Introducing San Pedro de Atacama
Tiny San Pedro de Atacama (elevation 2440m) is a precordillera oasis village turned into a tourist boomtown, and is also the gringo gathering point of northern Chile. Its popularity stems from its position in the heart of some of northern Chile's most spectacular scenery. A short drive away lies the country's largest salt flat, spotted pink with flamingos and its edges crinkled by volcanoes (symmetrical Licancábur, at 5916m, looms closest to the village). Here too are fields of steaming geysers, a host of otherworldly rock formations and weird layer-cake landscapes.
Advertisement
San Pedro itself seems hardly big enough to absorb the hordes of travelers that arrive; it's little more than a handful of picturesque adobe streets clustering around a pretty tree-lined plaza and postcard-perfect church. However the last decade has seen a proliferation of guesthouses, restaurants, Internet cafés and tour agencies wedging their way into its dusty streets, and turning the town into a kind of highland adobe-land. And sure enough, San Pedro suffers from the classic drawbacks of any tourist honey pot: high costs, irritating restaurant touts and lackadaisical tour agencies. However, the town has an addictively relaxed atmosphere and an enormous array of tours that can hook travelers for weeks. And at the end of every trip, there's the comfort of a creamy cappuccino, a posh meal and a soft bed waiting in San Pedro.
Last updated: Feb 17, 2009
Tips & articles
-
Fly me to the moon: Planet Earth’s best unearthly landscapes
30 January 2011
How’s this for a space oddity? Forty years have passed since the historic Apollo moon landing, and yet the prospect...
Thorn Tree forum discussion
Recent posts
-
38 Day South American Trip Itinerary
by kevmo27 14 September 2011
In a few days my buddy and I are flying down to South America for 5 and a half weeks. We will on flying into La Paz, and working our way…
-
RE: The best transfer from San Pedro de Atacama to Arequipa
by IncaKola 14 September 2011
San Pedro de Atacama is in Chile, not Bolivia. A taxi ride from SPA to Arequipa would cost you an arm & a leg and some more. It's over…
-
RE: Salta to San Pedro de Atacama, and back to Salta
by stoni111121 14 September 2011
I can't remember the source (I think I read this in a trip report here), but I've heard that there are daily buses now since a year or…
See all Thorn Tree forum discussions for San Pedro de Atacama
Hotels & Hostels in San Pedro de Atacama
-
Book now
-
Book now
-
Hostal Solor
San Pedro de Atacama
Book now
Advertisement
