Chile
Pichilemu
Left-hand point breaks roll endlessly into a surf town where horses share the beach with longboarders.
Salt mist hangs over black sand as a set rolls into Punta de Lobos, the left-hand point break peeling for 200 metres along the basalt headland. Horses wander the dunes behind the town beach, unhurried, while longboarders paddle out through knee-deep whitewater. Pichilemu smells of wax, kelp, and the empanadas frying at La Puntilla.
Pichilemu is Chile's surf capital, a coastal town in the O'Higgins Region where consistent Pacific swells wrap around rocky headlands year-round. Punta de Lobos, 6 kilometres south, has hosted ISA World Surfing Games events, with winter face heights reaching 6 metres. The town beach offers gentler inside breaks where surf schools run daily beginner sessions. On the seafront, the 1906 Ross Casino — Chile's first — still stands as a Belle Époque cultural centre, its original wrought-iron balustrades intact. Beyond the waves, Cervecería Indomita brews beer with seawater drawn from the bay, and beachfront restaurants serve machas a la parmesana straight from the razor clam beds offshore.
Solo
The surf culture here runs on solo energy — paddle out alone at dawn, share a wave with a stranger, eat empanadas on the cliff at sunset. Hostels and surf camps make it effortless to find your rhythm.
Couple
Sunset sessions at the point break, razor clams and craft beer at a beachfront table, horses on the dunes at golden hour. Pichilemu delivers Pacific romance without a single resort cliché.
Family
The town beach is sheltered enough for first-timers, and surf schools take kids from age seven. Horses on the sand, rock pools at low tide, and empanada stalls keep non-surfers occupied all day.
Friends
Surf all morning, split a chorrillana at the beachfront bar, and compare wipeout stories over seawater-brewed craft beer. The point break rewards groups who push each other into bigger sets.
- Punta de Lobos, 6km south of town, is the venue for ISA World Surfing Games events — winter swells here reach 6 metres of face height consistently.
- Surf schools run beginner lessons on the town beach every morning of the year — the swell is gentle enough on the inside section for first-timers.
- Wild horses still graze on the sand dunes behind the beach, moved between fields by local farmers who have used this route for generations.
- The 1906 casino building on the seafront is Chile's first casino — the original Belle Époque structure now functions as a cultural centre with the architecture intact.
Machas a la parmesana — razor clams baked with Parmesan and white wine at beachfront restaurants.
Post-surf empanadas de mariscos from La Puntilla's beachside stalls.
Craft beer at Cervecería Indomita, brewed with seawater from the bay.
Jericoacoara
Brazil
Windswept dunes where the sun melts into the sea from a natural stone arch.
St Ives
England
Light so luminous it lured a century of painters to this harbour of turquoise shallows.
Tulpar-Köl
Kyrgyzstan
Alpine pools at 3,500 metres that mirror a 7,000-metre peak at dawn like shattered glass.
Philae Temple
Egypt
A temple rescued from rising waters, reassembled stone by stone on an island in the Nile.
Valparaíso
Chile
Forty-two hills of riotous street art where funiculars creak between graffiti-walled stairways.
San Pedro de Atacama
Chile
Adobe village where you stargaze through the driest, clearest sky on Earth.
Torres del Paine
Chile
Granite towers erupt from Patagonian steppe, condors riding thermals above ice-blue lakes.
Chiloé Island
Chile
Wooden churches on stilts above fog-laced fjords where witchcraft mythology still breathes.