Pisco, stars and a green valley in the desert
The Elqui Valley cuts inland from La Serena into dry mountains, a green ribbon of grape vines used for pisco. The towns of Vicuña and Pisco Elqui have distilleries to tour, and Vicuña has a museum to Gabriela Mistral, Latin America's first Nobel laureate in literature, who grew up here. With cloudless skies most of the year, the valley is dotted with observatories offering stargazing, and it lies within a dark-sky sanctuary. It is a slow place of guesthouses, rivers and sunshine.