If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD207.36), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Whether or not it’s a second home you’re looking for, the friendly folks at Our Habitas Atacama will make sure that’s what you get. Set atop the arid plateaus of Chile’s Atacama Desert, the hotel group’s adobe-dressed outpost has landed among the stars; rooms (some overlooking Licancabur volcano), built with clay from the desert and filled with furnishings hand-carved by local artisans, are set amid a labyrinth of leafy walkways; a spoiling wellness centre focuses on aligning chakras; the restaurant serves clay-oven-cooked Chilean fare under cloudless skies; and personalised programming ensures you’re set to see the best of this region’s sprawling sights. Settle in, you’ll soon forget there’s a world outside these walls.
Smith Extra
Get this when you book through us:
A bottle of Chilean wine; GoldSmiths will also get early check-in (1pm, subject to availability) and a 10% discount on wellness treatments, food and drink
Noon, but flexible until 1pm (after which a charge applies) subject to availability. Check-in is at 3pm, but flexible from 11am, subject to availability.
Prices
Double rooms from £166.05 ($207). Please note the hotel charges an additional room tax of 19% per room per night on check-out.
More details
Rates usually include a buffet and à la carte breakfast, as well as personalised weekly itineraries and all activities.
Also
One of the rooms can be adapted for those with limited mobility, however the steep terrain that surrounds Our Habitas Atacama isn’t particularly suitable for wheelchair-users.
At the hotel
Wellness centre, free-to-use bikes (on a first come, first served basis), native herb garden, outdoor cinema, and free WiFi in rooms and communal spaces. In rooms: minibar, free bottled water, and organic bath products.
Our favourite rooms
All of the rooms have a traditional touch: tapestries and handicrafts are spun by local artisans and adobe walls give off a rustic red hue reminiscent of your arid surroundings. But if you’re hoping to bag panoramic desertscapes from bed, we’d suggest Adventurer Room 113, which has an expansive window overlooking the Licancabur volcano. If it’s extra space you’re after, the Trekker Villa has a private furnished patio, outdoor shower and living area.
Poolside
Set just beyond a looming red-pepper tree, the outdoor pool (open from 8am to 6pm) is surrounded by desert sands and thatched cabanas.
Spa
Everything at the spa revolves around Atacaman tradition, including a temazcal tent – aligned with the Lincanbur volcano for extra energy – where hot-stone healing rituals are held. Holistic treatments await in the two low-lit freestanding treatment rooms, and just behind the bamboo gates there’s a jungle gym, with equipment built entirely from the desert’s fallen tree branches.
Packing tips
Bring binoculars and download a stargazing app for constellation spotting.
Also
All of the hotel’s organic bath products are handmade by an independent female-run brand in one of Atacama’s neighbouring villages.
Children
Welcome, though there’s no kids’ club or crèche to keep little Smiths entertained.
Sustainability efforts
Earth-kind measures are at the root of all Our Habitas hotels, and this Chilean outpost is certainly no exception. The group’s Rise initiative supports local communities by collecting donations on behalf of every guest who stays at the hotel, helping to fund hospitality training and create job opportunities for the region’s residents. During construction, the protection of surrounding trees was paramount (and an equal number of trees were planted for every plank of wood used); all handicrafts and furnishings in the hotel have been made by local artisans to help support independent Chilean businesses; food is sourced from the onsite herb garden or bought from local suppliers; single-use plastics are banned; energy and water usage is minimised and waste is recycled where possible, and the hotel are working with local organisations to start conservation projects.
Dine alfresco under a shower of clear-as-day (night?) stars.
Dress Code
Think out-of-office Indiana Jones.
Hotel restaurant
Chilean cuisine, of course, takes centre stage at the hotel’s Almas restaurant, but head chef Guillermo Rivera takes his traditions seriously, meaning food is not only sourced and picked locally – even salt is picked from the surrounding bushes – but everything is barbecued according to the country’s signature asado style in the alfresco kitchen. Start your day off with pancakes drowned in manjar milk pudding, a Latin American speciality; and come evening expect wood-fired and chargrilled eats (chicken glazed in honey from Atacaman bees, clay-cooked lamb and creamy aligot). If you’re seeking some socialising, once a week the restaurant is set-up around one communal table for ‘family’ dinners.
Hotel bar
Locally brewed beers, plenty of Pisco-based concoctions and a long list of sommelier-selected wines fill the menu and many a glass at Almas’ bar. During breakfast, smoothies are available to grab-and-go.
Last orders
Breakfast is dished up between 7am and 11am; lunch is from 1pm to 5pm, and dinner is 6pm till 10.30pm (when the bar also stops pouring).
Our Habitas Atacama is in northeastern Chile’s Atacama Desert, a few minutes’ walk from San Pedro de Atacama.
Planes
The hotel is an hours’ drive from Calama’s El Loa Airport; you’ll need to fly into Santiago International Airport to catch a two-hour connecting flight to Calama. Private transfers between Calama and the hotel can be arranged on request.
Automobiles
You shouldn’t need a car to explore as the hotel will happily cart you around, but if you do decide to rent a set of wheels, there’s free parking on-site.
Worth getting out of bed for
There’s no need to fret about seeing it all, staff at Our Habitas Atacama have you covered with free personalised programmes that’ll give you a little taste of everything. Head out into the arid plateaus that surround you and hike, bike, mountaineer, sandboard or paraglide over and around the Pukará de Quitor and Mirador de Kari; stop off at the El Valle de la Luna – which translates as the Valley of the Moon – for scenic sunsets; or visit the famed stratovolcano, Licancabur, which sits on the Bolivian border. If you’d rather give your feet a rest, start with a yoga, guided meditation or sound bath session at sunrise before spending the day casting ceramics with local artisans, learning medicinal plant practices and taking part in Atacama’s culture with a traditional hot-stone healing ritual in the temazcal tent. And there are 300 cloudless nights a year here, so come evening you’re pretty much guaranteed a front-row stargazing seat that’ll make you see why Atacama is a leading name in astro-tourism as clearly as you see those twinkles in the firmament.
Local restaurants
Stop by Adobe, a five-minute drive down Domingo Atienza, for award-winning Chilean fare (quesadillas, ceviche, freshly fried fish dosed in a garlic-infused pil-pil sauce) served under the open roof for idyllic post-dinner star-spotting.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this desert lodge that feels like a family home in the Atacama Desert and unpacked their hiking boots and Technicolor textiles, a full account of their rejuvenating break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Our Habitas Atacama in Chile…
You may be miles from home (and a lot of other things) at Our Habitas Atacama, but that doesn’t matter to the staff here, for you’ll be warmly greeted as if you’ve pitched up for your once-yearly family get together… Sprouting from a surprisingly lush patch in the world’s driest desert, this clay-cast village follows a similar suit to the rest of the hotel group’s equally impressive homes; days are set to the beat of your own drum, but you’re encouraged to engage with local culture – whether that be sampling Chilean specialities at the restaurant, spinning ceramics with local artists or cleansing your aura in the temazcal tent. And, this may be a restful refuge, but there are still plenty of thrills for adventure-seekers to chase (hiking, biking, sandboarding and paragliding are all regularly scheduled events in the Atacama Desert). Otherwise, we’d suggest just leaning into the escapism that encompasses this secluded spot, starting days with yoga at sunrise and closing with a stargazing session amidst its lunar-like landscape, or simply making yourself at home.
