[2023] 6 Day San Pedro de Atacama Itinerary With A Car Rental

The high desert in northern Chile is one of the most unique places in the world. At the center of it is the dusty town of San Pedro de Atacama that springs up like a literal oasis. From the clearest Milky Way, beguiling pastel mountains, vicuña roaming the plains, and bubbling geothermal activity, this is a traveller’s dream.

For those that like to travel more independently, planning a 6 day San Pedro de Atacama itinerary with a car rental is entirely possible but can be a little tricky. This is why we cover in considerable detail how to get tickets, the driving conditions, untold secrets, and more to make sure your vacation goes off without a hitch.

6 Day Atacama Itinerary

The Atacama Desert has one of the most unique desert landscapes where you’ll find small oasis towns, ethereal moonscapes, jutting volcanoes, pristine salt lakes, rejuvenating hot springs, and the clearest sky, there are so many reasons why this is a must-visit part of Chile.

This desert plateau is the driest nonpolar desert in the world and there’s a reason why it’s been used as a simulation for Mars. There’s also a reason why the largest astronomical project, ALMA Observatory, is located here. It is truly a window to another world and galaxy from here.

Background Of This Itinerary

Context matters and so to tee up this itinerary, let’s quickly chat about how this trip fit in our larger month in Chile (full itinerary coming soon).

The Atacama Desert was the second leg of the trip and followed immediately after a physically demanding Torres del Paine National Park. As a result, we wanted this to be slower-paced. Normally, folks try to do this in 3-4 days but every itinerary we reviewed looked way too jam-packed.

For better or worse, we decided to rent a car because we wanted the freedom and flexibility to explore which we didn’t quite have in Patagonia since that comprised of tour packages.

Since we’d be doing it on our own, we didn’t book any tours in advance. The approach was to have a loose idea of the itinerary and figure the rest out on the ground. We’d learn later that this presented a ton of challenges.

How To Use This Itinerary

When you compare to our 10 day Patagonia itinerary, 6 day Smoky Mountains itinerary, 3 day Cairo itinerary, or 2 week Tahiti itinerary, this one is quite similar. The core principle is that it’s meant to cover the details that we feel other books and websites miss.

With this Atacama desert itinerary focused on those that want to explore it independently without any booked tours, we’re also putting a significant emphasis on how trip planning works with your own car and providing updated details for how Atacama’s individual attractions now work post-pandemic.

The itinerary will first go through each day, covering what you’ll expect, highlighting key details for attractions, summarizing the day, and providing links in case you want to learn more.

After the breakdown by day, we’ll also provide ideas for alternatives that you could swap in, an idea of cost, and the type of traveller this itinerary is for.

Since we understand in trip planning that it’s hard to see where things are in relation to each other, there’s also a custom Google Map which you can create a copy of.

Lastly, we also have a Google Sheet of the itinerary that you can download if you sign up to be an Insider.

Like with any itinerary, this is meant to provide inspiration and one version of how you can plan a trip to San Pedro de Atacama. Feel free to take the pieces that you’re interested in and juggle things around.

What You Need To Know Before Planning Your Trip

Instead of cramming every last detail into this San Pedro de Atacama itinerary, we’ve broken out the foundational knowledge into a few other articles that we highly encourage you to read as a companion to this one.

Through the Atacama Desert travel guide and Atacama Packing List (coming soon), you’ll be able to get answer the questions such as:

• Where is the Atacama Desert?
• What are the new changes in Atacama post-pandemic?
• How many days do you need?
• How to get to San Pedro de Atacama?
• How much does it cost?
• Is it safe?
• Where should you eat?

Why Atacama With A Car Rental?

With plenty of experience traveling around the world, this seemed like a no-brainer decision. With tons of open roads, Atacama on paper looks easy to drive but the reality is a bit different.

The biggest issue with driving on your own is the condition of the roads. Once you get off the paved highway, you’re dealing with gravel roads that start off nicely flattened but can degrade to uneven nightmares consisting of potholes and head-shaking rumble strips.

On the flip side, many people will tell you that it’s dangerous to drive in Atacama, you realize that have a vested interest in selling tours. The truth is that it’s entirely do-able, albeit, requiring careful driving, with confidence, some experience, and paying for insurance in case.

Let’s cover reasons for and against having a car rental.

Reasons for a car rental

• The closest airport is Calama (CJC) which is close to 1.5 hours away from San Pedro de Atacama. This means there’s either a shared or private transfer required that starts at $27 USD per person.
• The cost of a car rental for 7 days is quite reasonable at $377 USD with Europcar.
• Traditional tours are all quite cookie-cutter and can be at a faster pace than you like. Since you’re expected to follow your group, it doesn’t give you too much time to explore and take your time.
• If you’re a photographer and want to visit viewpoints at specific times of the day/night or need large amounts of time with say, the flamingos, you need to have your own vehicle.
• While you can book some tours online, it’s actually advantageous to book the tours after you arrive since many companies jockey for your business by offering discounts. If you go this route, this means spending time figuring this out on your first day as opposed to hitting the ground running.

The challenges of driving in Atacama

• The main highways are nicely paved but once you’re in San Pedro de Atacama itself or go outside, it’s all gravel and uneven roads. The road to Geyser del Tatio and Lagunas Baltinache are especially nightmarish.
• There’s the feeling that the attractions in Atacama aren’t particularly friendly for independent travelers. This mainly comes from the lack of updated information online which can make it quite frustrating to plan a trip. It also seems like locals didn’t know the latest details post-COVID.
• Google Maps can be deceiving and will lead you astray if you don’t know the exact location to type in. For instance, if you punch in directions for “Laguna Chaxa”, you’ll be following directions to the wrong place.

Despite the challenges, exploring the desert with your own rental car is quite the fun adventure and allows you to spend as little or as much time you want at each destination.

For the best rates, Europcar was incredibly cheap. They also have Avis, Budget, Econorent, MITTA, FIRST, and Salfa at the Calama airport. To compare them all, try using RentalCars.

Luckily, with this 6 day Atacama itinerary, we’ll be guiding you around common mistakes and making driving-specific recommendations.

Day 1: Seeing The Clearest Night Sky

With no direct flights to the Atacama Desert, the easiest way to get there is via the largest town in the region, Calama and the El Loa Airport (CJC). There are multiple flights a day from Santiago (SLC) so you can decide how early or late you want to go.

TIP: If Atacama is your first destination in Chile and you have a short layover in Santiago, look at purchasing a prepaid Entel SIM so you can have this sorted and activated. You can do this in San Pedro de Atacama but you’ll have to spend time to find it.

Once you landing in Calama, you’ll head to the car rental counter in the main hall of the airport that’s outside of security. There are several booths here including Europcar and since they are undermanned, there might not be someone there. Look for a phone number and call it to let them know you’re waiting.

The cars are right in the parking lot in front of the airport and from there you’ll take the main highway that connects to San Pedro de Atacama. This is a 1 hour and 17 minute drive on a newly paved road.

On this drive, you’ll be steadily climbing in elevation, peaking at 3424 meters (11,234 feet). This means that you might start feeling the altitude en-route. For reference, Calama is 2,260meters (7415 feet) San Pedro de Atacama is 3,159 meters (10,364 feet).

Settle into your hotel and get organized for your evening stargazing activity. It will get quite cold at night so prepare your layers, gloves, and toque/beanie. The property we stayed at and would highly recommend is Hoteles Pueblo de Tierra.

Have dinner at Sol Inti in town before getting back to your hotel to await your pick up.

PARKING TIP: If you’re looking for parking in town, know that Caracoles is a pedestrian street. The best parking spots are marked on our map with the first option being the best street parking in the heart of town.

For your first night in Atacama, we highly recommend that you book an evening with Jorge of Atacama Desert Stargazing. This tour splits your time between a class that’ll go through the history of astronomy with stargazing using several high magnification telescopes. Even if stargazing isn’t your thing, you’re going to be blown away.

Atacama is one of the best places for stargazing because of its altitude, lack of humidity, and clear skies. Throughout the tour, you’ll see numerous celestial bodies up-close with the most impressive being the Tarantula Nebula, NGC-253, NGC-104, Jupiter and its moons, and Saturn with its rings.

As a reminder for your Day 4 and 6 activities, make sure you book your Valle De La Luna tickets and Puritama online ahead of time if you haven’t done so already.

Day 2: Brilliant Flamingos

Start your morning with the included breakfast at Hoteles Pueblo de Tierra.

Since we don’t recommend drinking tap water in San Pedro de Atacama due to its high mineral content, you’ll want to make sure you have enough water. One of the cheapest places to pick up water is at the local Supermercado Ketal. A 6L jug is $1,950 CLP. Stock up anything else you might need including snacks for the car.

Fill up your car at the COPEC gas station before heading out.

The main highlight of the day is Laguna Chaxa which is best known for its large population of flamingos that live here.

Belonging to the larger Atacama Salt Flats, this area is actually a depression in the land between the Andes and Domeyko mountain ranges where over the many years, minerals washing down from the mountains settled here to create a massive salt deposit.

Superficial lagoons have formed here where brine shrimp have thrived in waters with high mineral concentrations with high temperatures and low oxygen. This is very similar to the salt lake we’ve visited in our Northern California road trip which included a visit to Mono Lake.

The key is that birds including flamingoes love feeding on the brine shrimp in the shallow puddles of water, which is why there are such large colonies of them here.

For your visit, you’ll start off with an information session where a guide will go through a few of the informative boards, examples of brine shrimp, and also how flamingoes start with white feathers and eventually turn pink through their diet. This part is only in Spanish but is mandatory because they need to explain the rules.

You’ll then walk a one-way trail that takes you along a journey along the dry salt flat, with various stops along the way that talk about brine shrimp, volcanoes and hills, and the salt lagoons. This trail leads towards an open area right in front of the lagoon where most of the flamingos are.

If you want to head straight to the flamingoes, there’s also a 2-way trail that goes from the visitor center to the lagoon.

On the way back, you can visit the town of Toconao. While there isn’t a tremendous amount to see, it’s still worth a quick pitstop to their quaint town square. Their main attraction is the bell tower that was built in 1750 made of three stacked sections of volcanic stone and faced with white stucco.

You’ll no doubt be hungry so head back into town to have an early dinner at Adobe. Located on the main pedestrian street of Caracoles, they are pretty low key in the late afternoon but turn into quite the lively restaurant with their fire pit and live music at night. It’s a great atmosphere with delicious mix of traditional and Italian dishes under an open-air courtyard.

For sunset, you’re going to want to head to the most popular spot in town called Mirador Lickan-Antai. When you arrive, you’ll notice that there isn’t a proper parking lot as it’s literally off the side of the highway.

Once parked, you’ll cross the rocks to eventually get to an edge that has an elevated perched view of Valle de la Luna. The way the golden sun casts shadow on the dragon-like spine of the rock formations and deserts below are truly mesmerizing.

There’ll be quite a few people here so plan on arriving 30-40 minutes ahead of sunset.

Before you head home, remember to fill up your tank so you’ll be ready to go tomorrow.

Day 3: Famous Altiplanic Lakes

For your third day, you’ll climbing up in altitude to visit magical lagoons of the mountains.

After a hearty breakfast at the hotel, you’ll be hitting the road again. We recommend that you start early to give yourself time to explore and take photos because there’s a 4.5 hours of driving just to get there and back.

Today, you’ll be going the same direction as the previous day but you’ll keep going and you’ll be climbing in altitude. What’s significantly different though is how scenic this drive is. Instead of flat desert plains with formations in the distance, you’ll start seeing more vegetation, wildlife, windy roads, and volcanic mountains.

Your main mission is to see the Altiplanic Lakes which include the Miscanti and Miñiques lagoons which are side-by-side and also Piedras Rojas which is at the edge of Aguas Calientes Sur salt flats. Altiplanic comes from the Spanish word altiplano which means “high plains” and refers to a plateau that is predominantly in Bolivia but also cuts into Peru and Chile. It’s worth noting that all of these places are part of the Los Flamencos Natural Reserve.

Enjoy the drive and don’t be afraid to safely stop on the side of the road for photos. Also, be on the lookout for vicuña, an even cuter cousin to the alpaca. With their long lashes, fluffy wool, and smaller size, they’re certainly the cutest of the llama family.

Your first stop is the town of Socaire and is an administrative one. Near the entrance of town is a brown container building which they call Recepción de Turistas. This is where you will show your online reservation, register your information, and pick up your official entry ticket. We recommend that you buy the ticket that starts at Piedras Rojas and ends with the Miscanti and Miñiques Lagoons.

Past Socaire, the drive becomes even more spectacular as you climb in altitude and you’re presented with wondrous mix of pastel-coloured lakes and contours of mountains that don’t look real.

The first main sightseeing stop is a small viewpoint on the side of the highway which overlooks Piedras Rojas and Aguas Calientes.

Once you get to viewpoint for Aguas Calientes, you’re at more than 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) above sea level. This is when you will start feeling the effects of altitude sickness. While driving you may feel all of a sudden quite sleepy. Any walking you do will feel unexpectedly more difficult, requiring you to take more breaks and catch your breath. Take it slow and drink lots of water.

We recommend that you drive past Piedras Rojas and head out to the farthest point you want to go first. Eventually you’ll encounter a viewpoint for Tuyajto Lake. This is a beautiful light turquoise salt lake to admire.

You can continue driving past the viewpoint but I wouldn’t go past the small parking lot that we’ve marked on the map. Since it’s quite flat here and you can’t get close to the lake, the viewpoint is really your best spot. Driving any further will just take you to the border with Argentina.

Working your way back, the next stop is also off the side of the road and is easily missed. It’s marked as Mirador de Aguascalientes where there’s a path up to an amazing view of the entire salt lake from eastern side. It can be incredibly windy up here but worth the short walk up here as it’s likely you’ll be able to see flamingoes and vicuña below.

You’ll finally arrive at Piedras Rojas. In Spanish this means “red rocks” and this is a breathtaking trail loop that takes you all the way out to unique copper-colored rocks formed from oxidation of iron.

It’s quite the sight to see these rounded and peculiar rocks are juxtaposed against the edge of Aguas Calientes which looks like a sheet of ice covered by jagged crystals of ice but is in fact salt.

You might be blown away by the intense wind but you’ll be guaranteed to be blown away by the impossibly pastel-rich hues of the rock, lake, and surrounding volcanic mountains.

The second part of your ticket is a visit to the highland lagoons of Miscanti and Miñiques. These are two large crystalline lagoons next to each other and consist of several trails and viewpoints.

Each lagoon is incredibly serene and calm with the mountains and sky reflecting off the water as birds including flamingos basking and looking for food.

As you drive back towards San Pedro de Atacama, you can make a quick stop at the official Tropic of Capricorn line. There’s a parking lot here and you can walk up to the triangulating poles that’s part of a much larger Camino del Inca.

Back in town, roam around town, dropping by the booths set up around Plaza de San Pedro de Atacama and large souvenir markets such as Feria Artesanal San Pedro de Atacama.

Treat yourself to a hearty dinner at Pizzería El Charrúa. This joint is always packed with people so we suggest coming here earlier to grab a table. which is always packed with people.

Sleep early because you’ll be waking up at 4AM.

Day 4: From Geysers to the Moon

You’ll be combining two of the must-do’s of any itinerary to the Atacama Desert with bursts of water in purple light with moonscapes glowing in fiery hues.

Set your alarm for 4AM and aim to get out of your hotel by 5AM.

Geyser del Tatio (El Tatio Geysers) is the largest geyser field in the southern hemisphere and third largest in the world. With 80 active geysers, water temperatures at 85°C (185°F) will bubble up to 75 centimeters (2.5 feet) and if you’re lucky, they’ll shoot up 6 meters (20 feet).

The drive up to Geyser del Tatio is just over 1.5 hours but it’ll test your driving abilities as it is a windy road in the dark where most of it is bumpy gravel that’ll require some skill and patience. The tour vans will likely pass you but just stay the course.

It’s a magical place early in the morning because this is when the geothermal activity is the highest. An ethereal steam blankets the floor while the geysers burst with water while also creating large plumes of cloud.

When you arrive at the main gate, you’ll be provided some instructions to park in the lot, head over to the visitor center building to fill out the passenger form, pay the cashier, and get your ticket and map. This is also your chance to use the bathrooms.

Pass through the second gate with your ticket and drive all the way to the farthest point where there are geysers with the most activity. At this point, the sunrise will be in its early stages.

Walk out on the designated paths and look out for the geysers with larger thermal activity. It’ll be pretty clear which one is the “Great Geyser” as this will have the largest radius. The geysers you will see here are a mix of vents on the ground, mud pools, and geyser cones.

You’ll also notice some mechanical equipment in the field. The story is that a company tried to tap into field for energy was abandoned because of environmental impacts and drilling altering the behaviour of the hot springs.

After you walk through the main area of geyser activity, hop back into your car and park in the adjacent lot. This is to save you a bit of walking and give you access to another set of geysers. It is connected with the first so you can also walk here if you’d like. At this point, the sun will be out and the blue and purple hour will be over.

The final section of the park is back near the entrance with a thermal pool and additional viewpoints for more geysers.

If you’re up for it, you can use the change rooms and jump into the hot springs in your bathing suit. Fed from the geothermal activity below, you swim around and soak in the mineral rich water, similar to Blue Lagoon in Iceland but way less glamorous.

By the time you’re ready to leave, the geyser activity will have died down although not as dramatic as people make it sound.

Contrasting to the darkness of your drive in, you’ll be able to see the surrounding mountains, lakes, flora and fauna, and birds that inhabit the nearby area.

There is also one lookout point along the way back that’s worth stopping at that has a gorgeous panoramic view of the landscape, and tour vans creating large plumes of dust.

Halfway back, you’ll pass by the village of Machuca. You’re free to stop here to visit the local church and fresh llama kebabs if they’re on the grill. You might also see flamingoes along the river that flow through here.

The bizarre thing that happened to us passing through Machuca was that there was someone from town that stopped all the cars coming through to provide us with a piece of paper with rules for the village including no flying of drones, not taking photos of residents, only taking photos from the side of the road, and not disturbing the wildlife. Since we didn’t understand their Spanish, it was hard to tell whether they were welcoming us in or if they wanted to make sure we obeyed the rules. We simply nodded and kept driving.

You might be feeling a bit tired after such an early morning start so feel free to head back to your hotel to nap.

Arriving back in San Pedro de Atacama, head over to Emporio Andino for lunch. They’re a cosy cafe with plenty of tables inside. Their empanadas are some of the best in town as well so we recommend that you also take a few to go so you can nibble on them at sunset.

Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley) is where you’ll spend the rest of the afternoon in. This is a massive park that has quite a number of key areas to visit so you’ll want to make sure you have enough time.

What makes Valle de la Luna so special is how spectacularly otherworldly it is. With its geological formations that could easily be on the moon, Mars, or Arrakis from Dune.

While the ticketing system and what’s open and closed can be quite frustrating and confusing like most of Atacama. Here are the sites within the park that are currently opened. Everywhere else is closed to visitors:

• Duna Major – This follows a huge ridge in the valley that has towering views of the saw-tooth crusts that rise from the barren dessert, walls of rounded red rock, mazes of canyons, and a picturesque dune of fine sand.
• Victoria Mine – An old salt mine with examples of machinery, dwellings, and access to the underground. You won’t be able to enter inside.
• Tres Marías – A trio of rock spires that’s located at the far end of the park that’s accessible to the public.

Another impressive view is the Amphitheatre which is an impressive wall of sand, clay and salt resembles the exterior wall of the Roman Colosseum. This can be seen from Duna Major and also up close as you drive on the main road.

After you finish exploring Valle de la Luna, you’ll have exclusive access to a new sunset viewing spot that’s adjacent to Mirador Lickan-Antai. This location is actually two viewpoints in one and called Mirador de Kari & Piedra del Coyote (Kari Viewpoint & Coyote Stone).

The difference with Mirador Lickan-Antai is that that it has a better view of the valley floor of Valle de la Luna and is at slightly higher elevation, thus providing a better birds-eye-like view.

Mirador de Kari is on the left and to the right is Piedra del Coyote. After you scout the area and pick your favourite spot, you’ll be able to watch the sun set behind the mountain range in the distance.

After sunset, have dinner at one of the best restaurants in San Pedro de Atacama. Baltinache Restaurant elevates Chilean dishes in both preparation, modern cooking techniques, and presentation. Refreshingly targeting a refined dining audience, their focus in quality over quantity is evident in their 3-course menu for $23,500 CLP.

If you happen to be in town on a Friday night, make sure to check out the local night market (marked on our map). They have food stands, carnival games, and dance clubs.

Friendly reminder to gas up!

Day 5: Floating On Water

After a busy 4 days in the Atacama Desert, you’ll take an easier pace by getting to the more relaxing portion of the trip. With so many salt flats and lakes, you’ll get to do the unique activity of floating in the hidden lagoons of Baltinache.

You deserve a break and so we suggest that you sleep in and have a late breakfast at Hoteles Pueblo de Tierra which goes until 10:30AM.

With all of your gear in the car, set out for a very bumpy drive out to the Lagunas Baltinache (Baltinache Lagoons). Like the other attractions in Atacama, they will tell you it’s not recommended to drive there but it’s very much possible.

After a 1 hour and 15 minutes on a constantly rumbling gravel road, the facilities of the lagoon will pop out of nowhere like an oasis.

Dazzling with crystal clear turquoise and surrounded by snow-like salt and mysterious bumps in the ground, there are 7 salt lakes here that can be explored by two main parking lots and a boardwalk that connects them.

The surreal landscape is enhanced by the ability to enter 2 of these lakes where the extreme salinity allows your body to float when you’re in the water. It’s a similar experience to the Dead Sea except here, you’re in a much smaller lake that’s surrounded by a desert landscape.

After your floating escape, drive back into town and it’s highly recommended to go back to the hotel to shower because the salt can be quite irritating.

For the rest of the evening, you’ll have another opportunity to explore the lovely vibe of downtown San Pedro de Atacama.

When you’re feeling hungry, head over to Ckunna, a restaurant located on one of the main streets and has a great combination of delicious Andean cuisine and Italian dishes.

If you’re up for dessert, we recommend Heladería Babalú. There are two locations in town and you’ll enjoy their unique flavors.

Don’t forget to fuel up the car before heading back home!

Day 6: Puritama Oasis

For your final day of your 6 day Atacama desert itinerary, you’ll be pampering yourself with a true oasis in the middle of a desert canyon.

By now, you’re probably tired of the hotel breakfast so treat yourself to La Franchuteria, a bakery and cafe that brings France to the desert.

Locals come here to stock up on baguettes and a wide selection of artisanal breads but we recommend that you grab a seat in their outdoor dining space that has quite the free-spirited atmosphere. Their sandwiches, croissants, fresh juices, and coffee are superb.

At brunch, there’s usually live music playing (for donation) and local vendors with tables set up.

Next, you’ll start making your way up the same road that you would’ve taken to visit the Geysers del Tatio, the B-245 except you won’t be going as far. You’ll be well-accustomed to the roads at this point and you’ll be able to make it to Puritama Hot Springs in a quick 30 minutes.

Nestled in an Andean canyon is the Puritama Conservation Reserve where you’ll find the Puritama River. “Puri” meaning water and “Tama” means hot and for a 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) stretch, the river becomes naturally heated, slowly filling 8 natural pools carved into the rock.

Currently managed by the luxury hotel brand, Explora, you can book time slots to soak in the pools that are rich in calcium, magnesium, sodium and boron, which are recommended for recommended for rheumatism, arthritis, stress, physical fatigue and other ailments – just what you need after 6 days in the Atacama Desert!

Each pool is numbered from 1 to 8 and the water here ranges from 28°C (82.4°F) to 31°C (87.8°F), with the pools higher up being slightly warmer than the ones below.

For dinner, you’ll eat at La Pica Del Indio, a restaurant with a fresh rotation of daily dishes, affordable prices, and great service. Feel free to try another restaurant that might’ve caught your eye or revisit one from the previous days.

Now you’re probably wondering, what about the part about leaving the Atacama Desert? Depending on your flight, you’ll be driving your car rental back to Calama. It’ll be a straightforward drive but remember to fill up in town before you go to the airport. This means pinning a gas station on your map app beforehand.

How You Could Tweak This Atacama Itinerary

There are so many different ways you can build a 6 day Atacama Desert itinerary. This is really just one way this trip can be done. With different interests and amount of time, you can change it up in any way that makes sense for you.

Here are a few alternatives that are worth considering:

• Book with tours – One of the obvious changes would be to go the traditional route and book the standard bus tours that they offer so you don’t have to worry as much about the finer details and the challenging driving. For those that want to book in advance, we recommend you check out Viator and GetYourGuide.
• Rainbow Valley – Yes, the Atacama Desert has its own version of Rainbow Valley. We opted not to go because we were warned that the Google directions weren’t very helpful. That said, it looks like a brilliant hike. The name to look for is “Valle del Arcoiris” and is close to the Yerbas Buenas Petroglyphs. We highly recommend that you get AllTrails and follow their trail map.
• Yerbas Buenas Petroglyphs – The number of petroglyphs that can be found here is staggering. This is located north of San Pedro de Atacama and near the town of Lican.
• Pukará de Quitor Castle – This is a pre-Columbian archeological site that overlooks the valley of the river San Pedro. Come here to see the ruins of a fortress that was used to protect local indigenous people from the Spanish conquistadors.
• Laguna Cejar – When it comes to salt lakes, there are actually quite a number to choose from but if you’re like us, you won’t feel like it’s necessary to see them all. Some say that this lake is a bit underwhelming but what’s unique about it is that you can swim in. Chances of seeing flamingos is also quite low here so it’s primary for swimming. The fee is $15,000 CLP.
• Laguna Tebinquinche – Another lagoon with an entrance fee ($5,000 CLP). It’s a large salt lake with some bird life but they don’t often come close to the shoreline compared to Laguna Chaxa. Note that this is a minute drive from Laguna Cejar and is often combined together.
• Bolivia – When you look at the map, you realize how close the Bolivia border is. You won’t be able to do it as a day trip but if you’re ambitious, there are ways to reach the Uyuni Salt Flats from San Pedro de Atacama.
• Sandboarding – Originally we wanted to do this but we found out from a local that Valle de la Muerte (also known as Valle de Marte) it was closed. Not having g the time to confirm this, we scrapped the idea. Also, in walking around San Pedro de Atacama, we didn’t see any tour operators promoting sandboard rentals. Ultimately, the only operator offering this is Sandboard San Pedro which is pricey but might be the only way to do it now as they take you to a secret sand dune outside of town.
• Hot Air Balloon – In the morning, you’ll see a number of hot air balloons rise in the sky. This is an affordable activity you can book.
• Biking – A popular activity in Atacama is riding a bicycle. You can rent them or you can choose from one of many cycling adventures like this e-bike trip to Laguna Cejar or going downhill on a volcano.
• Láscar Volcano Summit – You can do a full day hike up to the top of this volcano. Private trips up start at $200 USD.

Map of San Pedro de Atacama Desert Itinerary

The below is an interactive map broken down by layers for each day of the itinerary so you can see where things are in relation to each other in the Atacama Desert.

TIP: To create a copy of this map for your own use, simply maximize the map to open it up in a new tab. From there, go into the menu and select “Copy map”. You’ll be able to make your own adjustments and open it up in the Google Maps app as well.

5 Tips for Self-Driving in the Atacama Desert

When we think about our car rental and driving experience in and around San Pedro de Atacama, there are 5 core learnings that we’d love to impart to you as you build out your own Atacama itinerary.

1. Pin the right spots – The de-facto navigation app is Google Maps and while it only works when you get the location right. The Atacama Desert is notorious for deceiving pin locations so make sure you know the exact name. Luckily, we’ve made sure to be quite explicit about this at each location.
2. Fill up every day – Remember that there is only the one gas station in San Pedro de Atacama and after our drama in Milford Sound, New Zealand, we learned not to take the chance. Get into the habit of filling up your tank every night.
3. Check your tire pressure – Some rental cars have tire pressure sensors and some don’t. This is one of those things you normally don’t think about but with the tough road conditions, you’ll want to make sure you’ have good tire pressure every day as well. Luckily, the one and only gas station, COPEC, has a tire pump device that’s free.
4. Altitude can hit while driving – Be aware of how you’re feeling when you’re driving on the day you visit the Altiplanic Lakes as you’ll be going through high mountain passes. Drink plenty of water and take a break if you a sudden wave of fatigue.
5. Driving faster can be better than slower on the gravel roads – On flat and straight roads such as the one you’ll be taking to Lagunas Baltinache, you’ll initially want to drive 20 km/h but you’ll actually feel every single bump. By picking up the speed to 60-80km/h, you’ll have a smoother ride. It’s counter-intuitive. We recommend that you give it a try as you build more confidence.

For all of our tips for traveling the Atacama Desert, make sure to read our travel guide.

How Much Does This Atacama Itinerary Cost

For those that are considering renting a car, here’s an accurate representation of how much you’d expect to spend on a 6 day San Pedro de Atacama itinerary.

Actual itinerary costs

Here’s what we actually spent (prices are in USD) and for two people:

Expense	Cost (USD)
Flight	$876.17
Car Rental	$377.09
Fuel	$139.55
Hotel	$628.00
Activities (i.e. entrance fees)	$432.68
Groceries	$8.00
Restaurants	$301.00
Souvenirs	$70.00
Tips	$45.00
TOTAL	$2,877.49

The only thing that’s missing here is the Entel SIM card which I purchased in the Patagonia leg of the trip.

Trip cost per person = $1,439 USD

This breaks down to $240 USD per day per person. For reference, our 10 days in Egypt was $203.51 USD.

What would the cost be without a rental car?

That’s a big amount for 10 days but it may help to put it in perspective against other itineraries.

All else being the same and swapping out the rental car for tours, you’d be looking at booking these (USD, per person):

Note that tours don’t include entrance fees so we’re not factoring those costs here.

Total cost for 2 people comes out to $595.38 USD compared to $572.09 for the car rental, fuel, and Puritama entrance fee. That doesn’t even include tipping!

The costs are very similar so it really comes down to how comfortable you are with driving and whether you’d like the freedom to explore at your own pace, and overall flexibility.

Who Is This Itinerary For?

That leads to this final section about the ultimate type of traveller this Atacama itinerary is for.

This is the type of traveller this trip is built for:

• Seeks adventure and willing to try new things.
• Loves the thrill of exploring with your own car.
• While loving adventure, also looks for a balance of comfort, good food, and relaxation.
• Wants to have control of the itinerary as opposed to being led around by large bus tours.
• Willing to spend more time in one place as opposed to rushing through everything.
• Photographers

Who this is not for:

• Someone with a tight schedule and only have 2-3 days.
• Budget backpacker looking to do it as cheap as possible.
• While not budget, it’s not luxury either. For that, book an all-inclusive stay with Explora Atacama or Tierra Atacama.

Closing Thoughts

Through this 6 day Atacama itinerary, you’ll have a chance to get a thorough look at what makes area such a popular destination in Chile. While seemingly in a desolate place, it has an abundance of truly unique natural wonders whether it’s the stars, geothermal activity, salt lagoons, and lunar-like geology.

While most people will come here for a quick stop before transitioning to another part of South America or Chile, this is the perfect amount of time where you won’t feel rushed and you’ll have some time to relax as well.

Renting a car here might also feel like a controversial choice as it’s also the less common choice but if you’re like us and want to explore at your own pace, we can confirm that it’s the superior option. That said, there are a lot of challenges with new rules and policies but we’ve laid out everything we learned. Also, the driving is rough (literally and figuratively) but certainly not as a bad idea as some make it out to be.

The Atacama Desert is a special place and is definitely not to be missed if you’re planning a trip to Chile.

Frequently Asked Questions

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You made it! We know that this was quite the lengthy itinerary but we’re confident that the details will allow your trip to run soothly. If you have a question about this Atacama itinerary, make sure to drop a comment!