Beaches
Pichilemu has many expansive dark sand beaches. The water is cool year-round, and many tourists choose to swim at the shore break during the summer months. Common activities include bodyboarding, surfing, windsurfing, and kitesurfing.
The northernmost of the beaches is Playa Las Terrazas or Playa Principal (The Terraces Beach or Main Beach), which is in front of Ross Park. It is popular for surfing. Near the beach and at Ross Park, there are balustrades and long stairs dating from the early 1900s. There is a balcony over the rocks at the southern end of the beach. It is the busiest during the summer months. Several surf schools, such as La Ola Perfecta, and Lobos del Pacífico, are located nearby, as is the fish market at Fishermen Creek.
Located south of the town and around the other side of the Puntilla, Playa Infiernillo (Little Hell Beach) is rocky and has tide-pools. This area is used for fishing. South of Infiernillo is Playa Hermosa (Beautiful Beach), which is popular for walking and fishing.
Further south, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from Pichilemu, Punta de Lobos features a beach sheltered from the southern winds. It is an increasingly popular destination for tourists and surfers. Several surf contests are held there, including an international big-wave contest during the Chilean fall. The size of waves varies throughout the year. Large swells in fall and winter can reach heights of up to 15 metres (49 ft). It is widely considered one of the best beaches for surfing worldwide.
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Famous quotes containing the word beaches:
“They commonly celebrate those beaches only which have a hotel on them, not those which have a humane house alone. But I wished to see that seashore where man’s works are wrecks; to put up at the true Atlantic House, where the ocean is land-lord as well as sea-lord, and comes ashore without a wharf for the landing; where the crumbling land is the only invalid, or at best is but dry land, and that is all you can say of it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)