We’ve long had a review of Chilean tour company Explora’s Salto Chico Lodge in the Torres del Paine national park, also listed sometimes as Explora Patagonia. It’s got one of the most fantastic mountain views in the world and is on the doorstep of one of the planet’s greatest hiking destinations.

You can cover a lot more ground on horseback than by foot, however, and Explora has formally launched a new equestrian tour program. One of our contributors was fortunate enough to be one of the first to experience it. Here’s one half day in a four-day program:

Before lunch my fate is an 11-mile ride. We begin by crossing the deep Chinas River, climbing up and down hillsides and passing the Laguna Jara Cruce.

Our destination is the remote Estancia 2 de Enero, a farm belonging to the owner of Explora. We stop here for mate (a typical herbal tea favored by gauchos on both the Argentinian and Chilean sides of the border) before cantering back along the high ridges following the scent of lunch. Guanacos (Patagonian llamas) disperse as we pass, some jumping over a fence in perfect line.

The rides cross pampas to icebergs and glaciers, alpine lakes and rivers, with expert guides customizing the itinerary depending on the skill and experience of the riders. As with the equestrian excursions the company runs in the Atacama desert, guests are assured of getting the best equipment and healthy horses used to carrying strangers.

See our full feature story (with gorgeous photos) on touring Patagonia by horseback with Explora.

With the opening of new Palacio Astoreca, luxury travelers have another luxury hotel option in Chile’s port city near several wine-producing regions.

Valparaiso has long been a popular destination for those traveling in Chile, but it’s also been lacking in high-end places to spend the night. Astoreca changes all that and let’s hope it’s the start of a trend. (The city could certainly use an influx of visitors to fund the work that needs to be done to keep the remaining aging funiculars running.)

You’ve probably read about this hotel already if you subscribe to any glossy travel magazines. The thing is, they were probably going off a press release and had never stepped inside. We’ve got a person on the scene in Chile, however, so our detailed review is from someone who has stayed there and eaten there.

The “stayed” part is all about the building: a restored 1920′s fairy tale house that looks like it came out of a children’s book drawing. Perched on a hillside—as most of the houses are here—it has terrific views over the rooftops to the harbor.

This is no frumpy B&B, however, as some original elements like parquet floors are combined with sleek interiors worthy of a design magazine shoot.

The “eaten” part is what is bringing curious diners from Santiago in: the chef’s previous posting was at Spain’s famous El Bulli restaurant. How’s that for pedigree? Our reviewer found the presentation and cuisine lived up to the hype.

The pool here is inside, giving our long-running featured Valparaiso hotel Casa Higueras an edge in the outdoor lounging category, but this one does have an outdoor hot tub.

See our full review of Palacio Astoreca boutique hotel in Chile.

There’s a lot of exotic mystery packed into the title of this post, but it refers to a luxury adventure tour story we just posted on an Explora Travesia tour from Bolivia to Chile. It goes across the Uyuni Salt Flat, through the desert visiting lagoons, and ends up in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. (You can do it in a reverse direction as well.)

For a jaded traveler like me who is hard to surprise, this adventure tour was a pure delight from when the driver picked me up in Potosi until I reluctantly checked out of Explora Atacama hotel after three days at the end. All the details were done right, the food was terrific, and Explora’s series of “shelters” along the way provided middle-of-nowhere seclusion with hot showers and wine. This was “glamping” defined: in a sleeping bag on a cot, but with feather pillows, nice toiletries, and a million stars with no light pollution.

It’s getting harder to get away from it all, to get off the grid and leave the constant nagging of communication requests behind, but this Travesia tour takes you into raw nature where there’s no ringing cell phone and no status updates. Just the beauty of sky, earth, water, and animals. You see every star in the sky, not just the ones bright enough to poke through the light pollution. The prominent noises are the wind and your own heartbeat.

Then when you get back to civilization at Explora Atacama, you spend your days on more adventures, biking to a salt lagoon, hiking through desert canyons, soaking in hot springs, riding horses, or climbing mountains. Sitting around watching TV it is not.

Call it “soft adventure” or “luxury adventure,” but I managed to eat well and also lose a couple pounds on this trip. Nice.

See our full tour story on Crossing the Salt Flat and Deserts into Chile.

We’ve got a story going up soon on my Travesia trip with explora that ended up in the Atacama Desert of Chile. If you haven’t been to San Pedro de Atacama, it’s hard to believe how crazy popular this area is with adventure travelers. Despite the high cost to get there and stay there, the tourists seem to outnumber the locals in this little oasis.

I’ve updated our article on adventure excursions in Atacama, posting a few new photos and adding some information about some of the most popular tours.

The updates included taking out the “driest place on Earth” description you so often see in the media because after floods and mudslides ripped through the area last year and swept away a lot of homes, it seems stupid to keep calling it that. The floods swept away the infrastructure at the Puritama Hot Springs, but they had just opened back up all fresh and new the week I visited this past November.

At any of the luxury Atacama Chile hotels we’ve profiled, you’ll have your pick from a menu of excursions going out each day. At a small place like Awasi, that may be a handful. At a larger place like Explora Atacama, it may be a blackboard with two dozen options on it. We’ve listed some of the most common tours you’ll find.

One other change that came about from the rains is that a lot of salt came to the surface in Moon Valley, giving the place a whole different look with white crystals on top the ground. The photo to the right is  from a hike through the area after walking through a sandy desert area that was totally brown. No, my companions are not walking on snow—it’s salt.

See the full story here: Adventure Excursions in the Atacama Desert.

Looking to visit the region soon? Check flight prices on LAN.

Explora Atacama hotel, also known as Hotel de Larache, opened in the early 1990s and was a pioneer in northern Chile. They were the first ones to really put the area on the tourism map and their all-inclusive adventure lodge concept has become the norm others in the area have had to adopt when they arrived on the scene.

Tourism exploded in the region over the past decade and we’ve reviewed several excellent competitors: Awasi, Tierra Atacama, and Alto Atacama. Explora has kept up with the challenges though, renovating here, adding new excursions there, and making major upgrades to what’s offered in the restaurant. So while it’s not the fanciest in town, especially when it comes to the rooms, the 50-room lodge still draws more upscale adventure travelers than anyone else.

I’ve just updated our review of Explora Atacama after spending three nights there toward the end of 2012. The original reviewer described the public areas as “REI meets Ikea” and I still like that description. Well-traveled people donning apparel from Patagonia, Columbia, and ExOfficio are often perched on the sleek furniture sipping a Chilean Carmenere or a pisco cocktail. It is kind of like a luxury summer camp for adults, days spent hiking or biking, nights spent conversing and eating well. For each excursion, whether it’s soaking at the recently reopened Puritama Hot Springs or visiting the Tatio Geyser, the guide will have good food and drinks at the ready set out on a tablecloth.

Explora Atacama also has a few attributes few other lodges can equal. Despite its sizable acreage, it’s only a 10-minute walk from the town square. The bevy of horses in the in-house stables has no match elsewhere and the menu of excursions here is more extensive every day than at any of the other lodges. (Depending on occupancy, there are typically 12-18 guides on site, some doing two excursions per day.)

And the last attribute is, you can stay here before or after a Travesia overland tour through the Bolivian desert and salt flat (Salar de Uyuni). I did just that in November and will have a feature story up on it soon.

See our updated review of Explora Atacama Hotel de Larache.