Chile · Atacama Desert

Cumbres San Pedro de Atacama

A sixty-room hotel on the edge of town: adobe rooms with terraces, three pools, and a spa after the desert day.

The hotel The rooms

The setting

On the edge of the oasis

Cumbres sits about 2 km (1.2 mi) from the plaza of San Pedro de Atacama, on the Sequitor side, at roughly 2,500 m (8,200 ft). The hotel is spread out in the manner of an old ayllu: low adobe volumes, stone colonnades, and planted courtyards that keep the desert at a slight distance.

That distance from Caracoles Street is the point. The centre is five minutes by the hotel shuttle, or about twenty on foot. Evenings here are quieter than in town; dinner on the street means planning the last van, or eating at the hotel.

After the ayllu

Adobe rooms around the pools

The hotel takes its plan from the ancestral ayllus of the Atacama — low buildings, courtyards and shade — then stretches it to sixty rooms. Stone columns, timber and ochre plaster do most of the work. The main house holds the restaurant and the bars; the rooms run out in wings; the spa and the pools sit to one side, in the garden.

It is a larger machine than the private lodges in town. The trade is space: a terrace on every room, three outdoor pools, and a spa you can use without leaving the grounds.

Cumbres San Pedro de Atacama pool terrace

Sixty rooms

Superior rooms and Junior Suites

There are sixty rooms of about 52–54 m² (560–580 sq ft): Superior Doubles, Superior Twins, Junior Suites, and a few connecting pairs. All have a private terrace, an outdoor shower as well as the bathroom, air conditioning and heating, and a king or twins.

The rooms are similar in size. What changes is the bed and, in the Junior Suites, the sitting space. Ask for a room toward the spa if you would rather not walk the length of the garden.

Cumbres San Pedro de Atacama Superior room

After the desert

Pools, the Kunza Spa, and dinner

The hotel runs its own excursions by 4WD — salt flats, high lagoons, geysers — on a shared or private basis, booked at the desk. They are not assigned to the room the way they are at a private-guide lodge.

Back at the hotel there are three outdoor pools, two jacuzzis, and the Kunza Spa: treatment rooms, sauna, steam, a gym. Treatments cost extra. Dinner is in the restaurant; some weekends there is a barbecue. Confirm what a given rate includes — room only, or meals and excursions — with the hotel.

Location

About 2 km (1.2 mi) from the plaza, on the Sequitor side of San Pedro de Atacama, at roughly 2,500 m (8,200 ft). This is a hotel on the edge of town, not a room on Caracoles Street.

A complimentary shuttle runs to the centre on a hotel schedule; bikes are also available. Valle de la Luna is a short drive. Plan the last van if you want dinner in town.

The stay

Sixty rooms. Rates are sold as room only or as programmes that may include meals, an open bar, excursions and airport transfers. The pools, jacuzzis and spa facilities are on the grounds; treatments are extra.

Confirm inclusions, the shuttle timetable and any child policy with the hotel rather than treating this as a tariff.

Getting there

Flights from Santiago to Calama take about two hours. The road to San Pedro is roughly an hour. The hotel often runs a semi-private airport transfer on a set schedule; a private transfer or a rental car is the other way in.

The first day is the altitude. Keep it shorter, drink water, and leave El Tatio and the high lagoons for later in the stay.

Who it suits

Travellers who want space, a spa and the option to book excursions rather than a private guide for the whole stay. Couples who would rather eat and swim at the hotel than walk into town every evening.

If you want one guide and one vehicle from the first morning, and to sleep inside the village, Awasi Atacama is the closer model. Cumbres works when the hotel itself — the pools, the spa, the quiet of the garden — is part of the day.