What days of the year can I make this excursion?
The tour has confirmed departures all days of the week, the whole year.
3 days group tour to the Uyuni Salt Flat and Colored Lagoons, beginning in Uyuni and ending in San Pedro de Atacama. It includes basic accommodation and meals.
You are checking a tour that begins in Uyuni. If you want to see tours that begin in San Pedro de Atacama, click here.
*If you have doubts about the proceedings to the enter to the country due to the pandemic, you can check the requirements in this website.
Start: Day 1 at 10:15 am at your hotel in Uyuni.
End: Day 3 at 1:00 pm at the bus station or downtown San Pedro de Atacama (this end time could be modified due to weather conditions or force majeure reasons, which is why we recommend you leaving San Pedro de Atacama the day after the end date of the tour).
Day 1: We will pick you up at your accommodation in our 4x4 vehicle for 6 people, in which we will make all the tour during the three days. We will leave towards the Uyuni Salt Flat, passing before by the train cemetery and the town of Colchani, where we will be able to buy craftwork. After that, once we are on the salt flat, we will visit the Salt Museum, and we will travel to the Incahuasi Island, a limestone formation in the center of the salt flat. Here we will be able to walk by a track, see the giant cactus and have a privileged view of the salt flat from the top of the hill. We will end the day seeing the sunset inside the salt flat, so then we can go to a refuge in Colcha K, where we will have dinner and rest for the next day.
Day 2: During the morning, we will leave Colcha K and keep going by the road that goes through the Chiguana Salt Flat. We will visit the Cañapa, Hedionda, Honda and Chiarkota lagoons, before enter to the Siloli Desert. We will end the day in the Colorada Lagoon, nesting center of more than 30,000 flamingos. We will spend the night in the refuge Huayllajara.
Day 3: We will leave early in the morning to see the sunrise in the Sol de Mañana Geysers, intermittent sources of water that rise at a 90°C temperature, and where we will have the chance of taking pictures using the contrasts of the first lights and the steam. In addition, we will visit the Polques Hot Springs (time to bathe, according to the times of the tour), the Salvador Dalí Desert, and the Verde Lagoon and Blanca Lagoon, located in the foothills of the Licancabur Volcano. Later, we will get to the border to make the corresponding procedures, after what we will continue to San Pedro de Atacama, place where we will end the tour.
Altiplanic winter
During the months from January to April, it takes places the weather phenomenon known as the Altiplanic winter, rain season in the central Andes. Due to this, is is possible that the described itinerary is modified as follows:
Force majeure changes
This is a reference itinerary. The route to get to the salt flat, the places visited, the indicated order and the end time will always be subject to changes according to weather conditions, demonstration and accommodation availability. The confirmation of the itinerary is obtained in the briefing that the local supplier gives a day before the beginning of the activity, which does not mean that it can be modified due to the happening of some of the situations already mentioned once the tour has already begun.
The tour has confirmed departures all days of the week, the whole year.
Due to high demand of the activity, we recommend to book at least a week in advance.
In case you come from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay or Peru, you should present only your ID card or some equivalent document. If you come from some country which Chile has no diplomatic relations, you should show a Visitor Visa with the previous authorization of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On the other hand, if you are a foreign person resident in Chile, besides your passport, you should take your ID card, so you can prove your residence before the police authorities in customs.
The activity is made on a minibus in Chile and on a 4x4 (Toyota Land Cruiser) in Bolivia in a group of 6 people each.
Each passenger may carry at most one bag or suitcase of 15 kilos which will go above the 4x4. Because it will be outside the vehicle, it is recommended to take a bag rather than a suitcase, as suitcases are fragile and could be exposed to potential damage. If you do choose to bring a suitcase, it must a maximum size of a cabin suitcase (55 x 40 x 20 cm).
We recommend to bring at least Bs. 500 per person for expenses not included in the tour, as entrances to parks, border tax, access to toilets and water.
The meals are varied, and includes tea, coffee, bread, cookies and fruit for breakfast, and meat, pasta, rice, soup and vegetables for lunch and dinner. In case you need a vegetarian menu, you must mark your preference during the booking process.
The mirror effect occurs when there is water on the salt flat. This happens only in rainy periods (January and February) and after them (March).
The tour is made in the Altiplano area, at an altitude above 9,842.5 ft. Just with this, our body is submitted to an abnormal stress, which can cause discomfort and risk in people with the conditions mentioned in the restriction’s section. Moreover, the tour does not have health insurance and there are not health centers to treat this kind of situations in a proper manner on the route.
Yes, for the 3-day tour from Uyuni to San Pedro de Atacama we have available options with accommodations in hostels and hotels. You can check both options and book directly through the website.
If you want to do the tour from Uyuni to San Pedro de Atacama with superior accommodation please check our tour Superior Uyuni Salt Flat Tour (3 days).
Colcha K refugio has doble, triple and quadruple rooms (according to availability), with private bathroom and hot shower, while Huayllajara refugio has shared rooms of maximum 6 people, shared bathroom without shower (Bs. 20 for hot shower, payment in cash). Non has internet included.