22.91° S, 68.20° WChile · 10 min read
San Pedro de Atacama - A desert you mustn't skip!
San Pedro de Atacama is hot. San Pedro de Atacama is amazing.
San Pedro de Atacama was our first introduction to Chile on our South America trip. Driving in from Bolivia, we noticed a stark difference between the two countries. While equally beautiful, Chile seemed more developed with better roads and modern infrastructure and had more people speaking English.
In San Pedro de Atacama, you can easily spend a few days tasting some delicious food, visiting the geysers, enjoying the hot springs and exploring the valleys and landscape.
Hire a car and spend the next few days exploring San Pedro de Atacama.
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Main street, ~1km long, vehicle-free. Restaurants, mini-marts, tourist shops. Safe, policed. Free wi-fi everywhere, credit cards accepted. Mini-marts much cheaper than hotels for water/snacks. Dogs everywhere, mostly chill. Spent majority of time here.
Average hotel, unbeatable location — couple blocks from Calle Caracoles. Next to what seemed like a stable (horse poop smell). Decor not great, wires hanging, electronics broken, no hot water (known issue). Only stay here if you want walkability.
Great for lunch. Open shaded patio. Live classic rock music, chilled beer, tasty food.
A little pricey but excellent. Few rooms, great attention to detail. Superior rooms: large, clean, private patios. Staff helped plan 3-day itinerary. Unpolluted skies for stargazing. Economical clothes washing $5/kg. Equidistant from Calle Caracoles and Moon Valley (10-15 min). Note: water in San Pedro is hard and salty.
Rocky mountain plateau with overhanging rock overlooking Atacama desert. Must visit for SUNSET. Arrive early — tour buses drop hundreds of people 20 min before sunset. Get there first for parking and best spot.
Part of Atacama desert, one of driest places on earth. Formed 33 million years ago. Otherworldly landscape — dunes, mountains, rock formations. Entrance ticket includes Mirador de Kari sunset. Sendero Duna Mayor 1-hour hike is a MUST. Mina de Sal less impressive if you've done Bolivian Salt Flats. Las Tres Marias (quartz/granite formations, 1M+ years old). Carry plenty of water.
True Chilean restaurant serving local delicacies. Food tasted very different/authentic — not suited to western palate. They left without eating. Good if you want authentic local cuisine, skip if you prefer western-friendly food.
80 geysers, third largest in world (after Yellowstone & Russian Valley of Geysers), largest in southern hemisphere, highest in world at 4,320m. Best viewed at SUNRISE — steam from contrast between air and water temps. Start at 4am, ~2 hours drive (80km). Drive slow and safe — reckless tour buses overtake in pitch darkness. Stay behind a civilian car.
~1 hour from downtown, in a canyon. 8 thermal baths at 28-31°C surrounded by 200ft canyon walls. Two slots: 9:30am-1:30pm and 2:30pm-6pm. Afternoon slot was great, not too crowded (4-5 people per pool). Clean restrooms, changing areas, lockers (bring your own lock). Very private experience.
Favourite restaurant in San Pedro! Celebrated a birthday here and went back again. Elaborate menu, excellent food, generous bartender, extremely friendly staff. Can't go wrong with anything on the menu.
Excellent breakfast spot. Pricey but outstanding croissants, pain au chocolat, sandwiches and coffee. Must for coffee lovers. Transforms into a bar in evenings with special events.
About San Pedro de Atacama
A short 1-hour drive from Chile’s eastern border with Bolivia, San Pedro de Atacama is Chile’s first big town. With around only 4,000 native inhabitants, the town’s primary occupation is tourism as it plays host to over 250,000 tourists per year.
San Pedro de Atacama is close to slat flats, hot springs, world’s third largest geysers and offers land excursions, beautiful landscape and some amazing restaurants.
If you do find yourself in Calama, do yourself a favour and head straight to San Pedro. Do not bother staying or visiting Calama; it’s not safe & there’s nothing to do there.
Our Experience
We recommend renting a car and exploring San Pedro de Atacama yourselves instead of taking a tour.
Our Bolivoa guided road trip, left us at the Bolivian-Chilean border and we had a car waiting for us to drive us to Avis car rental at Calama airport. The two hour journey started off on smooth and well paved highways, went through the heart of San Pedro de Atacama, on to another highway with views of the Moon valley and then, finally, into Calama.
Our initial plan was to spend the night in Calama; however, our rental agency informed us that there is not much to do in Calama as its a mining town and is not safe for tourists to the extent that if we were to stop for fuel, we had to lock the steering wheel and all doors while refuelling. This information led us to cancel our night stay in Calama and drive back to San Pedro, which, is much safter for tourists.
We spent the next few days exploring San Pedro de Atacama. Three days in San Pedro de Atacama is just enough to cover everything.
Calle Caracoles
Calle Caracoles, the main street of San Pedro de Atacama, is more than just a street; it’s an experience waiting to be explored. A narrow vehicle-free street around a kilometre long with restaurants, mini-marts and touristy shops on either side, it’s safe and is policed at all times. You’ll find tourists and natives walking on Calle Caracoles throughout the day and night. All restaurants offer free wi-fi and all establishments, including mini-marts & tourist gift shops, accept credit cards.
While in San Pedro, we spent majority of our time here.
There are quite a few min-marts that sell groceries, water, fruits, snacks, chocolates, etc. at prices much cheaper than the hotels. We ensured that we stocked up on water and other goodies for all our excursions from these mini-marts.
There are dogs everywhere and majority of them leave you alone unless you’ve got something tasty in your hands. We found the dogs just chilling and majority of the establishments welcome dogs inside if the dogs ever need to cool down.
Stay: Hard Road Atacama Hotel
An average at best hotel with a location that can’t be beat!
This hotel is a couple of blocks walking distance from Calle Caracoles. The straight road leading to Calle Caracoles is safe and less trafficked, making this location perfect to go from or get to after a late night.
If it weren’t for the location, we wouldn’t have recommended Hard Road Atacama because it is next to what seemed like a stable - the smell was unmistakably horse poop. While the rooms were big and accommodating, the decor wasn’t pleasing with appliance, TV, set-top box and air conditioner wires just hanging off the walls; quite a few of the electronics didn’t even work. In addition, while checking-in, the hotel staff asked us to contact them if our room didn’t have hot water and, indeed, it didn’t. From the looks of it, this is a known issue which they either haven’t or can’t fix.
San Pedro de Atacama is a pretty small town and if you have a car, you can get anywhere within 10-15 minutes. So, if you want to walk to the main street, stay here; if you’d prefer better rooms and have a car, don’t.
Stay: Naturalis Hotel
A little pricy but an excellent hotel with friendly staff.
If you have private transportation, we’d recommend staying at this hotel. With only a few rooms, the hotel is small, well equipped and the attention to detail and customers is unprecedented. A little further from town, this hotel also offers unpolluted skies at night for some stargazing.
We went with the “Superior” rooms and they were large, clean, well equipped and came with private patios. On check-in, we were given not only a tour of the hotel but also a run-down of all the attractions in and close to San Pedro de Atacama. The folks at the hotel helped plan our three day itinerary - from the geysers at sunrise to spending the afternoon at the hot springs.
The hotel also provides economical clothes washing facility at $5/kg. Generally, the water in San Pedro de Atacama is hard and salty; so, we recommend washing your clothes in this town only if you absolutely have to.
Naturalis Hotel is equidistant from Calle Carocoles and Moon Valley. You can reach either in around 10-15 minutes.
Valley of the Moon
Valley of the Moon is part of the Atacama desert and one of the driest places on earth. Formed around 33 million years ago, the valley derives its name from its otherworldly landscape with amazing geological formations. The drive in revealed a landscape that we had never seen before - dunes, mountains & rock formations.
The check-in at the main centre takes around 10 minutes and you are provided with a map. The entrance ticket also includes the entrance to Mirador de Kari - Piedra del Coyote for sunset (see below). While, the main centre offers the purchase of water, we recommend that you carry plenty in the car with you - you’ll need it.
We drove the entire length of the reserve, stopped at all locations and did short hour long hikes, while skipping the longer ones. It’s always hot and dry, so carry plenty of water, sunscreen and sun shade for the hikes.
The hour-long hike at Sendero Duna Mayor is a must. Walking up the dune and through the crater, we were left amazed by the breathtaking and unique landscape.
While, the Mina de Sal hike is unique in its own right, we didn’t find it impressive as we had just done the Bolivian Salt Flats . If we were to visit this location before, I’m sure, we would have been awestruck.
Las Tres Marias, the last stop, was interesting. Made of quartz and granite, these formations are over a million years old and depict images of Virgin Mary in three different poses. We, however, were told by the folks at the main centre to use our imagination to imagine the shapes - from that of a dog to a t-rex. Though fun, not the highlight of the trip for us.
Mirador de Kari - Piedra del Coyote
Mirador de Kari - Piedra del Coyote is a rocky mountain plateau with an overhanging rock overlooking the Atacama desert. The entrance ticket is included in the Moon Valley ticket and this is a must visit location for sunset.
You must reach early for the sunset to enjoy Mirador de Kari - Piedra del Coyote in solitude and to soak in the views. Eventually, around 20 minutes before sunset, the tour companies will drop of their guests and there’d be hundreds of people trying to make their way to the ledge to find a better view or spot for sunset.
Reach early to find parking and a great spot as every tour company drops the tourists, around 20 minutes before sunset, at this location.
El Tatio Geysers
El Tatio is a geothermal field with as many as 80 geysers. It is the third largest, after Yellostone National Park and the Russion Valley of Geysers, formation of geysers, the largest in the southern hemisphere and, at 4,320 metres the highest in the world.
Geysers are best viewed at sunrise because the contrast between the air and water temperatures creates the most steam. The geysers are best seen “steaming” just as it gets light and before the air warms up. Post sunrise, you will not find the geysers “steaming”.
We recommend starting early around 4:00am to reach El Tatio for sunrise. Drive slow. Drive safe.
Located around 80 kilometres from San Pedro de Atacama, it takes around 2 hours to reach by car. The roads are decently maintained and take you through valleys and mountains with beautiful views. If you are driving for sunrise, you’ll have the quick and reckless tour busses/cabs giving you company; More often than not, they’ll be driving fast and will give you little to no notice before overtaking you in pitch darkness. In our experience, it was best to stay behind a civilian car and let that lead car set the pace.
Puritama Hot Springs
After an early morning trip to El Tatio , we got back to the hotel and rested for a few hours before hitting Puritama Hot Springs. Puritama Hot Springs is about an hour away from downtown and is located in the middle of a canyon. As we walked down to the hot springs, we were pleasantly surprised by the beauty of it - the thermal baths are surrounded by 200 feet canyon walls and you are nestled in-between the bush. There are eight baths and the water temperature is between 28 and 31 celsius.
Puritama Hot Springs offers two slots 9:30am-1:30pm and 2:30pm - 6:00pm; we decided to go for the afternoon slot and while it was sunny, it wasn’t too hot outside for us to not enjoy the experience. We were also surprised to find that there weren’t too many people - no matter the bath, we had a maximum of 4-5 other people sharing the pool with us.
The location does have clean restrooms, changing areas and both men and women locker rooms. You are expected to carry your own locks though. Also, ensure that you carry plenty of sunscreen.
Overall, a very good and private experience.
Restaurants
Calle Caracoles has so many good restaurants that you can enjoy a differnt cuisine & vibe every meal.
Every restaurant we went to had free wi-fi.
Breakfast/Coffee: La Franchuteria
La Franchuteria is an excellent option for breakfast. This place, while pricy, serves outstanding croissants, pain au chocolat, sandwiches and coffee. If you enjoy coffee, La Franchuteria is a must!
In the evenings, this place transforms into a bar and, while we were there, had a couple of special events too.
Dinner: Adobe
Adobe is our favourite restaurant in San Pedro. We celebrated a birthday in Adobe and went back again to Adobe for dinner. The menu is elaborate, the food excellent, the bartender generous and the staff extremely friendly.
You can’t go wrong with anything on the menu.
Lunch: Jardin Meraki
Jardin Meraki, with their open shaded patio, is a great option for lunch. We were entertained by a gentleman singing classic rock while we sipped on some chilled beer and ate some tasty food.
Dinner: Tierra Todo Natural
Tierra Todo Natural is a true Chilean restaurant serving local delicacies for local palate. Our experience there was interesting - we tried this place because of online reviews; however, were so taken aback by how different the food tasted that we eventually left without eating. The place is good, the food is good, it’s just that we were not expecting the food to taste so different or authentic or not suited to our palate.
In other words, if you want to try something authentic to the locality, try this place; if, you are looking more for something thats suited to the western palate, don’t.
Tips & Mistakes to avoid
Sunscreen - everyday, everywhere, all the time
It can get pretty chilly - carry some fleece/jackets
Rent a car instead of taking a tour
Reach the attractions before the tours
Hit the geysers for sunrise. Drive slow. Drive behind someone. Drive safe.
San Pedro de Atacama is pretty safe
Avoid staying in Calama
Yay or Nay
A definite yes! The desert is worth your time and it’s got a bit of everything for everyone!
Yay or Nay?
This is our travel book — let's explore together. We travel with our two dogs, Naina and Naaz.
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