What Makes It Worth It

🏛 Valle de la Luna

The Atacama Desert is the driest non-polar desert on Earth — some weather stations in its core have recorded no rainfall in recorded history. Stretching 1,000 kilometres along the Pacific coast of northern Chile between the Andes and the Pacific coastal range, its hyper-aridity produces a landscape of extraordinary starkness and colour: salt flats white as snow, flamingo-pink lagoons, volcanic peaks stained yellow and orange with sulphur deposits, and skies of a deep unbroken blue that is the visual marker of air with essentially zero moisture. This clarity is why the European Southern Observatory built its largest telescopes here and why the ALMA radio telescope array — the world's most powerful — operates from a 5,000-metre plateau above San Pedro de Atacama.

San Pedro de Atacama, the desert's main town, sits at 2,440 metres and serves as the base for exploring the surrounding landscapes. El Tatio Geyser Field (4,500m altitude, best visited at 4am when geysers are most active against the cold morning air) is the world's third-largest geyser field and the highest at altitude; standing among 80 active geysers in pre-dawn darkness with steam columns rising 10 metres against a backdrop of Andean volcanoes is surreal. The Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) — a salt and clay basin sculpted by wind and water into formations resembling lunar landscapes — turns pink and violet at sunset. The Salar de Atacama, the world's third-largest salt flat, hosts three flamingo species feeding on the algae of its saline lagoons.

At altitude, the Atacama becomes even more dramatic. The high-altitude lagoons of the Bolivian altiplano — Laguna Colorada (red with algae and borax), Laguna Verde (arsenic-tinged turquoise at the base of Licancábur volcano), Laguna Blanca — are accessible on multi-day jeep tours crossing the border into Bolivia. The Bolivian salt flat of Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest (10,582 sq km), is the most photographed landscape in South America: its flat, mirror-perfect surface after rain creates perspective-distorting photographs that have become globally iconic.

Practical planning: Best time September to November (spring) for the best combination of mild temperatures and clear skies. June to August is cold at altitude (below -10°C at night). December to March brings afternoon thunderstorms at altitude — the "Bolivian winter." Altitude sickness is a genuine risk above 4,000m: acclimatise in San Pedro (2,440m) for one to two days before high-altitude excursions. Drink litres of water; the arid air dehydrates much faster than you notice.

Our Take Based on traveller reviews, editorial research & destination data El Tatio requires a 4am departure to see the geysers at their most active in the cold morning air — tour operators leaving at 6am miss the peak activity. The Valle de la Luna sunset (most tour operators do a late afternoon excursion) is spectacular — the salt and clay formations turn pink and gold. Altitude at El Tatio is 4,500m — acclimatise in San Pedro (2,440m) for a full day first. The ALMA telescope complex requires advance booking and is extraordinary for anyone interested in astronomy. The Bolivian salt flat extension (Uyuni) adds two days and is worthwhile for those with the time.