Atacama Desert Tours and Holidays

This trip was a great way to see the top highlights while leaving you wanting to explore more! Perfect 'Discovery' trip! There are a lot of flights and the airline can move around the timings so you have to be flexible and open to late nights/early starts. There really is no other way to cover so much distance in just 2 weeks. Its well worth the travel as you get to see 2 completely different sides of Chile, the Desert and Salt flats of the North and the Lakes and Mountains of the South, both equally beautiful but very different. The food wasn't as expensive as I thought, similar pricing to London restaurants so by no means cheap but not unaffordable and if you take some snacks with you its easy to skip lunches as dinner portions in every restaurant we went to are very generous. The hotels were clean, spacious and comfortable. The only pool in use (we were early in the season) was in San Pedro. Both optional excursions are well worth doing but I would recommend doing a little research into star constellations before going to help things make more sense as its a lot of information to take in. Our guide Miguel was very knowledgeable and clearly loves his country and the outdoors we were in good hands especially in the National parks as he knows the area well. He is also a keen photographer so we were going to great photo locations and he was always willing to stop the bus whenever wildlife or a good photo angle was spotted! There are long drives, but the scenery was so beautiful that the drives were just as special as the walks and plenty of stops to stretch our legs or take a photo or toilet stop.

An excellent introduction to Chile, it was very interesting to see the different climate regions, desert, Santiagio, Lakes and Patagonia. The group blended particularly well together. There were plenty of great photography moments. Felipe (our guide) was excellent.

Our guide Alex Aguilera was fantastic! He organised the group really well, was a fund of information and always on hand to answer queries. The trip was varied and really interesting. The standard of the accommodation apart from Santiago, was quite basic but adequate. The meal by the local lady on the way back from the geysers, was poor, but apart from that, all the breakfasts were fine.

Chile is a stunning country that has something for everyone. This trip provided a wonderful insight and delivered a variety of sights and scenery: from desert and volcanoes, to lakes (and more volcanoes) then mountains and glaciers, followed for me with the legendary moai of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). As the itinerary makes clear, a significant amount of time is spent travelling (I feel I am now very familiar with Santiago airport!) but that is due to the large distances covered. There is very little 'down time' and several early starts so it is definitely not for someone who wants a relaxing holiday. However, if you enjoy spectacular views and new experiences then it ticks all the boxes. Our group of 16 got on well and, alongside our tour leader and drivers, helped to make it a fantastic holiday.

This trip covered a lot of ground in a short time frame. I (and the rest of my group) agreed that the one area of improvement would be to include a visit to the wineries and have lunch in Valparaiso.

The group of people on the trip all 'gelled' together and with the help of our excellent guide made a trip to be remembered. My only criticism, not your fault, was that I hadn't realized how warm / hot it would be and, as a result I didn't take enough light weight summer clothes.