72 Hours in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Mar 29, 20235 min read

San Pedro de Atacama is a quaint desert town in the middle of the driest desert in world, the Atacama! Situated in the North of Chile, it was definitely on my bucket list to go there,

but I didn’t feel I needed more than 2 or 3 nights, due to its remote location. So, if you also want to make it a flying trip, here’s how I suggest you can make the most of your time there in just 72 hours.

1. Star Gazing

All you need is one evening for this!

First, check the moon cycle before you plan a trip. You want to go around a new moon or as close to it as possible, because as the moon gets brighter, the more the moonlight hinders the star gazing. A full moon can pretty much be game over.

Star gazing was really the reason why the Atacama desert made my bucket list. I LOVE anything to do with the stars, space or the universe. The dry desert conditions mean there is virtually no moisture in the air and therefore there is not a cloud in sight. This provides phenomenal star gazing conditions. In fact it’s known for having the best star gazing observatories in the world!

I travelled to one of the nearest large airports-Calama and remember being struck by the taxi journey to San Pedro de Atacama because it felt like we were driving in a snow globe made of stars. The landscape was completely flat, so from all directions you could see from horizon to horizon and the sky appeared like a dome that was simply saturated with glistening stars. I got my first glimpse of the milky way with the naked eye from the rear view window of my taxi.

Please note: As I am travelling solo, I chose to get a taxi from Calama airport to my hostel in San Pedro de Atacama. I learnt this is in fact not necessary as there are safe airport transfers directly from the airport shared with other travellers which will save you a bit of dollar!

There are multiple agencies that do the star gazing experience for pretty much the same price. I booked with Argo Navis Observatory.

You are picked up from your hotel or hostel around 6pm as its starting to get dark and then taken to the observatory. After a short introduction video you are taken to a circular seating area with a clear view of the night sky. Seats are positioned so you can lean back easily and look up. You can see the blurry cloud like formations of the Milky Way straight away. An astrologer then points out what you can see in the sky with a green laser. The constellations of the star signs (we saw Scorpio and Capricorn), the milky way, nebulae, even our next nearest galaxy Andromeda and Jupiter and Saturn, all to the naked eye. After a warming hot chocolate and nibbles we then went through to the telescope area, each giant telescope was set to a different view. First Saturn- with its rings clearly visible, Jupiter and each of its 4 moons and the messenger star in its multi coloured glory.

Star gazing Atacama Desert Chile — Professional photo taken as part of the tour- really gives you a sense of just how many stars are visible in the night sky

I have never had the chance to see the stars through a telescope of this quality before. It was a rare opportunity and treasured experience.

2. The Valley Of The Moon (Valle De La Luna)

A trip to The Valley Of The Moon is memorable. It is called as such due to the landscape and soil being so similar to that of the surface of the moon. The visit guarantees beautiful desert views, rocky formations and vast sand dunes. Temperatures are high so water and suncream is needed at all times and I personally recommend not showing any skin when walking in the sunshine but that is of course up to personal preference. Some people choose to cycle to The Valley Of The Moon from San Pedro de Atacama. Its about 30k (15km there and 15k back) but I personally found it too hot and chose to do a planned group trip in an air conned mini bus. Plus if you have a short timeframe like me, cycling can take the whole day to complete the trip, where as the bus takes half a day, so you could go star gazing afterwards.

Valley of the moon- viewpoint, Atacama Desert ,Chile — Valley of the moon- viewpoint

Valley of the Moon, Atacama, Chile — Walk through the Valley of the moon as part of the tour

A famous rock formation in the desert, once confused by a delirious desert wanderer as 3 virgins.

3 Visit the salt lakes

A separate tour that is possible, is a day trip to the salt lakes. Not far from San Pedro de Atacama is one of the largest salt flats in Chile, surrounded by mountains and volcanos. There is largely no drainage so any flood water has to evaporate, which leaves some lakes behind with very high quantities of salt. The lakes visited are actually very varied. Some are for swimming in, or more accurately floating in, to experience the sensation of the very high salt content. Others are just magnificent to look at and some are deep water caverns that provide crystal clear reflections.

Salt lakes, Chile — Floating in one of the salt lakes.

Lake in Chile — Deep cavernous lake, with crystal clear reflections

4. ‘One way’ tour from San Pedro De Atacama to Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

With this tour, you are actually leaving San Pedro De Atacama, as it takes you through the Chilean border into Bolivia. You don’t have to do it one way, you can do a 4th day back to where you started but if like me, you are wanting to head into Bolivia from Chile, it’s the perfect route to get you there but with wonderful sights to see along the way.

The beauty of this tour, is that if you do it on day 3 or your stay in San Pedro de Atacama, you have had chance to acclimatise somewhat to the altitude (2,407m). This tour then takes you even higher (over 5000m) once you enter Bolivia. It's very cold at this altitude so you need warm clothes, gloves and hat etc. The tour takes 3 days ending in Solar de Uyuni and usually the groups are small, no more than 5 as you are travelling in a 4 wheel drive.

I loved this tour because it pretty much included everything you could possibly want to see on this route and actually another bucket list item for me, the salt flats at Salar de Uyuni. It's really special to see the salt flats if it rains due to the incredible mirrored reflections on such a flat, vast surface, but it was sunny for me and it was still as special to see. All food and basic accommodation was included. I booked with tour company Uturunku for about $100 which was really excellent value for 3 days. Our driver was also marvellous.

Some of the things the tour includes are: