Your 4 Day Guide to Exploring the Otherworldly Beauty of Chile's Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert is one of my all-time favorite places to visit. It's brimming with natural beauty, and the welcoming town of San Pedro de Atacama will leave you wishing you'd stayed longer.

View near Piedra Rojas ATACAMA OVERVIEW

Safety ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Affordability ⭐⭐⭐

Public transportation ⭐

Easy to reach ⭐

Adventure ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Number of days recommended: 4

Car recommended: ✅

Visa required for Americans: 🚫

BLOG CONTENTS OVERVIEW

1. Where is the Atacama | Language + culture

2. Safety, affordability, public transport

3. Visa requirements

4. Renting a car

5. Cash v Credit

6. Detailed Itinerary

7. Additional Tips to keep in mind

8. Itinerary overview - visual layout

9. Self guide v tour overview and ticket purchasing

10. Rough budget

11. If I had had more time

12. Additional Q & A

What and where is the Atacama Desert?

The Atacama Desert is located in northern Chile and is the driest non-polar desert in the world. It is one of the most untouched landscapes I've ever seen. You'll find salt flats, lagoons, volcanoes, desert, geysers and more within a few hours drive from San Pedro de Atacama.

Language and Culture

While Spanish is the native language spoken here, many people in town speak English due to the prominence of tourism. I found that speaking Spanish really helped me to more fully understand and connect with the people, culture, and my surroundings, although it is by no means necessary. Through tour guides and educational signs, I learned that there are many beautiful legends about the Atacama that have been passed down and carried on across generations. The people here have a deep respect for nature and the Earth, which I believe stems from this reverence their ancestors had for their home land. Whether it's putting a limit on how many people can enter a certain location at a certain time or being extremely meticulous about visitors never straying from walking paths, the desire to maintain and preserve the Atacama can be felt everywhere.

It will be interesting to see how this focus on preservation is maintained or altered as demand rises for natural resources that are rich in the area, such as lithium (the Salar de Atacama has one of largest reserves of lithium in brine). Other questions come to mind. What methods will be used to extract these resources and can it be done with minimal invasion/impact? How will the extraction of these resources help or hinder the indigenous and local communities? Will tourism continue to increase in the area and how will that impact resources, infrastructure, etc? Will urban sprawl lead to increased light pollution that will risk the Atacama's famous dark sky zone? I am deeply hopeful that the Atacama will remain as 'untouched' as it is -- a vast expanse of undeveloped and unfenced lands.

DEEPER DIVE

🦺 Safety Thoughts

• I felt very safe in the town of San Pedro de Atacama. It's small and manageable to navigate, and is mostly full of other adventure travelers and tour operators. There is good infrastructure for tourists, who are treated well.

• I never felt harassed by anyone. I was not catcalled or followed. I felt safe walking the streets alone as a woman, even at dusk.

• I was comfortable walking with my phone out. NOTE: in other parts of S America [ie Buenos Aires and Rio] I would not have my phone out when walking around for fear of it getting snatched out of my hand.

💵 Affordability Thoughts

• The food is relatively expensive (~$15 meal vs $6 in Argentina). But I guess that isn't completely surprising given how remote this location is and how central tourism is to San Pedro, both of which drive prices up.

• There is a reliance on tours for activities. A tour can cost anywhere from $30 to $75, depending on location and duration. If you end up doing a bunch of tours it can start to add up.

• BUT lodging is reasonable. Accommodations are mostly hostels or lodges. You'll be hard pressed to find deluxe accommodations. We stayed at Vicuña Lodge, which was lovely and well located. We did have 4 people in a room, but it only cost us $25 per night per person.

🚌 Public Transportation Thoughts

• It doesn't exist 😂 If you don't have a car you will be reliant on transfers and tour guides.

🧗‍♀️ Adventure Thoughts

• The Atacama ranks quite high on the adventure scale for me. It's pretty off-the-beaten-path due to its hard to reach location. For me, that makes it all the more incredible. But it may not be for everyone!
  

• The Atacama is for you if you like or don't mind:

  • Hiking

  • Star gazing

  • Nature

  • Wide, untouched expanses of terrain and relatively little 'civilization' (ie - big city amenities)

  • Modest lodging

  • Disconnecting - there isn't great cell reception and wifi is hit or miss

VISA REQUIREMENTS

If you are an American you do NOT need a visa to enter Chile. For foreign nationals exempt from the visa requirements, all you will need is a valid passport with a blank page for the entry stamp. You can stay in the country for 90 days. If you are not sure if you are exempt from the visa requirements, check here.

LOGISTICS

How to get there

Fly to Calama - the biggest airport in the region. Then drive 1.5 hours east to the town of San Pedro de Atacama. You can rent a car or hire a transfer to drive you between the airport and town. Transfers don't need to be booked ahead of time, there are many people waiting at the arrivals area ready to give you a ride.

Should I rent a car? I would say yes. We rented a car and we all agreed that that was the best decision. Having the ability to get ourselves o and from the airport as well as make our own plans for certain day trips gave us flexibility that we loved. That said, there are parts of the Atacama that should only be visited with a tour for safety reasons. To see what we did alone versus with a tour jump here.

Tips for renting a car:

• If you want to rent a car book ahead as early as possible. While there may not be a super high demand for rental cars, that means there is also not a huge supply. Showing up and hoping there's an available car is a huge risk.

• I would not NOT rent from United Rent- A- Car. They are known to last-minute cancel your reservation and leave you without a car (this happened to us).

• West Rent- A- Car worked well for us! After United cancelled our reservation we got lucky - West had one last car available for rental the day we arrived.

• Being able to drive a manual will open up so many more options. Automatic cars are hard to find and are more expensive. I can drive stick but had been out of practice. If this is you, don't worry. A lot of the roads you will be driving are flat and well paved. No need to stress about the hill starts!

• ALWAYS have a full gas tank and a lot of water in the trunk in case of emergency.

Pros of having a car:

• Get to and from the airport without a transfer. We had a 7 am flight out of Calama and it was great to not rely on a 3 am shuttle.

• Miss the crowds and tour schedules. All tours for a particular location leave around the same time. If you have your own car you can go on the off-tour time and miss the rush of people.

• Driving in the Atacama is an activity in itself since the scenery is breathtaking. Having a car allows you to stop along the way and seek out areas that are not on tour routes. My favorite day by far was the day we just decided to drive.

Cons of having a car:

• Some roads are dangerous and some locations should only be reached via guided tours with drivers who know the roads, so you will be paying for some tours. Jump to my section below to see what we did alone and what we did as a tour.

CASH vs. CREDIT

Currency: Chilean Pesos

Exchange rate as of Sept 2023: 1 USD is ~ 875 Chilean Pesos

You can use credit cards in most shops and the grocery store. But you should definitely have cash on hand. There are little artisanal stores that don't take credit card, or have a minimum purchase limit for cards. Cash is also important to have for tipping tour guides. San Pedro does have a bank with an ATM where you can withdrawal pesos, or you can use one of the many cash exchanges in town. If you use an ATM withdrawal be aware that your home bank may charge you fees. Mine happens to waive them, which is great. I always like to have cash on hand regardless in case of emergency.

MUST DOS

in no particular order

-- Valley of the Moon

-- Lagunas Escondidas

-- Piedras Rojas

-- Laguna Chaxa

-- Geysers del Tatio

-- Astronomy (Star-gazing) Tour

-- Lagunas Miscanti y Miñiques (referred to as the Altiplanic Lagoons)

-- Wander the town of San Pedro de Atacama

ITINERARY

Our 4 days play--by--play

Day 1: Arrival and explore the town of San Pedro

We landed at 9 am and picked up our rental car. Then we drove to San Pedro de Atacama - about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Upon arrival we dropped our stuff at our lodge and walked around the town. We grabbed lunch at La Picada del Indio and walked around town a little more, grabbing a lemonade at the Máckalo Café truck in the main plaza by the church. On our way back to the lodge we spent a while checking out various tour operators and chatting with them to decide which locations we wanted to do with a tour. You don't need to book anything in advance, there are tour operators every 3 stores and they will always have availability. We ended the night having dinner at La Casona, which has a great patio and live music! We ordered the traditional Chilean dish of Pastel de Choclo and then had an early night because of a very early wake up the next day.

Day 2: Laguna Chaxa, Piedras Rojas and Lagunas Miscanti y Miñiques

We woke up at 6:30 am to get on the road early and arrive at:

Stop 1: Laguna Chaxa when it opened at 8 am. To get access to Laguna Chaxa you can buy your ticket when you arrive.

Getting there when it opens means you will have around half an hour of quiet before the tour groups start to arrive. You will only need ~1 hour at Laguna Chaxa, depending on how much time you want to watch the flamingos🦩. NOTE: This is a nature preserve and it's important to be respectful of the surroundings. That means sticking to a whisper so you don't disturb the wildlife. We didn't realize this and were a little loud, leading to us being hushed by a local tour guide. After Laguna Chaxa we drove another hour to...

Stop 2: Piedras Rojas. NOTE: You MUST have purchased a ticket online before your arrival or they will not allow you access. We did not purchase our tickets beforehand and were denied, but the ranger recommended we drive15 minutes further down the road where we found another lagoon and one of the most stunning views I've ever seen. You can buy a combo ticket for the altiplanic lagoons and Piedras Rojas here.

Stop 3: The last stop for us was the Lagunas Miscanti y Miñiques. Of all of the places that we saw in the Atacama I found the altiplanic lagoons the least interesting. If you have limited time I would not prioritize. NOTE: You MUST purchase your tickets in advance here for a particular time slot or you will be denied access otherwise. You must also pick up your tickets in the little town of Socaire before driving up to the lagoons. We did not do that and had to fight the ranger to let us in with our QR code proof of purchase. You also MUST stay on the designated waking paths. We were scolded for straying.

After all of this we made it home around 3:30/4 pm.

NOTE about Laguna Chaxa, Piedras Rojas and Lagunas Miscanti y Miñiques You can self drive this route if you rented a car! The roads are paved, safe, and mostly flat, as well as reasonably well traveled by tour groups should anything happen. Getting up to the Lagunas Miscanti y Miñiques had some climbs but nothing dramatic. Below is a map with our route marked on it.

Day 3: Valle de la Luna, Lagunas Escondidas, and Star Gazing Tour Stop 1: Valle de la Luna. You can drive this alone and skip a tour. In fact, I strongly recommend you don't go with a tour. Most tours will go through around 3:30 - 4 and then stay for sunset. By going early in the morning you can have the Valle de la Luna largely to yourself. The opening hours online are confusing. In their summer season they open at 9 am instead of 8 am. We got there right at 9 and were the first people in. We spent about 2 hours driving and admiring all of the stops. NOTE: Your ticket is good for access to the sunset lookout "Mirador de Kari - Piedra de Coyote." You can enter at 7 pm and must leave by 8:30. It was crowded with all of the tour groups but the view and sunset were amazing. We were not able to go on the day of our Valle de la Luna drive and the rangers were able to change our sunset admission for the next day. Just ask if you need to do the same. TIP: You can buy your ticket online here. Yes, this is the correct site even though it looks like a concert website!

We went back to San Pedro de Atacama and got lunch before our guided tour to las Lagunas Escondidas. NOTE: do NOT drive this alone. You should take a guided tour with an experienced driver. The road is dangerous (lovingly referred to as the 'road of death' by locals) and known for popping car tires, leaving drivers stranded in the desert miles from any town. You'll see tires strewn along the side of the road the entire ride up.

Stop 2: Our Lagunas Escondidas tour began at 2:30 pm. After an hour drive we made it to the 7 lagoons. It was absolutely stunning - even though crowded. The Lagunas Escondidas definitely felt pretty touristy since they only have one small board walk that passes by the lagoons and all tours arrive at once and follow the same path. But I still found them breathtaking and worth the visit. They were discovered not too long ago, maybe 7ish years or so, and you can swim/float in one of the salt lagoons at the end.

Stop 3: We did the astronomy tour this evening, which we booked through a tour guide. The tour started at 9 pm and went until 11:30. The Atacama is a designated dark sky zone due to the arid climate and lack of light pollution and has become a hub for super-observatories. You can see a few of them in the distance when driving towards Laguna Chaxa. More and more people are heading to Chile for the astro-tourism and I definitely understand why. The night sky is an absolute must-see if you are in the Atacama.

TIP: Schedule the tour towards the start of your trip to give yourself enough evenings in the event the clouds don't cooperate and you need to reschedule. There is no additional cost to you if it gets rescheduled, the tour company will just have you come at the same time the next night. This happened to us on night one, but the next day was crystal clear.

Day 4: Geysers del Tatio Stop 1: We had a 4:15 am wake up call for the tour to the Geysers del Tatio. This is a local favorite and did not disappoint. It's the third largest geyser field in the world, located about 14,000 feet above sea level. The tour is so early because the geysers are the most active and visible in the morning with the steam contrasting against the cold air. We napped on the bus ride up and arrived at about 6:30 am. We learned all about the geysers, walked the fields, and then ate breakfast with our tour. I really appreciated the passion that our guide had for the nature and wildlife, and his knowledge of the geysers and local culture, which he shared freely. On the way back we stopped a few times to see beautiful nature like a little oasis full of vicuñas and local birds or a lake with more wild flamingoes.

NOTE: You should NOT try to drive this yourself. It is a very bumpy and windy route up in the mountains, and is particularly dangerous so early in the morning. You will want a good driver, and a knowledgable tour guide also added a lot of context for better understanding the geysers themselves. Be prepared with any medications you might need if you get motion sick. TIP: Bring layers! It is freezing in the morning but warms up a lot as the sun rises.

MORE IMPORTANT TIPS TO KEEP IN MIND

• The sun is STRONG here. We reached an "extreme" UV of up to 16. For reference, "low" UV where you can 'safely be outside' comes in at 2. Make sure you are always covering up with long sleeves, pants and a hat that protects the back of your neck. Bring and wear a lot of sunscreen. And stay well hydrated.

• Similar to what's mentioned above, always have water. Whether on a tour, in your lodge, or in your car. Especially with the high altitude (San Pedro is 8000 feet above sea level) it's important to stay hydrated.

• A lot of places in this region require advanced ticket purchases that you get online before arriving at your destination. They WILL NOT sell you tickets on site - we tried - and you WILL be denied access if you don't do this. Some will require selecting a specific entry time and require that the tickets are picked up at a separate location before arrival.

• If you have rented a car - have the entire map of the area downloaded in Google Maps. You will likely not have cell service during parts of your drive and having the map saved is crucial.

• You can bike to and through the Valle de la Luna (there are rentals in town). We almost did this, but with the high UV and scorching sun we decided it would be unsafe and took the car instead. We did see a few people biking it, though.

Some cute little wild donkeys we came across on our early morning drive to the Laguna Chaxa 😊

REVIEW OF ITINERARY

This is an overview of our itinerary with fewer words than above 😊 I'm more visual, so this format helped me know what we were doing when.

REVIEW OF LOCATIONS, SELF DRIVE V TOUR, AND TICKETS

NOTE for above: You can buy a combo ticket to the Altiplanic Lagoons and Piedras Rojas and get a discount. The total price for both when bought together is 15,000 pesos.

We really liked Atacama Infinity and booked all of our tours with them. They were super helpful and honest about what locations we could reach by ourselves and which were dangerous and should be done with a tour. Here is a picture of their pricing. Since we were buying multiple tours with them they gave us discounted prices, which are the numbers written in pen.

ROUGH BUDGET

* Overall costs were split 4 ways. This is the cost per individual.

NOTE: This budget does not include flights or tipping tour guides. The estimate will also vary by person depending on where and how often you eat out, how many tours you go on, which lodge you stay in, etc. Our lodge always gave us a little breakfast bag and one of the tours included lunch, so those meals are not included in the meals portion. We ate about 6 meals out.

IF I HAD HAD MORE TIME

I could have easily stayed for a few more days or longer. I love just being in the relatively untouched environment. If I had had more time here are a few things I would have wanted to do that I didn't get around to:

1. Puritama hot springs. These thermal hot springs are located in a beautiful canyon and are mineral dense. About 40 minutes from San Pedro de Atacama, swimming in one of their 8 stunning natural pools is something I'd love to have done.

2. ALMA observatory tour. ALMA has the largest radio telescope on Earth. And (usually) you can visit it! It has been closed to visitors since the pandemic but it might be worth checking to see if that has changed. If it is open and you want to make the trip, make sure you pay special attention to the timing of the tours. They are offered infrequently and because of the high security situation they pick you up and drop you off. You cannot drive there yourself for the tour unless you want to be turned away.

3. Pukará de Quitor. This looks more like an archeological and historical site full of ruins from the ancient Atacameños. I'm not sure there are hours worth of activities to do there, but if you have the time it's only 3km from San Pedro de Atacama and is historically very important to the region.

ADDITIONAL Q & A

Q: Can I drink the tap water?

A: I would not. We drank bottled water the entire time. While you can drink this water more safely than the water in, say, Brazil, it has a very high concentration of minerals that are best to avoid. I did, though, feel comfortable brushing my teeth with tap water (which I would not recommend in some other locations in South America).

Q: Can I barter here?

A: This is not a barter society. Prices are as listed. However, if you buy multiple tours with the same tour agency they will usually give you a discount.

Q: Did you have any problems with the altitude?

A: We did not physically have any problems with the high altitude. A few people didn't feel as well at the geysers and experienced some nausea. Stay hydrated!! If you are worried about or susceptible to altitude sickness you can talk to your doctor about the prescription medication Acetazolamide.

Q: Are there any particular vaccinations I need?

A: This depends on what vaccinations you already have. Check here for a list of everything that is recommended by the CDC, or make an appointment with a travel health service clinic or doctor.