22 Jan 2023
We decided to book this so we could see everything with the time allocated to the area. We were touring all of Chile.
So the pick up at the airport was fine, no issues and taken to our hotel straight away, we had been advised to sleep as soon as we got there to get used to the altitude. Sleep we did (our flight was at 3 in the morning), the trip on the first day was delayed as we were given the wrong time, but not a bid deal, this happened on 2 tours.
The first tour of the Moon Valley was fantastic, I really enjoyed it more than I thought the landscape out of this world (no pun intended). the guide was very knowledgeable and very friendly. I think it would be fair to say she was liked by all!
The next tour was the geysers, this was bitterly cold and I also suffered attitude sickness, I had forgotten to take the sweets that I bought. I felt awful but continued slowly. The geysers were not as I expected, I did expect them to be more dramatic but it was just bubbling gently from the ground although there was one which was a little more of an attempt of spouting but unfortunately I was not very impressed. We stopped by the salted water lakes and there were flamingos there -beautiful, we also saw donkeys, vicunas and rabbits.
The last tour was the hidden lagoons, the colour of the water was incredible, it was almost turquoise, the salted earths and landscapes very much an experience. The tour guide was informative. Although there are 2 water areas which can be bathed we were told to use the larger one, we were to bath and dry in the air and when we got back to the bus they would hose us down, which they did. The ability to float in the salted water with the buoyancy was undesirable as you really needed to be there. I felt this trip was ok, I am a swimmer so it was completely different to anything I've tried before. Only gripe would be that there were a lot of people there so it was difficult to take pictures.
All tour had a bite to eat with some drinks which was a nice touch. The accommodation was comfortable, clean and adequate. I would have preferred to have been given the choice of a hotel, due to the times of the tours we could have spent some time relaxing perhaps by a pool but there was no pool in this package. Would be good to get the choice even if it means paying that little bit more.
San Pedro De Atacama is a lovely place, people were wonderfully friendly, we also added a Star Gazing to the trip - see my other reviews.
Would I recommend this trip... knowing what I know now, I probably would have been better arranging everything myself, hindsight is wonderful thing! However, with all that said, I you prefer to ensure everything is in place then go for it!