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San Pedro de Atacama and possibly Bolivia in 7 days

Replies: 2 - Last Post: Nov 16, 2012 10:44 AM Last Post By: snoj

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cmariaeks

cmariaeks avatar

Nov 15, 2012 5:40 PM
Posts:  16

San Pedro de Atacama and possibly Bolivia in 7 days

Hello!

Im going up north to Antofagsta for a week in December. Im planning to visit San Pedro de Atacama and possibly visit Bolivia. How many days should I spend in San Pedro de Atacama? And tips on where to stay there? And will I have time to visit Bolivia(just a short visit, since I only have 7 days in all.....)? If I have time to visit Bolivia, what should I see?

Maria

mstep

mstep avatar

Nov 15, 2012 5:57 PM
Posts:  367

1

Normally people take a 4 day jeep trip going one way from San Pedro to Uyuni, exploring the Bolivian altiplano, with the highlight being the Salar de Uyuni on the last day. This might possibly be shortened to 3 days, but that's 3 days one way. So, no the answer is if you only have one week, you don't have time for Bolivia, unless you rearrange your schedule, and fly back to wherever you need to go from an airport in Bolivia.

snoj

snoj avatar

Nov 16, 2012 10:44 AM
Posts:  45

2

I saw the Bolivian South west a few years back and stayed in San Pedro just a couple of weeks back.

They are different. San Pedro is well set up for tourists with lots of accommodation at all price points and good restaurants. Travel to see the local goodies is by day trip mostly in small buses with a guide.

The Bolivian South west is a three/four day tour in 4WD with 4 or five others. Accommodation is mostly very simple.

For me the Bolivian three day tour remains one of the best things I have ever done.
San Pedro is Bolivia lite.

I would go straight through San Pedro or maybe direct from Calama to Uyuni do the Bolivia circuit then maybe use San Pedro for the R+R.

If you went direct from Calama to Uyuni it is possible to bail out of the 4WD on the third day at the Chilean border near San Pedro. When I did it there were buses waiting at the border. The tour agents in Uyuni organise the bus ticket.

While there is a lot of accommodation in San Pedro when I was there recently it was pretty much all full.

San Pedro is more expensive than Bolivia.
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