Chile

Cycling through the Moon Valley

The most famous attraction of San Pedro

Petr Liška
Wrote 2409 articles and follows him / her 241 travelers
Cycling through the Moon Valley
Inserted: 26.03.2016
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Cycling around San Pedro de Atacama IV: the fourth and final stage of this long but very nice cycling trip is the Valle de la Luna, a landscape of red salt-covered cemeteries. At times, it looks like it's snowing recently. Apart from the rock formations, you will find a large scenic sand dune here

Huge sand dune

After you ride the hill, leave your bikes a little behind a right-angled bend and take a short walk towards a huge sand dune rising high above the Moon Valley.

Huge sand dune
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View of the Moon Valley

Climbing the sand is strenuous, but the views are worth it. After a while, you have the whole Moon Valley in the palm of your hand. The horizon is still dominated by the Altiplalan volcanoes on the border with Bolivia

View of the Moon Valley
Author: © gigaplaces.com

The peaks of the salt mountains

Directly below you is the road they came for. There are interesting rock formations all around, which would take you all day to see if you would like to explore the wall in a little more detail.

The peaks of the salt mountains
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Continuation of the sand ridge

The view to the south along the ridge of the dunes is no longer so interesting. The landscape is much less rugged in this direction.

Continuation of the sand ridge
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Las Tres Marias

A trip to the dune will take you about an hour. After returning to the bikes, continue on the gravel road. Just a short distance away is probably the most famous local rock formation – Three Mary.

Las Tres Marias
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Moon or Mars?

Although the valley is called Moon, but who knows if it's not more like the landscape on Mars.

Moon or Mars?
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Walk by the pyramid

Another possible nice place where it pays to leave the bikes by the road and go a little in the „inland“ is in places where the road has another steeper turn.

Walk by the pyramid
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Licancabur on the horizon

Apart from the eroded ridges, you will always see the mighty peak of Licancabur, the most iconic volcano by far.

Licancabur on the horizon
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Rock fortress

After only a few minutes you have a nice view of the „rock fortress“ which the road goes around.

Rock fortress
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Entry into another sector

After returning to the bikes, you only need to drive a few hundred meters and a view opens up to the next interesting part of the Moon Valley.

Entry into another sector
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In the Moon Valley

In front of you is now the last kilometer drive in the „core“ of the Moon Valley, so for the last time enjoy the sugared surrounding landscape, rock formations and castles around.

In the Moon Valley
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Another sand dune

South of this long plain is another huge sand dune – you can simply make countless alternative trips here.

Another sand dune
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Rock formations

You will really enjoy the rock formations on this ride.

Rock formations
Author: © gigaplaces.com

Return to San Pedro de Atacama

After leaving the Moon Valley you will find even more than 12km drive back to San Pedro de Atacama. So you get there after that long day, quite done. The return journey itself is no longer so interesting, although the views of the Atacam countryside are still very nice.

Return to San Pedro de Atacama
Author: © gigaplaces.com
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