Hostal Dona Ines

The North of Chile

by BorderHopper

"Arica: Where the Atacama Desert Meets the Pacific"

Arica is located in the far northern portion of Chile in the Atacama Desert and is situated along the Pacific coast. It's an oasis city where the desert meets the ocean. We arrived in Arica after taking a flight from Lima, Peru to Tacna, Peru. We experienced 3 delayed flights due to severe fog in this region, but we finally arrived in Tacna late in the evening. Our destination was not southern Peru...but rather the north of Chile. We hired a taxi in Peru with a Uruguayan traveler and my family along for an hour long ride south across the Chilean border. I was amazed at how barren the landscape was in this region. The driest destert in the world, the Atacama, meets the Pacific ocean here in Arica. Arica is Chile's northermost city and it really seems to have been forgoten by the rest of Chile further south. I spoke with one local and he was under the opinion that Santiago has forgotten Arica. Arica is a gateway to several beautiful national parks near the Bolivian border and it is also a region full of history. The war of the pacific was fought here between Peru and Chile over a century ago. If you are in the region...why not visit?

Arica, the golden city

by jlvillalba

"Arica, nice and cool"

I said golden city due to the colour of the sand and the land around. Duty-free city and claimed as the capital of the Tarapaca, north of the first region of Chile, i had a pleasant time, doing shopping in the sunday dominical market, and visiting the Morro or rock of the city. Also nice promenade and city center, extremely colorful all the houses.

"El Morro de Arica"

Impressive mountain, base of the battle between Chilean and Peruvian forces in the Guerra del Pacifico in 1879. Historical place where new land was included in the Chile map and 2019 kilometer from Santiago.
Nice view from the top

"View from El Morro"

The sunset is fine from here, even you can see the peruvian border. All the people start taking the streets for the weekend and lot of funny places can be visited

Arica, siempre Arica

by aero198

Welcome to Arica!
Arica is the most northern city of Chile, in the frontier with Peru, so at the whole city you will notice the mix of Chilean and Peruvian cultures.
Arica's (and the whole 1st Region) is tax free, so it's really cheap buying things here.
This pic is Arica's morro.

Parque Nacional Lauca - Salar de Surire

by EagleEye

The trip from the Parc to the salar is really worth it for its beautiful sceneries and as it's far from being overcrowed!

The Parinacota volcano and lago Chungara...

It's nearby Cotacotani ponds

One of the numerous Alpacas that are raised for their meat and wool by the people leaving in the area.

About 110 km south of Parinacota is the Salar de Surire (4200m), home of many camelides and of three flamingoes species : Andino, Chileno and de James.

A Vicuña

Don't miss the Polloquere hot bath, located south east of the salar! It's worth relaxing here for a while after driving and walking around...

You can stay overnight at the refugio de la CONAF, before returning to Putre or heading south to Colchane and the Isluga National Parc.