The start point of Atacama road trip - San Pedro de Atacama

Dear Readers!

I’m back from a trip to Turkey and the Balkan! Turkey is fantastic; Bulgaria is chill; Greece is unexpected; Bosnia is okay; Croatia is fabulous but yet not many things to do. I’m so excited to share my tips and experience with you that I even forgot our journey to South America is still going on 😲

Cappadocia in Turkey (the famous place where people take hot balloons) is obviously my one of my favorites now, but Atacama in Chile still has Impeccable position 🫡 So let’s continue the South America journey!

How does it feel when in San Pedro de Atacama?

So based on the analysis of last post’s , I decided to rent a car in the end. We picked up our car in El Loa Airport in Calama, and drove 1h30m to San Pedro de Atacama, where people usually stay and start the road trip.

When we reached to the town, I felt like an alien landing on a planet my soul had never visited or even imagined before — a place completely removed from my origins. In my so far short but long-enough life on Earth, I’ve had this feeling only twice: once in Inari, Finland (a town within the Arctic Circle), and now here in San Pedro de Atacama.

The stores in town center are restaurants, souvenir shops, ice creams and tour agencies. If you want to buy snacks or water, I’d recommend you to go to this grocery store in the town peripheral. They even sell Asian products! As for food in town, I only tried 2 restaurants so I don’t really have a say. But the drinks in Karaván bar are good!

The center part of the town isn’t big. You can probably check it out in 30 minutes. But I would recommend taking your time! It feels relaxing just walking around or chilling nearby Iglesia San Pedro (there’s an ice-cream shop there). The day and night views are different as well.

Stay tuned! Next week, I’ll be sharing my last post from Atacama - Geysers del Tatio.