B&B Lavanda del Valle

Lavanda del Valle has grown from a modest lavender farm and little coffee shop into a great stop along Ruta 41. There’s a lovely lavender field, other native plants and flowers, a café with amazing offerings, and a large playground where kids can play. The food is good, and the cabanas we saw looked quaint and quiet, with a hot tub too. We didn’t stay overnight, so I’m not rating the rooms. The gift shop is full of lavender gifts, scents, lotions, and potions, and the employees are magical. There’s plenty of parking and easy access right off Ruta 41. The owners and staff are wonderful and charming. Our family has known the owners for almost ten years. If you’re heading through Elqui Valley after a long drive from Valparaiso or Santiago, it’s a welcome place to eat and take a break. The valley is an amazing adventure, whether you’re after vineyards and pisco, a foothills hike, Vicuña’s history and museums, the schoolhouse where Gabriela Mistral taught, local crafts, or the big telescopes and their astronomical researchers. Gabriela Mistral was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in literature. It’s a bright spot in the Atacama desert.