The Itinerary
As seen on Lonely Planet:
How about a few days sleeping under star-crazy skies and following condor shadows along desert mountaintops? You’ll need plenty of food, water and extra gas.
Start with a surfboard in Iquique to sample the swells of Playa Cavancha and Playa Huaiquique, then jump off a cliff on a tandem paragliding jaunt. With the adrenaline rush in place, slow things down with a contemplative wander around nitrate ghost towns Santa Laura and Humberstone, where you can poke around the creepy abandoned buildings of these once-flourishing spots and explore their crumbling grandeur.
Head north, with an optional stop in the isolated coastal town of Pisagua, once a bustling nitrate-era port, then a penal colony and today a nearly abandoned and strangely lyrical place where algae gatherers work alongside the ruins of busted mansions; don’t miss the windswept old cemetery sloping forlorn on a nearby hill.
Cheer up in sunny Arica, where plenty of surf awaits below the dramatic headland of El Morro and remarkably preserved Chinchorro mummies lie in situ at the small museum just below the hill. From the coast, head inland via Hwy 11, passing geoglyphs, colonial chapels and misty mountain hamlets, to the pretty Andean village of Putre. Take a day or two here to catch your breath, literally, as Putre sits at a dizzying altitude of 3530m.
Once you’ve adjusted to the height, head to nearby Parque Nacional Lauca, where you can take in the perfect cone of Volcán Parinacota, wander through the tiny Aymara village with the same name and walk around the lovely Lago Chungará, all paired with awesome wildlife sightings in this Unesco Biosphere Reserve.
Further south, the remote Reserva Nacional Las Vicuñas shelters thousands of these flighty creatures and few interlopers to spook them, so go easy. Heading south on tough terrain past dazzling landscapes and through the isolated salt flat of Monumento Natural Salar de Surire with its three flamingo species (best seen between December and April), your reward for an adventurous ride is reaching the ultra-removed Parque Nacional Volcán Isluga.