San Pedro de Atacama is located 1,670 Kms. North of Santiago, the best choice is to fly to the city of Calama and then to rent a vehicule or hire transport service to ride through the 98 km of highway, which joins them together.
When to go:
During summer (from the end of December till the end of March) temperatures exceed 25º C during the day and 16º C during the night. During the months of January and February it can suffer the effects of the "Bolivian Winter" which can cause even snowfalls in the puna zone (plateau area).
During winter, temperature fluctuate between 22ºC during the day and 4º C during the night reaching -4 ºC in the Altiplano. Days are clear but their length is shorter.
Where to sleep:
San Pedro de Atacama is a great pleace to rest, to recover one´s breath, while visiting the different attractions of the area. It´s advisable, therefore, to plan for a stay of five days or more, depending on the level of activities desired.
The village has a wide variety of lodging offers, with different levels of comfort and prices thus enabling visitors to make suitable arrangements.
Where to eat:
Gastronomic offers comprise several restaurants, pubs and cefeterias. Their menus ranging from fast food, and unsophisticated dishes to the more elaborated international cuisine.
Activities:
San Pedro de Atacama is by itself a charming place where such a simple activity like taking a walk through its streets has special attraction. In addition one should be not miss a visit to the Archeological Museum Reverend Father "Gustavo Le Paige", to the church and to the commercial street.
Several attractive places can be visited in its surrounding in half-day tours. Among them, the peculiar rocky formations of the Valley of the Moon (suggested for visits at sunset) and the Valley of the Death; the Quitor Pukara (Fortifications of Incaic origin); the ruins of the Atacama settlement of Tulor (800 d.C. - 500 a.C.) and the visit to the Salt Deposit of Atacama, the Chaxa lagoon and its flamingos and the village of Toconao, the Puritama hot springs where hot water spouts out
amidst the short yellow grass typical of the zone.
Among whole day activities there are several tours which are suggested for the end of the stay to enable your body to acclimatize itself to the altitude during the first days. (San Pedro de Atacama it´s located 2.400 m above the sea level and the tours described reach altitudes between 3.000 m and 4.200 m). Among the most frequented are: a visit to the geyser circuit of "El Tatio". Wear adequate clothing since temperatures may vary from 0ºC (at dawn) to more than 25ºC
(after midday).
Visit to the "Miscanti" and "Miñique" lagoons, this solitariy Altiplanic lagoons are located in the midst of the Puna zone the road borders the Salt Deposit of Atacama and then climbs to reach the blue lagoons.
Make one Expeditions
