6-Days Discovering 2 of the World's Largest Salt Flats, Atacama & Uyuni
Highlights
San Pedro de Atacama, Potosi, Uyuni, Calama
Private Tour
6 Days
MODERATE
English, Spanish
Description
If you want to experience the incredible richness of natural beauty and diverse landscapes northern Chile & Bolivia, this tour is the perfect option to do: Atacama is the center-stage of many surprises, the 3,000 square kilometer salt lake is an unbeatable sight.
The Atacama Salt Flat is one of the main attractions of the Los Flamencos National Reserve. Be amazed by the large number of long-legged birds that nest and feed in its “watery eyes”, like those of the Chaxa Lagoon. Keep your eyes wide open to try to spot the differences between the Andean, Chilean and James flamingos.
Continue to Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat. The best time to go really depends on your preference of what you want to see, as each season offers different visuals.
Most people say it is best to go from May to November when the weather is mild, but keep in mind that the Bolivian salt flat plains will be dry. One thing's for certain – the scenery here is breathtaking all year round.
Itinerary
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Calama, Arrival - San Pedro de Atacama - Moon Valley
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Reception at Calama Airport and transfer to your hotel in San Pedro de Atacama.
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In the afternoon, departure from the hotel to the Moon Valley., declared a Nature Sanctuary and Monument and protected by the uniqueness of its beauty. It consists of a depression surrounded by small hills with impressively sharp peaks. We will see the Dinosaur Valley and Death Valley, where there is a spectacular panoramic view of the area. We continue to the Moon Valley, where we will find geological formations that are the result of successive foldings of the earth's crust. In the valley is possible to appreciate the salt sculptures known as Las Tres Marias, formed by wind erosion. Continuing with the tour we will walk through the interior of the caves that remain from the old deposits, to get closer to valley where is the Big Dune. After a break, we will climb this dune, which impresses with its size and is used for extreme sports as snowboarding At sunset, a bold palette of golds and reds appear, touching the soul and sensibilities of the visitor. Return to hotel.
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Overnight at Hotel Casa de Don Tomas (breakfast and taxes included)
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Morning excursion to Rainbow Valley + Afternoon Atacama Salt Flat
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After breakfast, we depart from San Pedro de Atacama and travel westward to find the Domeyko mountain range and reach Yerbas Buenas. This sector is of great historical and archaeological importance, since we will see one of the most significant rock art expressions of the region, depicted in several panels of petroglyphs. It is believed that in this sector used to be a lagoon that was used as a resting place by ancient caravans of native peoples and camelids. This place will take us back to the Atacameño indigenous past. Next, after crossing the Matancilla Valley, we will reach the Valle del Arcoíris (Rainbow Valley), which is named after the different colors that minerals give to the mountains. Green, purple, white and red colors will catch the attention of visitors. There are very few sites such as this in the world. We will walk around to take it all in, recording it in our memory and photographs. Afterwards, we will take the highway to return to San Pedro de Atacama.
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Late afternoon, we depart from San Pedro de Atacama. During our journey we will be accompanied at all times by the beauty of the Andes Mountain Range and its volcanoes, as well as trees such as carobs, chañares and tamarugos. We will reach Toconao, a town built with pumice stone: visit its square full of history and its bell tower built in 1750 with adobe and cactus wood. . Finally, heading south we find the Soncor sector of the large Atacama Salt Flat, one of the seven sites that make up Los Flamencos National Reserve. At Chaxa Lagoon, we will be able to enjoy watching a variety of bird species, including the three types of flamingos that inhabit Chile -Andean, Chilean and James’- and the pink color of their feathers. The deep blue of the Atacama sky, the altitudes of the Andean volcanoes and the red sunset will bid us farewell before returning to San Pedro de Atacama.
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Overnight at Hotel Casa de Don Tomas (breakfast and taxes included)
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San Pedro de Atacama - Hito Cajon - Laguna Colorada - Desert
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Pick up from San Pedro de Atacama hotel and transfer to Hito Cajon (border line Chile-Bolivia), transfer to start our tour: visit the Green Lagoon where we can see its impressive emerald color and the Licancabur Volcano, Hot Springs of Polques where we can enjoy nature and a refreshing and energetic bath in the middle of the desert, lunch on route, the Geysers (lava boiling intensely and steam which reaches up to 50 meters high), the Red Lagoon where the red of its waters is due to sediments from algae as well as zooplankton and phytoplankton which have the peculiarity of changing with the temperature, the Stone Tree (geomorphological formation from the mushroom rock type, due to the erosion caused by the wind. It outstands from a set of volcanic rocks).
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Overnight in a 3 star hotel (Breakfast and taxes included)
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Desert - Uyuni - Colchani
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Breakfast at hotel. 07:30 Visit Hedionda and Kañapa lagoons, the Ollague volcano viewpoint and the Incahuasi Island (a rocky island in the middle of the salt flat where we can observe giant cactuses, some of them are more than 100 years old, from the top you can see the salt flats in its entirety). Lunch on route.
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Overnight in a 3 star hotel (Breakfast and taxes included)
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Colchani - Desert
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Breakfast at hotel. 09:30 Visit the village of Colchani, where the processing of salt can be observed (drying, grinding and packaging of salt) you will also have the opportunity purchase handicrafts made of salt, San Cristobal Church, Rocks valley, Mysterious lagoon, the lost city of Italy, Camel Stone.
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Overnight in a 3 star hotel (Breakfast and taxes included)
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Desert – Hito Cajon – San Pedro de Atacama - Calama Airport
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Breakfast at hotel .06:00 visit Red Lagoon, Geyser, Hot springs of Polques and Green Lagoon. Transfer to Hito Cajon (border line Chile-Bolivia) and then, transfer to Calama Airport passing by San Pedro de Atacama. (we recommend to book flight after 8:00pm. Also you have the option of extending your trip to one or two days in San Pedro de Atacama).
What's Included
What's Excluded
Know Before You Go
Please Note
Cancellation Policy
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For cancellations upto 2 days before the tour -
Refund of 80% of the tour price.