The Atacama Desert is full of beautiful landscape to see that it can be hard to decide which tours to do while visiting. After going to some of the top spots in the Atacama Desert, I decided to switch it up and try sandboarding in Chile!
Sandboarding had been on my bucket list for awhile so I was determined to go while I was in San Pedro. Most of the tours I had been on had minimal hiking and weren’t too physical. I also wanted to switch it up to do something more adventurous.
The Atacama Desert is a great place for sandboarding in Chile since there are some pretty large dunes around. And a plus of being at a higher altitude is that it cools down once the sun sets.
Where to Go
Valle de la Muerte or Death Valley is the main place that people go sandboarding in the Atacama Desert. It’s also known as Valle de Marte or Mars Valley. It’s located just a couple miles from the town of San Pedro.
There’s a small entrance fee to the park that isn’t included in the tour price, so you’ll need to pay that at the front before entering. It was only a few thousand Chilean pesos. (Somewhere between $5-8, but for some reason I couldn’t pay cash so my instructor paid with his card instead.)
The entrance to Death Valley is pretty neat to see–the drive back into the park is a road lined with steep rock walls. You eventually come out next to a large sand dune right next to the road. There are places to park, benches to use to get ready and that’s about it.
Tours
To go sandboarding in Chile, you’ll want to join a tour–mostly so you can use their gear. You might be able to rent your own but then you’d have to get it and yourself to Death Valley. Most of the tours start between 3-4:00pm and will pick you up from your accommodation, provide the gear and bring you to and from Death Valley (and include a snack).
There aren’t too many places that offer sandboarding. I tried looking it up online ahead of time and saw that people had taken lessons with the same guy, but when I went to find his tour shop, it didn’t exist (or I couldn’t find it).
Most tour agencies will list their tours right outside the door so you can always find one that way. The one I found was right near the corner of Caracoles and Toconao.
They also all communicate–I inquired about going late in the afternoon when I arrived, and the girl there called around to the other places to see if I could get on last minute since their’s was full.
Had I of known the tour start time, I would have shown up a lot earlier rather than take my time checking in at the hotel and wandering around. There’s not many afternoon tours that start that late, so if you arrive in San Pedro around mid-day, it’s something to keep in mind. I ended up having to swap out another tour I booked because I really wanted to do this one and didn’t have enough time for everything.
I also had to pair it on the day that I did the Tatio Geyser tour, which starts at 4am. It was a very exhausting day, but two great tours!
Sandboarding in Chile
I got picked up by my guide outside my accommodation and the drive to Death Valley is pretty short. You can actually walk there if you want to–though it’s about 45 minutes in the sun.
There were only two other people in my group plus our instructor. He went over the basics of sandboarding while we laced up at the bottom of the dune. If you’ve ever been snowboarding before, the premise is the exact same. Once we got to the top of the dune, he went over some more basics and wanted us to practice being on our toe edge, etc.
I’ve been snowboarding since I was about 13 so I ended up just taking off down the hill and pretty quickly figured out that sand ≠ snow. I ate it pretty good when trying to cut into the sand and that’s because it isn’t easy to turn in sand. Like at all. There’s a reason why a lot of sandboarders just go straight down the dune and that’s because it’s the easiest (and fastest).
So even as a boarder, there’s still a learning curve. If you’ve never snowboarded, you’ll definitely need to stick with it and go through a few falls. But even people who were new were making progress and at the very least, it’s a lot of fun.
Hiking the sand dune
There were a few things that stood out to me for sandboarding. One is the obvious fact that you have to climb up a sand dune with your board after every trip down. Even when you anticipate it, there’s no preparation for the exhaustion when hiking in the desert. It is hot and it is hard and you will be wheezing mid-way up the hill.
After every trip up, I was like, ‘That’s it. This is the last time down.’ And then I’d get some water and chill out at the top a bit and then I’d regain my energy and want to go some more. But expect to hike up about a dozen or more times if you stay till sunset. (Which you should, because the sunset view is beautiful from the top!)
Waxing your board
The other thing that I wasn’t really expecting is that you have to wax your board before every trip down. Otherwise, your board will just get stuck on the sand and you’ll fall.
Our instructor gave us each a piece of a candle and before every trip down, we’d have to mark our board up with wax. So between hiking up the hill and waxing the board each time, there’s some effort involved for a few seconds down the dune. Still totally worth it though.
What to Wear
Most women who were sandboarding had on leggings and a crop top. I thought leggings would be too hot, especially at the tail end of the afternoon sun, so I opted for lightweight sweatpants.
The idea of long pants is twofold in my opinion. With short shorts, sand will get everywhere you don’t want it. And if you fall, you’ll likely be falling on your knees or butt and long pants will protect your skin a bit more.
I only had one decent fall, so I can’t attest too much, but the sand didn’t hurt to fall. I only got a minor cut on my finger and I think it’s because I hit my board with my hand. The edges/bottom of the boards are a little more rough and jagged because of the sand.
For guys, they mostly had on long shorts and a t-shirt or tank top.
I do recommend wearing or bringing long socks though. If your ankles are bare, the boots might rub, so a long sock will be more comfortable.
What to Bring
Since the tours provide the sandboarding gear, there’s not much that you have to make sure and bring with you. You’ll definitely want to have plenty of water with you because hiking up the sand dune is a struggle.
The only thing you might want to have is sunscreen. But since you’ll likely be going in the late afternoon, the sun will be setting shortly and you won’t have to worry about it. So as long as you put some on beforehand, you should be good.
I’d say most people don’t end up sandboarding in Chile while they’re visiting San Pedro but it was one of my favorite things to do! There is a learning curve involved and if you don’t have any snowboarding experience, it can be a challenge. For me, this was a highlight. I ended up being really glad I swapped out tours to be able to do this!
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