La Serena is a mix of old colonial and beach town, with massive beaches as far as the eye can see about a fifteen minute walk from the edge of town.
We arrived early in the morning and every establishment was closed - it felt like a ghost town. We eventually found the hostel we were looking for but nobody answered the bell when we rang. We waited.
After about an hour somebody finally came to the door and we were welcomed in. Sadly they were remarkably expensive, so we asked if there was anywhere else they could recommend we stay.
A 15 minute cab ride later we were in the middle of nowhere. We decided we didn’t want to stay in the middle of nowhere and had the cabby drive us back to town where we went back to a hole-in-the-wall house that a lady was renting rooms in.
Weather (Celcius)
Elevation (m)
Travel Planning: La Serena, Chile
From laurensluggage:
La Serena is another lovely beach town , with a population of about 150,000. We ended up staying three nights and two days and in that time strolled along the beach, had a look at the Chinese garden, the Arqueologico museum and the zoo in the local park and generally just wandered around the streets. It was a really nice town and the weather was great while we were there, so we spent quite a bit of time just lazing around in the sun.
Do
- Bahia del Elki about an hour by bus from town. Neef to staybthere.
Getting Out
Valparaiso
- Bus times are 1:10AM-8AM, 6:20AM-1PM, 11:40AM-7:30PM. Prices are 11,500/19,900 for semi/salon cama respectively.
Sleep
El Hibisco
El Arbol
- 91% hostelworld
-
1 tripadvisor
- 9500 for dorms 18000 privates
El Punto
-
2 on tripadvisor
Aji Verde Hostel
- 86% hostelworld
- 9000 for dorms 22000 for privates
Below 80%
- Hostal Balmaceda 79% (#4 on tripadvisor)
- Andes hostal Serena Centro 75%
- Backpackers La Serena 71%
Bussing from Copiapó to La Serena
| Time | Location |
|---|---|
| 12:09AM | On the bus. |
| 12:23AM | On our way. |
| 4:49AM | Arrived. |
| Totals | Totals |
|---|---|
| Total bus time | 4:26 |
Random Hospidaje
Where we’re staying.
La Escalera
Grabbing quick food before we have to buy our Burning Man tickets.
Jack Fish Sushi
Pretty good sushi for $20. Really strong wasabi! Pretty much everything has cheese.
Ayawasi
Here for some tasty organic noms. They were really good and reasonably-priced to boot!
Japanese-ish Gardens
Washed up on the Beach
Cafetería Poisson
Really expensive decent wraps and milkshakes.
La Picá de la Flo
Really tasty and cheap burgers.
Sibarita's Restaurant
Shitty hotdogs that are mostly mayo. Cheap though at 900.
Telepizza menu #1
Telepizza menu #2
Telepizza
Attempting to find decent food.
Bussing from La Serena to Valparaiso
| Time | Location |
|---|---|
| 11:16PM | At the bus terminal. |
| 11:50PM | Our bus didn’t show up (turbus). |
| 11:59PM | Got moved to a new bus. |
| 12:03AM | On our way. |
| 6:25AM | In Santiago. |
| 7:03AM | Had a muffin for breakfast. |
| 7:28AM | Boarded the Valparaiso bus. |
| 7:33AM | On our way. |
| 9:18AM | Arrived. |
| 9:29AM | In a cab. |
| 10:07AM | Checking in to Hostal Casa Valparaiso. |
| Totals | Totals |
|---|---|
| Total bus time | 8:07 |