Atacama Piedras Rojas, Altiplano Lagoons and Salar Full-Day Tour

Miscanti Lagoon: breakfast at 4,200 metres

Laguna Miscanti is the larger of the two altiplano lagoons the tour reaches first, about an hour and a half south-east of San Pedro de Atacama. It lies at roughly 4,200 metres inside the Los Flamencos National Reserve, a deep blue sheet of water ringed by yellow grass and overlooked by the snow-dusted Miscanti volcano. The air is thin and cold here, so we move slowly while the guide explains how a lava flow dammed the valley and formed the lagoon.

Breakfast is served here with the lagoon in view, which is why the Miscanti and Miñiques lagoons tour is the most popular of the Atacama altiplano day trips. Allow about 30 minutes to walk the marked viewpoints, photograph vicuñas on the plain and spot Andean gulls on the water. The best time to visit the Miscanti Lagoon is the early morning, when the wind is calm and the surface reflects the volcano, which is exactly when this tour arrives.

Miñiques Lagoon: the smaller twin

A short walk or drive over a low ridge brings you to Laguna Miñiques, the smaller and quieter companion of Miscanti. It sits beneath the Miñiques volcano and is separated from the larger lagoon by an old lava flow, so from the viewpoint you see two bodies of water of slightly different colour side by side. The shore is protected and cannot be approached closely, which is why the flamingos and horned coots that nest here are so undisturbed.

The Miñiques Lagoon stop lasts around 30 minutes and is mostly about the view: the water changes from steel grey to electric blue as clouds pass, and the surrounding plain is dotted with the cushion plants and tola bushes that survive at this altitude. The guide points out the path of the ancient Inca road that crossed this plateau. Together, Miscanti and Miñiques are the reason many travellers rate this day trip from San Pedro de Atacama as the most beautiful in the region.

Piedras Rojas on the Salar de Talar

Piedras Rojas, the red stones, is the name given to a shoreline of the Salar de Talar where rust-coloured volcanic rock meets a lagoon of pale turquoise water, with white salt crust and the peaks of Cerro Miñiques behind. The rocks owe their colour to iron oxides, and the contrast with the water is so strong that photographs rarely need editing. At about 3,900 metres it is slightly lower than the lagoons, but the walk still calls for a steady pace.

The guided visit to Piedras Rojas lasts about an hour and includes a short walk along the shore to the main viewpoint, where the colour bands are most intense. Is Piedras Rojas worth visiting? For most travellers it is the most striking landscape of the Atacama, and because it can only be reached on an organised Piedras Rojas tour or with a high-clearance vehicle, this excursion is the simplest way to get there. The best light is late morning, when the sun is high and the water glows.

Socaire: terraces and a stone church

On the way down from the high plateau the road passes Socaire, an Atacameño farming village at about 3,600 metres on the eastern edge of the Salar de Atacama. Its people have cultivated the slopes for centuries using stone-walled terraces fed by irrigation channels, growing potatoes, beans, quinoa and alfalfa in a landscape that looks too dry to support anything. The terraces step down the hillside in neat curves and are still worked by hand today.

The stop gives free time of around 30 minutes to wander the few streets, see the small church of San Bartolomé with its thick adobe walls and cactus-wood roof, and look out over the salt flat below. Socaire is also where lunch is taken on most departures, a simple local meal in a village restaurant. A Socaire village tour is rarely sold on its own, so this is the natural way to add it to a day that already includes the lagoons and Piedras Rojas.

Chaxa Lagoon and the Salar de Atacama flamingos

Back on the floor of the basin, the tour enters the Soncor sector of the Los Flamencos National Reserve to reach Laguna Chaxa, a shallow lagoon set in the crusted white and brown surface of the Salar de Atacama. The salt flat is the largest in Chile, ringed by volcanoes, and Chaxa is its best-known wildlife site: Chilean, Andean and James's flamingos feed on tiny brine shrimp, often within easy camera range of the walkway.

The Chaxa Lagoon visit takes about 30 minutes along a flat trail with interpretive panels, and the guide explains how the salt crust forms and why the lagoon never dries completely. Chaxa Lagoon opening hours are managed by the local community, and the entrance fee is paid on site, which is why our tour arrives in the afternoon window when the light is soft and the Licancabur volcano stands clear across the flat. For anyone searching for a Salar de Atacama tour with flamingos, this is the stop that delivers.

Toconao: the white-stone village

The last stop before returning to San Pedro de Atacama is Toconao, an oasis village at about 2,500 metres that is famous for its buildings of liparita, a pale volcanic stone quarried nearby and carved by local masons. The bell tower of San Lucas, standing apart from the church on the main square, dates from the eighteenth century and is the village's emblem, and the streets around it are lined with low white houses and handicraft stalls selling knitted llama wool.

The Toconao stop is a relaxed break of up to an hour: time for a hot drink, a look at the church and tower, and a walk to the edge of the Jere gorge where fig and quince trees grow beside a stream in the middle of the desert. From Toconao it is roughly 40 minutes back to San Pedro de Atacama, where the tour ends in the town centre in the late afternoon, in good time to rest before an evening stargazing tour.