Maitencillo is a beach town in the Puchuncaví district, on a coast of long sands and low dunes where the Pacific rolls in with real weight. It is better known to Chileans than to visitors from abroad, and it has a surfer's reputation: the swell here is dependable, the beach is wide, and the town has been a quiet summer resort for generations, with apartment blocks and holiday houses tucked into the hillside above the sand. Out of season it is almost empty, and the long gaps between buildings give the coast an unfinished, open feel.
The coastal road north from Concón runs through this part of the shore, and it is the pleasing sort of road that a rider hopes to find. It follows the contours of the land, rising over headlands and dropping to bays, with long sweeping views of the ocean and the wide, pale beaches. The surface is generally good, there is little traffic outside the summer season, and the bends are open and easy. The cold Humboldt Current moderates the heat, but also creates morning fog, so mornings can be grey and cool even in mid-summer, with the sun burning through by late morning.
A few minutes further north is the area around Cachagua and Zapallar, where the shoreline turns rocky and the vegetation thickens. There is a small island offshore that is home to a colony of Humboldt penguins, which is a surprise to anyone who thinks of penguins as polar animals, and they can be seen from the shore with a little patience. Zapallar itself is an old, elegant resort with villas set among trees and a sheltered cove, a favourite of wealthy families from Santiago for more than a century.
Services here are mostly seasonal. In January and February everything is open, with restaurants serving seafood, grilled fish and the usual Chilean plates, but in winter many are shut. Fuel is the issue to plan: the town is small and spread out, so the larger towns inland are the safer place to fill up. Hacienda La Calera and Quillota are both about thirty kilometres away, with all the services you need, and La Ligua, known for its sweets, is in the other direction. Bring a windproof layer, because the afternoon breeze off the sea can be sharp.