San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

 In Travel South America

San Pedro de Atacama is a popular destination in north east Chile, South America.

San Pedro de Atacama was once part of Bolivia until Chile claimed ownership during the War of the Pacific (1879-1884).

Pre corona (Covid-19), the village received over approximately 180.000 visitors per year. That’s a considerable amount taking into account that the village only has about 5000 inhabitants. San Pedro receives visitors from all over the world. Many Europeans visit San Pedro in but the little town also receives many people from all over South America (December/January), especially from Brazil.

There are several activities for visitors in the area of Atacama. From San Pedro de Atacama is also possible to cross the border into Bolivia to visit the breathtaking Salar de Uyuni with our popular trips starting from San Pedro de Atacama and ending in Uyuni, Bolivia or trips starting and returning to San Pedro, Chile. Check this travel report with beautiful pictures made by photographer Andy Mumford who traveled with us from San Pedro to Uyuni.

Our Salar de Uyuni expedition includes not only the Uyuni salt flats but also other attractions such as the red and green lagoons (laguna Colorada y laguna Verde) as well as the geysers Sol de Mañana and the hot springs (Aguas Termales de Polques), located in the Reserva Eduardo Avaroa in Bolivia.

As San Pedro is located at 2400 meters above sea level it also make for a good starting point for such tour as you can gradually get used to the altitude. During the tour from San Pedro to the Uyuni salt flats you will travel over parts that are as high as 5000 meters. Take into account that the trip to the Uyuni salt flats is over >1000 KM of driving, mostly over unpaved roads.

Another possibility to visit the Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia is to travel from San Pedro to the village of Uyuni. From San Pedro you can take a bus or taxi to Calama. Then from Calama you can catch a bus to Uyuni (approx. an 8 hour drive + 1 hour to cross the border). Note that the busses are not super comfortable. From Uyuni you can do 1, 2 or 3 day trip to the salt flats (and surroundings, when doing a 2 or 3 day tour). The 3 days tour from Uyuni can either end in Uyuni or in San Pedro de Atacama (Chile).

What to do around San Pedro:

Other popular (day) tours from San Pedro are:

  • Geyser del Tatio (90 km from San Pedro). Tatio Geysers are a volcanic geothermal field located at approx. 4000 meters above sea level. Tours leave early in the morning. Be aware of the cold! To warm up you can bath in the thermal pools near the geysers! You can do a half day tour from San Pedro to the geysers.
  • Moon valley (valle de la luna) is located in Los Flamencos National Reserve, approx. 15 KM from San Pedro. Moon valley is known for its moonlike landscape of dunes, mountains and distinctive rock formations. You can do a half day tour from San Pedro to Moon Valley.
  • Atacama salt flats. 55 KM from San Pedro you can visit the Atacama salt flats although this is not as big and impressive as its Bolivian counterpart. Even if you are not planning an extensive travel program in Bolivia, if you’ve made it until here we strongly recommend to visit the impressive Bolivian Uyuni salt flats.

Other attractions that can be visited from San Pedro are the Puritana Natural Springs, Toconao Village & Valle de Jere and Laguna Piedras Rojas.

How to get there:

You can reach San Pedro de Atacama by flying to Calama, Chile (El Loa Airport). San Pedro is a 90 minutes drive from Calama. There are busses and taxis at the airport that can take you to San Pedro.

There are also multiple busses each day from Santiago de Chile to San Pedro. And 6 days a week there is a bus from Salta (Argentina) to San Pedro.

Hotels in San Pedro are relatively expensive but you can find a good deal here.

Weather:

San Pedro de Atacama has desert climate. It is very dry. The average rainfall is about 15 mm per year. But some weather stations in the Atacama have never received rain at all!! The weather is characterized by sudden changes in temperature, strong winds, high solar radiation, low rainfall and a big difference between day and night temperatures. In the summer time (December – March) the average temperature is about 29 degrees Celsius during the day and 15 degrees Celsius at night. During winter time (June, July and August) the average temperature is 23 degrees Celsius and 5 to -3 degrees at night. During wintertime occasional snow falls may occur in the surroundings of San Pedro.