COPIAPOATHON 2003

Accommodation and other assorted tips

Accommodation

I'll include places we stayed from both our 2001 and 2003 trips arranged south - north, the way that anyone travelling from Santiago would meet them.

The first thing to mention is that we travelled in May (2001) and June (2003) - the Chilean winter and therefore off-peak for tourism. At this time, the larger more comfortable hotels are still used by business travellers, but the smaller cheaper places and many of the cabana-type accommodation are empty so that deals can sometimes be negotiated.  The term cabaña covers anything upward from a small garden shed, but in general, these are comfortable and clean self catering chalets.

Secondly, many of the bigger hotels will give a discount for cash payments in US$, although a credit card is usually needed at check-in as a security measure. These discounts (about 7%) also apply to car rental.

Olmué (2003)

Cabañas

Calue (2001)

Pichidangui (2003)

Hotel / Cabañas Kon-Tiki
Cabañas del Bosque

Ovalle (2003)

Hotel Roxy

Parque Nacional Bosque de Fray Jorge (campsite) (2003)

Guanaqueros (2001)

Cabañas Bahia Club

La Serena (2003)

Hotel Costa Real

Vallenar

2001
Hotel Vina del Mar
Serrano 611
Vallenar
fono/fax: (51) 611478

2003
Hotel Puerto de Vega

Huasco (2003)

Hosteria Huasco

Copiapó

(2001)

(2003)
Hotel Miramonti

Bahia Inglesa (2003)

Hotel Rocas de Bahia

Caldera (2003 - Rudolf)

Chañaral (2001 & 2003)

Hosteria Chañaral

Taltal - Caleto Hueso (2001 & 2003)

Antofagasta (2001)

San Pedro de Atacama (2001)

Tocopillo (2001)

 

Maps

There are two sorts of maps we used:

• The 'How do I get there? maps
  For these I find the maps included in the back of a booklet produced by Turistel invaluable. Get the one for 'Guías Norte' (guide for the north) that covers Arica, at the Peru border down to Los Molles (but be careful, there are numerous towns and villages by this name). Alternatively, you can download and print the maps from the Turistel website.
   
• Detailed, 1:50,000 scale maps produced for the Chilean military - expensive and difficult to get hold of in the UK. These are not essential for getting around, but are great in planning and exploring as they enable you to see where plants are found, so that you can look for similar geography to see what grows there.

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