San Pedro de Atacama is located in the II Region of Antofagasta, being one of the main tourist destinations in the country. Located 98 kilometers away from Calama, this picturesque town stands out for its adobe buildings that seem to keep it stopped in time, its extensive landscapes and the unique tranquility of the desert, receiving tourists from all over the world throughout the year.
This city is the gateway to the driest desert in the world, being in its surroundings a large number of natural attractions that thanks to the care of the government and private entities have allowed its conservation, seeking to prolong its existence for future generations.
In the center of town, along Caracoles Street, you will find a large number of restaurants and offers from various agencies with panoramas for all tastes, from cycling through the valley, spending entertaining evenings practicing sandboarding in the dunes, to flying in hot air balloons. In addition, here is a market where it is possible to enjoy local crafts, with the use of wool, cactus wood and even volcanic soil.
2 kilometers from the city center is the Death Valley, named that way by the inhabitants of the place, after the religious Gustavo Le Paige investigated the place in the 50s and 60s, surprised by its rock formations that gave him a similarity to the planet Mars. To get to this place it is mandatory to pass through the Cordillera de la Sal, which owes its name to the presence of calcium sulfate that gives a snowy appearance to its different rock formations.
In that same sector it is possible to visit the Valley of the Moon, declared a nature sanctuary, it was named for its characteristics similar to the lunar surface, with colors and textures that make this place a unique natural phenomenon in the world, and that it owes it to the encounter of the Atacama desert with the Andes mountain range. In this place is the famous Piedra del Coyote, from where you get a complete view of the valley that combined with the hills and volcanoes on the horizon make this stop an unmissable postcard when visiting San Pedro de Atacama.
18 km southeast of the city, is the Cejar Lagoon, with turquoise waters, its high concentrations of salt and lithium (greater than those of the Dead Sea) allow even those who cannot swim to dive and float in these waters. The Piedra, Ojos del Salar and Tebinquinche lagoons are also nearby.
The Atacama salt flat has approximately 12,000 km2 of surface, part of it is found within the Los Flamencos National Reserve. Made up of salt fields and salty lakes, its strong winds are characteristic of this place due to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean and the Andes at the same time. Here you can observe a great variety of birds that migrate according to the seasons and that have made this place their natural habitat. Given the high concentrations of salt, there is a great variety of species such as reptiles, birds and insects.
From San Pedro, 90 kms. to the north are the Tatio geysers, of great tourist interest for their imposing fumaroles that owe their origin to the contact of underground rivers of frozen water with hot rocks, which reach 85º and up to 10 meters in height.
Due to its pristine skies, San Pedro de Atacama was chosen to develop the largest astronomical project in the world, moving away to 5000 meters above sea level, the ALMA Astronomical Observatory, has 66 antennas of the European Southern Observatory, from where different astronomical findings have been made given the quality of the sky.
El Loa Airport is the air access to San Pedro de Atacama, this airport is located 100 kilometers from San Pedro de Atacama, which translates to approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes of travel.
On the other hand, ground transportation is concentrated in the San Pedro de Atacama Bus Terminal. At kupos.cl we take you to San Pedro de Atacama with Buses KTur, but from towns located in the north there are trips to San Pedro de Atacama by carpool, or shared car, which is another travel alternative when you want to travel comfortably, safely and for less money. With kupos.cl you can access the carpool travel routes available to San Pedro de Atacama, as well as you can move around the city using carpooling, paying the same or even less for quality mobility in a shared car.
In kupos.cl you can find the available routes, and pay through the App with any card or in cash.
kupos.cl is the platform where you find all the options to get to San Pedro de Atacama and move around the city.
Llullaillaco National Park
It is located in the Cordillera de los Andes and is an impressive natural reserve. The Llullaillaco volcano is the most sought-after attraction of all, because it is the second highest volcano in Chile. There is also part of what is the Inca Trail and a sanctuary of the same civilization where the best preserved mummies in the entire history of mankind were found.
You need to visit these attractions
San Pedro de Atacama and its surroundings are simply fantastic, each day promises a new adventure and unforgettable landscapes.
To be able to say that you visited San Pedro de Atacama you have to do one of these walks: the Valley of the Moon, the Valley of Death, Greyser del Tatio, the Altiplanic Lagoons and the Cejar Lagoon. To carry out these tours we recommend the Grado 10 agency, because it has tours starting at $ 25,000. Find more information here!
Wicked campers
A new way of sightseeing! Wicked Campers offers 100% adventurous tourism.
In the Wicked Campers of San Pedro de Atacama you can rent a van, simple, but well equipped, with it you can travel the entire Atacama desert, without schedules, without groups and your way. The advantage of this proposal is that you can camp in any of the amazing tourist places in the desert.
Route | Company | Price | |
---|---|---|---|
Antofagasta to San Pedro de Atacama | Pullman Bus | $ 23.200 | Book |
Salta to San Pedro de Atacama | Pullman Bus | $ 62.400 | Book |
Calama to San Pedro de Atacama | ChileBus | $ 5.000 | Book |
Calama to San Pedro de Atacama | Buses Frontera del Norte | $ 5.000 | Book |
Toconao to San Pedro de Atacama | Atacama 2000 | $ 1.000 | Book |
Calama to San Pedro de Atacama | Pullman Bus | $ 5.000 | Book |
Calama to San Pedro de Atacama | Atacama 2000 | $ 5.000 | Book |
Jujui to San Pedro de Atacama | Pullman Bus | $ 62.400 | Book |
Toconao to San Pedro de Atacama | Buses Frontera del Norte | $ 1.000 | Book |
Arica to San Pedro de Atacama | ChileBus | $ 20.000 | Book |
Arica to San Pedro de Atacama | Buses Frontera del Norte | $ 20.000 | Book |
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