The Ultimate Guide to the Atacama Desert

Posted on by fannyferio

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Table of Contents

Useful informations for the Atacama Desert

  • San Pedro de Atacama is located in the middle of the Atacama desert in Chile. To enter in Chile with a EU or a Swiss passport you don’t need a Visa. However at the immigration point you will receive a paper. DO NOT loose it. You need to give it back once you leave the country.
  • It’s better to bring an adaptor with you. Most of the time we didn’t need it but somehow some accommodations can have a different type of plug.
  • The desert is located in high altitude. If you are sensitive to the altitude I recommend you taking some pills for it with you. A lot of people were feeling dizzy and even got sick at 4000m above sea level. It is not something to take slightly.

How to get to the Atacama Desert

Internationally

  • Calama airport is the nearest airport. You can easily fly from Santiago. Then you need to take a transfer at the arrivals. It last around 1h-1h30 and cost 15000 pesos per person.
  • You can come by bus from Bolivia, Uyuni desert or from Salta in Argentina.

It is a good option to continue your journey to Bolivia or Argentina. We decided to join Salta in Argentina with the bus. It’s an 11h ride including the time at the immigration. It was very smooth! Be careful tho as the immigration point is at more than 4200 meters. Some people tend to get altitude sickness.

From Santiago

  • Book a flight to Calama. Then take one of the transfer at the arrivals.
  • Get a bus. It last more or less 20h.

We hesitated to take the bus but as we only had 10 days in total in Chile we didn’t want to waist one day only for a journey. However flights are more expensive. So if you have time and you’re on a budget I recommend taking the bus.

How to get around San Pedro de Atacama

We chose to book group day trips but you can also decide to rent a car to have more freedom. Personally I didn’t feel driving by myself as my boyfriend doesn’t have is driving license but next time I’ll definitely choose this option. If you are interested to see the options for cars I let you the engin search of Rentalcars just below.

What to do around San Pedro de Atacama

San Pedro De Atacama is a touristic village in the middle of the Desert of Atacama. You will find plenty of souvenirs shops and restaurants as well as a tone of hotel and hostels. There are more than 700 travel agencies too. You can book guided tours there. They have A LOT of options.

My personal favourites

El Tatio Geyser

Located at more than 4200 meters above the sea level, El Tatio Geyers is the third biggest geothermal reserve in the world. It is an absolutely amazing place and one of the highlight of my travel in Chile.

Take a swim at Baltinache

Baltinaches lagoons represents 7 lagoons in the middle of the salt desert. It is gorgeous ! You can swim in one of the lagoon. However the place is very touristic so it’s a bit disappointing. I still recommend to go because the colors of the lagoons on the white salty soil is just so beautiful.

Piedras Rojas

Get your windcoat because this is a WINDY place! Piedras Rojas is out of this world! The red and blue colours are so particular. You feel on another planet. Adding to this you are also at more than 4000meters above the sea level.

Laguna Chaxa

This lagoon is very still and the reflection of the volcanos around is beautiful ! But that’s not why you go there… it is because you can observe the flamingos. Nature can’t be purer than this.

Lagunas Miscanti & Miniques

Such a special place! See the vicuñas running around the lake and admire the beautiful landscape of mountains reflecting in this very blue lake.

Laguna Salar El Laco

Another place where you can observe the flamingos! It is near by Piedras Rojas.

Observe the night sky

Did you know the Atacama Desert has the clearest sky in the world? It is mandatory to go on a astronomic tour and observe the stars and constellations of the south hemisphere.

Other places you can visit

  • Valle de la Luna
  • Valle de la Muerte
  • Purina thermal
  • Take a trip to the Uyuni Salar. There are plenty of 2 to 4 days trip to the Bolivian salt desert. If we had the time we would have do it as it looks like an incredible experience.
  • Capricorn’s Tropic

The guided tours I booked

Where to stay in San Pedro De Atacama

  • Budget

La Casa del Indio : We LOVED this place. It is ruined by a local family and they have around 15 rooms in the complex. They also have a restaurant where you can eat. We had the breakfast included and they even offer to exchange the breakfast for lunch if you have an early tour. Totally worth it !

  • Middle range

Casa Algarrobo : We didn’t personally went there but it looked very nice and we hesitated to book it. We really wanted a pool as it can be very hot during the day so that was a plus.

  • High range

Casa Solcor Boutique hotel : This boutique hotel was fabulous! We loved the atmosphere, the decoration, the pool and so much more. They are very friendly and we really enjoyed the delicious breakfast!

Budget your trip to the Desert of Atacama

We stayed 6 nights in San Pedro de Atacama. This town is very expensive as you can imagine. It is very touristy and it takes a lot to bring food and amenities to the middle of the desert.

We paid 400$ in activities for the both of us. The accommodations were 500$ in total and we paid 300$ for the food. We did a mix of good restaurants and fast food. In total we paid around 600$ per person for a week.

My personal opinion

As you can imagine, I loved the Atacama desert. I think it is one of this place that you need to visit once in your life. I don’t know if I’d go again because I feel it was too magical and I’d like to keep this magic feeling in my memories. But who knows?

We explored a lot around so I don’t feel like I missed something but if I had to go back I would probably rent a car and do it on my own this time. For some spot you need a tour ( Baltinache or the astronomic tour) but other places can be visited individually. I think it would be a good alternative if you have the budget.

I hope this article helped you ! If you have any questions do not hesitate to comment down this article. Don’t forget to follow my adventures on instagram too 🙂