This document gives the weekly transportation schedule between La Serena and LCO for visitors.
Note that on Monday through Friday, there are transportation options both in the morning and the afternoon in either direction. On weekends we are able to provide only one trip up or down. Transit time is about two and half hours.Please keep this schedule in mind when booking your travel.
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Monday, Wednesday
LCO to La Serena — 8:30 am and 1:30 pm
La Serena to LCO — 8:30 am and 2:00 pm
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Thursday, Friday
LCO to La Serena — 8:30 am and 1:30 pm
La Serena to LCO — 8:00 am and 2:00 pm
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Tuesday
LCO to La Serena — 8:00 am (with the Telescope Operators), 1:30 pm and 2:30 pm
La Serena to LCO — 8:00 am and 2:00 pm
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Saturday, Sunday
LCO to La Serena — 10:30 am
La Serena to LCO — 2:00 pm
Special Transport Service
If our regularly scheduled transportation service to or from the mountain is not sufficient for your particular visit, we have initiated the use of professional contracted taxi service. Solicitation of such service should be via email communication to assistants@lco.cl specifying number of passengers and time of departure from our office in La Serena or from the summit for the return trip. Please keep in mind that our summit access road is only open normally from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. The cost of this special transport service has a range of $CLP 150,000 – 200,000 per vehicle depending on the specific contractor available and the size of the vehicle necessary. Once requested via email, this cost will be added directly to your observatory bill (applied for ALL users).