Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight...

Chile's Atacama Desert has everything for the amateur and professional stargazer alike. This really is one of the best places for stargazing.

Milky Way, Chile

Stargazing in the Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert in Chile is considered one of the best places on earth for stargazing! It’s an amateur and professional astronomer’s dream. This desert has some of the clearest skies, it’s bone dry and unpolluted. No wonder some of the largest and most advanced observatories are found here.

High, dry and with no light pollution, you will find yourself in a stargazing hotspot in good company. Lose yourself in space and time as you gaze up at the vast and forever brilliant starry skies that shimmer over the Atacama Desert.

If you’re a complete novice and don’t know your Southern Cross from Orion, fear not - most, if not all of the lodges in the area offer star-watching sessions hosted by knowledgeable astronomer-guides. Some tours include a visit to an observatory where you can learn how to ‘read the sky’ through a series of powerful telescopes. You’ll never look at the night sky in the same way again, there’s a whole galaxy and more out there waiting to be discovered. Throughout the tour you will gather some great little gems of information that will stick with you forever.

Witness a sky full of stars
Try your hand at photographing the night sky
Visit a top-notch observatory
Peer into outer space through powerful telescopes
Marvel at the Milky Way

The Milky Way

Made up of over 200 billion stars, the Milky Way is easily visible with the naked eye in the Atacama Desert.

Stargazing at your hotel

You are of course welcome to sit in the grounds of your lodge and watch the night sky by yourself without having to venture far. Your guides will give you tips on where to find a nice quiet, dark spot where you can set up your tripod and, with a little patience, get some great shots of the spectacular night sky. There are some handy astronomy apps you can download on your phone too which will help you identify the different planets and constellations.

Atacama desert holidays. Catape Valley, Atacama, Chile

What else is on offer in the Atacama Desert?

Other sites to visit in the Atacama Desert include Moon Valley, the Tatio Geysers, vast salt flats, Laguna Chaxa, Yerbas Buenas petroglyphs, Rainbow Valley, the altiplano lakes. In San Pedro, pop into the Meteorite Museum where you get up close to displays of meteorites, all of which were found in the Atacama Desert. You can even touch some of the rocks, which are said to be over 4 billion years old. Take to four legs and explore on horseback or if you’re more comfortable on two wheels, then mountain bike tours in the area can also be arranged.

Best time to go

Certainly, a time NOT to go would be during a full moon. Whilst the full moon shining down on a desert landscape will make for excellent images, it’s not great for stargazing as it washes out the night sky. Do check the lunar calendar to see if there are any eclipses that you would like to observe. Also, see our general guide to when to go to Chile.