Best Atacama Desert Day Trips & Things to Do

Roughly 600 miles long, the Atacama Desert is considered on of the driest non-polar locations in the world, hosting salt lakes, rocky terrain, and lava deposits. Because its climate and terrain is comparable to Mars, NASA has utilized the region to test equipment for Mars's missions. Despite its rough features, over 500 species of plants have adapted to this region. During rainy periods in fall, the desert "flowers" as fields of plants blossom rapidly.