Chile Guide
El Norte Grande
Antofagasta
Many tourists bypass the decidedly lacklustre desert city of ANTOFAGASTA altogether, but as the regional capital, it offers a variety of useful facilities – including banks, cambios and car-rental firms – and is a major transport hub. A Bolivian town until 1879, when it was annexed by Chile in the War of the Pacific, Antofagasta is now Chile's fifth-largest city. It's also one of the most prosperous, serving as an export centre for the region's great mines, most notably Chuquicamata . Sitting on a flat shelf between the ocean and the hills, Antofagasta has a compact downtown core, made up of dingy, traffic-choked streets that sport a few handsome old public buildings, and a modern stretch along the coastal avenue. On the way north, or as you head out to the airport, stop off at La Portada, an iconic natural arch of rock looming out of the sea.
South of the city centre the busy coastal avenue runs past a couple of tiny, coarse-sand beaches, first at the Balneario Municipal, then, much further south, at the Playa Huascar – take micro #3 from Washington, near the square. In this direction lie one of the city's most curious sights, the Ruinas de Huanchaca, vestiges of a disused silver refinery.