Tour through the Andes – Argentina and Chile is a bus drive through different contrasts and extremes that will make you think about how incredible Mother Nature is for creating such unique works of art. From Salta in Argentina to the desert oasis town of San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, this bus will take you all the way across the breathtaking Andes.
Your journey will start from the North of Argentina, in Salta, where you will take a bus. Eventually, you will see how it starts leaving this bustling colonial town behind and notice the vegetation around you starts to become dense with hanging palms and bromeliads, the flora soon sparse throughout the place as you emerge into the mountainous valley around the village of Purmamarca, where the rock faces are colored in golden, ocher, and russet.
From here the road opens up to the precipitous Lipan Slope, which is located around a series of hairpin turns that take you zigzagging into the clouds, as the abundant vegetation is replaced by spiky cacti. At this point you better start driving slower in order to peer through the mist, although it’s relieving that you can’t see the steep drop that falls away from the roadside, right next to your car’s window.
After some time, the thick clouds disperse to reveal what they have been hiding: the arid salt flats of the Salar Grande, which shines white and cracked as far as the eye can see. Under the clear sky, you will see that the landscape looks bleak and bright as you’re getting closer to the Argentinean border. From here you will notice how an astonishing lunar landscape unfolds as you continue into Chile.
Sapphire blue and emerald green lagoons wait for you on this other side, surrounded with rings of salt, and backdropped by Andean peaks with their distinctive rusty colors and volcanoes covered with snow. Then, as you descend into the Atacama Desert in the shadow of the incredible Licancabur volcano, the oasis of San Pedro de Atacama calls you to explore it.
Also, there’s another way of completing this journey: by taking a train known as “Tren a las Nubes” (Train to the Clouds), a perfect name for a railway crossing these perfect, contrasting landscapes. The train leaves Salta three times a week for the Argentina-Chile border. The track crosses a variety of bridges, switchbacks, and viaducts in order to reach the terminus at La Polvorilla. If you have time you can take a four-hour drive from Salta to Cachi, where you can see a 16th-century church and hike through a landscape that looks as if it was taken out of a cowboy movie.
When to go?
For the best views and experience, this trip is best undertaken during Salta’s dry season, from April to October.
How to find it?
There are flights to Salta from Buenos Aires. The Nueva Chevallier Bus Company runs a daily service from the capital.
Planning
The Pullman bus service from Salta to San Pedro de Atacama currently runs on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, departing at 7:00 a.m., but keep in mind that timetables may change. The trip lasts 12 hours. If you want a leisurely ride, you can arrange the trip privately and spend a night along the way. Since you will be literally going up into the clouds, be prepared for altitude sickness, so it won’t ruin your trip.
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