Tourism in Vicuña city

Distance: 66 Kilometers away from La Serena
Main Activity: Agriculture

A town located at 66 kilometers from La Serena. It has an altitude of 620 m.a.s.l.

The zone known as the Norte Chico. It is a welcoming city showing the characteristics of the Chilean countryside life. Its economical activity is centered on the agriculture of vine, fruits, cereals, folders and vegetables. Its liqueur Pisco de Elqui is renowned.

Site Attractions:

Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory
This scientific complex contains many telescopes and instruments dedicated to professional astronomical observation. It is approximately 80 km east of the city of La Serena, in the municipality of Vicuña, at 2,200 meters above sea level. It currently contains 8 telescopes and a radio telescope. The development of the Interamerican Observatory at Cerro Tololo started in the year 1963, after an extensive 3 year search for a suitable site in the southern hemisphere for the observation of skies which cannot be seen from the north. In order to arrange a visit, it is necessary to obtain permission from the Observatory offices in La Serena.

Outlooker Virgin
Gabriela Mistral and Solar de los Madariaga Museums

Museum of the poet Gabriela Mistral. A building that preserves the archive, the library, paintings, awards and personal belongings of Gabriela Mistral.

Pichasca Natural Monument
Pichasca was declared a National Monument in 1969. It stands 56 km northeast of Ovalle, on a hill which rises from the north bank of the Hurtado river. It is an important area for archaeology and paleontology, as it contains fossils and the petrified remains of plants. Pichasca also was declared a Natural Monument. Here you can see the Fossil Forest, which is of great paleontological importance; fossils of dinosaurs and titanosaurs; and an overhanging cliff, or rock dwelling, occupied by man 10,000 years ago. The park consists of 128 hectares, with some vegetation, on the banks of the Hurtado river. Of particular interest is the overhanging rock called Casa de Piedra (House of Stone) which offers a characteristic example of a prehistoric shelter and provides anthropological evidence for the Pichasca area.

Solar de los Madariaga. Museum- House of antiquities.

Municipal Observatory Cerro Mamalluca
The Mamalluca observatory is a scientific, educational and tourist center which is located 9 km northeast of the town of Vicuña, 60 km east of La Serena and 565 km from Santiago at an altitude of 1,200 meters above sea level. It is open to the public, and tourists who have a particular interest in astronomy are able to visit the observatory every night of the year, subject only to unforeseen weather conditions.
For visitors will need to go to the town of Vicuña (an hour from La Serena by Ruta 41) and register at the Observatory office in Calle Gabriela Mistral 260, Office 1, next to the Bauer Tower and only a few yards away from the main square of Vicuña.
There are specialist guides who give explanatory talks about the observatory. The duration of the visit is about 2 hours and the time it takes to get to the observatory from Vicuña is about 20 minutes.

Rio Claro Valley, a place that is characterized by being one of the spots with highest growth-rate in tourism in Chile. Old country houses have been torned into modern hotels.