Chile / Valparaiso
Playa Cau Cau
Playa Cau Cau is a 555 m-long sandy beach facing north, 7.8 km west of Puchuncaví (Valparaiso, Chile). The sea averages 17.3 °C in February, its warmest month, and 12.7 °C in August; it never reaches 21 °C on average.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
Month by month
October at Playa Cau Cau
Beach-day index 4.6/10 · Chile median 4.5
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 16.9 °C | 17.3 °C | 16.8 °C | 15.5 °C | 14.5 °C | 13.7 °C | 13.0 °C | 12.7 °C | 12.9 °C | 13.4 °C | 14.4 °C | 15.6 °C |
| High °C | 26° | 26° | 24° | 22° | 19° | 16° | 16° | 17° | 18° | 20° | 23° | 25° |
| Low °C | 15° | 14° | 14° | 11° | 10° | 8° | 7° | 7° | 8° | 9° | 11° | 13° |
| Rain mm | 2 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 54 | 70 | 56 | 48 | 15 | 12 | 6 | 3 |
| Cloud % | 57 | 56 | 58 | 57 | 66 | 61 | 60 | 59 | 61 | 60 | 56 | 56 |
| Wind m/s | 3.3 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 3.4 |
| Daylight h | 14.1 | 13.3 | 12.3 | 11.3 | 10.5 | 10.0 | 10.2 | 10.9 | 11.9 | 12.8 | 13.8 | 14.3 |
| Record high/low | 35°/10° | 33°/11° | 33°/10° | 31°/6° | 31°/5° | 25°/2° | 26°/1° | 28°/1° | 28°/2° | 30°/4° | 31°/6° | 30°/7° |
| Beach index | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.2 | 5.5 | 3.6 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 5.9 | 6.9 |
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 January–March; February scores 7.6/10 with highs of 26 °C, sea at 17.3 °C and 3 mm of rain.
In February that is 0.6 points above the median of the 204 beaches in Chile covered by this atlas.
At its warmest the water here is 1.1 °C warmer than the Chile median for February (16.2 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 14.7 °C, cooler than 76% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
June is the wettest month (70 mm) and January the driest (2 mm); the yearly total is about 280 mm.
Daylight runs from 10.0 hours in June to 14.3 hours in December; in mid-February the sun rises at 07:22 and sets at 20:38 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces north (355°). Open water fills about 50% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
The sun sets over the sea in March–September; in mid-June it goes down at 17:46 local time on a bearing of 297°.
Sunrise is over the sea in April–August.
Straight out to the north the next coast is roughly 120 km away, so waves are mostly wind-driven sea rather than ocean swell.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 67 m deep and 69 m at 3 km, so deep water starts close to shore. Behind the beach the ground is about 64 m above sea level 500 m inland and 83 m at 1.5 km, so the beach is backed by steep slopes or cliffs.
Within 1 km, the land is 39% tree cover, 36% built-up land and 15% grassland (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a partly built-up setting. Water makes up 51% of that circle.
- Tree 39%
- Built 36%
- Grass 15%
- Shrub 7%
- Bare 4%
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.
The sea peaks at 17.3 °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.
Facilities within 1 km
- 19Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 2Public toilets
- –Showers
- 5Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 16Hotels & guesthouses
- 2Campsites
- 1Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 5Viewpoints
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 16 restaurants, 1 café and 2 fast-food outlets. Accommodation: 16 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.
Around the beach
Viewpoints
- Geositio Ventana de Horcón 220 m NE
- Puente de los deseos 250 m NE
- San Pedro 520 m E
- Cerro de la Cruz 550 m E
- Ruinas Muelle 990 m SE
Campsites
- Camping Playa Cau Cau 540 m SE
- Camping Ebenezer 970 m SE
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport Santiago | SCL | 101 km | south-east |
| Governor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport Mendoza | MDZ | 253 km | east |
| La Florida Airport La Serena-Coquimbo | LSC | 312 km | north |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 1 bus stop within 1.5 km and 5 mapped car parks within 1 km.
3 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 33.7K residents); within 30 km there are 9 (about 205.1K).
Reference
Playa Cau Cau has an article on the ES Wikipedia: Playa Cau Cau.
Wikidata item Q6078329.
Map and nearby beaches
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Open in OpenStreetMap · Directions in Google Maps
- Playa El Tebo1.8 km SCompare
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 15.3 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w150942053; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Water body, status and length: Wikidata (CC0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- 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 8.1K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.