Atacama and the Altiplano
Six days in the driest desert on earth, acclimatising upward from salt flats to 4,300-metre geysers.
Desert & Dunes · 6 days · Mar, Apr, May, Sep, Oct, Nov
San Pedro de Atacama sits at 2,400 metres and everything worth seeing from it is higher, which makes the order of the week a physiological question rather than a preference. This builds upward: the salt flat and the valleys first, the high lagoons on day three, the Tatio geysers at 4,320 metres only on day four when your body has had time. The altitude is not a footnote here; people are evacuated from Tatio every week. The reward is the clearest sky on the planet, which is why half the world's large telescopes are pointed at it.
Day by day
- Day 1
Arrive and do nothing
An hour from Calama, and then a deliberately empty afternoon at 2,400 metres.
15:00San Pedro village and the Iglesia
An adobe church with a cactus-wood roof lashed with leather, built in the seventeenth century and still the centre of the village.
Drink far more water than feels necessary today. Alcohol at this altitude on the first night is a bad trade.
17:30Valle de la Luna at sunset
Salt and clay ridges that NASA has used to test Mars rovers, and the light on the Cordillera de la Sal in the last twenty minutes is the reason everyone comes.
Entry is capped and ticketed by CONAF; go with an operator or book ahead. The valley closes shortly after sunset.
- Day 2
The salt flat
Down rather than up on the second day, which is the correct way to acclimatise.
09:00Laguna Chaxa
Three flamingo species feeding on brine shrimp in a lagoon in the middle of a 3,000 square kilometre salt pan, with 6,000-metre volcanoes behind them.
Stay on the marked path; the salt crust is sharp and the lagoon is a protected breeding site.
12:00Toconao
Built entirely from white volcanic liparite, with a bell tower standing separate from its church, and an oasis of figs and pomegranates behind it.
The Quebrada de Jerez behind the village is an irrigated ravine of fruit trees and is worth the short walk.
17:00Valle de la Muerte
A dune-filled canyon in the salt range that is quieter than the Moon Valley next door and lit better in the late afternoon.
Sandboarding down the main dune is the usual reason to be here; it is harder work uphill than it looks.
- Day 3
The high lagoons
Up to 4,200 metres for the first time, with a slow morning first.
09:30Lagunas Miscanti and Miniques
Two deep blue altiplano lakes at the foot of Cerro Miscanti, with vicunas grazing the bofedal and nothing else for fifty kilometres.
4,200 metres. Move slowly, do not run, and turn back if you get a headache that does not clear.
13:30Piedras Rojas and the Salar de Talar
Iron-red volcanic rock against a white salt shore and turquoise water, at 4,000 metres, which is a colour combination that does not occur anywhere else.
Access has been restricted by the local community at times; confirm on the day.
- Day 4
El Tatio
The highest and hardest morning of the week, and the one that has to be done at dawn.
06:00El Tatio geyser field
The largest geyser field in the southern hemisphere, and the fumaroles only column properly in the cold hour just after sunrise.
4,320 metres and around minus ten at dawn. Stay on the paths: the crust is thin and people have been badly scalded stepping through it.
10:30Machuca
A herding village at 4,000 metres on the way down from Tatio, with a wetland below it full of Andean geese.
A handful of families, a white chapel, and llama skewers sold at the roadside.
14:00Termas de Puritama
Eight terraced thermal pools in a reed-lined gorge, which is the correct place to spend the afternoon after a 5am start at 4,320 metres.
Capped daily numbers and a boardwalk between the pools. Around 30 degrees year-round.
- Day 5
Water in the desert
The two places in the Atacama where you can swim, and then the sky.
09:00Lagunas Baltinache
Brine so dense you float without effort, in a chain of hidden lagoons on the western edge of the salt flat.
Only one of the seven lagoons is open for swimming and you must rinse off afterward; sunscreen and repellent are banned in the water.
21:00Stargazing on the altiplano
More than 300 clear nights a year and almost no humidity, which is why ALMA and Paranal are here; the Magellanic Clouds are visible to the naked eye.
Tours do not run around the full moon, which washes the sky out. Nights are genuinely cold; dress for it.
- Day 6
Down to Calama
A last canyon at dawn, then the hour back to the airport.
08:00Quebrada de Guatin and the cactus valley
Where two rivers meet in a narrow gorge full of six-metre cardon cacti, some of them several hundred years old.
You cross the stream repeatedly; wet feet are unavoidable. Around three hours of easy scrambling.
11:30Pukara de Quitor
A twelfth-century Atacameno fortress on the valley wall, taken by thirty Spanish horsemen in 1540, and the memorial at the top does not soften the account.
Steep steps up the hillside, three kilometres from the village. Early is better than late.
Questions
- How long is the Atacama and the Altiplano itinerary?
- The Atacama and the Altiplano itinerary runs 6 days and covers 14 stops across San Pedro de Atacama, Calama.
- When is the best time to do the Atacama and the Altiplano itinerary?
- Mar, Apr, May, Sep, Oct, Nov is the best window for the Atacama and the Altiplano itinerary.
- What happens on day one of the Atacama and the Altiplano itinerary?
- Day one is arrive and do nothing: An hour from Calama, and then a deliberately empty afternoon at 2,400 metres.
Sources
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