Explora en Atacama – All Inclusive

Look, I’ve stayed at a lot of desert hotels, but Explora en Atacama is honestly in a league of its own. You know when you pull up to a place and immediately think “okay, this is going to be good”? That’s exactly what happened here. The property sits right on the edge of San Pedro de Atacama – close enough that you can walk into town for dinner at Adobe or to browse the little artisan shops, but far enough out that you actually feel like you’re in the middle of the Atacama Desert. And I mean, you really are. The silence at night is almost unsettling if you’re used to city noise, but in the best possible way.

What really sets this place apart is how they’ve designed everything around the landscape rather than fighting it. The rooms (well, they’re more like suites honestly) have these massive windows that frame the desert and distant volcanoes like living paintings. I spent way too much time just sitting there with my morning coffee, watching the light change on the salt flats in the distance. The all-inclusive thing actually works here too – and I’m usually skeptical about that setup. But their guides know the desert like the back of their hand, and the excursions feel genuinely curated rather than touristy. We did a sunrise trip to the geysers that left at some ungodly hour, but our guide had thermoses of proper coffee and knew exactly where to position us for the best views without the crowds from other hotels.

The food surprised me too. I mean, you’re in the middle of nowhere, so I wasn’t expecting much beyond basic hotel fare. But they’re doing this interesting thing where they incorporate local ingredients and techniques – there’s this quinoa dish they serve that I’m still thinking about months later. The spa is worth mentioning because after a day of hiking around Moon Valley or scrambling over rocks at the Three Marias, those treatment rooms with views of the Andes are pretty much perfect. One small thing that bugged me – the WiFi can be spotty, but honestly, that might be a feature rather than a bug depending on why you’re there. The staff really knows their stuff about the region’s history and ecology, which matters when you’re somewhere this remote and special. It’s expensive, sure, but for what you get – the location, the expertise, the sheer otherworldliness of waking up in the driest desert on earth – it feels worth it.