Things to Do in San Pedro de Atacama

San Pedro de Atacama sits at 2,408 metres elevation in the driest non-polar desert on Earth, where some weather stations have never recorded rainfall.

The town was a crucial waypoint on the pre-Columbian trade route connecting the Andes highlands with Pacific and Amazon regions, and later served Spanish conquistadors as a transit hub.

The Atacama Desert around San Pedro contains some of the oldest mummified remains in the world, with some bodies naturally preserved for over 9,000 years.

The region's extreme aridity and lack of light pollution make it home to some of the world's most powerful astronomical observatories, including ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array).

Local Atacameño indigenous communities have inhabited this harsh landscape for millennia and maintain traditional weaving practices still visible in the town's markets.