GuideSan Pedro de Atacama, Antofagasta, Chile9 min read
San Pedro de Atacama: Desert, Salt and Stars
A week in the driest desert on earth
Easy
Moon valleys, altiplanic lagoons, geysers and some of the darkest skies on the planet: how to spend a week around San Pedro de Atacama.
An oasis at 2,400 metres
San Pedro de Atacama is an adobe village of 5,000 people that receives more visitors each year than some Chilean cities. It earns them. Within an hour's drive are salt-crusted canyons, volcanoes over 5,500 m, lagoons the colour of turquoise and flamingos, and night skies dark enough that the world's great observatories were built nearby.
We plan Atacama weeks around altitude. The village sits at 2,400 m, which is comfortable, but the lagoons and geysers are at 4,000 m and above. Start with the low trips: Valle de la Luna at sunset, the floating salt pools of Laguna Cejar, and a bike ride to the Pukará de Quitor fortress. Mid-week, head up to the Miscanti and Miñiques lagoons and the Piedras Rojas. Save the pre-dawn trip to El Tatio for when you are sleeping well.
Leave at least one evening clear for an astronomy tour. With telescopes and an astronomer you will see Saturn's rings, the Magellanic Clouds and the dark constellations the Incas read in the Milky Way.
Our ideal six days
- Valle de la Luna at sunset
- Laguna Cejar and the Ojos del Salar
- Rainbow Valley and the Yerbas Buenas petroglyphs
- Altiplanic lagoons and Piedras Rojas
- El Tatio geysers at sunrise
- An evening astronomy tour
San Pedro de Atacama
About this story
Valentina RojasAuthor
Andes TrailsPublisher
Comments
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- Sophie Laurent
Any advice on getting there by public transport rather than renting a car?
- Ben Cohen
Is this doable in a single day or would you split it over two?
- Arjun Mehta
Booked the place you mentioned for dinner and it was wonderful. Ask for the table by the window.
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