Chile

San Pedro de Atacama serves as base camp for the driest non-polar desert on Earth, a landscape of salt flats, geysers, and volcanoes at over 13,000 feet. Visit the otherworldly Valle de la Luna at sunset, soak in hot springs beneath the Andes, and spot flamingos wading through mineral-streaked lagoons. At night, some of the clearest, darkest skies on the planet make this one of the world's premier stargazing destinations.

Granite towers rise more than 8,000 feet straight out of the Patagonian steppe in Torres del Paine National Park, framed by turquoise lakes, hanging glaciers, and windswept grasslands roamed by guanacos and condors. Multi-day treks like the W Circuit reveal the park's dramatic core, while boat excursions bring travelers face to face with the Grey Glacier's calving ice walls.

Chile's capital sits in a fertile valley ringed by the snow-capped Andes, a modern city with a growing food and arts scene. Just outside town, the Casablanca and Colchagua valleys produce some of South America's finest Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenere, with boutique wineries offering tastings against a backdrop of vine-covered hills and mountain peaks.

Nearly 2,300 miles off the Chilean coast, this remote volcanic island preserves almost a thousand monumental moai statues carved by the Rapa Nui people centuries ago. Explore ceremonial platforms at Ahu Tongariki, hike the crater of Rano Raraku where the moai were carved, and learn about one of the Pacific's most enigmatic cultures.