STUNNING! A must see!! (Atacama Desert)

Member Name: poonam82

Product:	Atacama Desert
Date:	17/05/09 (8 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful landscape, opportunities to explore & enjoy the laid back life

Disadvantages: If deserts are not really your thing, you'll get bored as everything is centre around it

The Atacama Desert is a must see for anyone who visits Chile. Whilst it is touristy, it has truly a magical feel to it at night. Everything seems beautiful and clean, but rustic. You find some beautiful hotels and restaurants lit by candles in San Pedro de Atacama, a gentle buzz from a relatively small town but it is definitely worth the visit!

The Atacama desert is just simply stunning - at night, the view of the starts is breathtaking - those of you who want to wish on shooting stars, you'll run out of wishes, You'll see that many. It's like the sky is white with black patches!! So star gazers, this is a must - bring some star maps!

You can cycle to look out points to watch the sun rise over the sand dunes - you leave in pitch blackness and hopefully they have sign posted the roads a little better now but by the time you get to the dunes and if you've made it in time to scramble to the top - it is simply stunning the way the sun lights up the desert and the colours you see are beautiful.

Part of Atacama is called Moon Valley and the landscape is a dip of curves, crater like formations, extinct geysers and huge rocks. It makes you feel like an ant looking at it all!!

Whilst many people say its just a desert, if you go there, you realise that it's much more than that - it does have this magical pull, the sun changes the colours, shapes and formations of the dunes on a daily basis.

From San Pedro there are tours you can take to go into the desert and discover the beauty. Well worth the money!!

Summary: Beautiful part of Chile, well worth the visit!