Chile / Valparaiso
El Tabo
El Tabo is a coastal resort area in Valparaiso, Chile. Its longest mapped beach (Playa Las Gaviotas) stretches about 2.7 km and has a sand surface. The sea averages 16.2 °C in February, its warmest month, and 12.2 °C in August; it never reaches 21 °C on average.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
The sea peaks at 16.2 °C in February. Most swimmers find water below 20 °C cold; a wetsuit is common here.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Services in the resort
- 34Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 3Public toilets
- –Showers
- 4Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 15Hotels & guesthouses
- 1Campsites
- 5Grocery shops
- 11Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 3Pharmacies & clinics
- 2Cash machines
- 1Viewpoints
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 27 restaurants, 3 cafés, 2 bars and 2 fast-food outlets. Accommodation: 15 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Month by month
October at El Tabo
Beach-day index 5.0/10 · Chile median 4.5
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 15.9 °C | 16.2 °C | 15.7 °C | 14.3 °C | 13.5 °C | 13.1 °C | 12.5 °C | 12.2 °C | 12.4 °C | 12.7 °C | 13.4 °C | 14.7 °C |
| High °C | 28° | 27° | 26° | 22° | 19° | 16° | 15° | 16° | 18° | 21° | 24° | 26° |
| Low °C | 13° | 13° | 12° | 10° | 9° | 7° | 6° | 6° | 7° | 8° | 10° | 11° |
| Rain mm | 2 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 55 | 71 | 58 | 50 | 15 | 11 | 6 | 3 |
| Cloud % | 40 | 42 | 44 | 48 | 62 | 60 | 58 | 56 | 54 | 53 | 43 | 41 |
| Wind m/s | 3.4 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 3.5 |
| Daylight h | 14.1 | 13.3 | 12.4 | 11.3 | 10.4 | 10.0 | 10.1 | 10.9 | 11.8 | 12.9 | 13.8 | 14.4 |
| Record high/low | 38°/8° | 35°/9° | 36°/8° | 32°/4° | 32°/3° | 28°/-1° | 26°/-0° | 28°/-1° | 29°/1° | 32°/3° | 33°/5° | 34°/6° |
| Beach index | 7.4 | 7.4 | 7.2 | 5.7 | 3.6 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.6 | 5.0 | 6.6 | 7.1 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
The beach-day index peaks in December–March; January scores 7.4/10 with highs of 28 °C, sea at 15.9 °C and 2 mm of rain.
In January that is 0.4 points above the median of the 204 beaches in Chile covered by this atlas.
Across the year the sea averages 13.9 °C, cooler than 77% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
June is the wettest month (71 mm) and January the driest (2 mm); the yearly total is about 290 mm.
Daylight runs from 10.0 hours in June to 14.4 hours in December; in mid-January the sun rises at 06:51 and sets at 20:59 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces south-west (225°). Open water fills about 44% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
The sun sets over the sea in every month; in mid-June it goes down at 17:45 local time on a bearing of 298°.
Straight out to the south-west there is open water for more than 2,000 km, so the beach is exposed to long ocean swell.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 231 m deep and 47 m at 3 km, so deep water starts close to shore. Behind the beach the ground is about 52 m above sea level 500 m inland and 97 m at 1.5 km, so the beach is backed by steep slopes or cliffs.
Within 1 km, the land is 53% built-up land, 33% tree cover and 8% bare ground, sand or rock (satellite land-cover map, 2021): an urban beach. Water makes up 38% of that circle.
- Built 53%
- Tree 33%
- Bare 8%
- Grass 5%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport Santiago | SCL | 82.3 km | east |
| Governor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport Mendoza | MDZ | 277 km | east |
| Suboficial Ay Santiago Germano Airport San Rafael | AFA | 326 km | south-east |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 11 bus stops within 1.5 km and 4 mapped car parks within 1 km.
3 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 36.3K residents); within 30 km there are 7 (about 173.2K).
From above
Around the beach
Attractions & museums
- Museo Histórico & Antigüedades - La Casona museum 490 m SE
- Mampato attraction 540 m E
Nature
- Quebrada De Córdoba nature reserve 640 m NE
Campsites
- Camping El Castillo El Tabo 560 m NW
Map and nearby beaches
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Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 19.4 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w142500268; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons, author and licence under each image.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2C_19HBD_20260502_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 4.4K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.