San Pedro de Atacama, a small town in northern Chile, sits at over 2,400 meters above sea level in one of the most geologically diverse areas on Earth. Surrounded by volcanoes, salt flats, geysers, and ancient lava flows, it has long served as a gateway to the Atacama Desert. This desert is the driest non-polar place in the world, where some weather stations have never recorded rainfall. Yet life thrives here with llamas grazing in high-altitude wetlands and flamingos feeding in pastel-colored lagoons just outside town.

At night, San Pedro transforms into one of the best places in the world to view the stars. The region’s high altitude, clear skies, and lack of light pollution make it ideal for stargazing. International astronomers have set up massive telescopes here, and travelers can join night tours that include telescopic views of Saturn’s rings, the Moon’s craters, and galaxies far beyond the Milky Way. During the day, the landscape feels equally otherworldly, so much so visitors often say the Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley) looks more like Mars than Earth.