Santiago To La Serena Road Trip Ideas at Wicked Campers South America

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Santiago to La Serena

Wicked Campervan Trip Options: Pickup & Dropoff in Santiago only

There are 470 kilometers between the capital of Chile and this city, known for it’s beaches and proximity to places that will amaze you! Now, sounds like a big distance but if you consider you can go to small beaches, restaurantes and visit even National Parks on your way, it’s gonna feel really shorter than it is. You gotta also consider the most important fact: You’re driving a Wicked Campervan!!
Book now, take your 2, 3 or 6 seater and get ready for a trip that will take you from the best beaches and semi desert landscapes to the magic of the Elqui Valley and beauty of natural reserves on the north of Chile.

One great thing is that you are driving your Wicked campervan so you can stay wherever you want while going to La Serena and all the places arround where you will (without any doubt) have incredible times!

Your first stop can be done 200 kilometers away from Santiago, at a quiet little fishing town called Los Molles, a place where to eat nice seafood and, if you want, even scuba dive. Little bit up north you will get to Pichidangui, another small town where you can chill on the beach and suba dive aswell.

If you keep driving north you’ll get to Los Vilos, a larger but still small town that will be your last contact with civilization for a while, so if you want to keep in touch with civilization you can spend the night there and visit the Conchalí Lake Sanctuary, to see some lizards, foxes and beautyful endemic birds.

The rest of your trip till you get to La Serena, you’ll have the chance to visit some other nice beaches and small towns (Tongoy and Totoralillo), and you can also go a little bit off road to visit the Valle Encantado National Monument and the Fray Jorge Forest National Park, both places worth visiting for their beauty and diversity of flora and fauna.

Once you leave Totoralillo, your next stop will be Coquimbo and later La Serena. Both cities are next (really next) to each other so you can choose once you are there, where to stay on your campervan. There, at Coquimbo, you can visit the port, navigate on a touristic ferry and go eat in the traditional market, full of little stores where to eat fish n’ chips, seafood empanadas or ceviche, a fish, onion and coriander preparation that will take out of you even the worst hangover!

In La Serena you’ll find almost 10 kilometers of beaches (!) plus the chance to buy everything you’ll need to go to your next stop: Elqui Valley, an enchanted place, with spaces for party, introspection, adventure and a singular nightsky. You can actually make your apointment to visit some of the touristic observatories and watch the universe from one of the clearest skyes worldwide!

At Elqui you’ll find endless vineyards for the production of pisco, a local drink you can (and should) taste in the pisco route, wich will also let you know how is it made and why is so nice to drink it!

If you go further inside the valley you’ll get to Pisco Elqui, a little touristic town where the pisqueras are located (pisco factories) and where you can find campings full of parties, nice people and also, space enough to have a quiet night at your Wicked campervan in case that’s what you’re looking for.

Even more hidden in the valley is Cochiguaz, the very land of enchantment, where people say you can see gnomes and even UFO’S!!!

And for the last, the coming back, a totally different trip! You just need to drive your Wicked campervan by the internal routes, from Vicuña (Town of Nobel price winner Gabriela Mistral) to Ovalle and, on route, visit the Pichasca National Monument, a paleontelogical area where you will see logs of petrified woods, woods of prehistoric animals like the Antarctosaurio and Tytanosaurio, and even traces of human settlement from 8000 years ago!

Once in Ovalle you have to visit the local Plaza de Armas of this little pearl of a town. Our next stop is a rural town called Monte Patria, and this is the kind of town you want to spend your money on a restaurant. Going south now welcomes us the stone artisans town Combarbalá, where you can do a little shopping for gifts or yourselves, near town is the astronomical Observatory ‘Cruz del Sur’. We are getting to the final oasis on the way: Las Chinchillas National Reserve and Illapel, this is the narrowest territory in Chile, you can see both cordilleras, the Coastal and Los Andes surrounding you. From Illapel it’s just head back to the coast and you’ll get to Los Vilos, the rest is just going south to Santiago.

Cheap Campervan Hire Trips

Here at Wicked Campers we’ve developed a range of Campervan Trip Ideas for roadtrips around Santiago – check them out!

Santiago to San Pedro

Santiago to La Serena

Santiago to Valparaíso

Santiago loop

Santiago to Siete Tazas

Santiago to Pichilemu

Santiago to Puerto Varas

You wanna’ jump out of a plane or sail the Cabo de Hornos? Just ask Us baby! We have friends all over the place!

We have a variety range of van from a 2, 3, 4 and 5-seater campervans, minicampers and 4WD that will accommodate your travel in Chile. Enjoy the country and save your pocket money for beers and tickets to atractions and activities, instead of putting it in expensive accommodation.
Check out our campervans and see which one is the perfect option for you: