Hotels of the world: San Alfonso del Mar, Chile

Algarrobo is a municipality on the central coast of Chile, located in the province of San Antonio, Valparaiso region, approximately 99 kilometres northwest of Santiago de Chile. It is known as the “nautical capital of the country” due to its touristic importance and the numerous water sports practised on its coast, on the shores of the South Pacific Ocean. One of the most famous leisure and tourist attractions in Algarrobo is precisely the aparthotel San Alfonso del Mar. One of the reasons for its fame is undoubtedly the gigantic swimming pool that stretches out at the foot of its 11 residential buildings.

The San Alfonso del Mar pool was once listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest pool in the world, until 2015, when it was overtaken by the pool at the Swissotel Citystars Sharm El Sheikh hotel in Egypt. With a length of just over 1 km, the San Alfonso del Mar pool stretches over an area of 8 hectares and contains 250,000 m3 of water or, in other words, 250 million litres of water.

This water comes directly from the Pacific Ocean, from the depths of which it is absorbed and poured into the huge basin. But first it passes through an oxygen saturation filtration system, or pressurised oxygenation, which purifies huge masses of water and uses only a fraction of the chemicals used in traditional processes. In fact, this system works perfectly for the crystal clear and clean water enjoyed by guests at the aparthotel. Furthermore, the waters of the San Alfonso del Mar swimming pool are navigable and water sports such as diving, swimming, rowing, windsurfing and sailing can be practised in them.

The San Alfonso del Mar aparthotel offers 1,233 apartments with 1, 2, 3 and 4 bedrooms, all sea-facing and overlooking the lagoon. Facilities include a small water park with water slides, jacuzzis, a heated swimming pool with warm water, gymnasium, tennis courts, volleyball and even a professional football pitch, children’s play areas, discotheques and pubs, cafés and restaurants, a supermarket, spa and sauna, beauty salon, exhibition and activity room, etc. Among these facilities is also one of the largest aquariums in Latin America and, without doubt, the largest in the country, with 60 species of marine animals from the Chilean coast. More than a hotel, a resort or, in this case, an aparthotel, San Alfonso del Mar is a small artificial city; like its coastline, that gigantic swimming pool.

Our company has developed its own line of these extensive aquatic facilities, which we invite you to discover: the Amusement Megapools.

We encourage you to enjoy a bird’s eye view of it in this video: