andes travel san pedro de atacama

Andes Travel

¡Bienvenido a Andes Travel, tu puerta de entrada a la maravillosa aventura en San Pedro de Atacama! Descubre paisajes cautivadores y experiencias inolvidables en este oasis en el corazón del desierto de Atacama

Geysers del Tatio

Laguna Cejar, Laguna Tebenquiche y Ojos del Salar

Piedras Rojas, Lagunas Altiplánicas y Laguna Chaxa

Rutas de los Salares

Tour Astronómico

Traslado a Termas de Puritama

Trekking cascadas Purilibre

Valle de la Luna

Valle del Arcoiris

Descubre la magia del desierto.

¡Bienvenidos a Andes Travel , el hogar de las experiencias más emocionantes en San Pedro de Atacama ! Como Gerente de Operaciones y apasionada por brindar un excelente servicio en esta agencia, te invito a descubrir la magia del desierto a través de nuestros tours cuidadosamente diseñados. Desde caminatas en cañones a cascadas hasta atardeceres de ensueño como en el Valle de la Luna, te garantizamos aventuras inolvidables. Únete a nosotros y deja que Andes Travel sea tu guía en este destino único. ¡Explora con nosotros y crea recuerdos que perdurarán para siempre!

María Delgado B. – Gerente de Operaciones

En Andes Travel, nuestra misión es proporcionar experiencias de viaje inolvidables y seguras en la región de San Pedro de Atacama, ofreciendo un entorno enriquecedor para que nuestros clientes exploren la belleza natural y cultural de este lugar único. Estamos comprometidos a garantizar la seguridad y el bienestar de nuestros participantes en todo momento, a través de una gestión de riesgos efectiva y protocolos de respuesta a situaciones de emergencia de vanguardia. Nuestra misión es crear un equilibrio entre la aventura y la seguridad, permitiendo a nuestros clientes disfrutar de la majestuosidad de San Pedro de Atacama con confianza y tranquilidad.

Nuestra visión en Andes Travel es ser reconocidos como líderes en el turismo de aventura en la región de San Pedro de Atacama, estableciendo un estándar de excelencia en seguridad y servicio al cliente. Nos esforzamos por ser un referente en la industria, donde los viajeros confíen en nuestra capacidad para brindar experiencias auténticas y seguras en un entorno natural incomparable. Nuestra visión es seguir inspirando a las personas a descubrir y apreciar la belleza de San Pedro de Atacama de una manera segura y responsable.

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ANDES TRAVEL (San Pedro de Atacama) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go

APRIL SALE:   Discover and book at   up to 60% off!

Andes Mountains Tours & Trips from San Pedro De Atacama

An adventure starting in San Pedro De Atacama is a great way to see Andes Mountains. We have 19 tours that range from 3 days up to 13 days. The most popular time for tours from San Pedro De Atacama is August, which has the most tour departures.

19 Andes Mountains tours from San Pedro De Atacama with 27 reviews

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8 - Days Experience in San Pedro de Atacama & Torres del Paine National Park

I had a great experience on this trip. Everything was very well organized by Marilda from Signature Tours, and their local partners -- Turismo Gato Andino at San Pedro Atacama, and Patagonia Planet in Puerto Natales. When one of the activities on the itinerary became unavailable, Marilda organized an alternate activity -- a 3.5 hr. soft hike in the Torres Del Paine national park. This turned out to be the highlight of my trip with close views of a lot of wildlife, including two Pumas. I am very pleased with my overall experience on this tour.

• 10% deposit on some dates Some departure dates offer you the chance to book this tour with a lower deposit.

Top Attractions Uyuni Salt Flat ,Machu Picchu High Experience from Chile or Perú

The trip was fantastic ! Marco and Roger were extremely knowledgeable and perfect communicators ! Perfect way of seeing beautiful countries in such a short time- would definiteoy recommend !

• In-depth Cultural

Discover The Salt Desert (Adventure trip)

I was charged for a single, yet in Bolivia I stayed with multiple people. Other then that it was a great tour.

Atacama Desert Route 7D

It was an amazing trip, the agent was perfect, always available for any quesfiin and provided all the support needed. Highly recommend this trip and this agency

• Book With Flexibility This operator allows you to rebook your dates or tours with them for free, waiving change fees.

Discover Chile from North to South - 12 Days

4 Days San Pedro de Atacama Highlights Express

Uyuni Salt Flats & Desert Adventure 4D/3N (Atacama to La Paz)

Great tour, accommodation and meals were basic but that was expected and did not impact the experience. Salt flats were amazing

San Pedro de Atacama Explorer – 3 Nights

The Moon, the Geysers & the Stars - 6 days

4 Days / 3 Nights in the Uyuni Salt Flat and the Colored Lagoons tour from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile with Budget Hostels

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Desert Premium Experience: San Pedro de Atacama

Uyuni Salt Flats & Desert Adventure 3D/2N (Atacama to Uyuni)

This adventure tour was outstanding! Our driver, David, was an incredible leader and gave 110% in making the experience as good as it gets for our little group. Although I was the only non-Spanish speaker on the tour, David was very patient with understanding me and always made sure I was okay. His professionalism and dedication to the tour made for a very positive time. We hit all the beautiful stops that were in the itinerary with great pacing and we had plenty of time in each location to soak it all in and take proper photos and videos. We were usually the first ones at each location, which should not be overlooked: we got there before all the rest of the tours came strolling through. Excellent for capturing memories! There was also plenty of food/drink during our lunch & dinner portions, lodgings were decent & comfortable, and the Nissan jeep we rode in was well equipped for the journey. For animal lovers, I saw tons of flamingos, llamas, and vultures on the way. The stars at night were also brilliant. Going through the various landscapes was a natural feast for the eyes too: vast deserts, colored lagoons, unique rock formations, shapely valleys, and of course, the impressive Uyuni salt flats. I'll never forget the experience and I once again want to stress how good of a driver we had in David. Thanks for the memories! The only thing I can say negatively, is that they failed to pick me up on the day I was schedule to depart. But they were quick to apologize, reimbursed me for the extra night's stay, and I ended up needing more paperwork in the meantime to receive my Bolivia Visa. So it didn't end up being the end of the world as I may have been rejected at the border. I also missed a night's stay I booked at a hotel in La Paz and an additional day there so that was unfortunate. It should also be noted that the altitude adjustment is no joke. Be prepared for the change in height. But overall, my experience was very positive and they ran the tour very well. I'd definitely recommend.

Cycle Chile & Argentina: Atacama to Salta

What people love about andes mountains tours from san pedro de atacama.

The organization was excellent and Marilda from Signature extremely helpful. The Atacama portion was with a fabulous tour agency. Very professionally run. The Torres del Paine portion was a bit short so I added an extra 3 days there on my own which were great. Remember that Patagonia is very windy when you book. But absolutely beautiful and worth it!

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To Purilibre with David! - Andes Travel

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Nice and unforgettable tour. Amazing view and nice people. The guid explain very detail about... read more

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To Purilibre with David!

We had a wonderful trekking tour to Purilibre. A place that looks vastly different from the rest of the atacama dessert and allows you to swim in comfortably warm water. Our tour guide David made the experience outstanding by telling us all about the fauna, flora, and geology and by taking great pictures.

Best experience ever! It was an amazing evening with lots of scientific and cultural information. The agency has 3 telescopes and the experts showed the most fantastic views of the atmosphere. Jared, Maria and Eddie are the right people to take you to the skies!

Great experience with the star excursion at night. Jared and Maria are very helpful and informative. Enjoy the activity a lot.

We loved our trip to Valle de la Luna! The scenery is just stunning, especially at sunset. Our guide David was amazing, he knew so many things about the history and geology of the desert, the different stones and minerals.

excelent carolina it a perfect tourist guide in the tatio, she teach very good , the time is perfect on all moment , is a hight mountain and the agency turist always good comunication whit the all turits

Thank you, Andes Travel for this trip to Rainbow Valley that was truly exceptional, thanks to the incredible guide, Rafael. While I've had the pleasure of being guided by many professional and friendly tour guides in South America, Africa, and Asia, Rafael's personality brought a unique and unforgettable dimension to the experience. His kind, humble, and tactful demeanor created an atmosphere that made us never want the journey to end. Moreover, Rafael's extensive knowledge, sense of humor, and elegance added a special touch to the trip. His keen eye for photography and excellent taste in food made even a simple breakfast feel like an additional feast, thanks to the thoughtful nuances he took care of. During my vacation in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile, Rafael truly made this particular journey stand out as my favorite and most enjoyable. Any tour agency would be exceptionally fortunate to have someone like Rafael as part of their team.

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Andes Travel - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

26 Fun Things to Do in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Adventurous Kate contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I will earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks!

San Pedro de Atacama is a small-town oasis surrounded by one of the driest places on the planet. People come from around the world to experience the Atacama Desert, and there are plenty of fun things to do in San Pedro de Atacama, the gateway to exploring this otherworldly setting.

Planning your trip to San Pedro de Atacama last minute?

San Pedro is a small town and most popular tours and hotels book up fast. Book ahead to avoid disappointment!

🔭 Top Experiences and Tours in San Pedro de Atacama:

• Stargazing Tour with an Astronomer (Absolute must!)
• Puritama Hot Springs (My favorite thing I did!)
• El Tatio Geysers Tour (Better on a tour than on your own)

🛌  Top-Rated Hotels in San Pedro de Atacama:

• Cas a Lickana B&B (I stayed here and loved it!)
• Hotel Desertic a (Upscale + great location)
• La Casa del Pueblo Hostal (Great budget option)

🚗 Renting a car from Calama Airport near San Pedro? Find deals on car rental rates here.

My husband Charlie and I chose to visit Atacama Desert on our monthlong Chile-Argentina-Uruguay honeymoon. Why? Volcanoes, salty lakes, erupting geysers, giant sand dunes, and bizarre rock formations — not to mention the flamingos, guanacos, and vicuñas!

Right away, we knew San Pedro de Atacama would be the best base for exploring the Atacama Desert in Chile. A small town with a bohemian feel, sitting at 2,400 meters above sea level and surrounded by the Andes mountains, San Pedro is full of character (and characters) — a fun place to return after exploring the desert each day!

Here are the best things to do in San Pedro de Atacama — gateway to some of the most visually striking places in Chile, a country that punches above its weight in terms of natural beauty.

This post was published in February 2024 and was co-written by Adventurous Kate and Hannah Cooper.

Table of Contents

Safety in San Pedro de Atacama

Please don’t skip this section, it’s important!! I’m adding in a section on safety in San Pedro de Atacama because I feel like the dangers of the desert are so underplayed.

First off, the Atacama Desert is a high-altitude desert, which is a tough on your body. You’ll be experiencing the effects of a desert climate (dry eyes, nose, lips, and skin) as well as possibly the effects of altitude (fatigue, dizziness, headaches), especially in highest-altitude places like the El Tatio geysers.

Secondly, you need to decide whether to 1) rent a car and explore independently, or 2) book tours. Charlie and I rented a car, but knowing what I know now about the driving conditions, booking tours is far safer.

There is only one gas station in the area — in the town of San Pedro de Atacama — and if you break down, your situation could quickly turn deadly. There is no phone signal outside the town. Many roads are unpaved and in bad condition. It is incredibly hot during the day and quite cold at night. There are safety trucks patrolling the most traversed roads, and they often have to save stranded tourists.

At one point we realized we had a deflating tire that had to be inflated each morning, and my heart was in my throat until we got back to Calama Airport safely.

If you’re driving on your own, check your tire pressure, keep a full tank of gas, and take water and food with you. Don’t drive on your own if you’re traveling solo. Don’t drive while tired. Drive slowly, take no chances, and keep an eye out for wildlife.

Best Things to Do in San Pedro de Atacama

Visit the valle de la luna.

Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley) is one of the most popular attractions in the Atacama, and I think it’s a good place to visit on your first day in San Pedro de Atacama, as it’s a good afternoon destination. The main activities here include the mysterious Three Marias rocks, an abandoned salt mine, and a 40-minute walk through the colossal dunes.

Valle de la Luna is an easy 25-minute drive from San Pedro (which you will soon learn is EXTREMELY close by Atacama standards). Many tourists cycle there, although you must arrive before 11:00 AM. 

Instead, I recommend arriving in the afternoon when the light is softer, and then hanging around for sunset at the La Piedra del Coyote viewpoint. You should buy admission tickets via Punto Ticket — you will need to arrive at a specific time.

Otherwise, you can book a Valle de la Luna tour from San Pedro . This tour brings you to the sites listed and concludes with watching the sunset nearby.

Watch the sunset at La Piedra del Coyote

La Piedra del Coyote (aka Mirador de Kari) is one of the best places to see the sunset in the Atacama. This is one of the most popular photos of the Atacama, and one that you’ve likely already seen: a huge plateau overlooking the Valle de la Luna where the jagged rocks and the Andes mountains light up in different colors as the sun sinks into the horizon.

Note that admission to this point is only possible with a Valle de la Luna ticket and must be on the same day; you can’t visit otherwise. Also, you should know that there isn’t really anywhere comfortable to sit here; there are a few cement blocks you can sit on, but they might all be taken, leaving you to pick out a rock.

Once the sunset wraps, the staff will shoo you out. That’s around 8:30 PM in summer and 5:30 PM in winter. 

Go sandboarding in the Valle de la Muerte

Sandboarding in Valle de la Muerte (the Atacama’s Death Valley) is one of the most adventurous things to do in San Pedro de Atacama! This valley is only five minutes from town and features dunes ranging from 40 meters to 200 meters. 

Valle de la Muerte reopened for sandboarding in 2023 after being shut down. Sandboard San Pedro is one of the best tour operators offering equipment, guides bilingual in Spanish and English, and transport. They run morning, afternoon, and full-moon sandboarding tours. 

Note that this region is sometimes referred to as Valle de Marte (Mars Valley). 

Go stargazing

Did you know that the Atacama Desert is home to the best stargazing on the planet? Seriously! The bone-dry, high-altitude climate allows exceptional visibility.

Astronomical tours are one of the best things to do in San Pedro de Atacama, and allow you to learn about astronomy and view celestial objects through a telescope.

Tours generally cost around $40-45 USD and include a professional astrophoto, like the one you see above. A few options worth checking out are this stargazing tour with an astronomer (the cheapest small-group tour), this astronomical and astrophotography tour (with more emphasis on photographing the stars) and the premium “Under the Atacama Night” (with a cultural focus). 

However, don’t make the mistake I did — don’t book a trip to the Atacama during the full moon if you can help it! The light from the moon wipes out the stars. It was a clear night and we were still able to see some stars (as well as Jupiter and Saturn, both very cool), but a night with the new moon would have been infinitely better.

Star-gazing can be done year-round in San Pedro de Atacama. You should know that clouds are rare in the Atacama but tour-canceling cloudy skies are most common in the months of January and February. The Milky Way is visible during the winter months (June, July, and August).

It used to be possible to visit the ALMA Observatory , however, public visits are currently suspended.

Explore the town of San Pedro de Atacama

The town of San Pedro de Atacama is as touristy as it comes — but that’s a good thing here! The town has a bohemian, hippie feel, and reminds me a lot of places like Pai, Thailand, and Holbox, Mexico. You’ll find a smattering of good restaurants, tons of tour companies, souvenir shops galore, bike rental companies, and impromptu pan flute jams.

Pedestrian-only Caracoles is the central walking street in San Pedro, and it’s especially pleasant around sunset, when the fierce daytime temperatures drop and everyone comes out to stroll. It’s like the passeggiata in Italy!

Here are a few of my favorite spots in San Pedro de Atacama:

ChelaCa bur — This bar has a fun atmosphere, a big beer list, offbeat decor, and great music. Oddly, I felt at home right away! Their chelada — a light beer with lime juice, ice, and salt — hits the spot after a day in the desert, replacing all the electrolytes you’ve lost.

Roots Café & Ba r — This alternative cafe boasts the best coffee in town. It also felt like the coolest people in town happened to be working here! Charlie and I each ordered an iced coffee on a hot day – followed swiftly by a second iced coffee. They were that good.

Emporio Andino — This bakery serves fantastic empanadas and they’re big enough to have one as a meal. So good that we had them for dinner on multiple occasions! I especially loved their caprese empanada with queso mantecoso, tomato, and basil.

Heladería Babalú — Visiting this beloved ice cream shop in San Pedro is practically a rite of passage! Here you can find both classic flavors and some unusual options inspired by the local herbs, like “flor del desierto” and “rica-rica.” My favorite was the maracuya (passion fruit).

Visit the stunning Lagunas Altiplánicas

Sitting at maximum altitudes of 4,100 meters, the cobalt-blue Lagunas Altiplánicas are individually called Miscanti and Miñiques. These sparkling lakes are linked by a walking trail designed for landscape photography and birdwatching, and I was impressed by their beauty.

If you’re planning to visit Lagunas Altiplánicas independently, you will need to buy timed tickets via the Socaire website . I strongly recommend buying the ticket package that includes both the Lagunas Altiplánicas and Piedras Rojas, as they’re close to each other.

Socaire is about an hour’s drive from San Pedro, so factor this into choosing your time slot. You’ll have to check in at the town of Socaire on the way and collect a paper ticket. Officially, check-in is one hour before your timestamp. We arrived a bit early and it wasn’t an issue, but it’s wise to stick to the time slot. 

We had a lot of issues with the site timing out when trying to buy the tickets. It was like pulling teeth. Overall, I recommend going with a tour for this activity rather than going on your own.

This top-rated tour takes you to Piedras Rojas, the Altiplanic Lagoons, and Salar de Atacama . If you book a tour, the entrance fee must be paid separately in Chilean pesos; your guides will collect the fee on the drive. 

Another bonus: the turn-off to the dirt road leading to Lagunas Altiplánicas has lots of vicuñas, a llama-like creature! We saw a whole family.

Walk around Las Piedras Rojas 

After leaving the Lagunas Altiplánicas, the Piedras Rojas (Red Rocks) are a 45-minute drive further south. Also known as the Aguas Calientes Salt Flat, these rust-colored boulders edge another high-altitude salt lake. The pale blues and greens of the water with the deep pink and red hues of the rocks lead to an otherworldly atmosphere.

There is an easy, mostly flat walking trail taking you around the salt lakes. But you should know that you’re at 3,800 meters above sea level — expect to be a bit out of breath when doing this walk. Dress warmly, as it will be chilly and windy. I was wearing a denim jacket, which wasn’t quite warm enough for this area. My Uniqlo ultra light down jacket would have been a better choice.

The guides said that the walking trail would take around 90 minutes; Charlie and I walked it quickly and did it in 40 minutes.

If you want to visit Piedras Rojas on a tour, I recommend the same Piedras Rojas, the Altiplanic Lagoons, and Salar de Atacama tour listed above.

Note: if traveling independently, by this time you’ll probably be ready for lunch. There are a few places to eat in Socaire.

Pose at the Tropic of Capricorn Sign

The Tropic of Capricorn is located just south of San Pedro de Atacama, and there is an Instagram-ready sign marking it! You can find Tropic of Capricorn signs on either side of Highway 23, about 45 minutes’ driving time south of San Pedro de Atacama, just north of Socaire.

There’s nothing else to do here — but it’s definitely worth stopping for a quick photo on your way to or from the Lagunas Altiplánicos and the Piedras Rojas.

This wasn’t my first time at the Tropic of Capricorn — I also drove through it near Shark Bay in Western Australia .

See El Tatio Geysers at dawn

Situated at a sky-high 4,300 meters, El Tatio is the highest geyser field in the world. These 80 hot water and stream eruptions reach heights of 10 meters. But if you want to see the bubbling explosions in action for yourself, you’ll need to visit VERY early in the morning — just before sunrise.

Yes, that means you’ll need to leave San Pedro de Atacama at about 4:00 AM to get there on time. For this reason, I strongly recommend visiting on a tour rather than driving there on your own. The roads are not in great condition and you don’t want to be driving them in the dark — plus the altitude here can lead to headaches and nausea.

Instead, I recommend booking this tour to the El Tatio geysers , on a bus with big windows. You’ll be picked up around 4:00 AM and can snooze the whole drive there. You’ll visit the village of Machuca and the Rio Putana wetlands afterwards.

You should also know that it’s extremely cold at the El Tatio geysers before the sun comes up — below freezing. Wear all of your warmest clothes. It will get better once the sun comes up.

Still intent on driving yourself? Some visitors to San Pedro de Atacama wait for an excursion van and tailgate them all the way to the geysers. Drivers hate this, but it will help you see where you’re going. Allow two hours for the drive (90 minutes if you have a 4X4). But if you’re on your own, you can visit the Puritama Hot Springs on the way back (more on that below).

The entrance fee at the El Tatio geysers is 15,000 CLP ($16 USD) in cash and must be paid by all visitors, regardless of tour.

Stop off at Lagunas Flamingos

The Lagunas Flamingos are located just south of Mahuca, on the way back from El Tatio. These lakes are named for the cotton candy-colored birds who wade in the shallows – go figure!

It’s worth stopping for a few photos on the way back from El Tatio Geysers. However, I don’t think it’s worth making a special trip to these lakes. Stick to the Puritama Hot Springs instead. Which brings us to our next item…

Soak in the Puritama Hot Springs (Termas de Puritama)

Now THIS was my favorite experience in the Atacama Desert! I love visiting hot springs around the world, from Iceland to Italy, but the Puritama Hot Springs might have the most unique setting of all: a verdant canyon in the middle of the desert. 

It looks like nothing when you arrive — just a parking lot. But hidden from the road is a pathway that slowly descends into the canyon.

Here you can enjoy a chain of seven pools, all of them linked with waterfalls. The water is warm, not hot, but these pools are absolute PARADISE after spending a few days in the driest place in the world!

There are restrooms and single-sex group changing rooms (no private stalls) at the complex. You’ll need to bring your own lock if you want to use the lockers, and there is no food or drink. I recommend bringing flip-flops for walking the paths between the pools, and take it slowly on the walk out of the canyon — the high altitude makes uphill climbs extra challenging!

It takes 30 minutes to drive to the Puritama Hot Springs from San Pedro. Without a car, you can book this tour to take you.

Tickets cost 35,000 CLP ($38.50 USD) per adult and must be purchased online in advance for either the morning, afternoon, or sunset slot. (Note that there are mid-day closures between the time slots.) Even if you book a tour, you still need to buy admission via this website. 

Find flamingos at Laguna Chaxa

Laguna Chaxa is one of the best spots on the Atacama salt flats for seeing flamingos. This shallow lake is the habitat of Chilean, Andean, and James flamingoes. 

It takes 1 hour and 40 minutes to drive to the Chaxa Lagoon from San Pedro. Once you leave the main road it switches to gravel, like many of the roads in the region, but it is drivable in a regular car. 

I think Laguna Chaxa is best visited on the way back from Lagunas Altiplánicas and Piedras Rojas, as it’s an easy detour from that main road. This Atacama Salt Flat and Piedras Rojas tour is a full day out and stops at all three.  

Float in salty Laguna Cejar

Laguna Cejar is another part of the Atacama salt flats where you’ll see flamingos. Plus, you’ll have the chance to float in the saline-loaded waters — this lake is saltier than the Dead Sea!

Cejar Lagoon is the first stop on the short walking path. However, the lake you’ll actually swim in is Laguna Piedra. (Pretty much all locals refer to both lakes as Laguna Cejar, which can be a bit confusing.)

It’s cold when you first enter the water, but you’ll soon warm up. Swimming is capped at 20 minutes for safety reasons, after which you’ll need to shower the salt off before leaving.

Lagunas Cejar and Piedra are an easy 25-minute drive from San Pedro. You can buy an entry ticket for 20,000 CLP ($22 USD) online .

But like all things in this part of the world, random closures can happen. Unfortunately Laguna Cejar happened to be closed when Charlie and I showed up. Oh well — next time!

Want to do it on a tour? This top-rated tour to Laguna Cejar, Ojos del Salar, and Laguna Tebinquinche is available. Admission to the lagoons is payable in cash to the guide, and the outing includes a picnic.

Catch sunset at Laguna Tebinquinche

The Atacama Desert is fascinating from a biological perspective — and Laguna Tebinquinche contains a unique microbial ecosystem that isn’t found anywhere else on the planet.  And it’s another visually spellbinding destination.

Touching the water and salt deposits is forbidden, but you can enjoy views of the layers from the footpath. Tourists must leave before sunset, but you should stay as long as possible to enjoy the glorious light and color changes.

It’s a 20-minute drive from Laguna Cejar with a stop at the two sinkholes known as Ojos del Salar (Eyes of the Salt Flats). The aforementioned tour to Laguna Cejar finishes off at Laguna Tebinquinche. 

Check out the Yerbas Buenas petroglyphs

Yerbas Buenas is a great place to learn about the human history of San Pedro and the surrounding area.  This area is rich with petroglyphs from 10,000 years ago.

This rock art depicts animals of the Atacama, including vicuñas and Andean foxes.

It’s a 50-minute drive from San Pedro de Atacama to the Yerbas Buenas petroglyph. This six-hour tour to Valle del Arcoíris , the Atacama’s Rainbow Valley, includes a stop on the way back. And like any place featuring ancient art, it’s good to have a guide explain it to you.

Climb Cerro Toco

If you’re physically fit, acclimated to the altitude, and up for a challenge, climbing a dormant volcano in the Andes mountains is one of the most adventurous things to do in San Pedro de Atacama .

Cerro Toco reaches 5,604 meters and is one of the top places for spectacular desert views (in a region that seems to have spectacular views around every corner!).

You’ll need to book a guided Cerro Toco summit trek with a certificated high-mountain guide. Proper trekking gear is mandatory, and keep in mind that the high altitude makes this far more difficult than if it were at a lower elevation. Do not even think of doing this if you’re not accustomed to hiking in altitude.

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Visit Museo de Meteorito

Inspecting meteorites collected from the desert is one of the most unexpected things to do in San Pedro de Atacama in the evening before dinner. Museo de Meteorito contains achondrites, chondrites, mesosiderites, and pallasites.

An audio tour is available in multiple languages. At the end, you’ll have a hands-on demo for detecting meteorites from regular rocks.

The Meteorite Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 6:00-9:00 PM. Cash-only admission is 5,000 CLP ($5.50 USD).

Ride a Hot Air Balloon

Are you a baller? You can’t get much more baller than riding a hot air balloon over the Atacama Desert! And it’s hard to imagine a better view than from the sky.

Yes, it’s expensive — but I would file this under “once in a lifetime” travel experiences.

You can find and book hot air balloon flights in San Pedro de Atacama here, and they take place in the early morning between September and May. 

Off the Beaten Path near San Pedro de Atacama

Here are a few more destinations in San Pedro de Atacama worth visiting:

Salar de Tara — Located within the Los Flamencos National Reserve in Northern Chile, this phenomenal salt flat borders both Bolivia and Argentina. Besides flamingoes, you’ll see sand-carved “cathedrals.”

Laguna Baltinache — More salty lakes, you say? Why not! Not a lot of people visit the Hidden Lagoons of Baltinache , preferring Lagunas Cejar and Piedra, which makes them a lovely escape.. Swimming is permitted in two of the seven. 

Valle del Arcoíris — The Atacama’s “Rainbow Valley” contains stripey mountains and rock formations formed by wind erosion. It’s the first stop on this six-hour tour to Valle del Arcoíris followed by Yerbas Buenas. 

How Much Time to Spend in San Pedro de Atacama

I think three days in San Pedro de Atacama is the perfect amount of time. If you arrive midday on the first day, that’s fine — you still have time for the Valle de la Luna, sunset at La Piedra del Coyote, and even some stargazing.

A four- or five-day itinerary would give you enough time to do everything on this list.

There are a few points of consideration into how many days to spend in San Pedro de Atacama. First of all, it’s in the middle of nowhere, so you’ll probably have to plan flights on either side, and second, the high-altitude desert environment can be tough to get used to.

Be sure to take it easy and slowly increase your elevation. Most guides recommend starting easily with the Valle de la Luna and saving El Tatio geysers for your last day because it’s at a much higher altitude.

Finally — thanks to our crusty noses, dry lips, and a few headaches, Charlie and I were relieved to leave the desert after three days. Our next destination was Puerto Varas in the lush, green Los Lagos region and it felt like paradise!

How to get to San Pedro de Atacama

The closest airport to San Pedro de Atacama is in the city of Calama. El Loa Airport in Calama has several flights to Santiago each day, which take about two hours. From Calama it’s a one-hour drive to San Pedro.

There are several kiosks at the arrivals terminal selling bus transfers to San Pedro. A single fare is 15,000 CLP ($16.50 USD). If you’re traveling during the peak travel months (November through March), I recommend you pre-book a shared transfer .

You can also rent a car in Calama and drive to San Pedro de Atacama, as we did.

Not up for flying? There is a bus to San Pedro de Atacama from Santiago, but it takes a whopping 22 hours! Chile is a looooong country.

You can also look at traveling to or from San Pedro by bus from other South American destinations. Tours of the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia often finish in San Pedro de Atacama, and there are buses from the city of Salta, Argentina, that take 10 hours.

Recorrido and Busbud are the best places to scope out routes and fares.

Where to Stay in San Pedro de Atacama

San Pedro de Atacama is a relatively small town. I recommend staying close to Caracoles, the main walking street in town, which is home to lots of restaurants, shops, bars, and tour companies. Everything is close by when you stay near Caracoles.

For that reason, I selected the top-rated hotels in San Pedro that are close to Caracoles:

Top-Rated Luxury Hotel in San Pedro de Atacama: If you’re happy to splash out, you’ll appreciate the exceptional Hotel Desertic a for its pool. Abode rooms are tricked out with natural materials and have swanky private bathrooms. 

Top-Rated Mid-range Hotel in San Pedro de Atacama: Cas a Lickana B&B  is where I stayed and I’m happy to recommend it based on location, security, and value for money! The rooms aren’t huge, but they have private outdoor patios, and breakfast is included (including hot dishes like scrambled eggs). The staff are lovely and kind, though you shouldn’t expect any of them to know any English (which is not unusual in Chile).

Top-Rated Budget Hotel in San Pedro de Atacama: La Casa del Pueblo Hosta l is a fuss-free budget option that offers economical double rooms and family rooms with either a private or shared bathroom. Breakfast is included in the price and rental bikes are available.

Find deals on places to stay in San Pedro de Atacama here.

Best Time to Visit San Pedro de Atacama

It’s possible to visit San Pedro at any time of year. It’s warmest during summer: that’s December, January, and February in the southern hemisphere! October, November, and March are best for decent weather, fewer crowds, and lower accommodation rates.

A very short but pretty intense rainy season occurs in February. It brings a heavy onset of rainfall for a week or so near town. However, most parts of the Atacama have never seen a drop of rain. (EVER! Seriously! How does life exist here?!)

The winter months of June, July, and August are bone-chillingly cold at night, although they have the perk of clear skies and minimal crowds. This is also when you can see the Milky Way in the Atacama Desert.

Mornings, evenings, and nights in the Atacama are always cold, but temperatures in San Pedro are blisteringly hot during the early afternoon. Certain tourist spots are subject to colder/windier daytime conditions at all times of the year, like El Tatio before dawn, where temperatures are often below freezing. Bundle up!

Is San Pedro de Atacama Worth It?

Okay, I’ll be honest with you — San Pedro de Atacama was worth it for me personally, but I don’t think it’s for everyone. The environment is visually spectacular, but visiting this area involves a lot of long distance drives on rough roads to “just look at things,” as my husband put it.

The Puritama Hot Springs and stargazing tour were much more interactive, but he was right — besides those things, there was a lot of “drive two hours to a thing, take a photo, and there’s nothing else to do there, so you leave.” That, on top of the dryness, peeling lips, and altitude fatigue.

San Pedro is quite a far distance from everything else in Chile, so if you’re not 100% set on visiting, you may want to consider whether your limited time in Chile would be better spent hiking in Patagonia, exploring towns in the Lakes region, or enjoying art and culture in Valparaíso.

But if you love deserts, unusual landscapes, photography, and star-gazing, I think you’ll love the Atacama! This truly is a special part of the world, and I’m so glad I got to experience it.

More on Chile:

• Staying at Ecocamp Patagonia: A Sustainable Resort in Chile

More on South America:

• Solo Female Travel in Colombia: Is it safe?
• What’s it really like to travel to Guyana?
• 16 Epic Things to Do in Ushuaia, Argentina
• 25 Epic Things To Do in El Calafate, Argentina
• 18 Wild Things to Do in El Chaltén, Argentina
• El Calafate vs. El Chaltén: Which Town in Argentine Patagonia Better?
• 32+ Fun Things To Do in Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Salt, stars and survival in Chile's otherworldly Atacama Desert

Dotted with ruins and tattooed with petroglyphs, the moonscapes of Chile’s Atacama Desert also hold a repository of stories. Hike into mineral-coated canyons and camp under brilliant night skies to see how this arid landscape offers a gateway to the past.

A cold, bloodless dawn breaks above the Andes, the yolk of a white sun spilling out across the Atacama Desert ahead.   I’m standing next to the ruins of a shepherd’s hut, 13,800ft above sea level. This altitude — over three times that of Ben Nevis — plus the fact I’ve been up since 4.45am mean my energy levels are close to zero. My skull feels like an empty shell. A cutting wind slashes around my face, causing my eyes to water, but as uncomfortable as this is, moving seems almost impossible.  

Given the circumstances, quite how Lily Marchant is able to spring over rocks towards me is baffling. The guide from Awasi Atacama hotel has a habit of bounding; enthusiasm comes to her more readily than it does to a sugar-spiked toddler. I can hear it in her voice when she asks: “Beautiful, no?” Ahead of us, great, dry plains stretch to the hazy horizon. To the north, Andean volcanos are painted pink, then a chalky orange by the rising sun. I pull my hood a little tighter and tell her I agree.

I first heard of the Atacama, as most people do, at school. The driest non-polar desert on Earth, “a place where they say it hasn’t rained for 100 years”, says Lily. “They told us that, too. It really stuck with me.” Born in the Colchagua Valley south of Chile’s capital, Santiago, Lily was raised among vineyards. Having lived in the arid ocean that is the Atacama for the past five years, when she goes home now, she has a renewed appreciation for the colour green.  

“When I first got here, it took me weeks to stop looking for trees,” she tells me as we retreat to the warmth of our car. “I grew up surrounded by mountains, but they aren’t as naked as they are here. When I visit home, I’m like a little girl, saying ‘Wow! Was this place always so green? Were there this many   shades?’”

These days, Lily has found her green spaces, even here in the blasted moonscapes of the Atacama. For the length of my stay at Awasi, she’s determined to surprise me with them. The few, thin Atacama ‘facts’ I have at my disposal are mostly dispelled and I spend my time variously dazzled, confused and terrified by the profundities of this deeply weird place.

It may not rain much in the Atacama, but in certain areas it doesn’t need to. Andean meltwater is abundant enough to supply rivers, above and below ground. Wells provide water to the lonely oasis that is San Pedro de Atacama — once a vital refuelling station for traders and herders, now home to a community dedicated to tourism. Almost all residents are involved in one form or another, enabling the town to serve as a base from which travellers can explore the immensities of the desert. While San Pedro’s function may have changed over the centuries, its aesthetic is still that of an ancient outpost, with adobe walls, a gleaming white church and a salt-baked central plaza in which hippies seek shade under gnarled peppercorn trees. Those trees, with their deep roots, can reach the buried water, but north of the town the vegetation has readier access to liquid sustenance: a pair of rivers — aquatic arteries that flow through the desert like Biblical miracles.  

Signs of life

One afternoon, Lily takes me hiking along the waterways, following the Puritama River to the hamlet of Guatín. Leaving the bare rock of the roadside behind, we descend to the riverbed where a dozen or so plant species have set up home along the banks. They’ve been joined by dragonflies, lizards and a peculiar rodent called a viscacha. The size of a Jack Russell, with ears like a hare’s and a tail like a minuscule horse’s, it rarely spends time standing around in the open, instead preferring to flee beneath cacti or leap effortlessly across boulders. It’s the only creature I see that’s more adept at bounding than Lily herself.  

“ Qué lindo! ” she shouts, as we run after one of these bizarre animals in the forlorn hope of catching up with it. How beautiful, indeed. But also, how dangerous. “I’ve heard about kids catching them back in town, thinking they could be a pet,” says Lily. “But they’re really aggressive. One killed a dog.”

We spend the rest of the afternoon trekking upstream, giant cardon cacti looming above us like skyscrapers, a series of pretty little waterfalls ahead. Amid the humidity at the waters’ edge, it’s easy to forget about the desolation beyond the canyon walls.  

The following morning, Lily takes me to the Putana wetlands to prove that the gorge was no fluke. This is probably her favourite place in the Atacama, she tells me: a wide river and marsh that freeze most nights, then thaw to allow its residents — giant coots, blue-billed puna teals and dozens more viscachas — to forage along it shores. The water here is so clear and rich in nutrients that it’s also home to fish and — although we never see them — is probably visited by members of the dwindling puma population.

A short drive down the mountain, in the village of Machuca, we find yet more wildlife eking out a living. The water has attracted flamboyances of flamingos, as well as geese, ducks and, as though they were missing the salt of the sea, Andean gulls. Looking out across the wetland, I’m reminded of being on safari. This wasn’t the Atacama I’d been told about in class as a child. But I was soon to find out that this desert can be hellish, too.

Memories & minerals

It’s difficult to know where to begin describing the Atacama’s dryness. It’s so dry that in places it may not have rained for 20 million years. It’s so dry that as I’m writing a note about the ceaseless desiccation, my new pen seizes up, its moisture also reaped by the Atacama. It’s so dry that Covid-19 rates here were some of the lowest in Chile — it seemed that even the hated virus couldn’t thrive in this harsh environment. For a time, locals took to leaving non-perishable shopping outside for half an hour before bringing it in, hoping the high UV levels and unrelenting dryness might have a sterilising effect.

As we stand next to the rusted skeleton of a bus in a nowhere west of San Pedro de Atacama, Lily tells me you don’t really get used to this environment, but learn coping strategies instead. Pointing to the bus, which looks about as dead as a vehicle can look, she tells me it was used to transport miners but, since being abandoned here, has served as a bar — a place to party in a shallow valley bleached by sodium and gypsum. Perhaps hedonism was a coping strategy for some, but the thought of a hangover in this charnel air makes my soul shudder with fear.

If, in your mind’s eye, a desert is defined by mighty, Saharan-style dunes, then you should know that the Atacama is quite different. It’s rockier, starker, meaner. Yet there’s a strange and terrible beauty to it all the same. Around the bus, the scene looks almost festive, with a dusting of what looks like snow covering most surfaces. This is evaporite, the remnants of saltwater long since carried into the ether by sun and wind.  

Above, the merciless sky hangs tight and blue and deadly. Driving off-road to get here, I’d noticed the skull and spinal column of an unlucky guanaco (a llama-like creature related to the camel) lying on the ground. Bleached white, it looked ready to blow away like ash. Elsewhere, Lily shows me a cliff face with long, serrated blades of pure sodium that looks like something from the pages of a fantasy novel.

Here, at 6,500ft above sea level, there’s salt where you’d expect to find soil; sulphur instead of snow; lithium and copper also — and a sense that life isn’t welcome here. Today, mining operations are draining the Atacama of its mineral riches.   That pillaging happens far from San Pedro, but there are traces that it once took place around these parts, too. This flayed wasteland still holds remnants of former miners’   refugios   (mountain huts), and as I follow   Lily across a salt-crusted landscape, our feet crunching through the surface as though it were frozen, I notice a few rusty cans and other long-lost industrial remnants.

In other parts of the desert, there are far fewer artifacts. The Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet turned abandoned saltpetre mines into concentration camps during the 1970s and ’80s. The man, whose arrest for human rights abuses was described by his personal friend Margaret Thatcher as “a tragedy”, sent   thousands of his own citizens to die up here in the desert’s furnace. The Atacama was a site of torture, murder and mass graves — all of those darkest human acts that we hope to learn from and leave in the past but never quite do.

Spread across over 40,000sq miles, the Atacama is a place to be both feared and respected. I can feel my lips drying and my hair follicles pleading for mercy during our excursion as a sapping wind blows relentlessly towards the Andes. Dust clings to my clothes and camera and, for a moment, it seems plausible the mountain range could have grown from millennia of this accumulated displacement.

Lily reassures me this isn’t the case by explaining the science behind the landscape: its history of tectonic shifts, of volcanic and seismic activity. As we cross a long-since-cauterised riverbed, I ask what she finds appealing about an environment that many others would find unbearable.  

“I like the quiet and the notion of timelessness,” she says, cheery as ever. “Being in the desert and so close to the Tropic of Capricorn gives us only two seasons: it’s either extreme summer or extreme winter. It reinforces the idea that time passes in a different way here.”

Lily never intended to stay in the Atacama. But after a few months here, she was drawn to it in ways she hadn’t expected. Now she has no plans to leave. “You need to give up on certain things to have the quietness,” she says. “I spent a couple of months in Santiago studying and I found I missed the eternal blue sky. Here it can be freezing or 40C, and still the sun will be shining.”

Window to the past

In the Atacama, the extreme brightness of the day is countered by the darkest night imaginable. Standing outside of San Pedro under the arthritic boughs of a carob tree, I’ve come to take photographs of the cosmos. As a waxing crescent moon sets behind the Loa mountains, the Milky Way appears like a distant storm. Shooting stars dart across the black so quickly as to seem imagined. Mars follows the moon over the horizon. The silence is breathless. The fabled Atacamanian night doesn’t disappoint.

As a photographer, I’ve had to learn about light and time. In that respect, I’m not alone in the Atacama — a few hundred people here think of little else. The altitude, the lack of light pollution and the near total absence of humidity combine to provide optimal conditions for celestial observation. Consequently, astronomers have been coming here for decades to explore the depths of our galaxy and beyond. When they do so, they’re always looking into the past — it takes just over a second for light to reach us from the moon, eight minutes and 20 seconds for it to get here from the sun. At greater distances, the astronomical numbers seem hard to believe. The light from the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy easily visible to the naked eye from the Atacama, is already 163,000 years old by the time it shoots into our retinas. The human race may no longer exist by the time Earth gets to see what’s happening there right now.

As the Atacama Large Millimeter Array — the world’s largest ground-based astronomical project — was being completed in 2010, documentary film director Patricio Guzmán released   Nostalgia for the Light, which explored the relationship between the desert, the cosmos and time. In the film, Chilean archaeologist Lautaro Núñez says: “Here, the past is more accessible than anywhere else. The translucency of the sky is, for the archaeologists of space, what the dry climate gives us. It facilitates our access to evidence from the past. The translucency allows the astronomers to shed light on the mysteries of space… the desert is a gateway to the past.”

The film blends science with mysticism — two approaches that rarely share the same platform. But the longer I spend in the desert, the more naturally they seem to commingle: when we look at the sky or at rocks, we look into the past.

The valleys around San Pedro de Atacama are richly tattooed in petroglyphs: artwork left as far back as 2,500 years ago by herders and explorers leading great caravans of animals from the Andes to the Pacific coast. Stalked by thirst and desperation, theirs must have been a harsh migration. When they came across rare water, it’s little wonder they tarried for a while and drew what they could of their world on surrounding rocks.  

“Here you can see a camelid, maybe a llama or an alpaca,” says Lily, delicately running her fingers over the crude outline on ochre rock. “There you can see — quick! Turn around!” I instinctively protect my camera and eyes as a whirlwind spins past. “Here that’s called a   cola del diablo ,” says Lily, shaking dust from her hair. “The devil’s tail.”

The Atacama does strange things to the body and the mind, just as it does to the land and air. My guide tells me that salt miners used to hear voices while working at saline rock faces. They became so convinced that some kind of sprite was watching them that they’d leave offerings each evening.

Standing close to one of these old pits, Lily and I fall silent and listen as the earth groans and cracks, grumbling like an unhappy glacier. The great Chilean politician and poet Pablo Neruda heard these same noises during his time in the Atacama in the middle of the 20th century. ‘I shivered in those solitudes when I heard the voice of salt in the desert’, he wrote in the poem Ode to Salt. Neruda was describing the mineral’s journey from mine to table. But the line that speaks to me most about the soul of the vast, pitiless Atacama is its closing one: ‘In it, we taste infinitude’.  

Getting there & around

British Airways has weekly flights from Heathrow to Santiago. Average flight time: 14h The onward flight from Santiago to Calama, which is a one-hour drive from San Pedro de Atacama, takes approximately two hours with several daily routes offered by LATAM Airlines , Sky Airline and JetSmart . It’s also possible to take a 24-hour sleeper bus.It’s not practical to drive yourself around the Atacama as the terrain is challenging and conditions can be severe. Hiring a local driver and/or guide is recommended.  

For the best celestial photography, with reduced haze, visit during the austral winter (June to September). For the most varied wildlife experiences, November and December are ideal, before temperatures soar as high as 40C in the day during summer.  

Where to stay

Awasi Atacama , San Pedro de Atacama

Latin American Travel Association Chile Travel

How to do it

Journey Latin America has 14 days in Chile from £6,911 per person, with four nights in the Atacama Desert staying at Awasi Atacama. Includes flights from London, transfers, most meals, alcoholic beverages in the Atacama and daily excursions.

Published in the June 2021 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK)

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A first-timer’s guide to Chile’s Atacama Desert

Jan 5, 2022 • 6 min read

The road to the volcanic blue Lake Miscanti in the altiplano of the Atacama Desert © Jos Driessen / 500px

Ever dreamed of what it’d be like to beam yourself up to a nearby planet?

Chile’s Atacama Desert may be the next best option with desiccated salt flats, inhospitable wildlands and vast lifeless landscapes that NASA uses to test instruments for outer space. One of the harshest places on earth, the Atacama may at first sound dull, empty or even devoid of water; it’s none of those things.

This thin coastal desert, squished between the Pacific Ocean and Andes Mountains, is riddled with oases where it bursts to life, both in fertile river valleys and on the semi-arid Altiplano thousands of feet up above. Add to the mix the planet’s tallest volcano, highest geysers, oldest mummies and clearest skies, you’ve got a recipe for an epic adventure. Below, we offer a guide for how to make the most out of your first visit.

Oases, volcanoes and moonscapes: best places to visit in Atacama

For most international tourists, San Pedro de Atacama may as well be a stand-in for the entire desert. That’s because this quaint little oasis town near the regional mining hub of Calama draws the vast majority of foreign visitors. It’s not hard to see why; San Pedro has a periphery of puffing volcanoes, ethereal moonscapes, steamy hot springs and dreamy desert-chic hotels (see Explora , Tierra or Awasi for inspiration). There’s also a strollable downtown filled with Andean restaurants, craft vendors and adventure outfitters – all tucked behind humble adobe facades. 

Atacama's world-class surfing and archeological treasures  

The Atacama’s biggest cities all lie along the Pacific Coast and see far fewer international tourists. Iquique and Arica are both world-class surfing hubs. Arica also draws archeology buffs hoping for a peek at Incan ruins or the world’s oldest mummies, which are housed in the nearby Azapa Valley . Antofagasta, a bit further south, is the most cosmopolitan city in the Atacama with a string of high-rise buildings that give it a bit of a Miami-in-the-desert vibe. Bahia Inglesa, even further south, is the most picturesque coastal resort with sugary white beaches that lead to clear turquoise waters.

Best things to do beyond San Pedro

Many of the iconic images you find of the Atacama Desert actually come from the Altiplano some 4,000 meters (13,125ft) above. This is the high-altitude plateau filled with turquoise lagoons, llama-filled plains and sizzling salt flats.

San Pedro is the most common departure point for trips to the Altiplano, but to get off the beaten path, try the parklands above Copiapó or Arica. The former is a base for adventures to Parque Nacional Nevado Tres Cruces , home to flamingo-filled lagoons, multi-hued hot springs and a panorama of 6,000-meter-plus peaks. Mountaineers from around the world flock here to climb Ojos del Salado, the tallest active volcano in the world.

The Altiplano above Arica, meanwhile, is riddled with dozens of Indigenous Aymara hamlets such as Putre, which is the best place to acclimatize for journeys into wildlife-rich parklands nearby, including Parque Nacional Lauca and Reserva Nacional Las Vicuñas .

Adventure activities in Chile's Atacama Desert

Beyond hiking and mountaineering, other popular activities include sandboarding, fat-biking, off-roading and paragliding (particularly in Iquique). Yet, it’s stargazing that is one of the Atacama’s greatest appeals. San Pedro de Atacama and the Elqui Valley are top hubs thanks to the presence of major international observatories.

Fans of ancient rock art should check out the Geoglifos de Pintados near Iquique, where khaki mountains are blanketed in geoglyphs that rival Nazca in Peru. Nearby you also find the Gigante de Atacama , the largest prehistoric anthropomorphic figure in the world. Those into more recent history should check out the dozens of ghost towns on the pampa, including UNESCO-listed Humberstone , whose lavish opera house and sprawling pulperia (trading post) offer a telling snapshot of how the Nitrate Boom (1880s to 1920s) transformed Chile into the nation it is today. 

From backpackers to jet setters: where to stay near the Atacama 

San Pedro de Atacama is, far and away, the most common base for tourists to the Atacama, appealing as much to dust-covered backpackers as well-healed jet setters.

Elqui Valley is a rival hub that also has a week’s worth of attractions, though it’s technically just south of the Atacama proper. Sand and sea lovers make a happy home out of Bahia Inglesa, while surfers prefer Arica or Iquique.

Copiapó is among the more appealing cities in the middle of the desert with a good clutch of hotels and day-trip access to both serene beaches and stunning Altiplano landscapes. Tiny towns with big appeal include Pica, a desert oasis near Iquique that grows the limes used in pisco sours, and Putre, a high-altitude Aymara village near Arica on the overland route to Bolivia.

The best time to visit the Atacama Desert 

Unlike the rest of Chile, there’s really no bad time to visit the Atacama Desert. In fact, the coastal northern cities are known as places of “eternal spring” as temperatures barely budge from month to month. Of course, this is a desert, so no matter what time of year you visit, expect temperatures to drop considerably as soon as the sun drops.

If barren beaches are the main draw, you may prefer warmer summer months (December to March) when the cool ocean temperatures are more tolerable. Summer is also best for any mountaineering trips. This is the time of year, however, when sporadic rains on the Altiplano can make some roads impassable. January and February see some destinations – including Bahia Inglesa, Iquique and San Pedro – overrun with domestic tourists. 

Winter (June to September) is a fine time to visit with midday temperatures at lower altitudes quite pleasant. You’ll need a heavy jacket for evenings, though, particularly if you’re headed up on the Altiplano where it can be below zero with snow. For great deals and even greater weather, visit in the shoulder seasons.

How to get to and around the Atacama Desert

There are no direct flights to the Atacama Desert from abroad. You’ll first need to fly into Santiago and then connect onward to either La Serena (for the Elqui Valley), Copiapó, Antofagasta, Calama (for San Pedro), Iquique or Arica. Bus connection is great between all of these hubs, but to really get out into nature you’ll need to either book tours from each city or rent a car.

It rarely makes sense to rent a vehicle in Santiago and drive all the way to the Atacama as the distance is long and the gas expensive. Instead, most people wanting their own wheels rent a car at a northern airport upon arrival. In general, the roads are quite good – that is, until you get up onto the Altiplano, at which point they can deteriorate rapidly into sand traps. Many high-altitude roads are also riddled in potholes and hard to navigate; an extra jug of gas is a must.

Backpackers often travel by bus to the Atacama from neighboring countries. Common points of departure include Salta (Argentina), Tacna (Peru), La Paz (Bolivia) and Uyuni (Bolivia). If traveling by bus from Santiago, expect a journey of up to 24 hours to reach places like San Pedro.

The Atacama   is on our 2022 Best of Travel list. For more stories from some of the world’s most exciting destinations  click here .

Safety recommendations and restrictions during a pandemic can change rapidly. Lonely Planet recommends that travelers always check with local authorities for up-to-date guidance before  traveling during Covid-19 .

You might also like:  Nature writ large: a great escape to Chile The best road trips in Chile: From Patagonia to the Atacama Desert Do you need a visa to go to Chile?

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From the rugged landscapes, colonial relics and high altitude wineries of “Salta the Beautiful” cross the frontier into Chile’s San Pedro in the stunning moonscape of the Atacama Desert.

ANDES & ATACAMA

Salta to san pedro, ideal length: 7 days price from: aud $6,950 pp, highlights  .

The sun drenched red rock valleys of the dramatic northwest, high altitude wineries and white peaks of the Andes stretch out to subtropical jungle, “Salta the beautiful" really lives up to its name.

Work up an appetite exploring the Atacama Desert with its unique lunar landscapes, spouting geysers, thermal springs and vast salt flats before retiring to your lodge for gourmet dining, relaxing by the fire, and amazing stargazing.

SUGGESTED ITINERARY 

This itinerary may be tailored, lengthened or shortened, just for you and your companions click here to enquire.

SALTA and THE ANDES ~ 2-3 NIGHTS

Salta La Linda , “Salta the Beautiful” is a world away from the Argentina you imagine. In the dramatic northwest lies beautifully preserved colonial architecture, an incredible variety of food, wine and jaw-dropping landscapes. To the south lies Cafayate, where high altitude wineries and the breathtaking scenery of the Calchaqui Valley begs discovery.

Gourmet Highlight: Sit down to a Salta style barbequed lunch accompanied with delicious empanadas and of course a wine tasting of local high altitude varietals such as Torrontes and Syrah. Love Cheese? Visit a local dairy farm and winery with the best terrior in the valley, meet the winemaker and enjoy a tasting of artisan goat cheeses paired with their robust wines.

Overnight:       Legado Mitico Salta or House of Jasmines

Relaxing at House of Jasmines, Salta

PURMAMARCA /SEVEN COLOURS MOUNTAIN ~ 1 NIGHT

Explore the spectacular contrasting colours and rock formations of Jujuy province. Of special interest are Humahuaca Canyon, the vast salt flats of Salinas Grande and the town and markets of Purmamarca, at the foot of the Cerro de los Siete Colores “Seven Colours Mountain”. Ragged ranges in muted tones of beige and pink produce an incredible backdrop, dynamic hues changing with the light. 

Overnight:       Casa de Adobe or El Manantial del Silencio

Multi-coloured mountains near Purmamarca, Argentina

SAN PEDRO and ATACAMA DESERT ~ 3 NIGHTS

Cross the high plains of the Altiplano by private vehicle, the scenery is surreal. Volcanoes, moonscape geysers, salt flats, flamingos, llamas, luna landscapes and some of the best stargazing on the planet - the Atacama desert is something else! Explore this other world by private 4x4 excursion from your all-inclusive lodge - desert decadence.  

Overnight:       Awasi Atacama

Awasi Atacama, San Pedro, Chile

Hungry for More? 

Include time in vibrant Buenos Aires en route to Salta, discover world-class dining and enjoy some oh- so -Argentine Tango! Or perhaps extend to the Chliean capital, Santiago,. From here you can venture out to the nearby vineyards of the Central Valley, even spend time in the colourful port city of Valparaiso.

ACCOMODATION

AWASI ATACAMA

LEGADO MITICO SALTA

Experiences.

CHILEAN WINES, THE LAKES & BUENOS AIRES

SOUTH AMERICA HIGHLIGHTS

SPIRIT OF PATAGONIA

SANTIAGO, MENDOZA & BUENOS AIRES

BUENOS AIRES, IGUAZú FALLS & RIO DE JANEIRO

Best time to travel.

September through May, December through March are particularly hot in the Atacama

Salta, Argentina

Calama, Chile

Countries visited

Chile and Argentina

All of our journeys are tailor-made for you, thus the price will depend on your choice of accommodation and inclusions. Pricing is per person twin share. Holiday and Single supplements apply. Flights are not included

Call us to discuss your holiday plans.

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Tours en Chile: ¡Atacama es la aventura de tu vida!

Cuenta con la comodidad y exclusividad de caminandes, somos la agencia turística que buscabas y que marca la diferencia en el rubro, tours semiprivados.

Grupos de 2 a 8 personas para que disfrutes de una atención personalizada durante todo el viaje.

GUÍAS CERTIFICADOS

Guías especializados y listos para contarte las maravillas de San Pedro de Atacama en tu idioma.

VEHÍCULOS SEGUROS

Vehículos propios, cómodos y equipados con comunicación satelital en cada uno de los tours en Chile.

EXPERIENCIA COMPLETA

Horarios, comidas y destinos pensados en cada necesidad. Todos los servicios son 100% realizados por Caminandes.

GASTRONOMÍA

Alimentos preparados adecuadamente para cada excursión, haciendo que cada momento sea especial.

Colecciona recuerdos únicos en todos los tours en Chile que tenemos preparados para ti

Entendemos que la mejor manera de brindar un servicio completo es a través de la personalización y exclusividad. Por lo mismo, apostamos a la idea de que cada viaje es único y merece ser diseñado a medida para cada viajero. Es por eso que en CaminAndes ofrecemos tours en Chile semiprivados y listos para brindar una experiencia inolvidable.

Con esta filosofía, nos aseguramos de cubrir completamente tus necesidades y que nuestros guías tengan una disposición y disponibilidad total para cada grupo. ¡También es la mejor manera para explorar a tu ritmo!

Pero, ¿qué sería de un gran viaje sin una buena gastronomía? Sabemos que necesitarás recargar energías durante tus excursiones y queremos que lo hagas de la manera más deliciosa. Por eso nos aseguramos de brindarte las mejores comidas locales y siempre adaptándonos a tus necesidades personales. ¡Sí!, los vegetarianos, veganos o aquellos con algún tipo de restricción alimenticia también están considerados.

¡Conoce todos nuestros tours!

Y reconecta con todo lo que las regiones de atacama y antofagasta tienen para ofrecer.

Disfruta de tours en Chile privados, con alimentación incluida y guías turísticos preparados para resolver todas tus dudas y maravillarte con curiosidades del sector.

¡Crea recuerdos asombrosos con la magia del desierto!

Tours Clásicos

Los tours clásicos de San Pedro los encuentras aquí

• Rutas exclusivas

Si ya conoces San Pedro o te gustaría conocer algo distinto a las típicas ofertas de tours, nosotros hemos creado rutas exclusivas para conocer lo más escondido y sorprendente de Atacama.

Ideal para los amantes de las aventuras nuevas, nuestros trekking te harán conocer Atacama desde otra perspectiva.

Nuevas Rutas

Si te apasiona la ascensión a las montañas, estos tours son ideales para ti. Te llevaremos a cerros y volcanes impresionantes.

¡Somos expertos en ascensión a la montaña!

Contáctanos y te ayudamos a escoger la mejor ruta para tu nivel de experiencia, conoce atacama y sus encantos, revisa nuestros comentarios en tripadvisor, ¡visita nuestro instagram, @caminandes_atacama.

Contactános

Estaremos felices de responder tus preguntas.

• [email protected]
• Calle Caracoles, 66 San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
• +56 9 32592647
• Términos y condiciones
• Políticas de privacidad
• Tours clásicos
• Ascensión montaña y volcanes

Andes Travel - San Pedro de Atacama

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San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Explora atacama, desert star.

A sleek and stylish retreat on 42 acres with its own high-tech observatory, star chef Virgilio Martínez designing the menus, a blissful spa, and its own hot springs.

What it isn't

Out of service. The property is fully remote, yet has topnotch cell phone reception.

What we think

Fans of design and fans of exquisite natural experiences alike flock to Explora Atacama, which presides over a stunning landscape of pampas grass-strewn desert where mountains jut from the earth in the distance. But if you wanted to simply hole up in your room, we wouldn’t blame you: each one is modern yet nods to the region’s architectural and design vernacular, with stone walls, blonde wood ceilings, and colorful woolen blankets, plus wide windows that overlook the desertscape. The starting room category, Tulur Rooms, are 355 square feet; for even more room to roam, consider booking the Suite Catur, which is a whopping 538 square feet with private balconies, a deep jetted soaking tub and de facto living room tucked beneath a wall of branches.

You're here because

You will travel for food, and the chef, Virgilio Martínez, sources the most delectable ingredients in the region—delicacies you’ve never before tasted and won’t soon forget.

You thought hiking the Andes Mountains would be the highlight of your trip, but no…it came after nightfall in the observatory, when you stand gobsmacked beneath one of the clearest starry skies on the planet as guides narrate the heavens. Heaven, indeed.

Restaurants & Bars

ecplora Atacama Restaurant - Continental fair served in the resort's dining room

A sprawling estate near the ancient streets of the village of San Pedro de Atacama, ten blocks from the award-winning Museo del Meteorito, where you can ogle meteorites that have fallen from the sky here.

Stay in the loop!

Be the first to know about insider deals and Skylark exclusives!

Skylark is a new kind of luxury travel company. Amazing deals on 5-star hotels and flights + perks with experienced agents at the ready.

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