The Atacama
San Pedro Atacama is a town located in Northern Chile along the Andes mountains and known for star gazing, geysers, and unspoiled desert scenery. It is epic and should make it to the top of your travel bucket list! I strongly recommend renting a car to explore the area. You will not be disappointed by your visit. See our itinerary below to get some inspiration for your own travels! Our trip was packed but you can easily extend your trip and spread these incredible sites out over more days. This also did not account for our travel days. We arrived in the afternoon the day before and relaxed at a glamping spot with a pool and incredible night skygazing and on day 5 we woke early to drive back to Calama and fly back to Santiago.
our itinerary
Day 1 Arrive Calama, San pedro atacama and night skygazing
Today we headed from Santiago, Chile by flight to Calama. The flight to the Calama Airport (CJC) from Santiago (SCL) takes about 2 hours. From the airport we got our rental car and proceeded to drive to San Pedro Atacama which took about 1 hour and 15 minutes. We checked into our accommodation. We decided that for the first night we would do some glamping just outside of town. They had a nice pool where we relaxed that afternoon and then we headed into the town to walk around and grab dinner. The main town has a strip with many tour guides if you want to book tours to any of the tourist attractions. After dinner we headed back to our place. It was the perfect place for stargazing at night. We tried out some night sky photography.
Day 2 Tonaco, Laguna Chaxa, Altiplanic Lakes, Socaire, Tropic of Capricorn sign
On the drive toward Laguna Chaxa, we stopped at the Tonaco Bell tower- this town was quite small, and we spent minimal time here as we had a full day ahead of us. Of note, this town doesn’t have a gas station. From there we went to Laguna Chaxa – this is the area where you see the salt flats and Flamingos. The drive from Tonaco to Laguna Chaxa is about 1 hour and 20 minutes. After this we proceeded to Miscanti and Miniques lakes. The altiplantic lakes are about 1 hour 30 minute drive from San Pedro de Atacama but from the Laguna Chaxa it took us approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes. After exploring this area, we started the journey back to San Pedro Atacama. Along the way we stopped in Socaire which was about 30 minutes and stopped to get a picture at the Tropic of Capricorn which was about 17 minutes after Socaire on the way to Pedro de Atacama.
Day 3 Laguna Cejar, Valle de Muerte and Valle de la Luna
Laguna Cejar which is approximately 30 minutes from San Pedro. We came back to the city in the afternoon to grab some lunch, shower and relax for a little bit. Later in the afternoon we decided to visit Valle de Muerte and Valle de la Luna. We time this so that we could explore both of these locations and be there for sunset. Valle de la Luna and Valle de Muerte are about 10 mins from town heading back to Calama – we did Valle de Muerte in the afternoon and then Valle de Luna for sunset.
DAY 4 EL TATIO GEYSERS
We did a tour to catch El Tatio Geysers at sunrise. We chose to do a tour to El Tatio Geysers as most places recommended to get to the geysers for sunrise with many blogs mentioning the winding and unsafe roads in the dark. We were very happy with this decision but I had read a number of blogs before going noting they went in the afternoon when less crowded and so did not have to worry about driving roads in the dark and were very happy with their decision too. Either way it is not a place to miss! On the way back you will pass through the town of Machuca, which has some lakes typically filled with various bird and wildlife, and lastly stopped at the Quebrada Escalera Canyon.
Day 5 San Pedro Atacama back to Santiago
Today we headed back to the Calama Airport (CJC) from San Pedro Atacama. The drive from San Pedro Atacama to Calama takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes but we left extra early to fill up on gas back in Calama and to do the car return. The flight back to Santiago is about 2 hours.
Plan your trip
Our trip was packed but you can easily extend your trip and spread these incredible sites out over more days. Most of our sight seeing occurred in 3 packed days but this did not account for our travel days. We arrived in the afternoon the day before and relaxed at a glamping spot with a pool and incredible night skygazing and on day 5 we woke early to drive back to Calama and fly back to Santiago. You can also spend timing biking in the area, taking a hot air balloon ride, soaking in some thermal pools or visiting the observatory. Many people also opt to head into Bolivia from the Atacama which is so close with some of its top attractions. If you are a United States citizen you need a visa in advance to enter Bolivia. Trust me this area will not disappoint with its incredible scenery and things to do!
