Atacama Desert Stargazing Trek

Overview

The Atacama is a high-desert double bill: by day you trek some of the most otherworldly terrain on the planet, and by night you stand under what astronomers measure as the clearest sky on Earth. From San Pedro de Atacama the classics stack up - ridge walks above the salt-crusted amphitheatres of the Valle de la Luna at sunset, the 4,320-metre dawn pilgrimage to El Tatio, where dozens of geysers steam hardest in the freezing first hour of light, flamingo lagoons on the Salar de Atacama, and altiplano lakes ringed by 6,000-metre volcanoes. Then the night shift: dedicated astro-tours with serious telescopes are superb, and at weekends the ALMA observatory, the world's great millimetre-wave array, opens its base facility to pre-booked visitors. Altitude is the quiet hazard. San Pedro sits at 2,400 metres but day trips repeatedly punch above 4,000, so sequence the itinerary low-to-high and drink relentlessly. June to September brings the crispest skies with brutally cold dawns - minus ten at El Tatio - while the January-February altiplanic winter can bring storms; and check the moon calendar, because a full moon erases the Milky Way you came for. Seven days with tours, park fees and guesthouses runs about £800 excluding flights to Calama.

Book This Trip

Plan Your Dates

Prefilled for 1 June 2027 — the next best-season window. Search on partner sites — opens in a new tab.