San Pedro de Atacama Travel Guide: What to Do, Where to Stay, and Travel Tips
San Pedro de Atacama was meant to be just a starting and finishing point for our Bolivia Salt Flats tour, but it ended up being so much more – and not just because we accidentally had an extra day there before our flight back to Santiago!
San Pedro de Atacama is a small desert town in Northern Chile, serving as a base for the Atacama Desert – the driest non-polar desert in the world! It sits at 2,400m above sea level, meaning hot days and cold nights. It’s only a 1.5 hour drive from the Bolivian border, which makes it a popular option for tourists wanting to join one of the many tours of Bolivia.
You can read more about our Bolivia tour here, but for this post, I am going to focus on why San Pedro de Atacama (also referred to as San Pedro) is an exciting destination in itself!
Where we stayed:
Jama Hostel
Cost per night: AUD$100/USD$67
Room type: Double room (double bed) with private bathroom
Website: https://jamahostel.com/
Accommodation in San Pedro can get quite expensive, but this place was great value for money. It was in a good location just on the outskirts of the village (a 10-minute walk), a beautiful outdoor area, and a good-sized comfortable room. I really loved my stay here!
Where we ate:
Franchuteria
What I ate: Ham & Cheese Croissant and a Cheese & Oregano Baguette (halved) with a side of cheese
What I drank: Cortado
What I spent: AUD$14/USD$9.30
Although not cheap, this place was incredible. France meets desert chic in this gorgeous outdoor bakery/cafe. We came here for brunch twice as well as to buy bread to takeaway, and it never disappointed. The menu has an extensive array of croissants and breads, as well as very tasty coffee. It gets quite busy, so I recommend coming here before 11am!
Roots Café Pizza
What I ate: Piedra Roja Salad (quinoa salad)
What I drank: Green Juice
What I spent: AUD$20.20/USD$13.40
Despite the name, they serve a lot more than pizza! After craving some greens I ordered a salad here, and it hit the spot. Although their pizzas did look amazing – I would be more inclined to order a pizza next time! We sat in a beautiful shaded outdoor area, perfect for the hot weather.
Adobe
What I ate: Half a pepperoni pizza and a half serve of chicken tenders
What I drank: 2x glasses of house red wine
What I spent: AUD$32.30/USD$21.50
This was a highlight for me in San Pedro. It’s one of the most popular restaurants, and it’s no surprise why. In the evening, they have a small band playing traditional Chilean music behind a firepit, which added to the ambience. The food was tasty albeit a bit expensive, but you are paying for the experience as much as the food! Bring some loose change so you can tip the band at the end of their set.
On the bucket list for next time…
The below activities we gave a miss due to time restraints, and as we had just come back from our Bolivia tour, we felt we had seen a lot of similar attractions on the tour. However, if you aren’t doing a Bolivia tour, I would recommend the below. Note - most tour operators in town offer these as tours that you can book on last minute.
El Tatio Geysers: One of the highest geothermal fields in the world, and the third-largest in the world! There are also thermal baths here you can relax in.
Lagunas Altiplánicas/Laguna Chaxa: Lagunas Altiplánicas consists of two lakes – Laguna Miscanti and Laguna Miñiques. These impressive lakes are some of the most breathtaking in the area. Laguna Chaxa is home to hundreds of Flamingo as well, making it a sight to behold.
Rainbow Valley: The vividly coloured rock formations at Rainbow Valley are another popular attraction, about 1.5-hours out of San Pedro. Rainbow Valley is also known for it’s archaeological sites, home to rock carvings depicting animals, humans, and symbols.
What We Did:
Valley of the Moon Tour (Valle de la Luna)
Cost: AUD$45/USD$30 + entry fee of AUD$17.55/USD$11.70
Tour company: Enjoy Atacama
If you are going to do any tour in San Pedro, I recommend this one. The tour will take you through some surreal landscapes of sand dunes, rock formations, canyons and caves. It will feel like you stepped onto Mars!
Most tours end with a pisco sour and some snacks over a stunning sunset view.
There is about 1.5 hours of walking in total across sand dunes, so wear your sneakers and be prepared to get a bit out of breath – the altitude can get to you!
Astronomical Tour (Tour Astronómico)
Cost: AUD$45/USD$30
Tour Company: Latchir Expeditions
San Pedro is renowned for some of the clearest night skies in the world, given the high altitude, dry climate and minimal light pollution.
The tour will take you out to an observatory about a 30-minute drive out of San Pedro de Atacama. The first part of the tour you sit in a small room with snacks and drinks and watch an informative presentation about space and the galaxy. Even if you aren’t into science or anything, it’s still fascinating. Then it’s time to get behind the (huge) telescope, and start spotting some constellations!
I came away from that tour wanting to know so much more about the galaxy, something I never thought I would be interested in!
Market Shopping
There is no shortage of market stalls in San Pedro! There are a lot of handcraft stalls selling souvenirs of all sorts along the streets of San Pedro, you can easily spend at least a morning exploring what they have to offer.
Top Tips:
When to go:
Typically, the best time to go is the shoulder seasons – March to May and September to November, however we went in their “wet” season and had perfect weather.
In terms of best times to go, instead of focusing on the month or season, I would focus on the moon cycle. San Pedro de Atacama has some of the best stargazing tours in the world, however these don’t run the week of the full moon. If stargazing is on your list, then plan your trip at least 5 days out (either side) of a full moon!
Getting there/around:
To reach San Pedro, you first need to fly into Calama and get a transfer to the town. The airport is located over 1.5 hours away. There are plenty of options of transfer companies to choose from once you arrive – we didn’t prebook, and had no issues. You can public transport it but you need to first find your way into Calama city then wait for the bus to San Pedro. Transfers are the way to go!
You can book your return transfer to the airport from one of the transfer offices in the town, otherwise you can Whatsapp them – their numbers are plastered everywhere. Just note, if you only book a day or two in advance, your preferred pick up time might not be available and you could end up getting to the airport extra early like we did!
San Pedro itself is a very small, walkable town. However, if you want to go out to many of the attractions, you will either need to jump on a tour or hire a car. We decided to go with the tour option as we only wanted to do a couple of attractions, but it may be worth hiring a car if you are going to be exploring more. The roads inside San Pedro are a little on the sketchy side, but once you make it out of the town the roads are a lot quieter and less scary!
What to bring:
Given the high altitude and desert climate, the temperatures drop significantly at night – make sure you bring a jacket and a beanie to rug up in!
On the other hand, it is also very hot during the day, so make sure you bring sunscreen.
Booking activities:
I would highly recommend waiting until you arrive in San Pedro de Atacama before booking any activities – they are generally cheaper to book in person, and there is so much competition between providers it’s extremely unlikely you will miss out.
Typically, the best time to go is the shoulder seasons – March to May and September to November, however we went in their “wet” season and had perfect weather.
In terms of best times to go, instead of focusing on the month or season, I would focus on the moon cycle. San Pedro de Atacama has some of the best stargazing tours in the world, however these don’t run the week of the full moon. If stargazing is on your list, then plan your trip at least 5 days out (either side) of a full moon!
Planning a trip to Chile? Don't leave San Pedro de Atacama off your itinerary - despite it's remote location, it's worth all the effort and I hope this post has inspired you to visit!
Prices were what I paid at the time in 2024, please check updated prices when travel planning!
Jama Hostel
Franchuteria
Adobe
