humberstone and santa laura saltpeter works

Santa Laura Saltpeter woks is the defunct nitrate camp that now has a small museum. The more interesting is the Ghost Town of Humberstone that has the abandoned, but well preserved, buildings. This is where the workers lived. You'll find the school,hotel,church,theater, pool, etc. This town is quite a drive from Iqueque and the road is anything but scenic!

Nothing beats wandering around a ghost town like Humberstone and getting lost while doing so amongst its quaint, abandoned buildings. The town has some interesting structures you can visit, including a swimming pool, a grand theater, a school, a hotel and many different types of houses. A museum comprising exhibits such as household items, communications devices, lighting a and other quirky items that were discovered in the town when its inhabitants moved away, can also be visited. Admission is 3,000CLP and includes a map.Humberstone by all appearances was a proper town while Santa Laura was just a nitrate camp with basic amenities. It also follows that while you need to pay for entrance to Humberstone, Santa Laura is free to enter. Most tours will drop by both in any case. Santa Laura is worth a half-an-hour stop though. It has some very intriguing buildings and a small museum with some everyday items that were used in the camp in its heyday.

Various people told us "just to take a minivan from the central market/ mercado centanario". As we searched for a while we find it worthwhile mentioning that the minivan leaves just off the south/west corner. You have to walk 10-20 meters into Calle Barros Arana - so south at corner Barros Arana/ Almirante Latorre. There is a little agency and a minivan waiting to be filled up. Cost is ca. CLP 2,500 pP.Entry fee for Humberstone is CLP 3,000 pP

If you are coming from Iquique this is by the road. If coming up the Ruta 5, make the detour towards Iquique - it's only about a kilometre from the junction.This is a major historical site. There is a fee, but it is very small and excellent value. The information you are given is in Spanish and good English, and has a clear map. If you see everything, from the 'works' to the theatre and the hotel, you should allow two to three hours. Very interesting throughout. Take the advice about sun exposure.We didn't have time to visit Santa Laura, but this is included in the admission charge,

Is a cultural place in Chile where you can understand the history of the salpeter, where the latinoamerican people worked in the north of Chile. In Humberstone you can see the power of the industry and how you can build a small city in the middle of the desert with facilities, and in Santa Laura you can understand the process of manufacturing. I recommend this a cultural tour where you can mix with other places like Pica, Dinosaur Museum, Matilla and La Tirana (religious village), is about 1 hour of Iquique in car. You have a lot of transport option from Iquique.

You can spend the better part of the day at this large museum compound, consisting of the remains of an abandoned saltpeter mining town in northern Chile. Excellent signage in Spanish and English and loads of photo opportunities. There is a cafe but bring your own water, and don't forget sunblock and sunglasses and of course a well charged camera. And warm clothes, it gets very windy and cold here. Endlessly fascinating and well worth the entry fee (about CL$3000). Tip: Skip the organised tour and get here yourself for a fraction of the cost by taking a shuttle from Iquique's Mercado Central. Very easy to find but ask around if you have trouble.

Very impressed with this world heritage site. At first it looked like a lot of walking for nothing but it is intriguing and you can't help but get a sense of the hard work and determination of the community working in this desolate and god forsaken place. If you find yourself in this part of the world do not drive past.

My wife and I visited Humberstone and Santa Laura in December 2010 with our English-speaking Guide, Rudi. Humberstone is a ghost town where the saltpeter miners lived; it has been designated as a cultural heritage museum and there is a small fee to enter. The place has been abandoned since 1960 but much of the location dates back before 1900. There is a huge theater that is still in good condition, a bakery, an ice plant, offices, and a riveter iron swimming pool!Santa Laura, just across the road about a half- mile, lies completely abandoned-- just walk in and wander around in the old steel & wood buildings. There is a huge nitrate processing plant with a tall smokestack, a building housing two old two-cylinder engines (made in England) that generated electricity for the plant, and a building with 4 or 5 old air compressors. It is spooky to listento the old corrugated tin buildings rattling and banging in the wind-- it is a perfect movie location.Chile exported nitrate and earned fabulous wealth until a synthetic process (the Haber Process) for making ammonia was developed in Germany in the 1920s. The market for Chilean nitrate plummeted but smaller minimg operations continued until it shut down completely in 1960. Consider driving to Santa Laura & Humberstone on the way from Iquique to the oasis of Pica.

Hoy visitamos la Salitrera y me pareció muy interesante. Está bien organizado el recorrido. La entrada por persona cuesta 3000 pesos. Se pueden visitar todas las casas, teatro, iglesia y alrededores. Es muy especial el ambiente y lo recomiendo de todas maneras.

Hermoso lugar, un verdadero pueblo fantasma. La entrada sale 3000 y desde el mercado de iquique un taxi cuesta 2500 por persona. Se necesitan mínimo 3 horas para recorrer. Todo muy bien señalizado. Recomiendo la vista desde la torta de caliche, se ve el panorama del pueblo y la pampa.

かつての硝石鉱山の街の廃虚です。この辺りではここ意外にもアタカマ砂漠で硝石が産出されていたことからそこかしこに鉱山の廃虚が道路を走っていれば沿道に目につきます。なかでもここは建物の保存状態も大変よく、まだ現役で使えそうなほどです。

Como sentirse en la época de la salitrera con acceso a todas las instalaciones de la rutina pampiña, parte crucial de la historia de Chile

Un lugar que debes ir con tiempo. La ciudad y la fabrica de la salitrera Humberstone es grande e interesante de conocer. Podrás ver como vivía la gente en esos años.

Como parte del Patrimonio de la Humanidad, es obligación visitar ambas salitreras; están a unos cuantos kilometros de distancia, por lo que es muy fácil visitar estos lugares de forma particular. Si contratan un tour (la gran mayoría de las agencias están en el paseo Baquedano, Iquique), asegurense de que la persona que les dará el tour sea de la misma zona, ya que pueden conocer muchos más detalles de los que se pueden imaginar.

Si vas a Iquique tienes que ir a las Salitreras que están como a 1 hora y media ( dependiendo del tránsito y arreglos de carretera).El lugar esta bien tenido, dentro de lo que se puede. Yo había venido hace muchos años atrás y se nota que hay una mejora... Te traslada a esa época y hay muestras de cómo vivían en esa "ciudad", como eran las casas, el teatro, iglesia, etc..Es un paseo recomendado para ir en familia!