Sandboarding in San Pedro de Atacama – All You Need to Know

Sandboarding in the desert of San Pedro de Atacama is without a doubt one of the funniest things we tried in Chile! It’s probably also one of the sports I’m worst at… But who cares when you look super cool in the pictures?

It’s definitely harder than it looks! But whether you’re a pro or an amateur (like me) at sandboarding, you’ll most likely have a blast sliding down the big dunes in Chile’s incredible desert. All it requires is a bit of confidence …or a little push in the back!

But don’t worry because when you fall (and yes, I’ll repeat when you fall), you’ll land nicely on the warm desert sand, which feels like a comfortable pillow.

In this blog post, we’re going to share everything you need to know about going sandboarding in San Pedro de Atacama. We’ll walk you through the steps of how you can either do it by yourself or go on a tour, how much it costs, how to get to Valle de la Muerte with just a sandboard and a bike, and of course we’ll share our own experience sandboarding in the amazing Atacama Desert.

Now let’s get started! This is all you need to know about sandboarding in San Pedro de Atacama.

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How to go sandboarding in San Pedro de Atacama

There are two ways you can go sandboarding on your trip to San Pedro de Atacama. Either you can go by yourself, or you can find a tour on Viator. And there are pros and cons to both!

Go sandboarding on a Valle de la Muerte group tour

Hands down, the easiest way to go sandboarding in Chile is to go on a group tour from San Pedro de Atacama. This way, you don’t have to rent a sandboard and transport it on a bike to Valle de la Muerte by yourself. you’ll just get in a car, and the tour guide will transport you to the dunes and provide a sandboard for you. Easy peasy!

This is a good option for those who never tried sandboarding before. Let’s be honest, I did a DIY tour with my friends, and none of us knew how to actually sandboard… If you go on a tour, you’ll get instructions on how to sandboard properly.

The cons of doing a sandboard group tour is that it’s more expensive, you’re restricted by a time schedule, and you’ll have to stick to a big tour group.

Go sandboarding from San Pedro de Atacama by yourself

Both Glenn and I like to do things at our own pace, so we decided to go sandboarding from San Pedro de Atacama by ourselves. That way we could film and take pictures without any time pressure.

It was actually pretty straight forward to do our own sandboard tour, plus it was cheaper than the group tour. The only downside was probably the hot bicycle ride through Valle de la Muerte with the heavy sandboards, plus we didn’t have any instructions on how to actually sandboard…

Anyways, if you want to go on your own sandboarding tour to the Atacama Desert, you just need to follow these steps:

• Pack the desert essentials: Water, sunscreen, hat, sunglasses, closed shoes – off with the flip-flops my friend!
• Rent a bike: We rented a bicycle from our hostel for 5000 CLP/day per person. Check for bike rentals at your accommodation, or rent one in San Pedro.
• Rent a sandboard: Ask at your accommodation, or rent one in town. We rented a sandboard in San Pedro de Atacama for about 5000 CLP/day (This is a 2020 price – it may be more expensive in 2023). There are several shops who rent out sandboards, so just ask around.
• Wear a backpack: You need a backpack in order to strap on your sandboard for the bicycle trip.
• Check the weather: DON’T go on a windy day. Do I really have to explain why? Wind + Sand = A bad day in the dunes.
• Accept the sand: You’ll probably spent days discovering new places on your body, which are still sandy. You’ll get sand everywhere, just accept it.

How to get to Valle de la Muerte with a sandboard

Now you’re all packed and ready to go, so what’s next?

If you plan to go sandboarding by yourself on your trip to Chile, then you need to know how to transport yourself and your sandboard to the dunes.

This is where your backpack comes into play! So basically, you have to put the sandboard in your backpack straps in a way that makes you look like a fly… We all looked very silly carrying the boards but that’s part of the DIY deal!

The most popular place to go sandboarding in San Pedro de Atacama is in Valle de la Muerte, also known as Death Valley. It’s a very dramatic name, but don’t let it scare you away from sandboarding. There is very little chance that you’ll kick the bucket here…

Death Valley is only a 10 minute bicycle ride from the city center of San Pedro de Atacama. Once you reach the ticket office, you have to sign in and pay a fee of 2000 CLP/person (2020 price, I can’t find the updated prices online).

It’s honestly super easy! There is also a toilet here that you can use before you enter the national park.

Once you’ve entered the Death Valley, then keep on bicycling through the beautiful landscape for 5-10 minutes. It’s seriously like bicycling on another planet.

• Related post: Biking in Valle de la Luna

At some point you will see a massive sand dune, and this will be your dune of the day. There will most likely be other people sandboarding here, so you will know once you’ve reached your destination.

Our experience sandboarding in the Atacama Desert

All right, now we’ll share a few words about our own experience sandboarding in Chile’s Atacama Desert. I’m not gonna lie, we’re absolute amateurs, now you’ve been warned.

So there are basically 2 steps to sandboarding: 1) Walking up the dune with your heavy sandboarding, 2) ACTUALLY start sandboarding.

Step 1: Walk up the sand dune

In order to start sandboarding, you first have to walk up the massive sand dune while carrying your heavy sandboard.

I honestly didn’t give this part of it a single thought before I was standing in front of the sand dune… I guess I was hoping for some kind of ski lift to take me there?! But I know that would have been too much to ask for. There was of course no lift, only my legs could take me to the top of the sand dune – so be it!

I’m not gonna lie, walking up a sand dune on a hot day in the desert is tough! It was one of the best workouts we’d had in a very long time.

But the sweat I worked up was 100% worth it!

First of all, we were going to do an awesome activity like sandboarding in the middle of the desert in Chile! Secondly, the scenery from the top of the dune was incredibly beautiful. So, remember to take in the beautiful scenery on your way up.

Step 2: Start sandboarding!

Now that we’ve reached the top of the dune, the next step is to strap in your shoes and start sandboarding.

I remember feeling quite intimidated when standing at the edge of the dune. Was I really about to do this?! I took a deep breath and nudged the front of my sandboard over the edge. 1, 2, 3, GO!

And what an incredible feeling.

It lasted for 2 whole seconds! And man down…

I didn’t hurt myself at all. I fell on the soft Atacama desert sand, and it made me realize that it would be hard to hurt myself while sandboarding, or it could also be the fact that I was going 0,5 km/h, but either way this gave me a little boost of confidence. Although, at the end of the day, I did get a sore bum from all the times I fell.

Just to be clear, I’m NOT a professional at all. However, I still managed to improve my skills after only a few tries by bending my knees, working on where to put my weight, and wiggle my feet back and forward.

I think that this explanation is testament to the fact that I don’t really know what I’m doing… But just try out some different tactics and see what works for you.

We found a couple of links that might help you out on your sandboarding journey:

• How to sandboard like a pro
• How to sandboard for beginners

Our top 3 tips to sandboarding in San Pedro de Atacama

All right, we’ve already shared how to go sandboarding in San Pedro de Atacama, how to get to Valle de La Muerte, and our own experience. Now, we want to end this blog post with a bit of advice and some cool pictures!

Tip 1: Find some Friends to go with

Sandboarding is really fun and it’s a memory worth sharing with someone else. We found some friends at our hostel in San Pedro de Atacama to go sandboarding with, and they really made the day so memorable for us!

It’s always good to have someone else to laugh with (and in this case, laugh at).

Plus, since we were 4 people, we only needed 2 sandboards and we could split the cost and carry of the boards.

Trust me, it’s no problem to share one sandboard between two people! Imagine having to walk up a big sand dune for 10 minutes, and then slide it down in 1-100 seconds, the seconds depend on how many times you fall on the way…

Sandboarding is a good workout, and it’s nice to pass the board on and get a break before your next trip down the dune.

Trust me, you need breaks at the driest place on earth!

Tip 2: Take some really cool pictures

Even though you might suck at sandboarding, you will probably still be able to stand up for a few seconds and look cool when you go down the dune.

So remember to take some pictures. Just watch out not to get sand in your camera.

Anyways, here are a series of pictures from our day sandboarding in San Pedro de Atacama! Enjoy.

Tip 3: Enjoy the sandboarding adventure in Chile

No matter how stupid you feel when you fall after just 2 seconds, while other people fly by you to the end of the dune – like they’ve done it their whole life, then don’t be embarrassed.

You’re here to have fun!

And if you just let go and focus on your own journey of sandboarding in the Atacama desert, then you’ll have loads of fun. You might even see improvement after only a couple of tries!

We honestly cannot recommend sandboarding enough.

If you ever find yourself in San Pedro de Atacama or any other desert on earth, then make sure to do some sandboarding. Even though you might be horrible, you will still have fun! And who knows? You might be a natural.

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We hope you enjoyed this blog post about sandboarding in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. It was such an adventurous and fun day! And we can 100% recommend it for anyone who ever comes by this incredible desert – whether you go by yourself or with a tour group.

Please don’t hesitate to ask us any questions about how to do a sandboarding trip by yourself from San Pedro to Valle de la Muerte. Thanks for reading!

Make sure to check out this blog post: Exploring Valle de la Luna on a bike – another incredible desert in Atacama!