San Pedro de Atacama - your travel guide to the driest place on earth 🦙🇨🇱
How to get to and around San Pedro de Atacama
The closest airport to San Pedro is Calama with service from cities around Chile and South America. Some travelers also make their way to San Pedro with tours from Bolivia through the Uyuni desert to the Atacama desert.
There are two ways of exploring the Atacama desert. You can book the tours or you can rent a car and go see it yourself. If you are a solo traveler, I would recommend the tours. If you travel with a group of friends or can spend a little bit more, rent a car.
The pros of taking a tour are that you won't have to worry about the bad conditions of the streets, you'll meet new people and your tour guide can tell you everything about all the places.
The cons are the crowds since most of the tours take their groups to the locations at the same time of day. I took the tours but regretted it a bit. I could not afford to rent a car at the time but visiting all the beautiful places in the desert, I felt as though the crowds of people took away a bit of the experience. If you are traveling alone or with just one friend, I suggest making friends at the hostels and renting a car with a couple of other people.
What to see
In the town of San Pedro, you can book tours to go see the different highlights around the desert. The following tours are the ones I took and loved. One tour I did not take e
Another must-do is the Astronomical Tour at Night to see the incredible desert night sky. Unfortunately, I visited Atacama during the full moon so all night tours were canceled. One day, I would love to return just for this experience alone.
If you have more than just 3 days, I highly recommend taking the tour from the Atacama desert to the Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia (or vice versa). I did not have the time but we talked to people who had the best time. You can book tours and go with a group, it is usually a three-day tour incl. food and accommodation.
Cafés & Restaurants
San Pedro de Atacama is a small town yet there is a good amount of food options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Here are my recommendations:
Where to stay
As the town is bustling with backpackers from around the world, I recommend booking a hostel. It's a fun way to meet fellow travelers and maybe even find some travel buddies to rent a car with.
Check out Hostelworld or Booking.com for good hostel options.
Have fun exploring Atacama, it's truly a magical place. ✨
Love,
Lena
The home for unique & authentic travel
