About Atacama
In order to fully explore the Atacama Desert its helpful to know more about it. If you are planning a visit here your base will most likely be the town of San Pedro de Atacama. Here everything is a little more expensive than you would expect of a small town, but that’s what happens when a place is this popular. There are outdoor markets, and you can find hostels with kitchens to help save you money.
San Pedro is located pretty centrally in the desert, however, there are more sights located in the south. To the north you will find El Tatio Geyers and the Puritama hot springs. To the Northwest is the Rainbow Valley or Arco Iris. The South has abundantly more. Valle de la Luna is near town as well as Valle de la Muerte. Further south you will reach Laguna Cejar which you can soak in, the flamingo reserve as well as salt flats. If you keep going you will visit Laguna Miniques and Miscanti finally reaching Piedras Rojas. You will need to take an alternative road heading southeast to reach Salar Tara and the various Laguna’s on the way.
The Options You Have
There are a few different ways to explore the Atacama Desert. The most obvious is to take the various tours in town. As you have probably heard this is quite an expensive option. Some people will tell you that if you want to save money you can just rent a bike and visit sights that way. Yes this is an option, however, you will be very limited. The final way would be to rent a 4×4 and to explore it on your own.
I think the hard part deciding between these options is to figure out where you can go with each, how much they cost, and of course what the absolute best way to do it is. We’ll do a deep dive right now so you can make the choice that’s best for you!
Taking Tours
So first of all prices, prices, prices! We looked around town and saw a variety of prices for different tours. Our hostal offereed a tour for 80,000 pesos per person. This included many of the major sights and was to last for 4 days. This meant that a few of them were only half day tours. Some 2 day tours were 60,000 per person but they didn’t go to nearly all the sights. We also saw some ads for 3 day tours for 70,000.
Many of these tours were package tours taking in a number of sights, and providing you with either breakfast or lunch. You could also take individual tours to just one place which tended to be more expensive than if you did a few places.
Renting a Bike
Most of the places we saw were renting bikes for about 5,000 for a half day and 8,000 for a full day. Of course the most important thing to know is what you can do if you rent a bike. The first thing to consider is the distances. Everything is pretty far apart. If you are on a bike things will take you longer. This could mean staying longer in town if you want to explore a lot of places, and with the more expensive lodging this could be more expensive.
Not far from town you will find Valle de la Luna. You could visit here on a bike and explore the different sights. This would take you about half a day to do, and probably with no strength to do anything else afterwards. You will need to carry water and snacks with you. Visiting Laguna Cejar would take about 2hours to reach. An alternative would be to visit Laguna Baltinache which you can also float in. If you are really tough you could make it out to the Puritama Hot Springs located to the north.
There is also a canyon not far from the city which is best done by bike. It is located to the northwest. We were told that the trails here are world renown.
Besides these places I do not think you would be able to see much else by bike if you stay in town. If you are geared up you could maybe rent a bike for a few days and camp in the desert to reach the far away places. This would mean biking with a significant amount of gear and bringing food and water with you.
Getting a Car
You could get a car right as you arrive in Calama at the airport. Looking up the prices we saw that you could save money if you get a smaller vehicle. If you want a 4×4 your best bet is to look in Atacama. You could get one from Europcar, a hostal renting one, or a private owner. The prices for a 4×4 were actually a little cheaper in Atacama. Perhaps the best reason to get it from the airport is that you would then not need to worry about transportation to and from Calama.
Europcar was offering a truck for 60,000 a day for 3 days and 65,000 for one day. Our hostal was doing 70,000 a day for an SUV but dropped the price to 60,000 for three days. A private owner we talked to had different prices for different vehicles all for around 70,000 with a discount for more days. We talked to some people that got one from Calama and they were paying 220,000 for 3 days or about 73,000 per day. Some places will ask for a deposit, our hostal required 300,000.
Of course the last cost is that for fuel. We had the car for 72 hours and used it quite a bit. Our total cost for fuel came out to be around 75,000.
With a car you can get absolutely anywhere in Atacama. This is definately the way to go if you want to see every sight in Atacama. In addition these are total costs. Our SUV fit 4 people so all the costs were split between us. We chose to sleep in our hostal, but you could save further by camping out in the desert.
So Which is Your Best Option
This point depends on you. If you are by yourself and can’t imagine finding a group to rent a car then taking tours or renting a bike is your best bet. Some people visiting Atacama actually don’t really care all that much to explore all of it after visiting the Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia. In addition, if you really love to bike you can experience it in a quite unique way.
If you are traveling with a friend or significant other renting a car could be your best option. The per day cost of a tour versus renting is very similar while the difference if freedom is immense. You can also see every place there is to see without feeling constrained. If you find other like minded people then you’re actually doing the cheaper option by renting your own car.
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