Elqui Valley

What it is

The Elqui is a valley of sky, and almost everything you do in it depends on when it gets dark. People talk of some three hundred clear days a year, a figure that encourages but does not guarantee any particular night. That is why the plan here is built the other way round from most destinations: the observatory nights first, with a spare in case of cloud, and everything else after, which means vineyards, pisco distilleries and a museum dedicated to Gabriela Mistral.

The gateway is Vicuña, the town where you buy tickets and sleep. Further up are Montegrande and Pisco Elqui. Most people enter from La Serena, which has its own page: the guide to La Serena explains the city and what to do before heading up.

Getting there from La Serena

Vicuña is about 60 kilometres from La Serena airport, along Ruta 41. By public transport, the colectivos to Vicuña leave from Domeyko street, between O'Higgins and Balmaceda, in the centre of La Serena. By car, the road is direct to town; what weighs is driving back at night after the observatory.

Mamalluca does not include transport: without your own car, ask at the Vicuña office how to get up there before you pay.

What to sort out before you arrive

The Elqui sky is not bought at the observatory gate. Mamalluca tickets are paid for at an office in the town of Vicuña, not up the hill, and the tour does not include transport: if you reach the summit without a ticket, you turn back. Sort out the ticket in Vicuña before setting off, and leave at least an hour of margin.

Cerro Tololo is the other visit that needs advance planning. It opens only on Saturdays, has limited places and is booked on the NOIRLab website a month ahead. If the trip already has a date, this is one of the first reservations to close. Children under 6 are not recommended.

Cavas del Valle receives visitors by reservation only, made through the winery's form, so that part of the day is fixed before you set out.

Two observatories, two ways of looking

Mamalluca has three different tickets and it pays to know which one you are buying. The astronomical tour lasts about an hour and a half and is in Spanish. The premium lasts two hours and adds a fulldome planetarium and terraces with telescopes. The planetarium alone is a one-hour show, for the night the clouds win.

That last point matters more than it seems. The start time depends on when it gets dark, so it shifts between winter and summer, and the tour can be adjusted for weather. Keep a spare night in your week: if you only have one night in the valley, you only get one chance.

Cerro Tololo is something else: a scientific observatory with a public visit, not an amateur tour. You leave La Serena on the Vicuña road and a signposted gravel turnoff climbs to the hill, which stands at 2,200 metres. The visit is in the morning and fills that whole stretch, so think of it as a block of its own.

The Tololo Saturday

Since Tololo opens only one day a week, it rules the rest of the calendar. Fix the Saturday first, book a month ahead and then arrange the Mamalluca nights around it: a night under the stars the evening before means an early start the next day, and a free night on the Saturday leaves you without a spare if the weather fails.

If you do not get a place, the valley does not collapse: Mamalluca and the planetarium cover the sky side. But anyone travelling for the big telescopes should treat Tololo as the main booking and not as an extra.

Pisco, no rush

In Vicuña, the Centro Turístico Capel is two kilometres from town. It has a tour with a museum and a tasting, a cocktail workshop for groups and a guided tasting of six piscos. Booking is by WhatsApp, and the tour asks for a short wait before it starts.

Fundo Los Nichos is a distillery visited with a guide, at fixed times during the day. Only groups of more than ten people can book, and you have to arrive half an hour early. If you are a couple or a small group, ask on the spot how they fit you in and what it costs.

For other distilleries in Pisco Elqui, ask the seller for the price and the hours before heading up.

Cavas del Valle and the upper valley

Cavas del Valle is on route D-485, at kilometre 14.5, one kilometre before Montegrande, with vineyards above a thousand metres. It is a boutique winery with a 19th-century adobe house, and it offers four visits: the traditional one with a tasting of three wines on the pergola overlooking the valley, the private one with four wines and exclusive time in the house, the masterclass with the winemaker, and the premium with a country lunch.

All of them are requested through the winery's form, where you can also ask about the price and the hours. Because it sits before Montegrande, it fits well on the way up, mid-morning or mid-afternoon.

A museum for the morning

The Gabriela Mistral Museum, in Vicuña, closes on Mondays and on a long list of public holidays, so it is a poor candidate for the last morning of the trip: if it falls on one of those days, there is no second chance. It works better at the start, the day you arrive, before dark and before the sky business begins.

The road and the El Arrayán bridge

Ruta 41 climbs from La Serena to Vicuña and continues up the valley. Between Vicuña and Paihuano, the El Arrayán bridge is under works and is crossed by a bypass opened to keep the road connected. The works advance in stages, so the crossing can change from one week to the next: before heading up to Montegrande or Pisco Elqui, check the state of the road and allow a little more time than you had planned.

Where to sleep

Sleeping in Vicuña fits the logic of the valley best: Mamalluca tickets are bought there, the tours run at night and you do not have to drive back to La Serena after dark. It is also on the way to Tololo. Pisco Elqui is further up, further from the office where Mamalluca is bought, and suits you if pisco weighs more than the sky in your plan.

La Serena is still a good base if you arrive late or want the beach; the guide to the city explains how to split the nights between the coast and the valley.

How to split the days

For two nights, give the first to the observatory and keep the second as a spare, or for Tololo if it falls on a Saturday. Put the museum, Capel and Cavas del Valle in daylight hours, and do not stack two reserved visits in the same stretch of the afternoon.

If you want the order worked out, the four-day route between La Serena and the Elqui builds the nights around the Tololo Saturday and keeps Vicuña as the base.