4-Days Trip to Discover San Pedro de Atacama

The operator did a superb job of organizing tours, drivers, and a nice hotel. There were 3 days of tour activities with a morning/early afternoon free and 2 evenings free. The 4 day tour, as titled, is 3 days that have tours and your departing day. The hotel is very nice for this area and a 5 minute walk to town. There is not always hot water. The desk staff is wonderful. Getting lunch service was challenging 2 days. The rooms can be noisy with sounds of other guests and children. Two of the 3 tours had excellent bi lingual guides. The tour for The Valley of the Moon's guide had very poor English, talked rapidly, and our group was large so we couldn't hear when we were outside. We were handed a brochure as we left the site. I learned nothing and left confused as to what I saw. Looking at the prices of the hotel, airport transfers, and the tours this was not a good value for a solo traveler and could have easily been done on my own for less. There was an abundance of free time and I booked one individual evening tour to fill the time.

I was a little bit hesitant about booking this tour, as there were no reviews on Viator and I couldn't find reviews anywhere else. However, I figured that Viator had done some vetting of the operator and it seemed like an ideal package for the time and budget I had. The whole experience went very smoothly overall. Signature Tours is an Argentinian-based company with offices around the world, and for this package they arrange the tours and transfers through a local San Pedro de Atacama company, Gato Andino (at least in my case), which has an office in the town. They also booked the hotel (mine was Casa de Don Tomás), and it was a fabulous choice. I dealt with Marilda, who was very professional, friendly and attentive, and responded quickly to messages. There weren't the minimum number of people signed up for Moon Valley when I was due to go on it (Day 1), so Marilda rearranged it for another afternoon, which worked out fine. You will also have enough time over the days to explore San Pedro. The only thing that was a little disappointing was that some sites on the advertised tours were still closed (apparently after covid), so no hot springs or Death Valley. I guess this is due to no communication between the local tour company and the operator to update the details. The driver taking me back to Calama Airport on Day 4 was also 15 minutes late, which I was a bit worried about, but I got there with enough time. My tour guides (Kevin twice and Luis once) were absolutely fantastic, so incredibly knowledgeable and friendly, and also great photographers! The breakfasts/lunches/snacks provided were also delicious. I am a woman travelling alone and I can say that I felt very safe on this tour. It's well organised and you will see some unforgettable places.