I was 3 nights at the explora, 2 at Alto Atacama, the Explora is the best on excursions, they have the best guides and you can choose what to do every day, very personnalized servise and so much exquicity, at the other they tell you what to do and food is not as good as the Explora. No doubt about the value of your money, is a life experience in every single way!!! Thaks Cris, Gustavo and all the staff that made our experience so especial!!
I've stayed at all 3 Explora lodges in Chile and this was the only disappointment we had.
After a fantastic stay in Patagonia and rapa nui, the contrast was a strong one. The manager, Cristobel, was uninvolved and virtually absent, instead preferring to discuss with various groups of his friends who visited. As a customer, I felt ignored.
The hotel is beautiful and the setting is stunning, but the chemistry here just didn't work and the staff clearly didn't get on with each other ( guides criticizing each other during trips). Very uncomfortable for us.
Left sadly disappointed.
My husband and I have now stayed at 3 Explora hotels - Patagonia in 2011, and Atacama and Rapa Nui in September 2013. Except for the food in Rapa Nui which we found rather bland, all 3 hotels were great to use as a base from which to explore the area. The rooms were quietly luxurious, service was excellent and the explorations can be customized according to the guest's wishes and capabilities.
In Atacama, Laura was the hostess who acted like a house mother to the guests (with a bit of commanding general thrown in) and at times she anticipated what we wanted before we knew we wanted it! She will be moving to Explora Patagonia soon, so if you visit there during the austral summer, you will meet her.
We highly recommend the Explora hotels. The rates are high, but everything is included and we think they are a good value for the money.
My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our time at the Explora in Atacama. We learned of Explora from a friend who stayed at the Patagonia hotel. While we were there, there were few other guests so we had customized tours. Everyone was very friendly, the food was delicious, the service excellent and the surroundings beautiful. The reason I did not give it a 5 rating is that I was disappointed with the spa service. It was not what I would have expected for such a superb establishment. Other than that, everything was really lovely. I'd go back again and have every intention of going to the Patagonia resort.
We have just returned from a two week trip to Chile. First week was in Atacama, second on Rapa Nui - both with Explora. We cannot recommend it highly enough!
Atacama is an amazing destination and the staff at Explora really enable you to experience Atacama at it's best.
All the staff are fantastic and fully dedicated to great customer service. Explora is not cheap - but it is good value when considering what's included.
It's hard to highlight one team over another, but the management, bar staff and most of all the excursion team made our stay truly outstanding. The quality of the guides is consistently very high. They are knowledgeable, well trained and very enthusiastic. If you have time, energy and no problem with altitude (and the staff will help you plan your excursions to aclimitise) we really recommend hiking in the altiplano - a magical experience.
Thanks to all for making our stay so special and memorable
Dear traveler,
Thank you very much for your very kind review of your explora Atacama experience.
Your review beautifully echoes the explora founder’s vision: explora combines interaction with nature and local cultures with relatively demanding physical activity, which is necessary if you want to see the best of what Chile has to offer. Then, at the end of the day, even under the most difficult circumstances, explora provides comforts and pleasures which reward the effort made.
I will make sure to pass on your very kind comments about the explora guides in each destination.
Please know that after visiting one explora lodge, you are entitled to the benefits of our CESA, a recognition program with benefits including rate discounts of 10% and room upgrades for repeat travelers. For information, kindly visit our website.
Thank you again for your review and we look forward to seeing you in the near future.
Yours sincerely,
Jesús Parrilla
We came from the Explora hotel in Rapa Nui (which was perfect) to Atacama. The hotel is nice, located in San Pedro. The staff were fairly friendly but we felt the "heart was missing", we felt it was more "Chilean / Brazilien" than international. Some of the staff didn´t speak hardly any English (which some people may say we are in a Spanish speaking country, but we were a party of Italians/English so normally a hotel of that standard should speak some English)
Perfect was the food, it was excellant: One of the waitors to praise was Jorge who spoke really good English and had very good customer relationship skills.
They offer many nice trips, that we really enjoyed, but again the "heart" was missing from some of the guides (very good was Ignacio)
Nice place, but wouldn´t return.
Dear traveler,
Thank you very much for your review of your explora Atacama experience.
I am sorry to read that your stay was good, but not perfect. You were traveling from our slightly more intimate (30 rooms) explora Rapa Nui lodge to explora Atacama (49 rooms). Allow me to add that the setting of both lodges is vastly different. explora Rapa Nui is located on the most secluded island in the world, explora Atacama in the heart of a small oasis in the middle of the Atacama desert. The “heart of a place” is usually composed out of many smaller aspects that make for a bigger connection to its people and environment, and I am sad to read that explora Atacama did not fully manage to create that connection for you. I sincerely apologize if you’ve encountered situations in which our staff was not able to communicate in good English with you. Key explora staff is required to be bilingual at a minimum, usually Spanish and English, but often many more languages. I will investigate this issue.
I will make sure to pass on your very kind comments about the wait staff.
Yours sincerely,
Jesús Parrilla
