Tierra Atacama, Chile, Lodge Evaluation

Might you see your self driving a motorbike 11 miles to a salt-crusted turquoise lagoon, the place you’ll be able to wade in and float? Would a five-hour horseback experience to the Salt Mountains sate your longing for journey, or do you like a extra contemplative pursuit, resembling a high-altitude stroll with a view of a rainbow-colored valley?

These are the sorts of questions my information, Paola Silva, requested me once I checked in to the newly reopened Tierra Atacama, a 28-room lodge in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert. The property simply obtained a year-long, $20-million refresh, which revamped the spa and restaurant and added a lounge and wine cellar. The renovation additionally introduced 4 new suites, every created by combining two smaller rooms, with luxurious options like hanging indoor fuel fireplaces and personal outside plunge swimming pools. Company staying in these suites are additionally arrange with a devoted information.

Silva walked me by way of all of the choices earlier than gently steering me towards actions that will excite me with out giving me a coronary heart assault. No to scrambling up the slippery rocks of Las Cornices path; sure to a scenic stroll at 11,400 ft to soak in eight hot-spring swimming pools, some with waterfalls. I additionally walked on lunar-like land formations at Valle de la Luna and ascended to a staggering 14,170 ft to see El Tatio, one of many highest and largest geysers on the earth.

Tierra Atacama—a part of the Baillie Lodge assortment, which incorporates Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge, in British Columbia, and Southern Ocean Lodge, on Kangaroo Island, Australia—works with native communities, whereas limiting visitor influence on the folks and the ecosystem.

This similar ethos comes by way of when eating on the resort, as government chef Andrés Donoso Cancino works virtually completely with Chilean producers and grows fruits within the resort’s backyard, together with pomegranates and figs. After a lunch of creamy pea soup and yellowtail—caught on Chile’s west coast about 60 miles from the resort and pan-fried with parsley, beet greens, and quinoa—I loved a refreshing cactus ice cream.

Although I spent my days adventuring off website, I returned every night to creature comforts like a humidifier in my room that eased the dryness from the desert air and tea made with rica rica, a Chilean medicinal herb that may assist fight altitude illness. 

Each evening at turndown, I additionally discovered a do-it-yourself present on my mattress—a handcrafted doll, mushy hand-knit slippers—all made by Indigenous Chilean craftspeople. I discovered that, after sky-high experiences, it was the little issues like these that saved me grounded. 

Right here, my full evaluation of Tierra Atacama.

The Rooms

Tierra Atacama has 28 rooms, together with 22 customary rooms in two configurations, Oriente Rooms with personal terraces overlooking the Licancabur Volcano and the Andes mountain vary, and barely bigger Poniente Rooms with Cordillera de la Sal (Salt Mountains) views. There are additionally 4 suites (through the resort renovations, two standard-size visitor rooms have been mixed to kind every suite); and bi-level flats with three beds and three baths. I stayed in one of many brand-new 753-square-foot suites, with a king-size mattress, a big lounge with a gray steel suspended fuel fire, modular couch, and multipurpose desk/aspect board, plus an outsized toilet with a double sink, soaking tub, and indoor-outdoor rain showers. I might activate underfloor heating all through the room, with a wall-mounted thermostat (which I did, to remain cozy at evening).

The colours of my room, and the opposite rooms all through the resort, mirrored the Atacama Desert, with the mattress body and desk harking back to the blue-black Atacama evening sky and tile flooring evoking desert sands. All of the furnishings was created by Chilean artisans, and a number of the art work has a really becoming constellations theme. The tub merchandise have been created by a neighborhood firm, Vera Cosmetica, and use elements from across the area, together with rica rica.

Absolutely the promoting level of all of the suites, and a number of the customary rooms, are the floor-to-ceiling home windows with views straight onto Licancabur Volcano and Cerro Toco within the Andes. Not one of the rooms have TVs; they’re pointless with all the character and evening stars on show. My suite additionally had a big outside patio with unheated plunge pool—a bit too chilly for me to partake in—plus a day mattress and chairs to get pleasure from that gorgeous volcano view through the daylight, when the roof masking retracts, or at evening, once I began up the fuel fire to remain comfy within the chilly desert air.

Meals and Drink

There’s just one restaurant at Tierra Atacama, the place I dined day-after-day for breakfast, lunch through the two-hour break between half-day excursions, and dinner. Breakfast is a quite primary buffet (plus the prospect to order sizzling dishes), however the kitchen actually shines with the multicourse lunches and dinners, when chef Donoso Cancino and his crew whip up new three-course menus every day with meat, seafood/fish, and vegetarian choices. Although the menu repeats every week (and is totally revamped twice a 12 months), most friends—together with myself—keep a mean of 4 nights, so that you’ll by no means see the identical dish twice. Cancino additionally swaps out gadgets on a second’s discover if, say, the rockfish is brisker that day than the ocean bass.

My favorites included the creamy soup duo of avocado and corn served with flowers of the season and the marinated northern oysters with seaweed, a spicy, citrusy acevichada sauce, and yellow pepper. I particularly liked that native herbs and vegetation seem in desserts at the very least as soon as a day; my high choose was chañar ice cream, created from the fruit of the deciduous chañar tree, with an addictive caramel taste. And although most days I got here again to the resort for lunch in between my morning and afternoon excursions, I acquired a particular deal with throughout my full-day tour to the geysers: a picnic lunch unfold, full with Chilean wine, arrange by my information at a distant, scenic spot alongside the route crammed with grazing, enjoying vicuñas, the lovely cousins to alpacas.

I additionally acquired to strive a Hearth Evening, held twice every week, the place the kitchen employees put together meats outside on the big grill. I extremely advocate the lamb, sourced from the encompassing space, served together with scrumptious regionally cultivated couscous.

There’s a bar off the foyer space, the place I’d extremely advocate sampling the aforementioned rica rica bitter. Whereas it stays open late, it’s possible you’ll be the one one consuming, as a result of that is an early-to-bed, early-to-rise form of place. The strong wine listing leans towards primarily Chilean with a contact of Argentinian and Uruguayan, with quite a few decisions accessible by the glass; many nights I opted for Chile’s sweetheart wine, Carménère.

Actions and Experiences

Every tour is rated by the resort as simple, medium, or tough. Most final for a half-day and a few, just like the Tatio Geysers and Piedras Rojas (Purple Stones), for a full day. And you’ll select your mode of transport—strolling, biking, or horseback driving—relying on the exercise and your consolation degree.

I liked every of my excursions as a result of they confirmed off the various surroundings of the Atacama, and gave me glimpses of the three mountain ranges that encompass it: the Andes, the Salt, and the Domeyko. The guides do an exceptional job of matching you up with the actions that meet your pursuits and health degree. In addition they program the excursions that will help you higher acclimate to the altitude over the times of your go to, which is why I began with the 7,556-foot salt flats and ended with the 14,000-plus-foot geysers.

In case your go to coincides with clear sufficient skies for the stargazing tour (i.e., no full moon), it’s really a can’t-miss occasion. You drive about quarter-hour out into the desert at 9 p.m. and gaze on the sky for about two hours utilizing high-powered telescopes. The resort plans to open an on-site observatory this summer time to make it even simpler to see the attractive constellations with out leaving the property.

Since most friends head out early on excursions, often at 8 or 9 a.m., and go to mattress proper after dinner (or stargazing), there aren’t many different actions supplied on-site. However I did strive a yoga class, held day-after-day at 6:30 p.m., which targeted on light stretching and was completely stress-free after my go-go-go day.

The Spa

The 5,380-square-foot Uma Spa makes for a beautiful place to chill out after an energetic day of adventuring. I began with a signature Ckapín Therapeutic massage in one of many three remedy rooms (two for people and one for {couples}), a mix deep therapeutic massage/leisure remedy that soothed my sore muscle tissue and stimulated my senses with an aromatherapy combination of almond, lavender, and orange oils. Then I moved on to the heated indoor pool earlier than a spell within the sauna and steam room and, lastly, the outside sizzling tub. (I skipped the outside pool, because it’s not heated and is healthier suited to hotter daytime temperatures.) I had the place to myself, since many individuals have been consuming dinner, however I’d additionally advocate visiting within the daytime, when you’ve got wondrous views onto the volcano.

The spa additionally features a newly constructed gymnasium with all of the bells and whistles: treadmills, bikes, and ellipticals, plus free weights and weight machines. It’s a beautiful area, and I’m a little bit of a gymhound, but it surely was onerous to suit it in across the different ample actions, until you’ll be able to handle to evoke your self at an early hour.

Household-friendly Choices

Tierra Atacama solely permits children 10 and over, and through my go to, there have been a handful of households with children within the tween and teenage age vary. Truthfully, the excursions could both be too boring or overly difficult for youthful children, and on the resort itself, there is no such thing as a children’ membership, child-focused actions, or massive swimming pool. That stated, the guides really useful some actions that is perhaps extra attention-grabbing but nonetheless appropriate for energetic youngsters, together with strolling the Rainbow Valley, biking the Satan’s Gorge, or taking place the sand dunes at Las Cornices.

For essentially the most comfy keep, the 2 flats are greatest fitted to vacationers with youngsters; along with the first bed room, there are two bedrooms every with two single beds, together with a number of bogs and additional area for a household to unfold out with out getting in every others’ means. Suites might additionally work with cots added to the room.

Accessibility and Sustainability

A photo voltaic panel/battery hybrid system provides 60 p.c of Tierra Atacama’s power wants. In addition they have their very own water system with a reverse osmosis plant to deal with it, so that they don’t want to make use of water from San Pedro de Atacama’s provide. The resort doesn’t use single-use plastics in visitor rooms, and each visitor will get a Tierra-branded water bottle within the room—a fantastic present to take residence with you—with refillable water stations by the bar close to the foyer. Filtered water in glass canisters is positioned by the mattress throughout turndown every evening.

Tierra Atacama complies with the Chilean legislation relating to ease of use for wheelchair customers. They’ve a room tailored for wheelchair customers that has wider doorways, each to enter the room and the toilet; a decrease sink, for simpler entry; seize bars and a pulldown chair within the bathe; and an adjustable mirror that may be moved to adapt the angle for wheelchair customers. There are ramps in all places inside the principle constructing, and the Oriente rooms are on floor degree for simpler entry. There’s additionally a specifically tailored toilet close to the foyer with a large door and seize bars.

That stated, Tierra Atacama doesn’t have autos which are tailored for wheelchair customers (no carry on the again, for instance), nor a carry to assist folks out and in of the swimming pools or jacuzzi, so friends do should be considerably cell or journey with individuals who may also help them. I personally wouldn’t advocate the resort and even the vacation spot itself for folks with mobility points, until they need to spend a major period of time on the resort, since a lot of the excursions—that are the meat-and-potatoes of an Atacama go to—aren’t accessible.

Location

To get to the Atacama Desert, friends can fly into El Loa Airport (CJC) in Calama, Chile. Two-hour direct flights from Arturo Merino Benitez Airport (SCL) in Santiago go away many instances a day on LATAM Airways, Sky Airline, and JetSMART. From Calama, it’s a few 90-minute drive on barren stretches of highway (punctuated by lunar landscapes and luxurious rock formations because the highway progresses) to San Pedro de Atacama; the resort supplies free transfers. As soon as on the resort, friends have entry to guides and transport to see all of the sights.

Tierra Atacama is positioned on the outskirts of San Pedro de Atacama, an historic city with dusty streets and adobe buildings. It makes a effective cease to buy jewellery, particularly items created with native lapis lazuli stone, and to strive a refreshing ice cream at Heladería Babalú created from native elements like chañar and ayrampo.

Methods to Get the Most Worth Out of Your Keep

Tierra Atacama is a part of Priceless by Mastercard, which presents unique advantages to Mastercard cardholders. Nightly charges at Tierra Atacama, together with all meals, drinks, and excursions, begin from $1,870 within the off-season.