Antofagasta and the Paranal Saturday

What it is

Antofagasta is the big city of the mining north, with some four hundred thousand people, and almost nobody picks it as a destination: you come because three things leave from here that no other town offers. One is the visit to the Paranal Observatory, which is booked months ahead and is given only on Saturdays. Another is an eleven-metre concrete hand rising from the sand beside the Pan-American Highway. The third is a natural monument on the coast, a short hop from the centre.

The Saturday decides the trip. If Paranal is in the plan, the other days arrange themselves around it; if not, Antofagasta comes down to two days of beach, museum and a short trip south or north.

What to do in the city

The urban coast has artificial beaches fit for swimming. Playa Paraíso is right in the centre, next to the historic district and facing the city hall, with benches, shade structures, restrooms and changing rooms. The Balneario Municipal has a raft you swim out to and a pedestrian promenade with restaurants. No beach in Chile is private, so access is free on all of them.

North of the city, on the way to Juan López, are La Rinconada, with white sand and calm water, and the Juan López beach itself, a horseshoe sheltered from the wind at the foot of Cerro Moreno. There are almost no services there: bring water, shade and whatever you plan to eat.

The Huanchaca Ruins Museum is the afternoon visit if the sea does not fill the day. It closes on some fixed days of the year, so check its calendar before putting it in the afternoon. The Antofagasta Museum, in the centre, currently has its permanent exhibition closed; ask what can be seen before crossing the city for it.

For nature without leaving the urban area, the La Chimba wetland, in the north of the city, is a Nature Sanctuary and shelters two vulnerable species, the La Chimba snail and the Atacama runner. Beyond it is the La Chimba National Reserve, fifteen kilometres from the city, with the last three kilometres on stabilised gravel. It has no tourist services, and is a trip for someone who already has a car.

La Portada

The La Portada Natural Monument is open, and it is the easiest short visit in the area. It is about sixteen kilometres from the centre on a paved road, with no need for four-wheel drive. Access to the beach is prohibited, and pets, drones and fires are not allowed.

The Humboldt trail is short and easy, and is sometimes closed in summer because the birds nest. The monument has its own ticket office: confirm the fare on the monument's page before leaving.

The Hand of the Desert

The Hand is a reinforced-concrete sculpture by Mario Irarrázabal, eleven metres of a left hand rising from the sand. It is about seventy-five kilometres south of the city, beside route 5, and you see it from the car before you arrive.

It was inaugurated in 1992 and is a sculpture you take nothing from but the photo: the site has no services and the road is open all year. You visit it on the way south, and it combines well with Paranal.

Mejillones

Mejillones is about sixty-five kilometres north along route B-262 and has some twelve thousand people. It is the place for an afternoon by the sea if the city fell short: the municipality lists ten beaches. The one at the Capitanía, in the centre, has lifeguards in summer, and Grande beach, at twenty-three kilometres, has none. For the others, ask in town.

The Punta Angamos lookout is fifteen kilometres away and has a sea lion colony in view. In town, the Raúl Mavrakis Historical Museum is in the old customs house, built in the early twentieth century.

The Paranal Saturday

The Paranal Observatory, at 2,635 m, is south of Antofagasta, one hundred and twenty kilometres along route 5. Its public visit runs every Saturday of the year, in two shifts, morning or afternoon, and is booked only online through the observatory's visits page at ESO. Places open by quarter, the month before it starts, so those of a quarter are requested during the first week of the previous month. If the Saturday is already taken, there is no other day.

Plan it as a whole day. There is no public transport and the observatory takes nobody there. From time to time ESO announces a bus from Antofagasta on holiday Saturdays, with dates posted on its Instagram account, but do not count on it. For all other Saturdays, the way is a rental car: the companies have offices at the airport, and it is wise to have the car reserved when you ask for the place. You leave Antofagasta along the coastal avenue to La Negra, take route 5 south and then the turn-offs to the B-70 and the B-710 until the observatory sign on the right.

On the road and at the site there is no petrol or food. Leave with a full tank and whatever you plan to eat. Cars do not go inside the grounds: you park outside. Mobile signal is weak or absent. The Residencia is for staff only, so anyone wanting to sleep nearby has Taltal, about one hundred and ten kilometres south, or goes back to the city.

Arrive at the gate with your ID and the QR ticket. Children under four, people with pacemakers and pets are not admitted either. If the group includes anyone in those cases, Paranal is out of the plan, and it is better to know before booking.

Where it is and how to get there

From Santiago there is a direct flight to Antofagasta; Andrés Sabella airport is about twenty-five kilometres north of the centre, and you leave with a transfer or an official taxi, both arranged in the baggage hall. There is also a bus from Santiago, but it is about 1,350 km. There are buses from Iquique and to Calama.

If the plan includes the Hand, Paranal and Mejillones, rent a car at the airport. The Hand and Paranal lie on route 5 to the south, with no public transport linking them, and with a car the trip to one serves for the other.

Money and services

Fill up in the city before any trip south. The Hand of the Desert has no services, Paranal has no petrol or food for visitors and the road between them offers nothing. What Antofagasta has (cash machines, shops, the airport) is best sorted out before you leave.

When to go

Paranal sets the date. The visit runs all year and is booked by quarter, so the trip is decided when booking opens for the quarter that suits you.

How to split the days

Two nights are enough. One day goes entirely to Paranal, and it has to be a Saturday; the other is taken by La Portada in the morning, the city and its beaches in the afternoon. With one more night, Mejillones takes the day to the north, and the Hand fits on the way to Paranal.

Sleep in Antofagasta the night before Paranal and set out with the morning ahead of you, to reach the gate before the shift closes.

Itineraries

Antofagasta appears in the five-day route from Iquique to San Pedro, which comes down the coast, slots in the Paranal Saturday and ends in the desert. To see Iquique first, the guide to Iquique and the nitrate works covers the previous stop.

Where to sleep

Sleep in the city: the centre and the coastal avenue hold what there is to eat and get around on foot, and every excursion leaves from there. Whoever wants to wake up near Paranal has to go down to Taltal; the observatory has no accommodation for visitors.