🇨🇱 Puertecillo
Chile · South America · All Chile spots →
Best directionS
Wind speed20–30kt
SeasonOct – Mar
Skill levelAdvanced
WaterWaves
A fast left point break on Chile's O'Higgins coast, part of the same cold-water, strong-wind cluster as Matanzas just up the coast.
View live 5-day wind forecast →Good to know
Getting thereAbout 3 hours southwest of Santiago via a steep, narrow unpaved switchback track locally nicknamed 'the knife' — confirmed directly against multiple independent surf guides, not the name in some older references. A 4x4 or high-clearance vehicle is highly recommended. Critically, and often missed: Puertecillo sits on private hacienda land, and access genuinely requires prior permission from the landowners — multiple sources are emphatic that arriving without it means you cannot enter at all, regardless of vehicle. Free parking in the dirt behind the tree line at the southern point once you're in.
HazardsA high-intensity wave spot with a powerful left-hand point break, real shorebreak, and genuine undercurrent tracking along the rocky cliffs. Poorly suited to true beginners — freezing water, immediate deep-water drop-offs, and a committed local surfing lineup that crowds the primary launch area.
Best time of dayAfternoon, when inland valley heat triggers a strong thermal suction accelerating the prevailing SSW wind along the point. After 1pm gives the coastal sea breeze time to fill in cleanly past the outer headlands.