reef, where colourful fish were swimming. This was definitely one of my most special travel memories of all time!

Read more here!

Papudo, Chile

Our trip to Papudo in January was actually another one of my favourite travel memories. This beach town to the north of Zapallar has some stunning beaches (such as the one pictured above) as well as some incredible wildlife to spot. We took a rather extreme speed dinghy trip to a nearby island, where we were lucky enough to see some adorable penguins and sea lions! But most special of all, we saw a beautiful dolphin jumping in and out of the water.

Read more here!

Frutillar, Chile

This beach is somewhere a bit different to the others on the list. For one, it's not by the ocean or sea, but rather by a lake, specifically Lago Llanquihue, one of the largest natural lakes in South America. In addition, it's generally not a beach you'd visit for sunbathing and swimming, as it's located in the south of Chile, which is cold most of the year! But it's absolutely one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to - it has stunning views of the snowy Volcán Osorno across the water and is surrounded by lovely architecture.

Read more here!

Viña del Mar, Chile

Even though I'd visited Viña in both 2018 and 2020, it didn't make it on to my initial list of favourite beaches, for whatever reason. But anyway, it's going on this one! Viña del Mar is one of Chile's biggest and most popular beach destinations, and it's also one of its best. Not only does it have some beautiful beaches, such as Playa El Sol (pictured above), but it also has some fabulous architecture to check out, including several castles and palaces!

Read more here!

Ramla Beach, Gozo, Malta

Of course, I also have to include a beach from my months in Malta on this list. Although the island of Malta is very rocky and doesn't have many sandy beaches, its sister island Gozo has several. I had a great weekend in Gozo, which is a very beautiful and peaceful place, and especially enjoyed visiting Ramla Beach, which has some of the clearest water I've ever swum in.

Read more here!

It has been fun compiling this list of ten more of my favourite beaches! If I had to make an overall list of my favourite beach destinations from this list and my previous list, my top ten would probably be: Rio de Janeiro, Arraial do Cabo, Arica, Papudo, Algarrobo, Slano, Zapallar, Frutillar, Ramla Bay and La Serena. But I'll probably change my mind sooner or later, as I do about most of my Travel Tips lists, haha!

Hopefully, I'll be updating this list again in the future, because I plan to visit plenty of beach destinations within the next few years. Claudio and I want to do as much travelling as possible before having kids, including visiting Southeast Asia, Australia and Mexico. I'm hoping we can do at least one of these trips in 2024, which would be really exciting!

That's all for today, but I'll be blogging again next weekend, if I have the time. See you soon!

Check out the rest of my Travel Tips here!

Frutillar

On our last afternoon in the south of Chile, Claudio and I visited Frutillar.

As soon as we got off the bus from Puerto Varas, we were absolutely enchanted by the little town. Like Puerto Varas, Frutillar is located on Llanquihue Lake, but here we were actually able to see Volcán Osorno across the water! There is a beach on the shore of the lake, backed by autumnal trees, and plenty of lovely places to take photos, including a pavilion, a pier, and a sculpture of a piano.

The whole place was just so beautiful and peaceful.

After a look around, we went to find somewhere for lunch. We had been interested in going to this fairytale-style restaurant with a clock, where Claudio's family went in February 2022 (apparently the town was heaving with tourists then!), but it was closed.

In the end, we went to quite a fancy restaurant in the town's theatre. We sat outside on a terrace over the lake, which definitely has to be one of the most scenic places I've ever eaten in!

After lunch, we went to the German Colonial Museum, which recreates the houses and workplaces of the migrants who came to the area in the 19th century. Not only is it an interesting place to visit, but it's also very beautiful. Being there, you could almost believe that you were in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, if it wasn't for the volcanoes in the distance!

We finished off our day with hot chocolate and cake in Chucao Café, a really cosy place with lots of vegan options. There was even a gorgeous little cat there!

It was the perfect end to a lovely holiday! We just wished we could have had a few extra days in the area, as there was more we would have liked to see. But we visited the main places we wanted to go to: Petrohué Waterfalls and Chiloé, and overall we really felt like we made the most out of the three days that we had. 

I hope to have the opportunity to return to the south of Chile at some point in the future!

Puerto Varas

Puerto Varas was the town where Claudio and I stayed during our April holiday in the south of Chile, and it was a really nice place to stay, in addition to being a great base for exploring the area.

The town is located on the shore of Llanquihue Lake, the largest lake that's entirely located in Chile, and like the other towns around the lake, it has a strong German influence. This is because thousands of Germans emigrated to the area in the 19th century, and built many German-style buildings.

The hotel where we stayed is one of them! We chose to stay at the Radisson Park Inn, which is one of the more reasonably-priced hotels in Puerto Varas. It's a very cosy place with wood panelling and underfloor heating, and it definitely gave us that sense of Gemütlichkeit! 

But the most famous building in Puerto Varas is definitely the church, Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, which we went to see on the first full evening of our holiday. This church features in most of the professional photos you can find of Puerto Varas, and it's easy to see why - it's very pretty and very German looking!

Afterwards we had a walk down to the lake, where we found this amphitheatre and a shining statue of a cross on the other side of the water.

We explored around the lake some more on our last morning.

Naturally, we saw a couple of German-style buildings!

But one of the most interesting buildings has to be the Pablo Fierro Museum, a house that looks like a boat and has lots of unusual decorations.

One thing we missed in Puerto Varas was seeing the Osorno volcano across the lake - it was nearly always covered by cloud, and we only managed to see it very briefly while on the minibus to Chiloé.

But the lake on its own was still beautiful to see, and we even paddled in it despite the autumn weather. A nice dog decided to join us!

Puerto Varas is considered to be the touristic capital of the south of Chile, and it's easy to see why!

Next I'll be writing about our afternoon in Frutillar: one of the most beautiful towns we've ever visited...