Chile · Región de Atacama
Where to Stay in Copiapó, Región de Atacama
Copiapó is a city of northern Chile in the Atacama desert, an old silver-and-copper mining town on the Copiapó river, known for the rescue of its trapped miners and its rare flowering desert.
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Where to stay in Copiapó
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Copiapó gives you two bases: the plaza blocks or the desert road to Caldera. The streets around the plaza keep the cathedral, the mineral museum, and the markets within a walk, and staying downtown suits anyone here for the city. Dry hills rise beyond.
The river greens the valley. Out toward the coast and the desert, the town gives way to the mining camps, the salt flats, and the road to the beaches of Caldera. A room out of town trades the streets for the open desert, the ocean beaches, and the flowering sands after rain.
Atacama emptiness begins past the last fields. Stay downtown for the city, or out for the coast. The mining city sits in its Atacama valley.
About Copiapó
Copiapó is the mining city of the Atacama.
What is Copiapó known for?
On the Copiapó river in the desert of northern Chile, it grew rich on silver and copper, and it keeps the story of the thirty-three miners saved from the deep, the rare flowering of the desert after rain, the old cathedral and mineral museum of the town, and the mining railways that were the first in South America. The bare desert runs to the hills. A thin green valley follows the river.
What are the main landmarks in Copiapó?
The tale of the thirty-three is the pride of Copiapó. The rescue of the miners trapped in the San José mine, watched the world over in two thousand and ten, marks the modern city, out of downtown. A cathedral stands in wood.
The old wooden cathedral rises on the plaza in the heart of town, while the mineral museum, the mining hills, and the flowering desert mark the country around Copiapó.
What is the history of Copiapó?
Copiapó was built on silver. In the eighteen-thirties a great silver strike at Chañarcillo nearby made the town rich, and to carry the ore it built the first railway in South America, down to the coast at Caldera. The desert gave up its wealth.
Silver and then copper poured from the hills, and Copiapó grew as the mining capital of the Atacama. The mines made the town's fame anew. In two thousand and ten a mine near the city caved in, trapping thirty-three men deep underground, and the world watched for weeks until every one was drawn alive to the surface.
The desert too could bloom. In rare wet years the bare Atacama around Copiapó burst into flowers, drawing crowds to the desierto florido, so the town kept its mines, its river, and its wonders. The mines still work the hills.
Copiapó keeps its desert city on the Copiapó river.
Where is Copiapó?
Copiapó lies in the north of Chile, on the Copiapó river in the Atacama desert. The city sits in a narrow green valley cut through the bare desert, ringed by dry brown hills and salt flats, with the Andes and the great volcanoes rising to the east and the Pacific coast a short way west. The valley threads the desert.
Bare hills wall the town.
What is the climate of Copiapó?
Copiapó has a mild, dry desert climate. Warm days and cool nights hold all year, with almost no rain and clear skies over the desert. The sun shines nearly always.
Rare rains bloom the sands.
How do you get to Copiapó?
Copiapó lies in the Atacama of northern Chile, on the highway between Santiago and the north. The great desert highway runs to it up the coast from Santiago, and roads climb east to the Andes and the mines. Vans head up to the mines.
Caldera lies west on the coast.
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Updated August 2026