Santiago, Valparaíso and the Atacama Desert, 6 Nights

A driver meets you at Santiago airport and takes you to your hotel. The city lies in a wide valley with the Andes rising steeply to the east, snow-capped for much of the year, and on a clear day they are visible from almost anywhere. Take the afternoon gently: a walk in the Providencia or Lastarria districts, with their cafés and bookshops, and an early dinner.

A guided tour of the centre: the presidential palace of La Moneda, the Plaza de Armas and the cathedral, the old stock exchange and the Museum of Fine Arts at the edge of the tree-lined Parque Forestal. The tour climbs Santa Lucía hill, a garden of fountains, stairways and terraces with a view over the city. It ends at the Central Market under its iron roof, where seafood restaurants serve lunch; the meal is at your own expense.

The road to the coast crosses the Casablanca Valley, where you stop at a winery for a tasting. Valparaíso, a UNESCO World Heritage port, climbs a series of hills lined with brightly painted houses and murals; the tour includes La Sebastiana, Pablo Neruda's house with its sea views, and the Cerro Alegre quarter. Next comes neighbouring Viña del Mar, the garden city, with time for lunch, a walk by the beach and the Fonck Museum, before returning to Santiago.

Transfer to the airport for the flight north to Calama, then the drive of about an hour and a half across the desert to San Pedro de Atacama, at about 2,400 metres. Late in the afternoon a guided tour enters the Moon Valley, a nature reserve of salt-crusted ridges, dunes and wind-carved rocks. It ends at a viewpoint to watch the sun set and the mountains turn pink and violet; which one depends on current access rules.

A guided outing to the edge of the great salt flat. Laguna Cejar itself is protected and kept for viewing, but in the neighbouring Laguna Piedra the water is so salty that you float without effort; bring swimwear and a towel. Nearby are the Ojos del Salar, two round freshwater pools set in the desert. The tour then walks the rim of the Tebinquinche lagoon, where white salt, still water and the volcanoes all reflect the changing evening sky.

You are collected long before sunrise for the drive north to the El Tatio geyser field, at over 4,000 metres. Dozens of vents send columns of steam into the freezing air, at their best in the first hour of light, and tours usually serve a light breakfast on site. On the way back the tour stops at the adobe village of Machuca and the wetlands of Putana, where flamingos, ducks and vicuñas feed. You are back in San Pedro around midday.

Breakfast at the hotel, then the drive back to Calama airport for the flight to Santiago, where you connect to your international flight home. Leave a generous connection time in Santiago, as domestic delays do happen and the international check-in can be busy.