La Serena

What it is

La Serena is where the Norte Chico gets organised: you land or step off the bus here, here you decide whether the trip is about beaches, starry skies or both, and almost every excursion leaves from here. Many treat it as a stop on the way to the Elqui Valley and miss what sits a short ride away: a seven-kilometre seafront, the neighbouring city of Coquimbo and a cloud forest growing in the middle of the desert.

It is a mid-sized city with a historic centre you can walk end to end and a mild climate almost all year. One night covers the basics; with two, the city stops being a chore.

The seafront and the beaches

Avenida del Mar is the strip that joins La Serena to Coquimbo. From the Faro Monumental southward there are seven kilometres of long beaches, and in summer lifeguard and paramedic teams are on duty. A bike lane runs along much of it, so it works for bikes or skates, and it continues along Avenida Costanera once inside Coquimbo.

You get onto it from Francisco de Aguirre and Cuatro Esquinas avenues, or through the Peñuelas area. Every beach in Chile is public, and nobody can charge you to set foot on one.

To the north, Punta de Teatinos has a wetland you look at from the shore: no camping, swimming or driving onto the sand. South of Coquimbo, La Herradura and Totoralillo are known for calm water. For an easy sunny afternoon, those two are the safest bet.

Apta or habilitada: check before you go in the water

A beach with lifeguards is not necessarily a good beach for swimming, and the difference matters. An apta beach has the natural conditions for swimming: an even bottom, a gentle slope, small waves and little current, with a green flag. A habilitada beach has a concessionaire with lifeguards. A beach can be habilitada and not apta, and then the flag is red and you stay out of the water.

The current classification is not the same from one year to the next, so do not trust an old sign. Check the list in the Playas Chile app before deciding where to put your towel down, and follow the flag of the day.

The centre and its opening days

The historic core is walkable: the Plaza de Armas, the Cathedral and, a few steps away, three museums. The Archaeological Museum is in the Zona Típica, the Museum of Sacred Art is next to the Cathedral, and the Gabriel González Videla Historical Museum, beside the square, is under restoration and for now shows only temporary exhibitions in three rooms.

The museums in the centre do not open every day and close on public holidays, so check what is open on the day you have before planning the morning. If your only full day in the city falls on a weekend, keep the seafront as a fallback.

The La Recova market, at Cienfuegos and Cantournet, is the market in the centre. Check its hours before you go. The Jardín del Corazón, a Japanese garden run by the mining company that owns the land, charges admission and is not open every day, so check before leaving it for the end of the afternoon.

The Faro Monumental, with guided visits, marks the start of the seafront: it is the natural starting point for an afternoon walk.

Coquimbo is part of the visit

Coquimbo sits right against La Serena and is more hill and more port. It is worth a full morning or afternoon, and it has stops that chain together well.

The Cruz del Tercer Milenio stands 93 metres tall on El Vigía hill, with a viewpoint that sweeps all the way round the bay, plus a chapel and a museum of religious art. It is the city's postcard and the stop with the most people. Entry is paid and the municipality runs it; the opening hours are updated on the monument's social media, so check before going up. To get to the hill, ask at your accommodation for the best way up, because that last stretch is worth sorting out beforehand.

Fuerte Lambert, from the 19th century, is a walk with a view of Pelícano rock and the bay. You reach it along Regimiento Coquimbo street, towards Punta Pelícanos, and there is no entry charge.

The Barrio Inglés is a neighbourhood of restored 19th-century architecture, with pubs, cafés, the Centro Cultural Palace and the Casa de las Artes. It is the place for the evening and the night. At the fishing port, next to the bus terminal, catamarans leave for the bay and for Los Lobos island. And the mosque, the Mohammed VI Islamic Cultural Centre, is a short visit that surprises on this coast.

Getting from La Serena to Coquimbo

The easy way is the line 9 colectivo, which leaves from Avenida Francisco de Aguirre at the corner of Balmaceda, in La Serena. There are also electric buses between the two cities, paid by card or by QR code on your phone, with no cash. Avenida Costanera also works on foot or by bike if the day is nice and you feel like it: it links the casino, the fishing port, Peñuelas and Changa beaches, the port and the Barrio Inglés with Avenida del Mar.

Getting there

From Santiago there is a direct flight to La Serena airport, which is a few kilometres from the centre, and a bus along Ruta 5 Norte, a long trip best done overnight if you do not want to lose a day. If you fly in, a taxi covers the stretch into town; for other options, ask at the airport.

Bosque Fray Jorge National Park

This is the city's long excursion and the one that takes the most planning: a cloud forest that survives on a dry hill, some 110 kilometres to the south. You take Ruta 5 to kilometre 387 and then a side road heading west. The last stretch is dirt, 27 kilometres kept in good condition, and the only access is route D-540. Watch the GPS: some apps send you by the D-560, which is closed.

Inside the park, the climb to the forest is a track in fair condition. A regular car can manage it with great care, but a 4×4 pickup is the sensible choice. Do not assume there is public transport: if you have no vehicle, ask at your accommodation or at an operator in the city before counting on the park.

The park is not open every day, and the ticket is bought with a date, per person, at pasesparques.cl, with limited places. It is not sold at the gate, and anyone arriving after the last entry is not let in and gets no refund, so set out early. Days and hours can change with weather or safety: confirm before you leave.

The opening is partial. The Semiárido, Bosque Relicto and Los Sentidos trails are open; El Mineral is still closed. Bosque Relicto is the short, easy one, and Semiárido is longer and needs prior authorisation from the park administration. There is no camping inside the park, and fire, pets, drones, music and leaving the trail are all banned. What you carry in, you carry out.

Sleeping in La Serena or in Vicuña

La Serena wins if you arrive by plane or on the night bus, if you want the beach, or if the plan includes Coquimbo and Fray Jorge: the airport is a few kilometres from the centre and the bus terminal is on Amunátegui street. For a first night it is the most practical.

Vicuña wins if the sky is your thing. Mamalluca tickets are bought at an office in town and the tours run at night; sleeping in Vicuña saves you driving back to La Serena after dark. It is also on the way to Cerro Tololo, which has its own visiting day and has to be booked in advance. The guide to the Elqui Valley covers both and what lies further up.

A combination that works: the first night in La Serena, for the seafront and Coquimbo, and the following ones in the valley.

How to split the days

With one night, give the morning to the centre and the seafront, and the afternoon to Coquimbo. With two, Fray Jorge takes a full day and opens only on some days of the week, so fix that day first and fit everything else around it. The museums and the market work better once you have confirmed what is open that day.

If the trip continues to the valley, the four-day route between La Serena and the Elqui already sorts the order: the city first, the Tololo Saturday as the anchor and the observatory nights in Vicuña.