Country Article / Postcards

The "Cadillac" of Beachfront Towns

Date: 07/11/2006

International Living Postcards-- your daily escape

Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Zapallar, Chile

Dear International Living Reader,

When it comes to coastal living in Chile, Zapallar is the "Cadillac" of Pacific coastal towns. It sounds like hype, but this is truly the jewel of the central Chilean coast.

Approximately two hours from Santiago, Zapallar was originally a hacienda that ran for miles along the shoreline. The hacienda owner had a vision: A community of large homes and cottages connected by a network of well-maintained pathways along the beach. In the late 1800s, he gave away land to any of his friends who were willing to build a house within two years. Thus, a town was born.

Zapallar is an exclusive community of seaside restaurants, mansions, cottages, and a few low-rise apartments, built around a quiet sheltered cove on the Pacific. Surrounded by ancient oaks and pines, the beach is excellent for swimming and sunbathing (although the water is a bit cold for me) with two fantastic seafood restaurants but a few feet away, as well as the still-maintained walkway that takes you to the fishermen’s pier in one direction, and along the coast in the other.

The town itself is small and quiet, but big enough for you to buy supplies and do your banking. You’ll even find a few real estate agents.

I looked at large, stately homes with dormers looking out over the sea that go for as high as $700,000. There’s also reasonable oceanfront land available, as well as a few reasonably-priced "Zapallar wannabe" planned communities starting to spring up not too far from town.

I met Jan, who rents his apartments short-term to vacationers. He’s selling one of his apartments (probably it’s already sold by the time you read this): A new two-bedroom apartment, furnished, a couple of blocks from the beach, in one of Zapallar’s restored original buildings. Jan claims he made $12,000 in rentals during the high season with this apartment. Price: $200,000, tel. + (56) 33 741 313.

Directly on the beach, a large, 1,350-square-foot apartment in the pines with a claimed rental income of about $14,000 per year costs $400,000. The least expensive--but quite livable--house I saw in town was $140,000, about three blocks from the beach. Contact real estate agent Elias Figueroa at Zapallar_properties@tie.cl for either of these properties.

Lee Harrison
Roving Latin America Editor, International Living

P.S. There’s only one hotel and one B&B in town, so make your reservations early when you visit. Also, Jan--who has the apartments for sale above--will rent his apartments by the day or week. I found the hotel Isla Seca to have poor service and to be generally over-rated by the guidebooks. The Mirador however--just down the street--is one of Chile’s finest.