How To Spend A Day In San Pedro De Atacama

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile has been one of my favorite cities in South America.  Maybe it’s because a time-lapse video of San Pedro is what sparked me to travel in the first place.  Maybe it’s because there are so many fun activities to do in and around San Pedro.  Maybe it’s because I shared one of my favorite meals in South America here.  Or maybe it’s because I was there on the anniversary of my Father’s death which allowed it to have a more special meaning to me.  I’m not really sure.  But whatever the reason was, I definitely recommend San Pedro de Atacama to anyone visiting South America.  If you only have a day (which I beg of you to extend to at least 3-4 days), then here’s how I recommend you spend it.

Horseback Riding

Start your morning off by partaking in a 2-hour horseback riding tour.  You can start around 9 or 10 AM and it should cost you no more than 18,000 Chilean Pesos (~$30 USD).  You can choose from a variety of different trails and pick one that interests you most.  The longer your tour,  the more you can see.

You can even choose to take an overnight tour with your horse that includes a BBQ at night, but I only recommend that if you’re spending more time in San Pedro.  If you’ve never been on a horse before, then the beginner 2-hour desert trail will be perfect for you.  In all honesty, this experience is more about riding the horse, not seeing the landscapes (that’s just a plus!).

Valle de la Luna

After lunch, I recommend taking the Valle de la Luna tour around 4 PM.  This includes visiting the Great Sand Dune, the Cordillera de la Sal (Salt Mountain Chain), the Three Maries, the Salt Mines, and finally, Valle de la Lune (Moon Valley).  This is a 4-5 hour tour that runs around 10,000 Pesos (~$17 USD) and includes a Pisco Sour as a nice treat at the end.

I highly recommend this tour as you get to see amazing desert formations, explore and climb through pitch black salt caverns, and get to experience the sunset in the Valle de la Luna.  While this may be a very popular tour and touristy spot for the sunset, it is also one that should not be missed.

Once you get back and have had a chance to shower and bundle up, prepare for a late night excursion on a star tour around midnight.  As San Pedro de Atacama is one of the driest deserts in the world, it is a perfect place for stargazing tours and offers a variety of different observatories and telescopes to gaze out into the ever-expanding universe.  I recommend the tour that costs around 18,000 Pesos (~$30 USD), as it includes the largest telescopes in diameter, which translates to bigger and clearer views.  I promise you, you’ll never see the moon again like you do here.

Laguna Cejar

While San Pedro offers many other excursions such as Laguna Cejar (where you can jump in and float in salt lagoons – $25 USD), climbing an active volcano (where you and a private guide spend a full day ascending an active volcano – $170 USD), Tatio Geysers (where you wake up before sunrise to see natural geysers exploding at their peak times – $38 USD), and the world famous Uyuni salt flats (where you can take amazing photos of the never-ending Bolivian salt flats), whatever you do, don’t miss this city!

If you only have a little time and you’re wondering how to spend a day in San Pedro de Atacama, then I recommend everything above to give you a full-range of what San Pedro truly has to offer.  But if you have a little extra time, some of these bonus excursions, especially the Uyuni salt flats, should also not be missed.  While activities may be a little more pricey here than in other South American cities, Nomadder What you end up doing, this is a place you definitely will not forget.