Nayara Alto Atacama, Atacama Desert

Location superb Staff outstanding, and always willing to go the extra mile. Allowed late check out for no additional fee to use the facilities, so long as we exited our room Offered trips were excellent and value for money

We had a wonderful stay at Nayara Alto Atacama and would absolutely recommend it to other families traveling to the Atacama desert. The setting of the resort is gorgeous and the staff were extremely friendly- especially Rosario, who helped us during our stay. We had two Catarpe rooms for our family of five and they were fine but not particularly luxurious. I have no doubt this is a luxury, 5 star hotel for being in the middle of the Atacama desert but don’t expect Four Seasons, Aman, etc. level accommodations and service. We hired our own guide and driver for excursions instead of using the hotel guides because we didn’t like the idea of having to wait until we arrived to figure out our itinerary. We contacted the hotel many months in advance of our trip asking whether we could book our excursions in advance. They absolutely refused to let us do so. Moreover, they told us that all excursions were group excursions and that we could not arrange for private excursions even though we were willing to pay more for private. Since we were traveling with our three kids, we knew we needed the flexibility of not being part of a group and being able to do the excursions at the times of our choosing rather than the set days and times the hotel offered them. Also, many of the excursions have minimum age requirements- these requirements are set by the hotel and felt very arbitrary. Since our youngest was 10 years old we would not have been able to do many of the excursions we wanted to do if we hadn’t hired our own guide from outside the resort. We had a wonderful time on all of the excursions we did (Hot springs, Céjar lagoon, moon valley, mars valley, altiplanic lagoons, etc.) including our 10 year old and it would have been a shame to miss out on those because of an arbitrary age requirement! The only thing that we did through the hotel was the star gazing experience which was amazing but it’s a good example of why we think it’s problematic to have to wait until you arrive at the hotel to book anything. We signed up for the star gazing as soon as we arrived and the first date that was available was on night 3 of our 4 night stay. When we arrived for the experience on night 3, we were told that it was too windy to use the telescope so the excursion was being canceled. While the weather conditions are certainly not within the hotel’s control, we were upset that it left us with only our final night to be able to do the experience. By that point the next night was fully booked and we were offered the latest time slot which was way too late for our kids. Thankfully Rosario came to our rescue but it was unnecessarily stressful when one of the biggest reasons we came to the Atacama desert was to have a guided star gazing experience! Speaking of which, for a location that prides itself on star gazing, we found it strange that there are very few spots around the property to stargaze at night. All of the rooms have private terraces but they are covered terraces so you

Our stay at Nayara Atacama was exceptional and we look forward to returning. The food was presented beautifully, ingredients were excellent, as good as any top restaurant anywhere. Their parrillada/bbq was elegant yet informal. The staff is knowledgeable, professional as well as warm and friendly. We selected the all inclusive plan and we had a driver and guide for the 6 days we were there. Our guide Fabiola Jara I recommend very highly. She listened to our interests and developed a flexible itinerary that allowed us to learn, challenge ourselves in the best ways and end each day with renewed spirit, joy and excitement about the day to come. Gerardo our driver was thoughtful, experienced and careful which is key as you go off the beat and path. Our experience at Nayara Atacama will be a highlight in our travel adventures forever.