Astronomical Tourism in Chile - Elqui Valley and San Pedro de Atacama

The Fourth Region of Coquimbo, land of pirates and buccaneers, flowered deserts and magnificent skies, is located in the area known as "Norte Chico” of Chile. It has about 300 kms. of coastline and it is also here where we can find the narrowest part of the Chilean territory, just 90 kms. wide, in the south of the region.

The capital of the fourth region is the beautiful city of La Serena, about 480 kms. north of Santiago, the Chilean capital city.

Its area covers 40.707 km ² ,equal to 5.2% of the total national territory. It is divided into 3 provinces (Elqui, Limarí and Choapa) and its population, according to the latest census of 2002, is 600.363 inhabitants.

Undoubtedly, this is one of the most concerned regions about giving priority in developing and expanding the tourism industry, not just sun and beach areas, but other types of mass tourism as well, which only the Coquimbo Region can provide. For example, esotericism, solar cookers, cultural tourism and above all, astronomical tourism, given its extraordinary geography, which makes it unique around the globe.

"Chile, with its clean skies of the northern desert, is a privileged region for astronomical observations"

It is within this region, in its mountain valleys, with a steep and barren aspect that we find the ideal place to practice Astronomical Tourism. But the question is, why here? It is not difficult to explain, simply because the Elqui Valley and its surroundings offer incomparable clean skies which has echoed in the global recognition of the thousands of tourists every year who have been close to these mystical lands of the north of Chile. The excellent weather in the interior of the region allows the practice of observation of the skies at least 300 days a year.

Astronomical Tourism is essentially of special interest, oriented to the mere observation of the skies and is performed primarily in geographic locations that possess all the necessary to do so. Your practice may be professional or amateur, but it does not require anything special, just the joy of learning and discovering the mysteries above us.

Despite how extraordinary this practice may result to be, and the climatic and geographic advantages that the region represents, in Chile it is a relatively new concept and the offer is still limited. However, there are more than enough reasons to build astronomical observatories. What we want in this site is to give a broader meaning to astronomical tourism and its virtues, what to do, what to know, what recommendations we can give. The complete objective is that this site becomes a practical guide for tourists.

The vast majority of observatories in Chile, are scientific and belong to organizations such as the ESO (European Southern Observatory), internationaly known. These are Paranal and Amazones in Norte Grande of Chile; and Tololo,  La Silla, Campanas and Pachón in the Region of Coquimbo.

Mamalluca, also in this region, is exclusively of tourist interest. It does not belong to any organization. It belongs to the community of the Elqui Valley. It belongs to the Chilean community. It belongs to the international community.