San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

One of the most popular vacation destinations in Chile is a small adobe village in the middle of the Atacama Desert called San Pedro. It has become so popular that this tiny square-mile village of 1,500 is surrounded by 12 hotels and about twice as many hostels. The town features an impressive archaeological museum of pre-Colombian artifacts and a beautiful adobe church that sits prominently in the main square. But the main attraction here isn’t the culture; people come here for the landscape.

San Pedro has been inhabited in one way or another for the last 11,000 years by the Atacama people and is known as the archaeological center of Chile. It’s easy to see why people have consistently been coming back here millennia after millennia, as the area is famous for having one of the world’s most unearthly landscapes. Through the Cordilla section of the Andes, just south of Licancabur Volcano, you come across Moon Valley which has been photographed innumerable times and used as the set for space scenes in film and TV for its startling resemblance to the surface of the moon. Sharp, jagged rock burst out of the ground at random and the mountains are cut with shockingly vibrant and defined strata that stand out against the reddish-brownish sand that persists throughout the valley.

Moon Valley

Just SE of Moon Valley is Death Valley, one of the best spots for dune boarding enthusiasts. It’s possible to book a tour and lessons out to the dunes in the town, which has its upside for various reasons: 1. You ride out there in a car. 2. Often times they bring along an ATV so you don’t have to walk up the dune once you’ve hurled yourself down it. 3. There’s no possibility of getting lost in a place called Death Valley. However, if you’re confident of your map reading skills it’s a far cheaper endeavor to rent a bike and a board and get out there yourself. Just be sure that everyone in your group wears a backpack so you have someway of strapping the board to your back, otherwise there’s going to be one very unlucky and unhappy backpack-wearing member of your group hauling everyone else’s boards and probably plotting to throw you off the dunes once you get there.

Sand Dunes

Dune Boarding

Atacama is also known for its geysers. One of the most amazing things you can do whilst here is to take a tour out to Geyser del Tatio just before the sun rises, when the air is still cool, and watch the vapor explode up out of the earth through vents dotted around the landscape. From there, only a short distance away lies the thermal springs of Puritama where people go to soak up the restoring minerals found in the water.

Just 55 km south of San Pedro is the largest salt flat in Chile and the second largest in the world. During the winter months shallow waters cover the flats and the best time to visit them is just before sunset. As the sun goes down it casts a purple and pink light against the Cordilla mountain range that is perfectly reflected in the still waters above the flats. The view, the altitude, and the winding down of the day make it the perfect time to enjoy the national drink of choice, the Pisco Sour.

Salt Flats

Lagunas Cejas are only 18 km from San Pedro and are perfect for a refreshing dip even amongst non-swimmers. Since the lagoons are located in the same area of the salt flats, and the whole area used to be a lake that evaporated 8000 years ago, the lagoons have about 40% salinity producing the same floating effect that the Dead Sea is famous for. Another reason why the lagoon is so popular is for its proximity to the Andean Flamingos Reserve, a few kilometers west at Laguna Chaxa. Every now and then a flock of brilliant bright pink flamingos fly overhead on their way home and the effect against the electric blue sky is shocking.

Floating in the laguna

Once the sun has gone down and the moon is up, some people say that’s the best time of day in the Atacama Desert. At the Llano de Chajnantor Observatory, a submillimeter astronomical observatory federally funded by the US government, you can sign up to star gaze through some of the best and most technologically advanced telescopes on earth. However, without a single city light for hundreds of miles in any direction, the night sky is just as beautiful when viewed with the naked eye.

The cheapest way to do all the activities above would be to rent a car and read a map and just do it, which is 100% possible due to numerous rental agencies in town that rent midsize sedans for about $25 US a day. However, the down side to that is that you’re missing interesting information about the landscape, geological features, and cultural customs that comes with a guided tour. The best way to get the most for your money is to head to town, find a tour agency and bundle the activities and sights that you want to do. If you can get a group of people together who want to do the same things that’s even better because almost all the agencies offer group discounts. Furthermore, if you stray off the main street, Caracoles, where the majority of the agencies are and stick to the little side streets, you’ll find agencies that are willing to go a lot cheaper than their better-located competition.

Finally, researching a place to stay before you get there can be a little tricky as most of the hotels and hostels are not registered with popular booking websites like hostelworld.com or hotels.com, so the best thing to do is to go to www.sanpedrodeatacama.com and browse their registry of accommodations which is all encompassing. Since the town is in the middle of the desert most hotels do have quite high rates, but don’t let that deter you because most of the hostels in town offer great quality; they offer private rooms with bathrooms and decent breakfasts. The main difference between hotels and hostels in town is the presence of pools in the former. Other than that, the hostels are like small hotels for small budgets.