Chile's Atacama Desert – 007 style

If you like your deserts like your Martinis – super-dry, you’ll be in good company! Trips Worldwide seeks out the world’s driest desert, the Atacama, one of the stunning locations featured in the latest Bond movie, Quantum of Solace (in UK cinemas end of October), during a 14-day Tip to Toe tailor-made itinerary through Chile.

Chile is so long that if the northern tip were in London, the southern toe would be the Congo! Trips Worldwide aims to cover some of the best bits of this thin, very, very long strip of a country during its Tip to Toe itinerary, commencing in Chile’s cosmopolitan capital, Santiago.

From the modern metropolis of Santiago, head to the Moonraker-style landscape of the Atacama Desert with its steaming geysers, otherworldly rock formations and extensive salt flats dotted with flamingos. This forbidding desert environment proved irresistible to the 007 production team who chose the staff accommodation at Paranal Observatory as the villain’s lair for the 22nd James Bond film.

Trips Worldwide’s guests, however, are not about to hold the world to ransom and are based at San Pedro de Atacama, a picturesque oasis town with adobe buildings and dirt roads. From here, three half-day tours visit the major attractions, including the Valley of the Moon, Salar de Atacama and El Tatio Geysers.

Next, for a complete contrast, transfer to Puerto Varas in the lush, green Chilean Lake District, a region dominated by towering volcanoes and beech forests, home to, amongst others, Lake Lhanquihue, South America’s third largest lake. Puerto Varas, on the shores of Lake Llanquihue, is a great centre for day trips (e.g. to the unique island of Chiloe with its houses on stilts), treks or relaxing by the lake with fabulous views of Osorno Volcano.

The holiday concludes in another magnificent Bond-esque landscape - Torres del Paine National Park - located in the heart of Patagonia. Here, granite towers rising to around 2,000 metres, emerge abruptly from nowhere, amidst turquoise lakes, waterfalls, forests, snow-capped mountains, glaciers and icebergs – don’t forget to pack your jet-propelled DJ!

The tour costs from £2,795 p/p including international and internal flights (LAN Chile), all transfers, all hotel accommodation with breakfast and guided tours as per itinerary.

For more information, log on to Tripsworldwide.co.uk.