Ever since my 10 week trip in 2017 I’d wanted to go to Chile’s Atacama Desert. I’d got so close last time on the Salar de Uyuni tour. We dropped two people from our group off at the Chilean border but didn’t have the time to go.
This time around the Atacama Desert was firmly on my list. Chile is a country of epic contrasts, with glaciers, mountains and lakes in the south and arid desert in the north. Having spent the first part of my trip in the south and Patagonia, I was really excited to see the desert and go to one of the driest places in the world!
San Pedro de Atacama is the town to base yourself to explore the desert. I arrived to San Pedro one evening on a bus from Calama.
On a side note: I bumped into a guy I’d previously met in my hostel in Valparaíso again at Calama airport. Together with two other girls we got a taxi into town and then a bus to San Pedro. Whilst doing that I found out that he used to play hockey for Teddington and knows my brother! Plus his sister plays hockey with my mum! So crazy! What a small world!
Anyway getting back on track, here’s what I got up to in the desert…
Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley)
The distinctive rugged rock formations and landscapes of Valle de la Luna are spectacular! I felt like I could have been on Mars or the moon it was so out of this world!
I did a tour in the afternoon. We stopped off at various points in the valley before heading to a viewpoint overlooking the valley for sunset.
Whilst I loved loved loved the landscapes, I found myself getting irritated and not really enjoying the tour. It all felt rushed and that we didn’t have enough time to explore and appreciate the scenery.
That said, despite the rushed feeling, a tour was a good way to see the highlights and see a gorgoeus sunset!
I would have much preferred to have rented a car with someone and been able to explore in our own time. This wish became a reality the next day when Emily, the Australian girl I’d met at Calama airport and got the bus with, messaged me saying she’d rented a car for the day.
I was 100% in! We drove back to Valle de la Luna for sunset and found a quieter spot away from the tour vans. I enjoyed it so much more and we could stay for as long as we liked!
If you’re looking for a more active option, you can rent bikes for the day and cycle there. We passed quite a few cyclists on the road, it looked hard work especially in the heat!
Tour info:
My tour cost $15,000CLP (£18 approx) and entrance to Moon Valley was $3000CLP (£3 approx) extra. It started at 3pm and arrived back to town around 7pm.
Stargazing
I was super super keen to go stargazing in the Atacama. I’m a huge fan of a starry starry night sky, it makes me so happy!
I booked a tour for 10pm. We were driven to the agency’s place on the outskirts of town where they had telescopes set up to show us the stars. I had a great time and really enjoyed learning about the night sky, using the sky map to find constellations (like the southern cross), using the telescopes and drinking hot chocolate.
Here’s a few things I learnt:
- When we look at the night sky, everything we see has already happened; it’s history! I’d never considered before that we didn’t see stars in real time.
- The brightest star of a constellation is named alpha and the second is called beta.
- At different times and dates of the year, the night sky is the same. For example the stars could have the same layout on the 12th April at 10pm as on the 2nd March at 3am! This could be obvious but I found it cool and had never thought of it like that before.
- The biggest telescope in the world is currently being built in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
It was so cool to be shown a faint star in the sky and then see it through the telescope as a group of thousands of stars which we couldn’t see with the naked eye! I also saw Jupiter and some shooting stars which was awesome!
Tips: It really does get cold at night in the desert, especially if you’re on a later tour. Wrap up warm! I had on my thermals, cardigan, alpaca jumper, gilet and down jacket with a blanket and I still felt a bit chilly!
Tips: The best time to see the stars is when there’s not a full moon. That said, it’s hard to plan a trip around a full moon when travelling. I arrived to San Pedro a week before the full moon and went stargazing at 10pm. The moon was high in the sky at the start of the tour and by the end (at midnight) it had fallen much lower and the Milky Way was more visible. If you’re going stargazing close to a full moon the later you go the better for stars. If you want to see the moon then earlier would be better. Also, most of the stargazing agencies will close around the full moon because the sky is too bright.
Tour info:
There are many stargazing tour agencies down the main street. Tours leave from 8pm, 9pm and later depending on the agency. They cost around $20,000-$25,000CLP (£20-£30 approx).
Lagunas Escondidas
The Lagunas Escondidas are seriously cool! They are a set of seven salt lakes with a high enough concentration of salt that means you can float in them. The first and last ones are open to float in!
I’d originally planned to go with a tour but I found out Emily had rented a car for the day. Off we went!! We found the road to the lagoons very bumpy.
At one point we considered turning back because it felt like the car couldn’t handle it, which was weird because it was a 4×4! It was only on the journey back that we discovered the four wheel drive button which we hadn’t pressed. It was a revelation!!
My goodness the drive became so much easier and smoother. I couldn’t believe it took us that long to discover it, we were laughing for ages about it!
The lagoons themselves were amazing! I’ve never floated in a salt water lake before. It was such a surreal feeling lying there and just floating. There were a couple of salt shelves that I tried to sit down on. I ended up sitting upright floating near the surface. I felt like Aladdin on his magic carpet! So much fun!
When I dried off the amount of salt on me was crazy; I was absolutely covered!
Tour info:
Tours to Lagunas Escondidas leave at 2pm and cost between $20,000-$25,000CLP (£20-£30 approx). The entrance fee to the lagoons isn’t included and costs an extra $5000CLP (£6ish). The tour also takes you somewhere for sunset and a pisco sour.
The other option is to go to Laguna Cejar, another salt lake where you can float. Laguna Cejar is closer to San Pedro so more popular. The tour is cheaper than Lagunas Escondidas costing around $15,000CLP (£17 approx) but the entrance fee is much more, $17,000CLP (£20 approx). Like the other tour, you also go somewhere for sunset and a pisco sour.
Other things to do:
I was in San Pedro for two full days and that was enough for me to do the above. You could easily spend more time there as there are so many more places to see. Two other main activities I can think of are the Altiplano lagoons and the El Tatio geysers. I skipped both of them because having done the salt flats tour in 2017, I felt I’d already seen similar lagoons and geysers. It didn’t feel necessary to do it again. I have heard they’re both worth it, especially the geysers!
How to get to San Pedro de Atacama
You can get to San Pedro from various places. If you’re already in Chile, I would look at flights before you book a bus. Chile has two low cost airlines: Sky and Jetsmart which have really cheap flights! You can book a week in advance and get great prices. A lot of the time the flight is the same price (or a bit more) as the bus and you save yourself from a 24hr ride!
To get to San Pedro, I flew from Santiago to Calama (2hrs). From Calama, you have two options to get to San Pedro: a transfer or a local bus.
Local bus to San Pedro
Deciding to go cheap, a group of us shared a taxi into town and then got a 2hr bus. A taxi cost us $7000CLP and the bus was $3000CLP each. In total, we paid around $5000CLP each (£6ish).
Once in the town centre, we discovered buses weren’t as frequent as we’d thought. Having missed the earlier 13.30 bus, the next bus left at 18.30. Thankfully we found an earlier 16.45 departure! The sun was setting as we drove and it was so beautiful! The orange rocks were lit up and the volcanoes were painted in a dusky pink glow.
Transfer to San Pedro
If I was to do it again, I would just get a transfer from the airport. You don’t need to worry about booking one in advance. As soon as you step into arrivals, there are so many transfer agencies pouncing on you. It costs $12,000CLP (£14 approx) one way or $20,000CLP (£23 approx) return. You can even get them for a bit less; we got offered one for $10,000CLP (£11 approx). For the sake of $5000CLP, I’d take a quicker transfer next time and get dropped off at your accommodation.
From Bolivia or Argentina
You might be arriving to San Pedro from Bolivia or Argentina.
From Bolivia
If you’re coming from Bolivia, you’ll most likely be doing a salt flats tour. On your tour you’ll be dropped off at the Bolivian-Chilean border and picked up on the Chilean side and taken to San Pedro.
From Argentina
If you’re coming from Argentina, you’ll probably be arriving from Salta. The bus journey is 10hrs approximately and is driven by Geminis, AndesMar and Pullman. Between them there is normally a departure every day in the morning. Check at the bus station or online for the latest schedules and prices.
Final thoughts
When in Chile, the Atacama Desert is without a doubt worth a visit! The landscapes are spectacular, really out of this world!
My highlight was renting a car and driving to the Lagunas Escondidas. A girls road trip and such an adventure! I absolutely loved it! Floating in the salt lakes was an amazing sensation and the coolest thing I’ve done in the past few weeks.
My advice would be to rent a car if you can! Tours are all well and good but having had a car for the day I had a much better time. The freedom to go where we wanted on our own time schedule was fantastic! I loved not feeling like a sheep!
I’m now crossing back into Argentina and going to Salta where I hope to explore the northern towns and coloured hills. Ideally I’d like to find some people to car share with; however I’ve just realised it’s almost Easter (how, how, how?!?! Where did the time go?!) and car rentals might be fully booked. Hopefully not!
P.S. If you’re interested, I’m writing this on the most delayed bus of my trip so far! Had to wait for three hours at the border for one person who ran into border crossing difficulties! Plus to add to our delays, one of the roads to Salta might be shut! Good thing I’m not in a rush! Also, as I’m behind on my blog posting by the time you read this it’ll no longer be almost Easter!
