Coquimbo is Chile's fourth administrative region from north to south. It is some 400 km north of capital Santiago.

The capital and largest city is La Serena , an attractive, colonial-style beach resort. Coquimbo, a seaport with a greater industrial base than La Serena , is also a beach resort, though generally regarded as grittier, and therefore less attractive for recreational purposes.

The Coquimbo region forms the narrowest part, or 'waist' of Chile, and is hence one of the country's more mountainous regions, as the Andes range runs closer to the sea than elsewhere.

As well as tourism, the province's main industries are agriculture and fishing. Ovalle is an agricultural centre.

The Los Pelambres copper mine, near Salamanca in Choapa is one of the largest in the world with some 2,100 million tonnes of reserves.

Gabriela Mistral was a native of Vicuña, in the Elqui Valley , a Pisco producing area, famous for its beauty and clear skies.

The Elqui Valley is home to a number of astronomical observatories thanks to the region's clear skies.