Awasi Atacama

The Atacama Desert occupies a closed basin between the Andes and Chile’s coastal range, where the combined effect of the cold Humboldt Current offshore and the Andes rain shadow eliminates virtually all precipitation. The result is the world’s driest non-polar desert — in parts of the core Atacama, no rainfall has ever been recorded. The landscape this creates is not the monotonous sand dunes of popular imagination but a vast, varied terrain of salt flats encrusted with bizarre mineral formations, volcanic geothermal fields where geysers erupt at sunrise, altiplano lakes where flamingos feed in pink congregations, and a sky so free of moisture and light pollution that several major international observatories have been built within the region.

Awasi’s model is architecturally and operationally distinct from other Atacama properties. The twelve adobe villas blend into the desert colouring of San Pedro de Atacama’s edge; interiors are warm with handwoven textiles, local craftsmanship, and beds positioned for the extraordinary light that fills the Atacama at sunrise and sunset. But the defining proposition is the one-guide-one-vehicle-per-villa format: each pair of guests has exclusive access to their own 4WD and dedicated naturalist guide for the duration of their stay. This eliminates the compromise of group tours — departure times, itinerary choices, pace — and makes the Atacama genuinely explorable rather than sampled.

At this latitude and altitude (2,400 metres above sea level), the night sky is staggering. The Atacama holds more international telescope infrastructure than any other region on earth; the stars visible from Awasi’s open-air observatory terrace on a moonless night, without any optical equipment, is a serious photographic and experiential opportunity. Guides are qualified to operate the property’s telescopes and can identify nebulae and galaxies that are rarely visible from lower, more humid latitudes.

Access is via Calama Airport, which receives direct flights from Santiago (90 minutes), and from Lima and Sao Paulo internationally. Awasi provides airport transfers.