What's on in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile through the year

Peak crowds — Southern summer holidays, Summer holidays in Chile

• Season

  Southern summer holidays

  1 Jan – 28 FebSchool holidaysCrowdedBook early

  Chile, Argentina and Brazil are all on holiday and the village of two thousand takes several times that. Tours book out a day ahead and the main street is a queue of minibuses at dawn.

• Season

  Altiplanic winter

  1 Jan – 15 Mar · usuallyMonsoonRiskClosures

  Storms build over the altiplano through the southern summer, heaviest in February, and the roads up to El Tatio and the high lagoons are shut for a day or two when they do. The desert briefly flowers.

• Nature

  Stargazing and the moon

  1 Jan – 31 DecDark-sky seasonBook early

  The observatory tours run on the dark half of the lunar month and simply do not go for the week around a full moon. Book the new moon if the sky is why you came.

Peak crowds — Southern summer holidays, Summer holidays in Chile

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Southern summer holidays (1 Jan – 28 Feb), Altiplanic winter (1 Jan – 15 Mar (usually)), Stargazing and the moon (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Busy — Summer holidays in Chile, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Altiplanic winter (1 Jan – 15 Mar (usually)), Stargazing and the moon (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Season

  Clear months

  1 Apr – 15 Dec · usuallyDry season

  Once the altiplano storms stop, the sky is reliably empty from April to December and the high roads all open. Nights at El Tatio and on the lagoon runs are far below freezing before dawn.

Still on: Stargazing and the moon (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Stargazing and the moon (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Clear months (1 Apr – 15 Dec (usually))

Busy — Winter holidays in Chile

• Festival

  Fiesta de San Pedro y San Pablo

  29 JunMajor festival

  The village's patron saint is carried round the adobe church on 29 June with Atacameno dances, a rodeo and three days of mass and brass. It is the one week the town is for itself. Source ↗

Still on: Stargazing and the moon (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Clear months (1 Apr – 15 Dec (usually))

Busy — Winter holidays in Chile, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Stargazing and the moon (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Clear months (1 Apr – 15 Dec (usually))

Quiet — one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Stargazing and the moon (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Clear months (1 Apr – 15 Dec (usually))

Peak crowds — Fiestas Patrias, Fiestas Patrias recess in Chile

• Holiday

  Fiestas Patrias

  18–19 SepNational holidayCrowdedBook early

  Chile's national days are a four-day holiday and the desert is one of the places Santiago flies to for them. Flights into Calama and the better hotels go early. Source ↗

Still on: Stargazing and the moon (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Clear months (1 Apr – 15 Dec (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Stargazing and the moon (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Clear months (1 Apr – 15 Dec (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in November.

Still on: Stargazing and the moon (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Clear months (1 Apr – 15 Dec (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Chile, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Stargazing and the moon (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Clear months (1 Apr – 15 Dec (usually))