If you are craving adventure for your inner explorer, head to Chile’s otherworldly San Pedro de Atacama. This is the driest desert on Earth, where the high altitude makes you appreciate the ease of breathing, and petulant temperatures offer up freezing mornings and boiling afternoons. It is here that you feel as though you have landed on Mars, as mineral-rich canyons, smoking volcanoes, sprawling salt flats and the looming Andes mountains stretch as far as the eye can see. A quick two-hour flight from Chile’s capital Santiago lands you in the desert village of San Pedro de Atacama, sitting at 2,400 meters above sea level and perhaps surprisingly known as one of the most romantic destinations in South America. Here is how to spend 72 hours in this golden moonscape.
Where to Stay
Atacama village is built on dusty red roads lined with traditional one-story mud-brick buildings. Here, church bells from the historic town centre soundtrack each day, while earthy toned restaurants, shops and cafés offer a community feel within the middle of the desert. Check into NOI Casa Atacama, a boutique hotel within easy walking distance of the centre and a hideaway base for your stay that offers all the comfort and small luxuries needed. With 22 guest rooms and 23 suites, all are generous in size with extra cosy blankets for the chilly nights, while locally crafted fabrics, furnishings, artworks and wooden floors add character and heritage. Sandy-toned balconies and private terraces give you space for morning tea and a view out to the garden and pool, where a refreshing dip is well earned after a long day exploring the surrounding mountainscape. For the early risers ahead of a day’s excursion, the breakfast buffet serves fresh fruits, loaded toast and local meats. Come the hazy afternoon, a trip to the hotel’s Lican Sumaq Spa is a must to unwind with couples hot stone massages and ancestral treatments.
Where to Dine
Despite being so secluded and remote, Atacama hosts some incredible eating spots, where Chilean food is proudly at the forefront of each menu. Adobe in town is a must-try spot for spiced chicken quesadillas and fresh lemonade with local rica-rica herbs. The courtyard restaurant offers shade from the midday sun and live guitar that will have you returning again and again. For a fully authentic experience, family-run Rincón de Solor is owned by Anita Ramos, whose out-of-town restaurant starts with a ceremonial drink whereby pouring a little to your right shoulder honours Mother Earth and a little to your left honours your ancestors – a must before drinking. This is followed by plates of marinated lamb, served steaming with fresh Dobladitas (flaky Chilean folded breads).
Romantic fine dining can still be found in the desert at UNAI, a luxury eco-lodge, where the restaurant’s head chef Juan Pablo Mardones creates a local four-course dining experience. Shrimp tacos and sole fish with ikura are to be enjoyed over candlelight. When it comes to Chilean wine, take the scenic volcano drive to Viña Ayllu, a high-altitude winery in the neighbouring desert village of Toconao, run by the local indigenous Lickanantay community. Proudly noted as the highest winery in Chile and producing a modest 12,000 bottles per year, wine tasting is done amongst the bursts of green vines and a backdrop of the sunset Andes.
Live Like the Atacameño People
As the sun rises on day one of your stay, turn to CaminAndes. This boutique travel agency is trusted for seamlessly planned, exclusive desert adventures. Soon you will find yourself strapped in an expansive 4×4 truck for your first excursion to the Turi Kunza experience. Family run by potter and herbalist Gonzalo Cruz, he welcomes you into his traditional Atacameño home to learn about the crafting and foraging techniques of his ancestors. Walk with wild llamas through the local village before settling onto rattan carpets under ancient trees to discover the medicinal benefits of desert herbs and flowers. Over a live fire, Gonzalo boils up rich syrups and cuts into vividly coloured fruits from his homeland for you to sample, while being educated on the cures available from Mother Nature. The afternoon shifts to a clay workshop, where you get your hands dirty to learn, sculpt and mould volcanic clay as the Atacameño people did to create their cooking pots and utensils. Before you depart, the experience ends with Gonzalo’s tradition: to leave your pottery to dry for the next visitor, taking a finished piece for yourself made by a foregone stranger in return.
Take an Astronomy Lesson
Your first night in Atacama must be spent stargazing at the IOCRUX Astronomical Centre. Start at dusk with a romantic dinner under the night sky, where a fire pit and candles keep you warm. A guided talk on desert astronomy follows with the IOCRUX team, to discover how ancient cultures interpreted constellations and connected them to nature, along with the secret thirteenth constellation associated with the zodiac. Ophiuchus is a constellation that sits outside the traditional twelve signs, but if included can fascinatingly change your original assigned star sign based on your birth chart. As the light dims, turn to the Dobsonian telescope, an instrument so detailed that you can gaze at individual star clusters, galaxies, nebulae, and planets. Watch with your naked eye as the sky glitters and the moon’s surface pulls into focus, revealing its craters in striking glory. It’s here that you are left to lie out wrapped in blankets under the silver-dusted Milky Way, counting shooting stars that swoosh by, as you become aware of the tiny part you play in such an expansive universe.
Tour the Valley of the Moon and Valley of Death
Day two is the time to explore Atacama’s two otherworldly valleys. Millions of years of volcanic activity and windswept erosion have shaped the region into jagged ridges, rippled dunes and lunar-like rock formations, unlike anywhere else in South America. Pull on your desert boots and jump into another CaminAndes 4×4 truck – it’s time to trek into the Valley of the Moon to the salt mountains. The sounds of the minerals expanding and contracting in the heat fill the air, as if the rocks are having their own geological conversations. The vast barren desert once again leaves you windswept and in awe of Mother Nature, with its natural rock sculptures such as the famous Las Tres Marías. Another adventurous drive brings you deeper into the Valley of Death, where dramatic craters and rusty rock walls, utterly devoid of life, are lined by distant volcanoes. It’s here that CaminAndes swiftly set up a desert dinner table of treats and sunset cocktails. The pink-streaked mountains turn shades of flaming gold as the magical sounds of Andean melodies fill the air, from a nearby local playing native wind instruments – a memory that will stay with you long after you leave the desert.
Bathe in the Puritama Hot Springs
By now, your skin and throat will feel dryer than ever before, so a scenic journey through more lunar-like landscapes where you can see herds of native vicuña graze and gallop is needed, only to arrive at a real life mirage. The Puritama Hot Springs are located in the middle of a deep red canyon, surrounded by clusters of foxtail plants and flanked by eight large rock pools of geothermal spring water, ranging from 28° to 31°celcius. With Puri meaning ‘water’ and Tama meaning ‘hot’, these pools are flowing with water heavily rich in calcium, magnesium, and boron, all highly soothing on skin impacted from the dry desert heat. Bathing here fills a peaceful afternoon as natural wooden walkways connect the pools to little changing rooms, bathrooms and discreet picnic areas. All consciously designed, this unexpected micro-oasis provides a refreshing pop of green against the stark fiery contrast of the desert mountains.
Climb at Altitude to Piedras Rojas
By day three, your body will have climatised to being 2,400 meters above sea level, making it the perfect time to push yourself and your body’s boundaries. Climbing higher to 4,200 metres, the altitude soars and the temperature drops. This however is worth every shallow breath, as you are able to explore places off the beaten track. With views so dramatic, you are left feeling as though you have landed on a faraway planet. Piedras Rojas is named after the iron-rich red rock formations that sprawl horizontally to the shore of a powder blue lagoon. The contrast of colour and texture is a reminder of how creative Mother Nature is – even the best photographs fail to capture the scale. Piedras Rojas is also surrounded by high-altitude lagoons; climbing 115 kilometers further southeast of Atacama, you reach the Altiplanic Lagoons. An immense mirror-like lake is surrounded by looming volcanoes. The inky blue water pops against yellow shrubbery to create an iconic Chilean highlands view that seems surreal, no matter how many times you blink.
Few adventurers venture to Laguna Lejía, but those who do become witness to another extreme lagoon that is bathed by the most peaceful silence. After offroading to just under 4350 meters, CaminAndes are quick to set up a private desert lunch of hot coffee and breads stuffed with meats, alongside addictive chocolate treats. The air is sharp when inhaled, and the sweeping panoramic of Laguna Lejía is perfectly reflected, granting you an overwhelming shared moment of awe. Take a moment to absorb just how truly beautiful this planet is and how amongst all its extremes, the Atacama desert does feel like one of South America’s more romantic escapes.
