San Pedro de Atacama holidays

The oasis of San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile, located at 2,400 metres above sea level, is surrounded by a spectacular desert scenery of salt flats, turquoise lakes, arid mountain ranges, purple-shaded volcanoes and steaming geysers. The clear skies of this region make it an excellent location for star gazing and close to the town is the cutting-edge ALMA radio telescope facility. San Pedro is also in the heart of a fascinating archaeological area. The history of its earliest inhabitants has been traced through the outstanding work of Father Gustaye Le Paige, a Belgian priest and amateur archaeologist who founded a small but superb archaeological museum in the town, where items dating back as far as 10,000BC are exhibited.