Trips Chile

14 Day Atacama Twin Volcanoes
- Lazcar (5590m) and Licancabur (5920m)

The Atacama Desert, one of the wonders of the world, is a rainless plateau in South America, covering a 966 km strip of land on the Pacific coast of South America, west of the Andes mountains. It is the driest desert in the world with spectacular landscapes of many ochre colours ranging from white, yellow to orange or red. A visit to the Atacama, whether to climb a volcano, see hot water sprouting geysers, admire the flamingoes in the salt lake, visit native villages or forts set among the oases is almost a must for the visitor to Chile.

Licancabur Volcano located 60 kilometers to the east of San Pedro de Atacama is 5916m above sea level. From its top, part of San Pedro de Atacama oasis, the Atacama salt lick and the Green Lagoon (Laguna Verde) in Bolivia is visible. In its crater a lake covered with ice exists during the winter season. Lascar is the most active volcano of the northern Chilean Andes.

Our 12 Day Atacama Twin Volcanoes itinerary is a two-in-one visit to the two most significant volcanoes in Chile. On top of that, we get to visit a geyser field at 3550m a.s.l where great pillars of water and steam rise up to some 10m high.

Highlights

Much of the desert extends up into the Andes mountains and is very high in elevation. Unlike more familiar deserts, like the Sahara desert in Africa, the Atacama is actually a pretty cold place, with average daily temperatures ranging between 0°C and 25°C. In the higher elevations when precipitation comes to Atacama snow falls instead of rain. There are small patches of unmelted snow in the mountain tops where it never gets warm enough to melt the snow. On this trek, be prepared to experience high altitude and extreme cold temperatures.