The best desert holidays | The Week

For the adventurous, few things are as thrilling as a trip to one of the world’s vast, open deserts. From starlit wild camping to exhilarating dune-trekking, exploring these dramatic landscapes offers a unique chance to disconnect and unwind. Here are some of the best deserts to add your list of must-see destinations:

Atacama Desert, Chile

Stretching across northern Chile and southern Peru, the Atacama is the driest non-polar desert on the planet. With its “Martian landscapes” and sprawling salt flats, the arid “geographical eccentricity” has become a “bucket-list favourite” among South American travellers, said The Telegraph. Soaking up the views here is “serene and spiritually uplifting”; all you need is a “not-too-talkative” guide and a pair of sunglasses. A short drive from San Pedro is the Salar de Atacama, a 1,200-mile salt flat that looks like an “ice rink of salty seracs”. Other must-visit spots include Valle de la Lunar (Moon Valley), where Nasa’s rovers are tested, El Tatio (a geothermal field peppered with 80 geysers), and Chuquicamata (the second-largest copper mine in the world).

From Petra, it takes just over two hours along the Desert Highway to reach Wadi Rum. “Fringed by granite mesas” and dusted with “ochre sand”, it’s the perfect place to spend an adventure-packed few days, said National Geographic. The desert is dotted with camps, ranging from “traditional black goat’s skin tents” to “luxe geodesic domes”. Start at Rum village and spend a day on Jeep safari “rolling through the dunes” to Lawrence’s House, where, legend has it, T.E. Lawrence stayed during the Arab Revolt. It’s also well worth spending a morning sandboarding or rock climbing before taking a hot-air balloon ride at sunset to gasp at the “contours and colours” of the desert from the sky.

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For an “unforgettable” holiday, blending “culture” and “camping”, consider a trip to the Moroccan Sahara, said The Independent. The Erg Chebbi dunes, near to the town of Merzouga on the border of Algeria, are filled with “luxury” settlements offering “hearty campfire feasts of tagine” and cosy blankets for wrapping up in when the temperature drops at night. Intrepid Travel’s Sahara Mini Adventure is a nice place to start: during the three-day trip, you can go camel-trekking through the dunes, sleep under twinkling stars, and visit the ancient ksar (fortified village) of Ait Benhaddou.

At first glance, the Kalahari Desert might seem “lifeless and uninhabited” but look closer and there is much to discover, said Lonely Planet. With its “endless salt pans”, “islands of baobab trees” and “ephemeral lakes”, the sandy savannah plays host to an array of “unusual delights”. Head to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve for an unforgettable safari adventure. Among the animals to keep an eye out for are black-maned lions, blue wildebeest, and “comical” ground squirrels. There’s no better way to feel the “rugged intensity” of wildlife than by “camping alongside the creatures of the Kalahari”.

Mongolia’s Gobi Desert is a “seemingly inhospitable” place, said National Geographic. But, on the desert’s northern edge, the Ikhr Nart Nature Reserve is “very much alive”. Home to hundreds of ibex, big-horned argali sheep and gazelles, the landscape is a haven for wildlife. It might not be the first place you think of for a “yoga sojourn” but that’s exactly what Reclaim’s retreat offers. During the 10-day trip, you stay in traditional Mongolian nomadic yurts, have daily yoga and meditation classes, and take guided walks through the “surreal rock formations and gargantuan sand dunes”.

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