The Atacama region covers the entire northern third of Chile, is the driest place known on earth, and has a “you better keep hydrated” impressive average elevation of 13,000 feet. There are parts of the desert where rain has never been recorded since humans have been recording such things. Not only are there volcanoes, flamingos, salt flats, and turquoise lagoons pretty much everywhere you look, but there’s also wonderfully creepy abandoned mines, ALMA (the world’s most powerful ground-based astronomical project in existence – it probes stars and galaxies and directly images the formation of planets), and a list a mile long by the locals of UFO sitings. A little something for everyone.
Editor’s note: These spots are all taken directly from travelstoke®, a new app from Matador that connects you with fellow travelers and locals, and helps you build trip itineraries with spots that integrate seamlessly into Google Maps and Uber. Download the app to add any of the spots below directly to your future trips.