REFERENCE PROGRAM
Salar Tour 3D/2N Uyuni - San Pedro de Atacama (Chile). This tour starts in Uyuni and
ends on the 3rd day in San Pedro de Atacama (Chile).
Day 1 UNDERSTANDING SALAR DE UYUNI
Today we will have an unforgettable trip across 12 000 km2 of fantastic salt landscape.
Prepare your camera! The amazing white coat of the Salar de Uyuni (or Thunupa) looks
like a huge glacier.
We will enter the Salar by Colchani, where we will stop to visit the salt
factory and we will receive comments on the salt family economy which command the life of this village.
Once the first visit done, we will enter the Salar and stop at the salt mounts from where we will continue
to the dominating and magic Thunupa Volcano. We will ascend a part of the volcano with the car to the
Coquesa Mummies. From this point we will have a nice view upon the monumental Salar.
Then we will
descend to Tahua where we will have lunch at the comfortable Tayka Salt Hotel.
In the afternoon we will get away from the hotel to Chillima village, at the north, from where we will start
the second ascension still with the car toward La Pucara. We will start a between 60 and 90 minutes walk
to the impressive flat landscape of La Pucara de Chillima. This part is like an intimate retreat of the Salar
with an incomparable beauty but as well with a peculiar spiritual presence which come from the stones
edifications. With more than 1000 years of antiquity, theses constructions make us think about the way
of life of our ancestors. This time the view on the Salar is from the west (sensual Salar) with islands and
bays and not very known by tourism. We will return to the car by an approximate 30 minute’s down walk.
If the road to Chillima is in bad conditions we will go to Chantani in the afternoon.
We will spend the night in the Tayka Salt Hotel with private bathroom, hot water and heating (L, D).
Day 2 ISLANDS, CAVE, LAGOONS CHAIN AND MULTICOLORS DESERT
This day we will cross the Salar from north to south with the first visit at the Incahuasi Island which one of
the central tourist attraction. We will follow the little path to arrive at the top of the island from where we
will get the amazing 360 º view on the Salar. Then we will continue toward the Mala Mala Bahia, to find the
Galaxia Cave where we will find a cactus sanctuary and petrified stromatolites and finally a Chullpas
cemetery (ancestral burying) . The cave presents a very weird sub-aquatic geological formation from
the era of the Michin Lake (300 000 years ago) and from the Tauca Lake (40.000 years ago).
We will continue the expedition towards San Pedro de Quemes where we will have lunch and a break in
the Tayka Stone Hotel.
In the afternoon, we will go towards the lagoons chain of Cañapa, Hedionda,
Chiarkota, Honda and Ramaditas, where we will see a good quantity of the three kinds of flamingos and
other kinds of birds as andean seagulls and wild ducks. These birds live on the lagoons alongside of the
volcanoes with their eternal snow on the top and their green sides mixed with other colors done by the
borax and sulphur.
After the last lagoon, you will enter the huge and great desert area with no roads or
ways. These fantastic deserts gather all the colors from browns, reds, oranges, brass, coffee and beige
which are successively shown at every curve of the trip. In this area you will find the Tayka Desert
Hotel, with private bathroom, hot water and heating (B, L, and D).
Day 3 LAGOONS OF COLOURS, DESERT LADIES VALLEY (Ojo de Perdiz - San Pedro de Atacama)
Eduardo Avaroa National Reserve (REA)
We will get out early to visit the Stone Tree which is a stone in a tree shape. Then we will arrive to one of
the gem of the Eduardo Avaroa Reserve the Colored Lagoon. This lagoon is the main nesting centre of
the three kinds of flamingos and its colour produced by algae and plankton activated by the sun and the
wind give the red and pink colour to the flamingos.
Then we will surprise the more active moment of the
geysers of Sol de Mañana. At this point we will be at the most elevated altitude of the trip (5 000 mts upon
the sea level). The cold is intense and we will walk among the smoky and noisy vapour springs and the
mud boiling stewpot.
The desert and Salar of Chalviri are others landscape of great value. It mixes the
white of the snow with the ochre of the desert, the blue of the water and the white of the borax. In
Polques, we will have a bath in the hot springs and have a good open air breakfast.
Then we will approach another huge place the Desert Ladies Valley, which is a chef d’oeuvre of the
wind work on the rocks. After this valley we will go towards the other gem of the reserve the Green
Lagoon which is at the feet of the Licancabur Volcano.
We will arrive at lunch time, which is the best
time to see how its waters change colours from esmerald green to deeper green.
we have time to check availability with our operator in Uyuni.
From this point we will go towards the Chilean border and cross the border to San Pedro de Atacama.
It will last about two hours to arrive to your hotel in San Pedro de Atacama.
Nobody can forget the experience of this trip at the end of the world
IMPORTANT! Due to the weather and road conditions the routes and hotel reservations can sometimes be changed without notice, reason why the itinerary is only for reference, and is not to be taken as an exact itinerary of what this tour implies. Rain, snow, ice and strong winds for example can cause that some parts of the route are temporarily impassable and may oblige us to make changes in the itinerary. But notice that if we have to make changes it is for your own safety. The surroundings of Uyuni are one of most isolated areas in the world.
Rainy season: the rainy season is roughly from January to April (subject to change). During this period parts of the Salar may be covered with water. It's still possible to do the trip, to visit the Salar and the beautiful lagoons, the highlights of the trip for most people. However with water on the Salar you cannot cross it for hours like in the dry season and you generally cannot get to Isla Incahuasi / Fish Island. Also the Tayka Salt Hotel in Tahua can often not be reached during the rainy season therefore we will either use a salt hotel called Cristal Samana (see http://www.hotelcristalsamana.com/en/home.php) or the Tayka Stone Hotel instead. Other places that cannot be visited during the rainy season are Cueva de las Galaxias, Momias de Coquesa and Chantani, but notice that those places are considered to be minor attractions in the area. Some photographers specifically want to visit the Salar during the rainy season as when the Salar is covered with a little bit of water it becomes one big mirror which makes for beautiful pictures. With too much water however the mirror-effect is gone. Needless to say we cannot predict whether or not it will rain before or during your trip, it’s up to Mother Nature.
Tours include:
- Overnight stay in comfortable Tayka hotels.
- Meals
- Transport in a 4X4
- Spanish speaking driver
Tours do not include:
- entrance fees
- alcoholic drinks, personal snacks and tips.
Optional:
- Bus tickets to Sucre, Potosi or La Paz
- Hotel reservations in Uyuni after the tour has finished
- Bilingual guides
- Private transport to or from either Calama in Chile, or Sucre, Potosi and La Paz in Bolivia.
Do not forget to bring the following items:
The route to the salt lake is cold, windy and with high solar radiation. Over day is generally
sunny and the weather is pleasant. Our recommendations on what to bring with you are:
- Warm clothes.
- Gloves.
- Wool socks.
- Hat covering your ears and to protect you from the sun.
- Boots.
- Towel.
- Swimming suit.
- Lips moisturizer.
- Sun block 30+.
- Sun glasses.
- Lantern.
- Raincoat (From December to March)
- Extra water
Note: Don’t forget to bring a copy of your passport.
Check our page about how to travel to Uyuni.
Please contact us in advance so
 
Contact us for more information or for making a reservation for Salar de Uyuni.
Check out the reference programs for the Uyuni-Uyuni. This page also contains general information
on the salt flats.
Check out the reference program for the San Pedro de Atacama - Uyuni
Check out the reference program for the San Pedro de Atacama - San Pedro de Atacama |
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