Explora en Atacama - All Inclusive

OK. True - elephants don’t exist in South America but the one I’m going to now talk about does and it’s this ! This place just doesn’t represent good value for money. Period. And for context, I’m comparing similarly priced accommodations and experiences in the likes of Botswana, Tanzania and Namibia. For balance, there is lots to like about the Explora Atacama ‘adventure’. The natural environment excites, it rages, it inspires, it triggers intense emotions, it’s beautiful, it’s threatening. Some of the Guides are outstanding and up there with the very best, world wide. Mauritz is standout. He’s authentic, professional and passionate ; he knows how to tell a story and he has bags of emotional intelligence. He ‘connects’ with ease. Javier too is excellent and a ‘natural’. Paola is full of energy, she’s focused and she cares. Wonderful. Others were little more than rehe****d reciters of information ; friendly yes and very willing to take photos. But somehow disconnected. The Observatory - with its new telescope in the past couple of months, the second biggest in the region - is terrific. An absolute highlight ! Claudio as a Server is role model material. Boy, does that guy enthuse ! He’s ’on it’ and he delivers everything with confidence, an opinion and a massive smile. He energises. Stefanny is a delight, as is Diego Sepulveda. Both just want to be there for you and they don’t miss an opportunity to assist ! The massage was terrific. The rooms do their job and the beds are super comfortable. San Pedro de Atacama has character. The transfer from Calama airport was a fun experience ( safe too ! ) with an infectiously happy driver. Maureen is a very straightforward Manager who knows the ropes and you feel confident in her efforts to keep everything ticking. And so to the less than impressive, less than expected… The reservation process was tortuous. Seriously bad. Unresponsive. Ambiguous. Phone lines cutting out. Answer phones only in Spanish. Slow, slow, slow. And in all the confusion and ‘back & forthing’, I’m still waiting ( 36 hours after my email asking for this error to be corrected ) for a response to my payment being taken twice. The ‘Lodge’ is big with a 100 guest capacity. It has style and it’s comfortable but its size equates to there being a lack of intimacy and connection. There were less than 40 guests on this occasion. A likely positive in terms of ‘attention’ but there was a sense of rattling around in big open spaces. The inner courtyard ( around which are the bedrooms ) is ‘just’ a space. It feels soulless. There’s a lack of character generally. And the 4 pools are weirdly disconnected - and disconnecting. They feel unloved. Foodwise, it’s wrong to complain when so many in this world go starving. But as others have mentioned, the menu was somewhat repetitive and ( contrary to the marketing ), a little in creative, particularly at breakfast and lunch. Dinner was good but the over-presence of puréed vegetables wasn’t to my palette - ba

Stayed here after staying in Explora Rapa Nui. The lodge is beautiful and huge. The food is even more amazing than RN (thanks to chef Martinez from Central!!!) and service is just as amazing. Guides seems a notch above RN, and the rooms are just as nice/comfortable. The onsite observatory is a big bonus, as is the ability to go horseback riding. Unfortunately 15 min before shuttle back to Calama the manager (Maria) decide to accuse me of stealing their blanket (ridiculous..nothing special and one of them would fill my entire suitcase). People who pay this price point to stay is not likely to be the type who would do this. I offered her to open my suitcase to check, but she declined......This totally soured the otherwise wonderful stay I had, and thus the less than 5 star rating. I hope she won't pull this to other clients as the place is otherwise magical and I would recommend to any of my travelling friends.

very disappointed at my experience there as was totally awed by Atacama Desert as a whole. There was no back up plans for when excursions got cancelled and the follow up service as well as send off was bad.

Spent 4 nights here. The Atacama Desert is a totally amazing place to visit with an incredible range of landscapes, altitudes, etc. Our travel agent added this to the itinerary. I had no knowledge of this area and not a huge interest in going but just went with it. It was definitely way more than I imagined and super cool to see. The Explora guides were great, the excursions were interesting and fun and in small to very small groups. Food was excellent! Liked having breakfast buffet and lunch buffet as well as menu options. To-go snacks before hikes were limited to nuts and whole fruit and maybe some dried fruit, which is fine and certainly healthier than a bunch of processed bars and candies but sort of limited. Some excursions offered snacks like brownies and fresh fruit and drinks during of after the excursion. Bar is nice but underutilized. Dining area nice, especially the outdoor dining area. Rooms are fine. Pillows good. Lots of room for laying out your gear on benches. Kind of a small bathroom with a tub shower but it was okay. Only suggestions for improvement: (1) have a detailed listing of all the excursions with info about distance, elevation gain, drive time, location, etc. and a difficulty rating for each (like they offer in Explora Torres del Paine). There is understandably a focus on what type of geography and which part of the desert you'll see, but too little focus on how tough of a hike you're going to get. Some of our group wanted tougher or just longer hikes. Also a little more advance planning of excursions could be sketched out as a plan so someone can achieve the high altitude hikes by the last day if they want to. One of our group was disappointed he couldn't do a super high altitude difficult hike the last day because he hadn't been working his way up in altitude already the past 2-3 days. And booking the star gazing should be done more in advance because only 8 people can do it each night in Span and 8 in English. It was a must do!

Truly a great trip and a must go on your bucket list. The hotel is just great with great staff, food and wonderful organisation. The trips around were simply stunning. You are walking in the most amazing scenery; mountains, desert and rivers. So much to do. we went for four nights which was perfect. Apart from hikes; horse riding, bike rides.

The rooms are outdated. Lots of windows in the room but poor ventilation. The hotel outdoor is not well maintained. The stairs to the lobby is broken, the area in front of the rooms are not cleaned. The food is amazing and the service in the restaurant is incredible. The guide we have had was also amazing. Administration staff and management is mediocre in many aspects from the reservation moment until our departure. Im sure there are better choices in the area for what you pay.

Disappointing stay at Explora. After staying at multiple similarly priced resorts on our recent trip of South America, including other Explora properties we were underwhelmed by the service and staff at Explora Atacama. Food was decent but it was a surprise every day if we would get what we ordered, drinks never refilled and a lot of repetition in meals during our only 3 night stay. The pool was nice, but no attendants, empty towel bins and limited drink options at the bar. The cars taken on excursions were not the “luxury” vehicles I would have expected at the price point, also poor compared to the vehicles found at other properties. Rooms are small, walls thin and amenities lacking. We prefer to stay at smaller resorts as we get to know the staff better, meet management and enjoy a more intimate setting. After 3 days I still don’t know who’s in charge. I would have wished for friendlier staff, more presence from management and more attention to detail.

The expeditions were great, though a few took a couple of hours to get to. The roads to some were little more than rutted, two lane dirt/tarmac roads. The food was excellent and the portions were just right. Accomodations were excellent as well: comfotable bed, pillows and linens. I thought the bath sheets were a little too much, but fluffy all the same. Expeditions were chosen a day or two ahead and could always be changed the afternoon before. The bike ride to the lagoon was quite bumpy, so if notn used to that sort of biking, I would avoid it. Horseback ride was slow and easy, as it should be, The hike to the thermal pools was our favorite and worth the time. The geyser trip was fun but if you’ve seen geysers before, maybe a little disappointing. The flamingos were the highlight of the day. The town of San Pedro de Atacama is a dusty tourist trap, but worth wandering into because it’s there. All the stores sold the same things. We didn’t tryt any of the restaurants but others said they were good, but why pay when you’ve already paid for meals at the resort? The staff was great and all spoke English, though their explanations of the menu offerings left one wondering exactly what one was going to get in the end.

We were a multigenerational group of almost 20 individuals spanning ages 1.5 to late 60s. From the moment we landed in Calama, we knew we were in good hands. Chris and his incomparable team made us and our normal, sometimes not the greatest behaved band of eight kids feel welcome, directed us towards the perfect activities, and gave us all opportunities to connect and recharge over great food and drink. This Explora team strikes an incredible balance between impeccable service and making you truly feel like part of a larger team dedicated to preserving the beautiful Atacama landscapes. The guides directed us towards great activities, accommodated changes for our big group, and were knowledgeable and extraordinarily kind. They hiked hand in hand with five year old for hours, encouraging them on as an apprentice guide. Another biked with five and seven year olds patiently. They tried to temper the kids’ dream of catching a lizard, but on the last day it was like they planned a tiny snake to slide right into some eager open hands. The snake was safely returned to his habitat. The horse rides were wonderful. The hikes beautiful. The hot springs! We loved every moment, and it was all the more extraordinary because reservations were a nightmare. One of us had been to Torres del Paine prior and swore it’d be worth it, but otherwise we would’ve cancelled. We were a big group, and so it was chaotic, but basically various configurations of us spent weeks messaging prior asking if we could pay, if our reservation was cancelled, if we should send our flights. We had to chase everything down, including flight and hotel recommendations in Santiago; we should have been advised to fly out later our last day. We were honestly really surprised anyone was there to pick us up at all in Calama. Turns out, we were on a turnover day and there is someone stationed at the airport. I’m not super sure they had us on their list, but they were all tremendously welcoming and professional.. When we arrived at the lodge, despite their best efforts, we got the sense they had no idea what our group configuration was, and possibly how many people we were. It’s a testament to Chris’ management that it wasn’t a complete sXXt show. One family was in non connecting rooms for one night with young kids, despite having requested over and over with reservations. In the end it was all fine, but the disconnect was astounding. We’d love to return to Atacama and experience other properties, but not if we have to deal with the same reservations. It was truly that bad.