Things to do in Northern Chile
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Valle de la Luna
Watching the sun set from the exquisite Valley of the Moon is an unforgettable experience. From atop a giant sand dune, you can drink in spectacular views as the sun slips below the horizon and a beautiful transformation occurs: the distant ring of volcanoes, rippling Cordillera de la Sal and surreal lunar landscapes of the valley are suddenly suffused with intense purples, pinks and golds.
The Valle de la Luna is named after its lunar-like landforms eroded by eons of flood and wind. The valley is San Pedro's most popular organized tour, with trips leaving in good time to explore before sunset.
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Servicios Astronómicos Maury y Compañía
Take a Tour of the Night Sky from San Pedro with Servicios Astronómicos Maury y Compañía. Tours leave nightly at 7:30pm and 10:30pm in winter and 9pm and midnight in summer (except around the full moon), and they alternate between Spanish, English and French. Bring very warm clothes. French astronomer Alain Maury ferries travelers into the desert, far from intrusive light contamination, where they can enjoy the stars in all their glory. He owns several chunky telescopes through which visitors can gawk at galaxies, nebulae, planets and more. Shooting stars are guaranteed.
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Raices Andinas
A respectable little Aymara-run outfit recommended for encouraging better understanding of the local people. Tours into the mountains last from two days (around CH$50,000) to four (around CH$145,000); prices vary according to the number of participants.
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Casa Solar de los Madariaga
Dating from 1875, and looking good for it, the adobe mansion Casa Solar de los Madariaga contains furnishings and artifacts from an influential family who made its money exporting chinchilla.
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Cactus Tour
A small outfit, but frequently recommended for its excellent service, polite bilingual guides, comfortable vehicles and above-average food. Prices are marginally high, but the difference is noticeable.
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Tata's Pub
It doesn't look like much, but this long thin pub, with '80s music videos blaring, serves surprisingly good food: especially Chilean rabbit and goat dishes, as well as pizza and burgers.
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Daniella II
Numero Dos is a plain-faced local favorite serving hearty portions of Chilean comfort food. The fresh seafood is especially tasty.
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Oasis Fly
Paragliding operator.
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swimming beaches
A swathe of wide sandy beaches stretches from La Serena's nonfunctional lighthouse right to Coquimbo: there are so many that you could visit a different beach every day for a two-week vacation. Unfortunately, strong rip currents make some unsuitable for swimming. Safe swimming beaches generally start south of Cuatro Esquinas and include most beaches around Coquimbo. Those between the west end of Av Aguirre and Cuatro Esquinas (ie closer to town) are friskier and generally dangerous for bathers.
Look for the signs 'Playa Apta' (meaning beach safe for swimming) and 'Playa No Apta' (meaning beach not safe for swimming).
A bike path now runs all the way to Coquimbo. For quick…
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Edificio de la Aduana & Museo Naval
Meter-thick walls enclose this haughty colonial-style customshouse, built in 1871 when Iquique was still Peruvian territory. Peru incarcerated prisoners here during the War of the Pacific, and the building would later see battle in the Chilean civil war of 1891. The Aduana houses a small naval museum with artifacts salvaged from the sunken Esmeralda, a plucky little Chilean corvette that challenged ironclad Peruvian warships in the War of the Pacific.
The ship was captained by Arturo Prat (1848-79), whose name now graces a hundred street maps, plazas and institutions. In an impassioned speech aboard the Esmeralda, Prat swore to die in battle and challenged his officers to…
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Iglesia San Marcos
Arica’s oddest attraction is also its most admired. The Gothic-style Iglesia San Marcos has a threefold claim to fame. First, it was designed by celebrated Parisian engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, before his success with the Eiffel Tower. Second, it was prefabricated in Eiffel’s Paris shop in the 1870s (at the order of the Peruvian president), then shipped right around the world to be assembled on site. Still more curious is the construction itself: the entire church is made of stamped and molded cast iron, coated with paint. That’s everything from its unusually thin walls to its pillars, beams and pointy arches; only the door is wooden. The resulting atmosphere is…
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Cerro Paranal Observatory
In the world of high-powered telescopes, where rival institutes jostle to claim the ‘biggest,’ ‘most powerful’ or ‘most technologically advanced’ specimens, Paranal is right up there with the big boys. This groundbreaking Cerro Paranal observatory has a Very Large Telescope (VLT) consisting of an array of four 8.2m telescopes – for a time at least, the most powerful optical array in the world. The observatory is run by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and is so futuristic-looking that portions of the James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace, were filmed here. It’s situated on Cerro Paranal at 2664m above sea level, 120km south of Antofagasta; an…
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Parque el Loa
At the south end of Av O’Higgins, Parque el Loa has a riverside swimming hole and a replica of Chiu Chiu’s celebrated church. It’s the best picnicking spot in town and a nice break from the bustle. Also here is the diminutive Museo Arqueológico y Etnológico (316-400; adult/child CH$200/100; 10am-1pm & 2-6pm Tue-Fri, 2-6pm Sat & Sun), with decent exhibits on the highland culture of the Atacama. Also in the park, across the river, is the Museo de Historia Natural y Cultural del Desierto (349-103; adult/child CH$500/200; 10am-1pm & 3-7pm). This small, well-presented museum explores the region’s ecology, culture and paleontology.
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Museo Histórico y de Armas
The imposing coffee-colored shoulder of rock, El Morro de Arica, looms 110m over the city. It makes a great place to get your bearings, with vulture-eye views of the city, port and Pacific Ocean. However, this lofty headland has a far greater significance to Chileans, for this was the site of a crucial battle in 1880, a year into the War of the Pacific. The Chilean army assaulted and took El Morro from Peruvian forces in under an hour. The story is told step by step in the flag-waving Museo Histórico y de Armas, which has information in Spanish and English. Look for plaques placed by ever military-minded Pinochet.
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Poblado Artesenal
On the outskirts of Arica, near the Panamericana Sur, is this more full-on shopping experience: a mock altiplano village filled with serious craft shops and studios, selling everything from ceramic originals to finely tuned musical instruments. The village even has its own church, a replica of the one in Parinacota, complete with copies of its fascinating murals. A peña folclórica (folk-music and cultural club) meets here irregularly, usually on Saturday nights. Taxi colectivos (shared taxis) numbers 8, 13 and 18, and U pass near the entrance, as do buses 2, 3, 7, 8 and 9.
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Museo Histórico Casa Gabriel González Videla
Although richly stocked with general historical artifacts, this two-storey museum concentrates on one of La Serena’s best-known – and most controversial – sons. González Videla was Chile’s president from 1946 to 1952. Ever the cunning politician, he took power with communist support but then promptly outlawed the party, driving poet Pablo Neruda out of the Senate and into exile. As you might expect, the reverent exhibits omit such episodes. But do pop upstairs for a look at the general historical displays and changing modern-art exhibits.
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Ex-Aduana de Arica
Eiffel’s legacy in Arica does not stop with Iglesia San Marcos. He also designed the grand Ex-Aduana de Arica, the former customshouse. Prefabricated in Paris, it was assembled on site in 1874, with walls made of blocks and bricks stacked between metallic supports. Though it once fronted on the harbor, a century of landfill has left it 200m inland, facing Parque General Baquedano. Restored as the city’s Casa de la Cultura, it hosts a smattering of exhibitions and has an impressive 32-step wrought-iron spiral staircase.
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Museo Gabriela Mistral
The town’s landmark Museo Gabriela Mistral, between Riquelme and Baquedano, is a tangible eulogy to one of Chile’s most famous literary figures. Gabriela Mistral was born Lucila Godoy Alcayaga in 1889 in Monte Grande. The museum charts her life, from a replica of her adobe birthplace to her Nobel Prize, and has a clutch of busts making her seem a particularly strict schoolmarm. Her family tree indicates Spanish, indigenous and African ancestry. Like Pablo Neruda she served in the Chilean diplomatic corps.
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Museum
From the El Tatio geysers it’s 46km along some switchbacks to highland idyll Caspana, as delightful as it is surprising. Nestled in its namesake valley, the ‘new’ village is built into the rocky escarpment, while the ‘old’ town teeters on the edge of a high plateau above. It’s exactly what an Andean village is supposed to look like – verdant terraces, thatched roofs, the colonial Iglesia de San Lucas and an archaeological museum. Do not drink the tap water here.
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Oficina Chacabuco
There are dozens of nitrate ghost towns in the Antofagasta region, lining both sides of the highway between Baquedano and Calama, and along the Panamericana north of the Tocopilla–Chuquicamata highway. The best preserved is Oficina Chacabuco, 2km north of the I-5 and I-25 intersection on I-5. This national monument was closed to the public at the time of research, after a 2007 earthquake made it unsafe for visitors. Plans are in the works to re-open the site, but you should call ahead.
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Regional Museum
Iquique’s former courthouse now hosts the catch-all regional museum, which earnestly recreates a traditional adobe altiplano village (complete with mannequins in Aymara dress). The surrounding chambers also have some attention-grabbing exhibits, from animal fetuses floating in formaldehyde to masked Chinchorro mummies and elongated Tiwanaku skulls. Interesting photographs also explore Iquique’s urban beginnings, and a fascinating display dissects the nitrate industry.
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Termas de Puritama
These idyllic volcanic hot springs puddle together in a box canyon 34km north of San Pedro, en route to El Tatio. Maintained by the Explora company, it has changing rooms on site. Few tours stop here because of the hefty admission charged, but taxis will take you from San Pedro for around CH$5000. The springs are a 20-minute walk from the parking lot. The temperature of the springs is about 33°C, and there are several falls and pools. Bring food, water and sunblock.
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Museo Regional
Across the street, the former Aduana (customshouse) was originally erected in Mejillones in 1869; it was dismantled and transported here piece by piece in 1888. It now houses the Museo Regional, which contains simplistic displays on natural history, and prehistoric and cultural development. Artifacts include mummified babies, a deformed skull, early colonial tidbits and paraphernalia from the nitrate era, including toys fashioned from tin cans.
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Colonial Church
Beautiful Parinacota's undisputed gem is the 17th-century colonial church, reconstructed in 1789 (the key is kept by caretaker Sererino Morales). Inside is a glorious display of surrealistic murals, the heartfelt work of artists from the Cuzco school: think Hieronymus Bosch in a hurry. One of the quirkier features is the depiction of curly-mustachioed soldiers – looking suspiciously like Spanish conquistadores – bearing Christ to the cross.
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Playa Brava
Crashing waves and rip currents at scenic Playa Brava make it dangerous for swimming, but there's plenty of space to sunbathe. Toward the hills, look for the massive dunes of Cerro Dragón, which looks like a set for a science-fiction movie. Taxi colectivos run to Playa Brava from downtown - look for the destination on the sign atop the cab. There are scores of sandy beaches further south, but you'll need to rent a car or bike, or take a taxi.
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