Things to do in La Serena
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit La Serena
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Summer peak with the warmest beach weather and all tours daily, busiest and dearest in the first half of February.
Best all round months, crowds vanish, prices fall and harvest colours the Elqui Valley.
Winter astro season, quiet and grey on the coast in the mornings but clearest and calmest in the Elqui.
Fiestas Patrias and La Pampilla take over Coquimbo, with a regional holiday on 20 September.
Spring warms up, kite season strengthens at Puclaro, and flowering desert years can bloom into November.
What's on
- Fiesta de La Pampilla around 17 to 21 September
Chiles biggest Fiestas Patrias party in Coquimbo, with fondas, cueca and major acts, drawing huge daily crowds.
- Desierto Florido September to October, wet years only
The flowering desert north and south of La Serena, peaking around mid October in bloom years, never guaranteed.
- Fiesta de Andacollo Fiesta Grande 25 to 27 December
A major pilgrimage to the Virgen de Andacollo sanctuary, with traditional dancing brotherhoods filling the town.
- Fiesta de Andacollo Fiesta Chica first Sunday in October
The smaller Andacollo pilgrimage, a respectful day trip an hour from La Serena.
Best things to do in La Serena
Jardín Japonés Kokoro no Niwa
A large, immaculately kept Japanese garden with koi ponds and a wooden bridge, and the quietest hour in the city centre.
Museo Arqueológico de La Serena
The regions Diaguita collections and a moai from Rapa Nui, giving the Elqui day trips their context in one visit.
La Recova
A colonial courtyard market best used for a cheap seafood lunch upstairs and papaya products to take home.
Plaza de Armas de La Serena
The leafy main square and cathedral anchor a one hour walk past the stone churches of the historic centre.
Faro Monumental de La Serena
The city postcard lighthouse at the north end of the avenue, worth a photo and a sunset, not a whole excursion.
Museo Gabriela Mistral
The Nobel poets birthplace museum in Vicuña, explaining the Elqui landscape through the writer who came from it.
Fundo Los Nichos
A historic pisquera with an underground cellar and copper stills, and the best single pisco history lesson in the valley.
Doña Josefa de Elqui - Pisco Artesanal
A small family artisanal distillery in Pisco Elqui pouring generous guided tastings of piscos and sweet wines.
Where to stay in La Serena
Avenida del Mar and Peñuelas
first trip, families, beachfront base
Sea facing hotels and the promenade at the door, with seafood eating and a short ride to the centre.
Centro Histórico
valley buses, cheap eating, culture
Flat and walkable with churches, museums and La Recova, quiet at night and close to the bus terminal.
Vicuña, Elqui Valley
stargazing nights
Darker skies and easy observatory returns for one or two nights, with fewer restaurants and no beach.
Think twice about
- Bus terminal perimeter and industrial north edge
Noise, dead streets and no visitor infrastructure. Use the terminal for buses, sleep in the centre or on the avenue.
- Coquimbo port and Barrio Inglés as a sleeping base
Lively for eating by day and early evening, but drunk and rough late at night. Visit it, sleep in La Serena or Peñuelas.
- Peripheral hill neighbourhoods at the edges of both cities
Unlit, no visitor infrastructure and no reason to stay there. Local advice steers visitors away at night.
Best restaurants in La Serena
Bakulic
The avenues splurge seafood table, built on the days fish and scallops, with sunset over the bay toward Coquimbo.
Tololo
Seafood and grill under one roof on the avenue, with open kitchen theatre and warm wood dining rooms.
La Escalera
A small beloved lunch room for Mediterranean pasta, paella and carne mechada, and the citys strongest food ratings.
Restaurant Mi Perú La Serena
The citys Peruvian standard bearer, with ceviches, lomo saltado and properly made pisco sours in generous portions.
Huentelauquén Resto Bar Pizzería
A huge beachfront family resto bar with pizzas, a top floor ocean view and a giant play structure for children.
Terrazza Restaurant
A lively brewpub style terrace for craft beers, burgers, pizzas and seafood plates that invite lingering.
Restaurant Donde Elbita
A no frills seafood lunch on the port side, with pailas and fried fish at a step below avenue prices.
Fuente de Soda Oriente
A classic loud lunch counter for completos and churrascos, fast and well priced, how the centre eats at midday.
Outdoor things to do in La Serena
Reserva Nacional Pingüino de Humboldt
A regulated boat around three islands for Humboldt penguins, sea lions and dolphins, landing on Isla Damas.
Observatorio Mamalluca
The classic first stargazing night near Vicuña, with a talk and telescope time under a dark sky sanctuary.
Observatorio del Pangue
Smaller groups and larger telescopes south of Vicuña, the serious observers choice for deep sky observing.
Observatorio Turístico Collowara
A quieter tourist observatory above Andacollo, a good second astro night paired with the towns sanctuary.
Viñedos de Alcohuaz
One of the worlds highest vineyards, a granite hillside winery in the upper Elqui making serious structured reds.
Cavas del Valle
A small family winery in an old adobe building near Montegrande, with short personal tours and inexpensive bottles.
Embalse Puclaro
A reservoir with a reliable afternoon thermal wind, built for kitesurf and windsurf lessons and riding.
Playa Totoralillo
White sand and clearer water south of Coquimbo, with six surf breaks and a surf school on the sand.
Best hotels in La Serena
Enjoy Coquimbo
The regions only five star hotel, a sea view casino resort in Peñuelas with a spa and several restaurants.
Hotel Club La Serena
A long running beachfront hotel across from Playa El Faro, with gardens, a good pool and family rooms.
Hotel Canto del Mar
A smaller, calmer beachfront hotel further south on the avenue, with a year round pool and a quieter beach stretch.
Hotel Costa Real
A functional touring hotel between the centre and the sea, with parking and staff used to early tour departures.
Terra Diaguita Hotel Boutique & Spa
A Diaguita themed boutique hotel and small spa near the Plaza, the historic centres splurge after a late observatory return.
Hostal El Punto
A well run hostal with dorms and private rooms, breakfast included, a home made food cafe and trusted tour help.
Is La Serena expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | CLP 45,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | CLP 85,000 a person |
| Splurge | CLP 170,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Fundo Los Nichos: a few days ahead
- Reserva Nacional Pingüino de Humboldt: a few days ahead
- Observatorio Mamalluca: a few days ahead
- Observatorio del Pangue: weeks ahead
- Observatorio Turístico Collowara: a few days ahead
- Viñedos de Alcohuaz: a few days ahead
- Cavas del Valle: a few days ahead
- Club de Golf La Serena: a few days ahead
- Book observatories and the Isla Damas boat as soon as dates are fixed from December to March, and keep a spare slot for weather swaps.
- Check the moon before booking stargazing, since a night near full moon is a lesser product at the same price.
- Book Alcohuaz by reservation, Los Nichos on a weekday morning, and rooms and top dinners weeks ahead in January and February.
Is La Serena safe?
- Petty theft is the main risk, at La Recova, the terminal, beaches and car parks, so leave nothing visible in a car.
- The centre goes dead at night away from the Plaza, so take a colectivo or taxi back rather than a long dark walk.
- Elqui sun and UV are extreme and observatory nights drop toward freezing, so carry a hat, water and a warm layer.
- Chile emergency numbers are 133 for police, 131 for ambulance and 132 for fire.
La Serena travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The Faro is free and photogenic but thin as an attraction, so do not pay for a tour of a walk.
- Avenida del Mar water is cold with real currents, so swim at Totoralillo or La Herradura and only between flags.
- At La Recova the first souvenir price is a starting price, and the same knitwear varies stall to stall.
- A rushed half day cannot do the Elqui well, so end a half day in Vicuña rather than promising every stop.
Getting around La Serena: public transport and more
- Walk the flat historic centre and use fixed route colectivos for the centre, avenue and Coquimbo corridors, paying cash in pesos.
- Buses from La Serena terminal to Vicuña take about an hour, with local buses onward to Pisco Elqui and Montegrande.
- La Serena and Coquimbo are one trip, about 15 to 20 minutes apart, so do the port, the cross and Totoralillo as one southern day.
- Cycle the Avenida del Mar path south to Peñuelas, eat there, and return by bike or bus.
Who La Serena suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make La Serena your trip
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