[mmaimcal] Explora en Atacama

[Simon Radford]

Explora en Atacama, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

The newest venture by the folks who built the equally excessive Explora
en Patagonia promises to rejuvenate both body and soul. Location helps.
Arriving in Chile's arid and silent Atacama Desert, some 8,000 feet
above sea level, most will feel their muscles relaxing from moment one.
And then there are the activities: predawn excursions to the El Tatio
geysers for a dip in the thermal baths, predusk horseback rides through
salt mines and crumbling colonial ruins, night hikes along the aptly
named Valley of the Moon. More hacienda than hotel, the property is
spacious and airy, with unbroken vistas in every direction. A
guest-to-staff ratio of nearly one to one -- and that's when the hotel
is fully booked -- can sometimes lead to too much attention. Escape the
doting in one of the four vanishing edge pools, each with a separate spa
annex. When to go: November, when desert nights turn temperate and
before the peak summer crush. Which room to book: All are exceptional,
but only Nos. 40 through 46 face the snowcapped Licancabur volcano
(56-55-851-110, fax -115; doubles, $1,296 for 3 nights and $2,441 for 7
nights, all-inclusive).

--- Conde Nast Traveler (US), May 1999
(http://www.epicurious.com)