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The Puna wilderness of Andean Argentina

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A high-altitude expedition to discover the other-worldly Atacama desert  in Argentina.

As remote as the wilderness of Amazonia, Antarctica or the Gobi desert, the Puna de Atacama is a nation-state sized other-worldly landscape of extremes. Set off on an expedition here, and you will be almost alone in rarefied, high altitude desert mountain scenery as alien as the surface of Mars. 

The Puna de Atacama is a place which steps out science fiction. A rugged plateau straddling Argentina and Chile, it consists of intensely varied scenery with high mountain passes, salt-carpeted depressions and a crescent of volcanoes within which are glass-still lakes, pewter-shaded lava fields, ochre-hued volcanic cones and silvery pumice desert, slashed through by glacial streams. It’s immense: the size of England, dotted with just a handful of hamlets. It has been inhabited in the past: Inca ruins stab the volcanic peaks and ghost towns – abandoned mining villages – are fascinating to explore. All of your adventure is spent at over 3,500m above sea level with some spectacular highs at over 4,500m.

There are few real roads. Travel in a pick-up truck with your guide.  It will be a unique, pioneering, expeditionary adventure; one you’ll never forget.

Argentina
Salta

Holidays The Puna wilderness of Andean Argentina

From expertly designed Private Journeys to trail-blazing Group Tours, browse our range of carefully crafted holidays.

Truck driving over El Penon desert

Private Journeys

Argentina

Off the beaten track Argentina: Remote Puna adventure

13 days from £5,450pp

(based on two people sharing & excluding flights)

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  • Juliet
    Juliet Ellwood - Travel Expert

    After graduating with a degree in Anthropology and History and having been fascinated by Latin America since childhood by the book featuring photos of Nazca, Juliet first visited the region in 2003. Since then, Juliet has visited the majority of countries in Latin America but has particularly extensive experience with Peru, a country she loves for many reasons but not least, its incredible archaeological richness and delicious food!

  • Lina
    Lina Fuller - Travel Expert

    Lina's passion for the continent where she was born really took off when she moved to Córdoba (Argentina) to study, spending the holidays travelling between Argentina and her native Colombia.

  • Paul Winrow Giffin
    Paul Winrow-Giffin - Travel Expert

    After graduating in Computer Science, Paul spent seven months travelling from Colombia to Argentina and came home hooked on Latin America.

  • Charlotte
    Charlotte Daubeney - Travel Expert

    Charlotte's fascination with Latin America began with a family holiday to Belize. She went on to study Spanish in school and at university before spending a year living in Santiago, Chile.

  • Hannah
    Hannah Waterhouse - Travel Expert

    Hannah had an early introduction to Latin America when her family moved to Ecuador and she returned to study in Buenos Aires for a year before backpacking across the continent.

  • Hannah
    Hannah Donaldson - Travel Expert

    Having spent part of her childhood in Colombia and worked in Brazil and Costa Rica, Hannah's ties to Latin America run deep. Hannah is a much valued Travel Expert in our Tailor-made Holidays and Group Tours sales team.

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