Antofagasta Chile
Chile

4 Cruises availables At departure or passage at this port

Oceania Cruises (4 Cruises)


Frequently Asked Questions

At the commercial quay, a few minutes from downtown. Depending on the line, a shuttle or taxi covers the link. Being close to the centre makes this an easy call to organize without an excursion.
A city tour and La Portada combine well in half a day. Allow an hour and a half for Plaza Colón and the British quarter, then an hour and a half for the run out to the natural arch, about twenty kilometres north.
A natural arch carved by the ocean from a cliff of sandstone and fossil shells, the emblem of the whole region. It is viewed from a lookout built atop the cliffs, where pelicans and gulls nest on the ledges.
Because the British community gave it to the city in the early twentieth century. The English then dominated the nitrate trade, the fertilizer drawn from the inland plains that made the region's fortune. The clock tower stands on Plaza Colón.
Victorian and Georgian buildings with wooden balconies, the old customs house now a regional museum, and the nineteenth-century nitrate pier, a national monument, still reaching into the harbour. The cathedral and municipal theatre complete the square.
Massive terraced walls on a hillside that look like an Inca citadel but are in fact the remains of a nineteenth-century silver smelter that processed Bolivian ore. A museum at its foot covers the nitrate pampa, mining and astronomy.
Coastal desert: mild, dry, often overcast in the morning. Some weather stations in the region have never recorded rain. Bring a light layer for the morning haze and sun protection for the afternoon.
The Chilean peso, and Spanish. English is not widespread outside tourism and French is nearly absent: download a translator or carry a few written phrases. Cards work well in downtown businesses.
Yes, the neighbouring fishing terminal, where sea lions and pelicans squabble over scraps under the amused eye of the regulars. It is a free show worth more than many excursions, and it slips easily into the start or end of a day.
It appears on no list of marquee ports, and that is its strength. You expect a flat mining city and find dense history, facades from another century, and the world's driest desert running right down to the ocean.