A Night at the Refreshed Tierra Atacama is Like Sleeping on the Moon

The lunar-like landscape of the Andes is the setting for this revamped luxury lodge. 

The Licancabur volcano is, to the Indigenous Lican Antay people of northern Chile, a sacred deity known as “the people’s mountain”. To the all-inclusive adventure lodge Tierra Atacama, located in the village of San Pedro de Atacama, it’s a lodestar on the eastern horizon – and the lodge’s living motif. Floor-to-ceiling lobby windows frame Licancabur like a piece of landscape art. At the Uma Spa, the pool reflects its sharp cone. And when you wake at dawn in one of the 28 suites, you’ll see the sun crest behind the volcano’s 5916-metre peak.

Tierra reopened in April after a year-long $31-million renovation by Baillie Lodges, which acquired the property in 2022. The original architect and interior designer returned for the refurb, working with more than 40 local artists to create pieces inspired by the Sun and the Moon – both of which seem to shine brighter here. Wood panels in the rooms soothe desert-worn eyes, while amenities – practical (a humidifier) and tactile (a soft Andean blanket) – ease you into the harsh environment.

How harsh? The Atacama is the driest non-polar desert on Earth. Yet, in the verdant oasis of San Pedro, there’s a sprinkling of life. Regional cactus fruits and desert herbs, such as the minty- and rosemary-like rica-rica, as delicious in a sorbet as in a frothy pisco sour, are a highlight of Tierra’s three-course feasts. Between meals, small groups set off on guided excursions to high-altitude geyser fields, desiccated river valleys, flamingo-filled lagoons, blindingly white salt flats and swimming ponds so saline you float like a rubber ducky.

“Guests are actually not in the hotel most of the time,” admits general manager María José Galleguillos. And that’s kind of the point. Tierra is a comfortable launching pad, where you can plot grand adventures to places higher, drier and more alien than most of us have ever experienced. As one guest put it, “It’s like a safari lodge on the Moon.”

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