Laguna Cejar and Laguna Piedra

Information

These are two bodies of water located within the Atacama salt flat, at 500 metres of distance one from the other.

To get there from San Pedro de Atacama, you first drive 17 km along Route 23 in the direction of Toconao or the Sico Pass. There you take a dirt and salt road to the right, which leads 11.5 km to a post where you pay a ticket to enter the site.

They are very visited by tourists, and the place has a car park, changing rooms and toilets. From the entrance, there is a short path to the left towards Laguna Cejar and another to the right towards Laguna Piedra. In both there are paths to walk around them and get to know them.

They are bodies of water surrounded by a salt-filled shoreline. Particularly in the area around the Cejar, you can see how vegetation grows in a highly saline environment. All this makes it possible to observe many birds such as the Puna plover, the Baird's sandpiper or even an occasional flamingo.

A characteristic that has made them famous is that the high concentration of salts in the Laguna Piedra makes the density of the liquid such that a person can float in the water without making any effort. This is so much that when you arrive at this site, you can see tourists floating and relaxing in the water.