Most Atacama Desert activities use the town of San Pedro de Atacama as a launch pad. The town itself is very unassuming, with mostly dirt roads, but there are surprisingly some great places to eat and shop.
Our hotel, Hotel Desertica, was located right "downtown" and within walking distance of everything SPdA had to offer. Hotel Desertica was honestly really great. The property is beautiful, the food and staff amazing, and the "yurts" you stay in are fantastic all around. I can't recommend this place enough. Thank God it was comfortable because thanks to a couple of days of food poisoning I was in the room for close to 48 hours straight to start our trip off (fuck you, Andes Lounge at SCL – do not go there.)
Always nice to have somewhere comfortable to stay, especially when you're out all day in the elements, and that's exactly what you'll be doing if you visit the Atacama Desert.
We started our first day driving Southeast (yes, you should 110% rent a car when visiting the Atacama) to the Miscanti and Miñiques Lagoons, as well as Piedras Rojas (which we didn't get a chance to visit, thanks to my recently ingested lounge eggs the day prior).
You'll need to obtain a national park permit before visiting any of these sites and get checked in person on the way southeast from SPdA to either of these stops. You'll grab the permit online, first.
The Lagunas are fairly close together, but both at an elevation of 14,000 feet or more. It's definitely exhausting just walking to and from your car. For context, SPdA sits just under 8,000 feet, so you're climbing over an additional mile in the roughly 2-hour+ drive. Bring water and take it easy.
In addition to the breathtaking landscapes during your drives around the Atacama (in any direction, really) you'll also more than likely see the local alpacas around.
I think it's amazing that the alpacas have somehow adapted to the lack of rain and diverse food sources in the area.
One of the main reasons we went to the Atacama this time of year was to see the dark skies. I planned the trip to fall on a new moon for maximum stargazing and holy shit – I did not expect what we were able to see. I've been in some non-light polluted areas before, namely hiking in the Grand Canyon, but this was insane. While the above picture is around a 20-second exposure, you can still see nebulas with the naked eye. The Milky Way banded itself in plain sight from horizon to horizon. I couldn't believe it.
We also did a stargazing "tour" with SPACE (San Pedro de Atacama Celestial Explorations) one night. Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and the overall experience was super informative – and you could look at galaxies and distant stars through gigantic telescopes. Highly recommend.
Our trusty steed for our time there was a Subaru Crosstrek, rented from Econorent at the Calama airport. If you want to confidently visit the sites around Atacama you should at the minimum get something with AWD. The roads and highways in between cities are nice and paved, but once you want to start exploring you'll be off on dirt roads.
The above are from the Rainbow Valley. Not as impressive as the Lagunas, but still some good scenery and walking around.
The Valley of Death is another easily accessible spot very close to San Pedro de Atacama. Again, not as impressive as some things further away from town, but another good example of some of the incredibly diverse and martian-like landscapes in this part of the world.
Santiago
We rounded out our time in Chile with full day and a half in the country's capital, Santiago. While not as historical and charming as Buenos Aires, Santiago was walkable and overall very nice for a night. Would love to come back and spend a couple more days.
One of the top things to do is ride the cable car up to San Cristóbal Hill. The views of Santiago are stunning and you really get a sense of how large the Andes actually are.
I can't recommend the Atacama Desert enough. It's a shame I got food poisoning from that shitty lounge at SCL to start the trip, but lesson learned. I would love to come back in a few years to stargaze again – especially when I have more astrophotography experience.
