Luxury adventure in Northern Chile and the driest desert in the World. Enjoy and explore hiking ancient trails between valleys. Find yourself among astonishing landscapes surrounded by volcanoes, salt flats, canyons and gorges.
In addition, you’ll learn about the Atacama Desert, its history, geology, culture, indigenous people, archaeology, and native flora and fauna.
Atacama Hiking Tour Highlights
Before we kick off our hiking tour in the Atacama Desert, you should take a day or two to adjust to local time and recover from your travels, and allow for any flight or luggage delays. You should fly into Calama airport (CJC).
In Chile, domestic flights are operated by 3 local airline companies: Latam, Sky Airline and JetSmart.
Official Airport Transfer
The official shuttle company at Calama's Airport is called TransVip.
They are the only authorized shuttle company at the airport, and their staff wears a green and orange uniform.
By contract with the airport, they must have available transport based in the domestic flights arriving every day. They have a counter at the airport, on the ground floor next to the car rental companies.
They offer regular shuttles to San Pedro de Atacama at $12.000 pesos (USD $17 per person), and they need a minimum of 4 people. If they don't have the 4 minimum passengers, or if you want to have a private shuttle, with the same company you can do it at $75.000 (USD $100 per vehicle).
You don’t need reservations and you can pay in Credit Card or Cash. The ATM is on ground floor.
All their shuttle services will drop you off at the hotel or address you are staying in San Pedro de Atacama.
Driving time is approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes.
For the pre-night stay, we recommend staying at Hotel La Casa de Don Tomás in San Pedro de Atacama, which is well-located with lots of restaurants and other facilities just a short walk away.
Suggested Hotels
On our first day, you will meet your team of local professional guides at Hotel. After an introductory briefing, we’ll head towards the Salt Mountain Range where the Mars Valley is located. This mountain range forms a natural barrier between the Pacific Ocean and the Atacama Salt Flat.
After ascending a small dune, we will hike north along one of the cornices bordering the Mars Valley. The stunning panoramic view allows us to appreciate how erosion has molded the Salt Mountain Range, revealing the geological processes that shaped it.
The most fun part of the excursion is a steep but enjoyable descent down a dune, from where we cross the valley on our way back to the van.
Altitude: 2,600 meters above sea level
Distance: 3,7 kilometers
Meals: Welcome dinner
Accommodation: Noi Casa Atacama