The Atacama Desert region of northern Chile has gone from a barely known tourism region to one of the hotspots in South America, especially for upscale adventure travelers. It’s a common stop for people coming overland from Bolivia or Argentina and it’s a stop on many tours that explore the whole skinny country of Chile from top to bottom.

Because of this, the area is blessed with one of the best clusters of top-end hotels in the country, all within a few miles of each other. Alto Atacama feels like it’s all alone in the countryside, but in fact is just a short bike or van ride from the center of San Pedro.

This is the place to come if you want to get the desert experience all the time, not just on excursions. In a narrow valley with rocky cliffs on both sides, rooms and public areas have views that glow in various shades of brown, red, and orange as the sun changes position. With only native plants on site and little to mar the views from the low-slung buildings, it’s like a desert camp with air-con.

While Alto Atacama offers the expected adventure excursions to the usual spots, handled with a high level of service and comfortable transportation, here the guests who are more interested in hanging out than hiking enjoy the facilities. There’s an excellent full-blown spa on site and a series of swimming pools with different temperatures. The warm and cozy lounge with fireplace is an easy place to sink into for hours.

The hotel also gets high marks for its cuisine, which emphasizes locally sourced ingredients when possible. Good Chilean wines accompany meals best described as “Mediterranean meets the Andes” and the chef really shines with dessert selections.

Rooms here are a cut above most others in San Pedro, larger and with a private furnished terrace for each. The biggest ones also have an outdoor shower.

See more photos and our full detailed review of Alto Atacama Hotel and Spa in Chile.

A few years back when I researched this wine tours near Santiago story, I had the pleasure of visiting Undurraga winery in the Maipo Valley of Chile. We tasted great wine, we blended some ourselves, and topped it off with some excellent pairings at lunch.

Wines of Chile, the organization responsible for promoting Chilean wine, had its big annual gala last weekend and in the awards they dubbed Viña Undurraga “Winery of the Year.”

Wines of Chile commended Undurraga for “its labor in the development of viti-viniculture, its role in the market of sparkling wine in Chile and its achievements in rejuvenating the category through the ‘Sparkling People’ campaign.”

I doubt we’ll suddenly see a flood of Chilean sparkling wine on our shelves in North America because of this award, but if you want to sample this vineyard’s excellent still wines, look for the labels Aliwen, Altazor, or Founder’s Collection. See more about Undurraga at their website. (In English and Spanish.)

Thinking of visiting the country? See our luxury travel in Chile section to see reviews of the best hotels and interesting upscale tours.

When you travel to South America, you’re generally not going for the same reasons you would go to Europe or the Caribbean. Often the highlights are nature, adventure, landscapes, and unique experiences.

So you sign up with a top tour company like explora in Chile because you know they can provide what others can’t: a unique experience. In this environment, luxury means doing what nobody else is doing, getting an exclusive experience you’re not sharing with busloads of others.

I just completed a Travesia tour with explora that started in Potosi, Bolivia. It spent a few days around the massive Salar de Uyuni salt flat, proceeded to several stunning lagoons, and explored the desert before crossing the border to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. Once there, we spent a few days taking advantage of all the excursions at Explora Atacama adventure lodge.

In the photo at the top, you’ll see where we spent the night one night. We were sleeping on cots, in down sleeping bags, in modified shipping containers. No, this would not be considered luxury in the Departures magazine or Robb Report definition of the word, but take a look at that view! When we looked out at night or day, we could not see another soul. No other vehicles, no lights besides the million stars. We had it all to ourselves for as far as we could see.

The photo below is from one of many dramatic lunch stops along the way. This was in the middle of the Salar de Uyuni, after we had just hiked an island with nobody else on it. We dined on great food while taking in the view, feeling like we owned the place.

I’ll be doing a detailed feature story on this trip next month, after I whittle down my hundreds of photos. Meanwhile see more on the explora Travesias on their site.

As I mentioned a while back on a round-up of new hotels in Latin America, Chile has really been coming on strong with new luxury hotels and resorts. It’s a testament to their strong economy and rising tourism numbers.

One of the most impressive developments has been the opening of Tierra Patagonia, sister hotel to the Tierra Atacama one that’s been open a few years. This low-slung resort is modest from a distance and blends into the landscape. Looking out from it to Torres del Paine though, you get a spectacular view.

Our contributor Jill Robinson is an experienced, you might even say jaded travel writer. She’s posted stories and hotel reviews from all over the world. But this place left her speechless.

“Wow…” I’d comment and then trail off.

“Pretty?” he’d ask, with a smirk, knowing what I was thinking. To be honest, that’s about the only vocabulary you need.

There are only 40 rooms in this luxury retreat and prices start at two grand per person for a three-day stay. This is one of those resorts where “luxury” means pampering and spa treatments, but it also means exclusivity and a view you’ll never forget. And naturally you’ll enjoy good Chilean wine with your expertly prepared meals.

See our full review of Tierra Patagonia hotel.

If you’ve been reading the glossy travel magazines lately, you’ve probably seen them gushing about a new hotel in Chile called Singular Patagonia. It’s the kind of place the art directors at these magazines drool over: a repurposed old factory in a stunning setting, with a great chef at the helm.

Just one problem: most of these editors and art directors are in New York City and they have never set foot in the place. Neither have any of their writers. So they’re basically revamping the press release and passing it off as a recommendation.

Here at Luxury Latin America, we don’t work like that. We’ve got a man on the scene who can swoop in and see if the hype is justified. Our man in Chile is Jimmy Langman, who is also editor of the Patagon Journal. He has written guidebooks and done articles for Newsweek, plus he lives in Chile. So he knows what he’s talking about.

Here’s what he had to say about this strange and beautiful hotel:

The Singular is built on and around a 1915 cold storage plant for processing and exporting frozen meat and wool. After more than 70 years, the Frigorifo Puerto Bories plant closed down and in 1996 was declared a national monument. As Nicolas Sahli, the executive director and owner of The Singular tells it, this plant played an integral part in boosting the sheep farming industry in the region that his own great-grandfather several generations ago, Jose Menendez, helped establish. This industry now informs the cultural identity of Patagonia almost as much as the towering peaks in Torres del Paine.

The public rooms are in the historic sections, including the old slaughterhouse, but the rooms are in a new wing built just for the hotel. So hopefully you won’t be haunted by any ghost sheep.

See our full review here of Singular Patagonia in Chile.