Things to do
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Aldea de Tulor
The excavated remains of a circular adobe village occupied from about 800 BC, its interlocking rooms half buried under the dune that preserved them. Only a small section is uncovered, so a full scale replica hut stands at the entrance, and the site is reached on a flat road west of the plaza that many ride by bicycle.
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Landmark
Cerro Toco
A 5,604 metre cone on the Chajnantor plateau, climbed as the standard high acclimatisation ascent above San Pedro. The trailhead lies at about 5,200 metres so the walk itself is short, but the ground is loose scree at thin air, guides carry oxygen, and the climb is only attempted after several days spent at altitude.
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El Tatio
The highest large geyser field on earth sits at 4,320 metres, where more than eighty vents push steam through a frozen crust at dawn. Vans leave San Pedro at about four in the morning because the columns fade once the sun warms the basin, and the road back passes the herding hamlet of Machuca.
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Explora Atacama
A low adobe lodge on old farmland at the edge of town, built around courtyards, a stable and four pools, with guided exploration counted into the stay. Its programme runs treks, rides and high altitude drives every day, and the house holds the concession that operates the Puritama pools.
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Iglesia de San Pedro de Atacama
A whitewashed adobe church on the plaza, its roof built from cactus wood lashed with leather thongs and its present shape dating from the eighteenth century. It is a national monument and still the working parish church, so the interior opens around services and closes without much notice.
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Laguna Cejar
A collapse lagoon in the northern Salar de Atacama whose brine carries enough salt to float a swimmer with no effort at all. Bathing is confined to the neighbouring Laguna Piedra under community rules that require a rinse before and after, and the sector keeps fixed hours set by the Atacameño community that runs it.
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Laguna Chaxa
The flamingo lookout of the Soncor sector, a short boardwalk over the salt crust where Andean, Chilean and James flamingos feed in shallow brine. It is the most reliable place on the salt flat to see all three species at once, and the birds are most active at first light and again in the last hours of afternoon.
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Lake
Laguna Miscanti
A dark blue altiplano lake at 4,140 metres held between the Miscanti and Miñiques volcanoes, with its smaller twin lagoon a few kilometres further along the same track. Both sit in the Los Flamencos reserve, the drive climbs steeply off the salt flat, and the shore is walked on a marked path where swimming is not allowed.
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Pukará de Quitor
A twelfth century Atacameño fortress of stacked stone terraces on a slope above the Río San Pedro, stormed by a Spanish force in 1540 and later given back to the community that holds it today. A stepped path climbs to a viewpoint over the whole oasis, the walk takes under an hour, and there is no shade anywhere on the terraces.
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Landmark
Salar de Tara
A salt flat at 4,300 metres in the far east of the Los Flamencos reserve, ringed by wind carved ignimbrite pillars known as the Monjes de la Pacana and the Catedrales de Tara. The track leaves the Paso de Jama highway and needs high clearance, so the site is reached on a guided day that runs from dawn to late afternoon.
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Termas de Puritama
Eight terraced thermal pools strung down a reed lined canyon at about 3,500 metres, fed by a stream that holds close to 33 degrees all year. Entry is timed and capped and tickets are usually bought in San Pedro before setting out, and a wooden walkway links the pools down the gorge.
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Tierra Atacama
A design hotel raised on an old cattle yard in the ayllu of Yaye, south of the plaza, with a stone spa and rooms that open straight onto the volcano line. Excursions are included and graded by effort, and the walk into the village along the irrigation channels takes about twenty minutes.
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Valle de la Luna
A basin of salt and clay in the Cordillera de la Sal, folded into dunes, caverns and gypsum ridges left by an evaporated inland sea. It lies inside the Los Flamencos reserve and runs on timed entry along a set circuit, and the amphitheatre viewpoints fill for the last hour of light.