Valle de la Luna (Chile)
Coordinates: 22 ° 54 ′ 40 ″ S , 68 ° 19 ′ 23 ″ W.
The Valle de la Luna ( Spanish for "Valley of the Moon") is a desert landscape in the Chilean region of Antofagasta .
The valley in the Cordillera de la Sal extends as part of the Atacama Desert near the Salar de Atacama and the Licancabur volcano and forms the sixth sector of the Los Flamencos National Reserve, founded in 1990 . It is located around 17 kilometers from the city of San Pedro de Atacama . Like the sights in the area, the Valle de la Luna is visited by a relatively large number of tourists. It is very similar to Death Valley, just a few kilometers north .
The area without vegetation is reminiscent of the surface of the moon , hence the name. In the evening, a particularly large number of tourists visit a dune in order to see and take photos of the rock cliffs, which are shimmering red in the setting sun. Some places in the Valle de la Luna have salt . The salt formation Las Tres Marías (Spanish for "The Three Marys") is one of the more famous sights in the valley .