Cycling in San Pedro de Atacama : A 40km ride

After a gorgeous 3-day tour in the wilderness of the Andes and crossing an isolated border outpost, it was time for us to leave Bolivia (for which we were guests for only couple of weeks) and start our adventure in Chile.

Our first stop in Chile was San Pedro de Atacama. Even though both Uyuni and Atacama are very well-known destinations for their deserts, salt flats and several other unmissable natural attractions, the two towns are not similar at all. In some way, you could say that Uyuni feels more like an abandoned outpost in the far-west whereas San Pedro tends more toward the status of “oasis”. Quite a gap, uh!

Like any other tourist town (that’s what San Pedro really is), there are plenty of places to visit but the top attraction is the Moon Valley – a huge area of Canyons, weird rock formations and breathtaking landscapes easily reachable from town. Instead of paying for a tour and sitting in a van for most of the day, we opted for exploring the area with our bicycles, gently offered by our AirBnB host.

Here a map of the 40km loop we took:

Essential things to know

• The whole journey can take you anything from 5 to 7 hours
• You need to be in a good shape to do what we did – its 40km!
• Bring sunglasse212s, cream, hats, lots of water – you’re going to be cycling in the desert
• Make sure to bring along a repair kit for bicycles
• Having maps.me is useful but not necessary
• Try to travel in a small group, going alone in such extreme environment can be dangerous
• Bring enough cash to pay the 3000PEC/pp entrance fee to Moon Valley
• Leave early in the morning to avoid the warmest hours

Step-by-step Itinerary

As mentioned above, the itinerary we took was a loop of 40km (yep, no additional zero in there) on a mix of dirt and asphalt roads and mostly hilly (even though a good part of it was flat). We couldn’t stress this enough but if you’d really fancy doing it, make sure you’ve got some bike experience under your belt: it will be gorgeous but won’t be easy.

1. San Pedro de Atacama to Mirador Piedra del Coyote (7.1km)
This is without any doubt the most difficult part of the itinerary. Not long after leaving town on the road to Calama, you’ll slowly start to climb up a long steep road which will bring you to the most famous lookout point of the whole area – the Mirador Piedra del Coyote. En-route you’ll pass next to Mars Valley (Valle de Marte) and Death Valley (Valle de la Muerte), both of which can be visited as you cycle past them.

2. Piedra del Coyote to Cruce LLano de la Paciencia (8.2km)
Like everything, if you have to climb up then you’ll eventually have to go down as well! Once at the Piedra del Coyote, the road to reach the first junction of the day is an easy sloping down asphalt highway where you can relax your muscles. You’ll really realise how much slope up you’ve climbed earlier!!! At the junction (Cruce Llano de la Paciencia) you’ll have to take a left and follow the sign that says “Peine” and “Valle de la Luna!”.

3. Cruce LLano de la Paciencia to Tres Marias (6.7km)
After turning left, you’ll see in front of you a long long dirt road in the desert (pretty obvious) that you’ll have to cycle on for a good while. Unfortunately, the road is not really well-kept but at least is all flat and it’s not so hard. Along this road you’ll see several side trails on the sides (not so evident) until at some point you’ll get at a very obvious junction at which you’ll have to take another left toward the mountains. This used to be the OLD entrance to the Moon Valley and at the moment can only be accessed by bicycle or foot; all cars will be stopped at a control point at the base of the mountains. From the control point, a steep slope up with some breathtaking views over the desert will bring you to the Tres Marias rock formation, which is supposedly the “last” stop on the official circuit.

4. Tres Marias to Duna Mayor (4.7km)
Seeing the Tres Marias is pretty quick but on the way to your next stop at Duna Mayor (other beautiful sand dunes) there are many other stops you can take. From old salt mines to lookout points, on this segment of the route you’ll be hopping up and down the bicycle quite a few times. The road is not so difficult and its mostly made up of small hills.

5. Duna Mayor to Caverna de Sal (2km)
At Duna Mayor you can leave your bike at the parking lot of the place and climb up the three dunes all around there. After the visit getting back on the road will be a pleasure: no need to pedal! The dirt road that you had to climb up after the control point, now goes down until reaching the bottom of the moon valley where you’ll find another control point and the famous salt cave.

6. Caverna de Sal to Park Entrance (5km)
Even though the salt cave (Caverna de Sal) might not be awesome by itself (make sure to bring along a torch), it’s definitely worth a stop just so you can walk the amazing path leading there. Weird rock formations, strange salt edges, a tiny alley inside a canyon – you won’t regret the short 10-min walk to the cave. Once back, you’ll have to climb up the last slope of the day from which you’ll go back down on a much better road than before until you reach the official entrance to Moon Valley. Here you’ll have to pay the ticket (if you were not asked before) of 3000 CLP (4.5$, 3.9€).

7. Park Entrance to San Pedro de Atacama (6km)
The last and most rewarding part of the route is pretty easy as its all flat asphalt road until the town center. For directions, just follow all signs that say “San Pedro de Atacama” and you’ll get back without any problems. Be aware that on the sides of this road there are many side trails (possibly shortcuts) that even though might look faster they’re not! Just stay on the main road for the fastest way home!

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