Of Chile's 4000-kilometre-plus coastline, the brief central strip between Santo Domingo and Los Vilos is the most visited and most developed. Known as the Litoral Central by Chileans and rather optimistically promoted as the "Chilean Riviera" in many tourist brochures, this 250-kilometre stretch boasts bay after bay lined with gorgeous, white-sand beaches, and a string of coastal resort towns of varying size and character.

Valparaíso ("Valpo" for short) and Viña del Mar (or "Viña") sit next to each other near the middle of the strip. They are geographical neighbours but totally unalike in look and feel. Viña is Chile's largest beach resort and one of the ritziest. With its high-rise condominiums, casino, and seafront pizzerias, along with the northern beaches in nearby Reñaca where bronzed sunbathers laze until sunset and then go clubbing all night, Viña typifies modern hedonism. Valparaíso, on the other hand, has a much more natural, old-fashioned style, with ramshackle, brightly painted houses spilling chaotically down the hills to the sea, but no decent beaches. For beaches, you'll need to head south or, preferably, north to find anything from disco-packed pleasure grounds to tiny, secluded coves – if you know where to go (and where to avoid).

Closest to Santiago, via the toll highway ("Autopista del Sol" or, officially, Ruta 78), are the resorts south of Valparaíso, which are busier and more developed – especially Algarrobo and Cartagena, once quiet havens for holidaymakers, now horrific clusters of high-rise towers. Further south towards Rocas de Santo Domingo, there's an almost uninterrupted string of cabañas, villas and small, rather unpleasant resorts. Even so, along this section the development tends to be more low-key and low-scale, and it's still possible to find places with charm and a soul, especially where Pablo Neruda found them, such as Isla Negra – though it, too, is fast being swallowed up by rampant development. San Antonio, Chile's second port and the only place on the Litoral south of Valparaíso that doesn't rely on tourism for its livelihood, is nonetheless another nasty blot on the horizon, with its polluting industry and ugly buildings, that's best avoided.

Heading north of Viña is quite a different story; you leave most of the concrete behind at Concón, and from Horcón up, the coast begins to look more rugged and feels distinctly wild and windswept by the time you reach Maitencillo, where brown, sandstone cliffs tower above a huge, white beach. The stretch from here to Papudo is easily the most beautiful of the Litoral, as the road clings to the cliff edge, giving views down to empty coves and thundering surf. Not even the new villas and second-home complexes that have sprung up along here in the last few years have managed to spoil Zapallar, the most architecturally graceful of all the resorts, or Papudo, a small fishing town dramatically hemmed in by steep, green hills. Two more popular resorts lie further to the north, off the Panamericana as it thrusts into the deserts of the Norte Chico: Los Vilos, where a fish market and a seal colony provide alternative entertainment to sunbathing, and Pichidangui, whose handsome strand is backed by shady eucalyptus trees.

Note that most Chileans take their annual holiday in February, during which time all the resort towns, large and small, are unbearably crowded. They also get busy on weekends in December and January, but outside these times are remarkably quiet. November and March are probably the best months to be here, as the weather is usually agreeable and the beaches virtually deserted, especially midweek; in winter the resorts wear a forlorn, abandoned look but you can go for bracing walks along the empty, blustery beaches. This coast is prone to fog or cloudy weather even in the summer; temperatures in Valpo can be considerably lower than in Santiago when it is sunny in the capital but a cool, moist breeze is blowing in from the Pacific. From April to October accommodation rates are considerably lower, sometimes half of what is listed in our price guide, and even in November, December and March you should be able to negotiate a discount midweek. Some, but not all, beaches are safe for swimming, though you should definitely stay out of the water if a red flag is displayed; you might also be put off by the frigid Humboldt current that sweeps up the Pacific from the Antarctic coast, leaving the water chilly even in the height of summer.

Don't miss out on the exquisite seafood available all along the coast; look out for the picoroco inside its rock shell, which resembles something out of a sci-fi movie. Head for the little restaurants by the caleta where the local fishermen bring in their catch or, if you're renting a cabaña with its own kitchen, be adventurous and buy your supper from the market to cook for yourself. Finally a word on transport: there are numerous daily buses from Santiago to Valparaíso and Viña, and several direct services from the capital to most of the other resort towns (see "Buses"). From Valpo or Viña you can catch buses to all the resort towns in the Litoral. The stretch between Algarrobo and San Antonio is also served by frequent local buses which are much quicker if you go direct on Ruta 78 rather than via Viña and then heading south. From Horcón to Papudo there are fewer daily local connections – except during summer when buses run fairly frequently. On nearly all routes you can ask your driver to stop anywhere along the coast or highway so you can hop off at some isolated cove.