Valparaíso Coast Road

North from Valparaíso along the Pacific: dunes, pelicans and long open curves with nothing between the road and the water.

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Why this ride

A one-way ride of 128 km, Valparaíso to the finish - roughly 2 h 28 in the saddle. It goes by way of Concon and Maitencillo. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.

Roadbook

1. Valparaíso start

   Valparaíso is where the day begins.

2. Concon scenic

   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.

3. Maitencillo scenic

   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.

4. Zapallar finish

   Zapallar closes the day.

Where this sits

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