Where to Stay in Antofagasta, Región de Antofagasta

What is Antofagasta known for?

On the Pacific at the edge of the Atacama, the driest desert on earth, it grew rich shipping the nitrate and copper of the interior, and it keeps the great sea arch of La Portada, the ruins of an old silver works, a long coastal promenade, and a history won from Bolivia in war. Bare desert hills rise behind. The cold Pacific breaks below.

What are the main landmarks in Antofagasta?

The stone arch of La Portada rises from the sea near Antofagasta. The great natural arch of rock standing in the surf off the coast, cut by the waves from the desert cliff, is the emblem of the city, above the sea. An old silver works stands in ruins.

The great ruins of the Huanchaca refinery loom on a hill above the town, while the clock tower, the regional museum, and the long coastal walk mark the streets of Antofagasta.

What is the history of Antofagasta?

Antofagasta was born of the desert's riches. In the nineteenth century, prospectors found nitrate and silver in the empty coast, then Bolivian land, and a port grew on the shore to ship the wealth out to the world. The desert held a fortune.

Nitrate for gunpowder and fertiliser drew ships and railways to Antofagasta, and the town boomed on the barren coast. War changed the flag over the town. A tax on the nitrate sparked the War of the Pacific in 1879, and Chile seized the coast from Bolivia, leaving that country landlocked ever since and Antofagasta Chilean.

Copper took over from nitrate. When the nitrate trade faded, the great copper mines of the desert made the city grow again, and their ore still leaves through its port, while its old silver works stand in ruins by the sea. The port still ships the copper.

Antofagasta keeps its arch and its port on the desert coast.

Where is Antofagasta?

Antofagasta lies in the far north of Chile, on the Pacific at the foot of the Atacama Desert. The city clings to a narrow strip of coast where the bare brown coastal range drops straight to the sea, in a rainless land of rock and sand, with the great desert stretching east to the Andes. Bare hills wall the shore.

The Pacific runs cold and grey.

What is the climate of Antofagasta?

Antofagasta has a mild, almost rainless desert climate. Warm days and cool nights cross the coast through the year, kept even by the cold sea, with grey coastal cloud in the mornings and rain almost never. The sea fog rolls in at dawn.

Rain hardly ever falls here.

How do you get to Antofagasta?

Antofagasta lies in northern Chile, on the coast road far from the rest of the country. Flights link it to Santiago, and the highway runs up the desert coast to the ports and mines. Roads climb east to the Atacama.

Santiago lies far to the south.