Chile from Desert to Ice: The Atacama, Patagonia and the World's Most Extreme Landscapes

Chile is one of the most geographically extreme countries on Earth. It stretches 4,300 kilometres from north to south — roughly the distance from London to Tehran — but averages only 177 kilometres wide, squeezed between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean. In that narrow strip, the landscape changes from the Atacama Desert in the north (the driest non-polar desert on Earth, where some weather stations have never recorded rainfall) to the temperate rainforests and glaciers of Patagonia in the south, passing through wine valleys, volcanic lake districts and the world's longest coastline along the way. No other country offers such dramatic extremes of landscape, and no other country packs so many extraordinary natural environments into a single itinerary.

Chile is also, by South American standards, a remarkably easy country to travel. The infrastructure is excellent, the safety record is strong, the food and wine are outstanding, and the people are warm and helpful to visitors. The combination of extraordinary natural landscapes, good infrastructure and genuine hospitality makes Chile one of the finest adventure travel destinations in the world — and one that rewards both the first-time visitor and the experienced traveller who returns to explore more deeply.

The Atacama Desert: The Driest Place on Earth

The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is the driest non-polar desert on Earth — a high-altitude plateau at approximately 2,400 metres above sea level, where the combination of the Andes rain shadow, the cold Humboldt Current and the subtropical high-pressure system creates conditions so arid that some parts of the desert have no recorded rainfall in human history. Yet the Atacama is not a dead landscape — it is one of the most visually extraordinary places on the planet, with salt flats, volcanic peaks, geysers, hot springs, flamingo lagoons and a night sky that is the clearest and darkest in the world.

San Pedro de Atacama — a small town of adobe buildings and dusty streets at the heart of the desert — is the base for most visitors. The surrounding landscape contains an extraordinary concentration of natural wonders within a short drive: the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon), where wind and water erosion have created a landscape of salt formations, sand dunes and rock pinnacles that genuinely resembles the lunar surface; the El Tatio geyser field, the highest geyser field in the world at 4,320 metres, where dozens of geysers erupt in the pre-dawn cold; and the Salar de Atacama, a vast salt flat where three species of flamingo (Chilean, Andean and James's) feed in the shallow lagoons.

Flamingos and Salt Flats: The Atacama's Wildlife

The Atacama's extreme conditions have produced some remarkable wildlife adaptations. The three flamingo species that breed in the high-altitude salt lakes — Chilean, Andean and James's — are among the most beautiful birds in South America, their pink plumage vivid against the white salt and the blue sky. The Laguna Chaxa in the Salar de Atacama is the most accessible flamingo viewing site, with hundreds of birds visible year-round. The Laguna Miscanti and Miñiques, at 4,200 metres altitude, are more remote but offer the finest flamingo photography in Chile, with the volcanic peaks of the Andes as a backdrop.

The vicuña — a wild relative of the llama, with fine golden wool that was reserved for Inca royalty — is commonly seen on the high-altitude plains above San Pedro. The Andean fox, the vizcacha (a large chinchilla relative) and the puna ibis are also frequently encountered. The Atacama's wildlife is not abundant by African safari standards, but the combination of the animals and the extraordinary landscape creates wildlife encounters of unusual beauty.

Patagonia: The End of the World

Patagonia — the vast region at the southern tip of South America, shared between Chile and Argentina — is one of the last great wilderness areas on Earth. The Chilean side contains the Torres del Paine National Park, the Carretera Austral (a 1,240-kilometre gravel road through some of the most remote and beautiful landscapes in the Americas), the Marble Caves of General Carrera Lake, and the Southern Patagonian Ice Field — the largest temperate ice field in the Southern Hemisphere, covering 16,800 square kilometres.

Torres del Paine National Park is the centrepiece of Chilean Patagonia — a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of granite towers, turquoise lakes, glaciers and pampas grassland that is consistently ranked among the finest national parks in the world. The park's defining image is the Torres del Paine themselves — three granite towers rising 2,500 metres above the surrounding plain, their vertical faces catching the first and last light of the day in shades of gold, orange and pink. The W Trek (a four-to-five-day circuit of the park's main highlights) and the O Circuit (a full loop of the Paine massif, eight to ten days) are among the finest multi-day hikes in the world.

Trekking Torres del Paine: Practical Information

• ·The W Trek covers approximately 80 kilometres in four to five days, visiting the Torres base, the French Valley and the Grey Glacier
• ·The O Circuit adds the back side of the Paine massif to the W Trek — approximately 130 kilometres in eight to ten days
• ·Refugios (mountain huts) and campsites must be booked months in advance for the October–March peak season
• ·The park entrance fee is approximately USD 35 per person; book online in advance as daily visitor numbers are capped
• ·Weather in Patagonia is famously unpredictable — wind, rain, snow and sunshine can occur in the same hour; pack for all conditions
• ·The best light on the Torres occurs at sunrise — the base camp hike (approximately 2.5 hours each way) should be started at 4am for the optimal experience

Chilean Wine Country: The Colchagua and Maipo Valleys

Between the Atacama and Patagonia, Chile's central valley produces some of the finest wine in South America. The Maipo Valley, just south of Santiago, is the heartland of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon — a wine that has been compared favourably with Bordeaux at a fraction of the price. The Colchagua Valley, further south, produces the finest Carménère in the world — a grape variety that was thought to be extinct in Europe until it was discovered thriving in Chile in the 1990s. Wine tourism in Chile is well developed, with most major wineries offering tours and tastings, and the combination of the wine, the landscape and the food makes a few days in the wine country an excellent addition to any Chilean itinerary.

Chilean Food: What to Eat from North to South

• ·Cazuela — a hearty stew of beef or chicken with vegetables and corn; the everyday comfort food of Chilean home cooking
• ·Empanadas de pino — baked pastry filled with minced beef, onion, olives, hard-boiled egg and raisins; the definitive Chilean street food
• ·Ceviche — raw fish cured in lemon juice with onion and coriander; the Chilean version is simpler than the Peruvian but excellent
• ·Pastel de choclo — a corn and meat pie baked in a clay dish; a Chilean classic that combines indigenous and Spanish culinary traditions
• ·Completo — a Chilean hot dog loaded with avocado, tomato and mayonnaise; the most popular street food in Santiago
• ·Pisco sour — a cocktail of pisco (grape spirit), lemon juice, sugar and egg white; the national drink, and a subject of fierce rivalry with Peru

Weather and Best Time to Visit: Month by Month

Chile's extreme length means the weather varies enormously by region. The Atacama is warm and dry year-round; Patagonia has a short summer season and notoriously unpredictable weather. Planning your visit around the specific regions you want to explore is essential.

• ·January: Atacama 15–28°C (excellent); Patagonia 8–18°C (peak season, windy) — summer throughout; book Patagonia months ahead
• ·February: Atacama 15–28°C (excellent); Patagonia 8–18°C (peak season) — best month for Patagonia; book very far in advance
• ·March: Atacama 13–26°C (excellent); Patagonia 6–15°C (shoulder, less wind) — excellent for both regions; highly recommended
• ·April: Atacama 10–23°C (excellent); Patagonia 4–12°C (autumn colours) — beautiful autumn in Patagonia; fewer crowds
• ·May: Atacama 7–20°C (good); Patagonia 2–9°C (late autumn) — Patagonia cooling; Atacama excellent
• ·June: Atacama 4–17°C (good, cold nights); Patagonia 0–6°C (winter) — Patagonia not recommended; Atacama fine
• ·July: Atacama 3–16°C (good); Patagonia -1–5°C (winter) — Atacama excellent for stargazing; Patagonia closed
• ·August: Atacama 4–17°C (good); Patagonia 0–6°C (late winter) — Atacama excellent; Patagonia beginning to open
• ·September: Atacama 7–21°C (excellent); Patagonia 3–10°C (spring) — Patagonia season opening; wildflowers
• ·October: Atacama 10–24°C (excellent); Patagonia 5–13°C (spring) — both regions excellent; Patagonia less crowded than summer
• ·November: Atacama 12–26°C (excellent); Patagonia 6–16°C (spring) — excellent for both; Patagonia building to peak
• ·December: Atacama 14–27°C (excellent); Patagonia 8–18°C (summer begins) — peak season beginning; book everything in advance

Getting Around Chile

Chile's length makes internal flights essential for most itineraries. LATAM Chile and Sky Airline operate frequent domestic services connecting Santiago with Calama (for the Atacama), Puerto Natales (for Patagonia), Puerto Montt (for the Lake District) and other regional airports. Domestic flights are affordable by international standards and save enormous amounts of time compared to overland travel. Santiago's Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport is well connected to Europe, with direct flights from Madrid (approximately 13 hours), Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

A Country That Rewards the Full Journey

The travellers who get the most from Chile are those who resist the temptation to see only the highlights and instead commit to the full journey — from the flamingo lagoons of the Atacama to the granite towers of Patagonia, through the wine valleys and the volcanic lake district and the marble caves of the south. Chile is a country that reveals itself slowly, and the rewards for patience and curiosity are extraordinary. The landscape is among the most dramatic on Earth. The food and wine are excellent. And the people, shaped by a geography that has always demanded resilience and self-reliance, are among the most interesting and welcoming in South America.