San Pedro de Atacama - Uyuni

I'm going to go the 3 days trip from San Pedro de Atacama to Uyuni in a few days. Anyone done this trip recently. How low does the temperature get at night this time of year.
I'm still wondering if I should bring my sleepingbag with me or not. Do I really need it. I prefer to travel as light as possible. So if it is not necessary I will leave the sleeping bag at home. Don't want to carry it around all holiday if it's not of any use.

Erwin

www.español.weather.com</a><BR><BR>Jorge Daniel Barchi.
Buenos Aires.

It is VERY COLD by night. You do need a sleeping bag but you can always rent it from your tour operator. Usually its some $5 for the whole trip.

Very cold at night, hire a sleeping bag. When you stay in the basic hostels on the salt flats, try to pick a bed (or room) not near the outside walls. By chance I got one in the middle of the room and had a good nights sleep, my wife got a bed against the outside wall and woke up with icicles.

Trust me, you need a sleeping bag. It gets freeeezing cold. We had our own good quality bags and were happy that we did not have to rent any worn down old bags from some agency.

Anyway, I found, that a sleeping bag belongs to the standard travelling equipment like a pocket knife, hiking boots and sunglasses. You can never go wrong with your own sleeping bag and it saves you many good night sleeps.

yes, rent a sleeping bag. we were able to rent them for 20 bs or 2 pesos from the guest house near the red lagoon. it dropped to minus 30 f that night. freezing and only one person in our room of 7 slept that night. she had her own bag from back home.

another tip, do not go with colque tours. our cars (2 of them) broke down at least 15 times during the three days, and thus, we didnt get to stop and see everything that was on the itinerary. not only that but our food wasnt nearly as good as any of the other groups around.

still a fun trip because we had a good group. check with the tour operators before booking. good luck!

I did it in June last year by train, which runs more or less the same route (Calama-Uyuni) through identical conditions. The temperature INSIDE the carriage was -21ºC, pretty chilly!

I just did this trip and here is some advice - From Calama to the border it is about five hours, you get to the border at 2:30 and have to wait till about 8 am. The bus (Buses Frontera (5000 CLP)) is very chilly- I wore thermal long underwear, two fleeces, windpants, a toque, neck warmer and mits coupled with a silk sleeping bag liner plus wool blanket and I just got by ( note: I am used to dealing with -20C weather) my advice take a 0C rated sleeping bag coupled with fleeces and long underwear and you will be fine (plus if you are planning on going on tours from San Pedro you will need the fleeces and long underwear)

After you clear Chile customs (which may open at 8 am or at 10 am depending on who is manning it) the bus takes you into Bolivia (about 2 kms) where two buses were waiting to take you to Unuyi. One was a semi cama (not sure the cost) and the clasico was 35 Bs. It took about four to five hours to Unuyi, you clear Bolivian customs on the journey (entry fee 15 Bs or 1500 CLP) (oh yeah the bus did take CLP too).

Have a good journey
W.

Some good info #7 from somewhereintheworld on getting from Calama to Uyuni the quickest way by bus. If you are in San Pedro, and book a 3 day Salt Flat tour, then they will organise a mini bus, it will go through the border check point just near San Pedro and then a short trip up to the Bolivian check point, in the middle of nowhere, from there you will be transferred to a 4WD and that’s where 3 days of rugged fascination starts, and ends at Uyuni.