Paranal Observatory

The Atacama is the driest desert on earth, with almost no cloud, negligible humidity and very little light pollution, which is why the world's astronomers built here, and Cerro Paranal carries the flagship: the Very Large Telescope, four eight-metre instruments that can be combined to work as one, along with survey telescopes on the neighbouring ridge. The site is otherworldly, a flattened mountaintop of white domes above an ochre desert that runs to the Pacific, with a half-buried residence building housing the staff. Free tours run at weekends, booked long in advance, and take visitors into a telescope dome and the control room; they run in daylight, so you see the machinery rather than observing. The wider region also hosts ALMA's radio antennas on a plateau at five thousand metres, which offers its own weekend visits.

What you actually see

• A telescope dome - standing beneath one of the eight-metre instruments.
• The control room - where the night's observing is actually run.
• The desert setting - the mountaintop platform above the driest desert on earth.
• The residencia - the half-buried living quarters built into the hillside.

When to go

Tours run at weekends year-round and must be booked online months ahead, as places are limited and go quickly. Visits are during the day. If your interest is actually seeing stars, book a night at one of the tourist observatories around San Pedro de Atacama or the Elqui valley instead.

Honest expectations

This is a working scientific facility, not an attraction: tours are daytime only, so you will not look through a telescope, and the visit is about engineering and science rather than stargazing. You must arrange your own transport, as no public transport reaches it, and the drive across the desert is long. Bookings open on a schedule and fill within days.

Nearby

Antofagasta is two hours north; San Pedro de Atacama and its tourist observatories lie further inland.