Pichilemu (population 9,459) is 126 kilometers west of San Fernando via Santa Cruz. At the north end of town, Playa Terrazas is a long sandy beach, but the curving coast toward the south is studded with rocky outcrops. Unlike most Chilean cities, Pichilemu’s grid is irregular in spots, though the Avenida Costanera follows the shoreline.

In the early 20th century, the Pacific beach town of Pichilemu was an aristocratic destination thanks to Agustín Ross Edwards, who bought Fundo Petrén in 1885 with the idea of making it a commercial port; despite using his parliamentary seat to promote it, the project failed and he settled for a beach resort with European pretensions.

Pichilemu owes its current celebrity, though, to the left break at Punta de Lobos, six kilometers south of town, where the Campeonato Nacional de Surf (National Surfing Championship) takes place every summer. The water is notoriously chilly, though, and a good wet suit is imperative.

Other good surf spots include the point break at La Puntilla, right in town (spectators will find the breaks a little far offshore to see well without binoculars); the smaller point break at Infiernillo just to its south; and Cahuil, 15 kilometers south of town at the mouth of Estero Nilahue. At Bucalemu, 37 kilometers south via Cahuil and a barge across the Río Nilahue, General Pinochet was briefly under house arrest in his vacation home.

Getting There

Andimar (tel. 072/841534) and Nilahue (tel. 072/841104) buses from the Terminal de Buses Santiago drop passengers at Pichilemu’s Terminal Municipal (Millaco and Los Alerces).