San Pedro de Atacama Travel Guide

San Pedro de Atacama is a village of adobe houses and dirt streets, at about 2,400 meters (7,900 ft), in an oasis in the driest desert on Earth. It lies north of the Atacama Salt Flat, at the foot of the Licancabur volcano, in Chile’s Antofagasta Region. Its architecture is so well preserved that it was declared a protected heritage zone.

The village is organized into ayllus: communities with their orchards, farmland and irrigation channels, where Atacameño families have lived for generations. Around the center, with its square, its adobe church roofed with cactus wood and Caracoles Street, lie ayllus such as Conde Duque, Solcor, Séquitor, Quitor, Larache and Coyo. This is the land of the Lickanantay people, and the communities keep their festivals alive, such as the cleaning of the irrigation channels and carnival.

By plane: almost every trip goes through Calama. El Loa airport has daily flights from Santiago, about 2 hours long. From there it is about 100 km (62 miles) on a paved road, roughly an hour and a half across the Domeyko range. There are transfers to San Pedro at the airport, and it is best to book ahead. If you like, we can arrange a trusted driver for you: write to us.

By bus: there are buses to Calama from Santiago, Antofagasta, Iquique and Arica, and buses leave Calama for San Pedro throughout the day. From Santiago the ride takes more than 20 hours. Buses also arrive from Salta and Jujuy, in Argentina, through the Jama Pass, and from Bolivia you can come with the Uyuni Salt Flat tours. The lodge is a 5-minute walk from the bus terminal.

By car: you can rent a car at Calama airport and drive up on your own. An SUV or a pickup is enough for the classic excursions, and parking at the lodge is free.

You can visit all year round. This is a high desert: very dry air, strong sun and a big difference between day and night, sometimes more than 15 °C (27 °F). As soon as the sun goes down, it cools off quickly.

Summer (December to March): hot days, around 25 to 28 °C (77 to 82 °F), and cool nights. In January and February the Altiplanic winter may arrive, with clouds and afternoon rain in the mountains that sometimes close some high-altitude tours.

Autumn and spring: pleasant days and cold nights. Winter (June to August): sunny days, around 18 to 21 °C (64 to 70 °F), and very cold nights that can drop below 0 °C (32 °F). Up in the Altiplano it is cold at dawn in any season.

Pack layers, sunscreen, sunglasses, a hat and lip balm. In winter add a warm jacket, a beanie and gloves for the evenings.

San Pedro sits at about 2,400 meters, and several excursions go above 4,000 m (13,000 ft). Above 2,000 meters some people feel altitude sickness, known locally as puna: headache, tiredness, dizziness or nausea.

To avoid it, drink water all day even if you are not thirsty, eat light, avoid alcohol for the first days and leave the Altiplano and the El Tatio Geysers until you have spent a day or two in the village. Many travelers drink local herbal teas, such as rica-rica. If you have blood pressure or heart problems, talk to your doctor before going above 4,000 meters.

The sun is very strong and the air so dry that you can get dehydrated without noticing: wear high-SPF sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat, even when it feels cool.

People have lived in this area for more than 11,000 years. The Atacameños, the Lickanantay people, were oasis farmers: they built terraces on the hillsides, watered by channels, and grew corn, quinoa, potatoes and beans. They raised llamas and alpacas and used them to trade with the coastal peoples. That is why San Pedro is called the archaeological capital of Chile.

Much of what we know is thanks to Father Gustavo Le Paige, a Belgian Jesuit who arrived in 1955 and devoted his life to collecting and studying thousands of pieces. The dry desert preserved textiles, pottery and wooden objects for centuries.

Near the village you can visit the Pukará de Quitor, a 12th-century stone fortress 3 km away and a National Monument; the Aldea de Tulor, a village of round mud houses more than 2,000 years old that lay buried under the sand; and the Yerbas Buenas petroglyphs, with llamas and foxes carved into the rock. In the Catarpe valley there are remains of an Inca waystation, because the Inca Trail passed through here.

Toconao (38 km): houses of white liparite stone, an 18th-century bell tower and the Jerez Gorge, with orchards of pear, quince and fig trees.

Socaire: a village of farming terraces overlooking the Atacama Salt Flat, on the way to the Miscanti and Miñiques lagoons.

Peine: the southernmost oasis of the salt flat, among chañar and algarrobo trees, with the ruins of Peine Viejo.

Machuca: a hamlet of adobe and straw at about 4,000 meters, on the way to El Tatio, famous for its llama skewers.

Caspana, Río Grande and Chiu Chiu: villages of terraces, stone houses and colonial churches. The one in Chiu Chiu is among the oldest in Chile.

Walk through the ayllus and you will see two trees everywhere. The chañar bears a sweet fruit that is still cooked into arrope, a traditional syrup. The algarrobo gives pods that are ground into flour and were used to make aloja, a traditional drink.

Their remains appear at the oldest archaeological sites in the area, and the people of Tulor lived on gathering them. Their wood was used for the beams of the houses at Quitor. These are the trees that fed the Atacameño people for thousands of years.

Our lodge sits on 10,000 m² (2.5 acres) of gardens among old chañar and algarrobo trees: they give shade in summer and, at dawn, fill with birds.

Money: there are few ATMs, and in high season they sometimes run out of cash. It is a good idea to arrive with some cash in Chilean pesos.

Water: drink bottled or filtered water. At the lodge, every cabin has a free 20-liter water jug.

Health: the village has a health center and pharmacies. The nearest hospital is in Calama.

Phone signal: mobile phones work well in the village, but there is almost no signal in the Altiplano. Bring a flashlight for walking through the ayllus at night.

Tours: Caracoles Street has many agencies, so you can compare calmly. Some places, such as the Catedrales de Tara or the Miscanti and Miñiques lagoons, are always visited with an agency.

Respect: many sites are run by Atacameño communities, who charge an entrance fee to look after them. Do not take stones or remains, and stay on the marked trails.