Concón is the first bite of the sea you get north of Viña del Mar, and it announces itself with a smell: grilled shellfish, wood smoke and kelp. The town is Chile's unofficial empanada capital, famous for the fried and baked pastries stuffed with seafood or cheese, and the restaurants along the coast road take them seriously. Fresh fish, crab and sea urchin are the other local passions, and a table with a view of the fishing boats in the cove is the right way to spend an hour.
It sits where the Aconcagua River reaches the Pacific, and the setting is a mix of the dramatic and the industrial. On one side are golden dunes, a protected area where the sand piles up in huge, shifting hills against the pines. On the other are the chimneys and storage tanks of an oil refinery, a reminder that this stretch of coast works for its living. Between them, the coast road runs along cliffs, rocks and small beaches, with pelicans, sea lions and cormorants on the offshore rocks. The Humboldt Current keeps the water cold and the air cool, and low cloud often covers the coast in the morning, lifting around midday.
For riding, this is a pleasant, relaxed corner. The coastal road is a series of flowing bends and short climbs above the water, with places to pull off and look at the surf breaking on the rocks. Weekend traffic from Santiago, a couple of hours away, can be heavy, particularly in the summer holidays from January to February, when the coast fills with families. The quieter months, from autumn to spring, are much more civilised, though the sea mist is more persistent. Watch for sand blown across the road near the dunes, and for wet patches under the cloud.
Viña del Mar is eleven kilometres to the south and has all the fuel, food and accommodation you could want, with Valparaíso just beyond. The town itself has plenty of petrol stations along its main road, and cafes and seafood places scattered along the shore. If you can, time your meal for the late afternoon, when the light on the water is at its best and the day's fishing boats have come in.