Portuguese 
English 
Spanish 
4 min of reading 
0 comments 
A Giant Artificial Lagoon on the Chilean Coast Attracts Visitors with Its Unique Dimension, the Technology That Heats Seawater, and for Being a Few Hours Away from Brazil.
About five hours of travel from São Paulo, combining the flight to Santiago and the land trip to the Chilean coast, lies one of the most impressive aquatic structures ever built: the artificial lagoon of the San Alfonso del Mar resort in Algarrobo.
The water mirror is just over 1 km long, occupies about 80,000 square meters, and holds 250 million liters of treated seawater, already recognized by the Guinness Book as the largest swimming pool in the world by area.
Located on the central coast of Chile, the complex is a private resort condominium with residential buildings facing the lagoon and the Pacific.
-
These living root bridges and ladders are over 700 years old and help indigenous people survive in one of the rainiest regions in the world.
-
From sertanejo star to international investor: Ana Castela invests millions in a mansion in the USA, creates a themed accommodation in Orlando, and shows that the “boiadeira” also wants to grow away from the stage.
-
The 10 most stunning motorhomes in the world: a $3 million trailer with a rooftop nightclub and garage for a Ferrari, “palaces on wheels” with Italian marble, private cinema, and five-star hotel luxury for billionaires.
-
Trump wanted to spend $400 million on the White House, but the courts prohibited the million-dollar construction.
The project was developed by Crystal Lagoons, a company created by Chilean biochemist and entrepreneur Fernando Fischmann, who envisioned a technology capable of maintaining large volumes of salty water with Caribbean-like transparency in a naturally cold sea coast.
World Record and Evolution of the Largest Aquatic Complexes
When it began operations at the end of 2006, the lagoon of San Alfonso del Mar represented a paradigm shift in leisure and engineering.
In 2007, the venture received the Guinness World Record for the largest swimming pool in the world by area, measuring just over 1 km long and containing 250 million liters of water.
Years later, the title of largest artificial lagoon passed to another Crystal Lagoons project, Citystars Sharm El Sheikh, built in the Sinai Desert in Egypt.
Since 2015, this complex has been the official Guinness record holder for the largest artificial lagoon on the planet.
Nevertheless, the Chilean lagoon remains widely recognized as one of the largest in the world and continues to be the company’s most iconic project.
Treatment Technology That Transforms Pacific Water
The Chilean Pacific coast is known for its cold water temperatures, which limits swimming for much of the year.
The solution developed by Fischmann was to create a heated saltwater lagoon, fed directly by the ocean and isolated from ocean currents.
The system captures seawater at points near the coast, pumps it to the lagoon, and passes the volume through an exclusive filtration and low-dosage chemical treatment process.
The patented technology reduces energy consumption and uses a significantly smaller amount of chemical additives than traditional systems.
Inside the lagoon, the water temperature remains around 26 ºC, almost ten degrees above the Pacific, which typically registers 16 ºC to 17 ºC.
The result is an environment visually similar to tropical beaches, even in a region of naturally cold seas.
Dimensions and Engineering of the Mega Structure
In addition to stretching just over 1 km, the lagoon occupies approximately 80,000 square meters and reaches a maximum depth of around 3.5 meters.
The stored volume corresponds to thousands of residential swimming pools.
Cristal Lagoons emphasizes that the total area is equivalent to about 6,000 traditional pools and that the venture was the first to demonstrate, on a commercial scale, the viability of giant crystal-clear lagoons in condominiums and resorts.
Million-Dollar Maintenance and Continuous Operation
To keep the water mirror in usable conditions, the structure operates with pumping systems, filtration, sensors, and automated control distributed along its entire length.
The water is gradually renewed, with constant recirculation and replenishment of evaporation losses.
Estimates indicate that the annual operating costs amount to several million dollars, with values often cited between US$ 2 million and US$ 4 million per year.
The figures vary by source, as there is no single official amount.
The operation requires permanent technical monitoring to maintain transparency, uniform color, safety for swimming and navigation, in addition to meeting local water quality standards.
What Guests Find at San Alfonso del Mar
Access to the lagoon is restricted to owners and guests of the resort condominium. The complex houses about 1,400 units distributed in buildings surrounding the water mirror.
Visitors have access to areas designated for swimming, artificial sand spaces, piers, and spots for kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, and small non-motorized boats.
Shallow areas favor family activities, while deeper areas cater to water sports and diving.
The resort also features a beach club, gym, spa, bars, restaurants, lounging areas, and glass-covered heated pools.
The view combines the open sea of the Pacific with the clear water lagoon, allowing boat rides within the condominium itself.
How to Get There from São Paulo
For those departing from São Paulo, the journey begins with a flight to Santiago, lasting approximately four hours.
From there, the trip to Algarrobo takes between 1.5 and 2 hours by highway. In total, the trip to the complex usually takes around five hours, not including waits or connections.
Upon arrival, the contrast catches the eye: the cold Pacific on one side and, on the other, a wide, warm, and navigable artificial lagoon, recognized internationally.
-
-
-
5 pessoas reagiram a isso.