SANTIAGO AIRPORT - CALAMA / SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA

Flying into Calama from Santiago, you’ll be picked up  at the Calama Airport (the nearest airport to San Pedro) by your guide and driver, who will take you to the town of San Pedro de Atacama. During the hour and a half-long drive, you’ll be able to observe the surrounding desertscapes, consisting of sweeping lunar-like plains, strange salt formations, and multi-colored hills, all set against the backdrop of the Andes and Domeyko mountain ranges and the bluest skies you’ve ever seen in your life.

Upon our arrival in San Pedro, you’ll be dropped off at your hotel and, after checking in, will have the rest of the afternoon and evening free to explore at your leisure; San Pedro is a great town to discover on foot, walking down cobblestoned streets lined with adobe buildings full of local restaurants and stores. Following dinner, you have the option to take part in a stargazing tour on the outskirts of town, where the full grandeur of San Pedro’s night skies (some of the clearest in the world thanks to the altitude, lack of light pollution, and abundance of clear nights) is best appreciated.

Optional Semi-Private Half-Day Tour: Stargazing Experience

In the evening, you’ll be offered the choice to join a stargazing tour, depending on favorable weather conditions and the lunar cycle. Immerse yourself in the unparalleled clarity of the night skies over the Atacama Desert. Explore constellations, observe planets with remarkable detail through telescopes, and deepen your understanding of the Andean cosmovision, delving into the significance of celestial objects in indigenous worldviews.

Meals:  None.

Hotel

Hotel Desertica

HIGH PLATEAU LAGOONS & SOCAIRE WEAVERS

Please note: The itinerary may vary according to weather and road conditions. However, we will endeavor to make your guided tour as comfortable and timely as possible.

After breakfast at the hotel, your guide and driver will pick you up around 8 am and begin the drive to the “puna”, the local word for the high-altitude plateau that lies further out in the desert and is home to some of the Atacama’s most ruggedly beautiful landscapes. Along the drive, you may have the chance to see local wildlife like vicuñas and nandus (Lesser Rheas or South American Ostrich). After roughly an hour of driving up from the valley floor toward the clouds, we will arrive at the Miscanti and Miñiques lagoons, two shimmering lagoons cradled between mountains and volcanoes. Here, we’ll stop and explore, walking along paths near the shore to admire the lakes’ rich, jewel-like colors, the colorful hills, and the local flora and fauna like Chilean and Andean flamingos, Baird’s sandpiper, and more. Part of the Los Flamencos National Reserve, these two lagoons sit over 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) above sea level, and everyone who visits is enchanted at the silence and tranquility of this special place. 

We’ll then drive to Socaire, a traditional adobe village of just 360 inhabitants. The village is famous for preserving the way of life of the Atacameño people who first lived here thousands of years ago, with the modern-day residents carrying on their traditions and customs like growing corn, beans, quinoa, and alfalfa on terraces, raising llamas, alpacas, and sheep, and creating beautiful handicrafts. After lunch at a local restaurant, we’ll visit some of the village’s weavers, where we’ll learn about and observe their knitting. After this class, we’ll return to San Pedro for a free evening. 

Meals:  Breakfast, Lunch.

Hotel

Hotel Desertica

TATIO GEYSERS & MACHUCA VILLAGE

This tour is not recommended for those with high blood pressure or those who are sensitive to high altitude. If so, please inform us in order to provide an alternative excursion. 

Today, we’ll visit the famous Tatio Geysers, which at 14,173 feet (4,320 meters) above sea level are the highest in the world! Normally, people visit the geysers very early in the morning to observe the steam in the cold dawn hours, but to avoid the crowds and offer a more unique experience, we’ll be visiting when nearly everyone else has gone. At around 6:30 am, we’ll drive first to the village of Machuca on the way to the geysers, where you can be charmed by the traditional buildings and church, as well as interact with the locals who have lived here for generations raising llamas and farming. We’ll likely have the place all to ourselves before the crowds of tourists coming back from the geysers descend on the town. 

We’ll then continue on to the Putana wetlands next to the Putana Volcano, where we’ll pause to observe the local birdlife and the dazzling colors of the wetlands; if we’re lucky, we may also see other wildlife like guanacos, lamas, and suri! 

Then, a short drive further on, we’ll arrive at the geysers, which we’ll have nearly all to ourselves as the early-morning tours will have departed. We’ll walk along marked paths through the geysers, watching them erupt. After exploring the area, we’ll return to San Pedro (at roughly 2:00 pm) and you’ll have the rest of the day to relax or explore.

Meals:  Breakfast on site.

Hotel

Hotel Desertica

SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA - CALAMA / SANTIAGO AIRPORT

Even though it’s the last day, there’s still one last stop before leaving San Pedro. We’ll depart in the morning to visit one of the most famous places in the Atacama, the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon), an otherworldly valley of rock and salt that, over time, has been sculpted into out-of-this-world formations and shapes; it looks a bit like being on the moon (hence the name). After arriving, we’ll enjoy breakfast while overlooking the full splendor of this lunar landscape. 

From there, we’ll have the opportunity to visit an “Ayllu”, an ancient community dwelling of the Atacameños or Lickan-Antai tribe. Walking along the paths between the houses, we’ll be able to observe how the dry desert heat and sand have preserved this glimpse of how these tribes lived so long ago. We’ll even have a chance to discover the tastes and flavors of the Atacama by trying a sample of traditional food, prepared for us by an Atacamenian family with fresh, local ingredients. We’ll return to San Pedro around 11:30 am, and, at a pre-arranged hour, your driver will pick you up from your hotel to take you to the Calama Airport for your return flight to Santiago.

Meals:  Breakfast on site, snack at local village.

End of EcoChile Services.