Miscanti Lake — Attraction in San Pedro de Atacama

TLDR: This place is an admin nightmare. Cannot buy tickets at destination.  Sort before traveling if self guided.

This is my first ever Google review: Visiting miscanti laguna was by far the biggest beauracratic admin nightmare we experienced in Chile. We found upon arriving at miscanti laguna that you need to register and buy tickets online (you cannot buy at the gate). The nearest internet is 30km away in socaire. We turned the car back down the dirt road somewhat annoyed by such an inflexible system but decided it was our fault and perhaps that we missed it because of the language barrier.

We got to socaire where the registration office is. This is where we found out that apparently it's a right of passage to get turned around at the top. There were numerous groups of disgruntled people who had the same exact experience (most Spanish speakers) with more cycling in the whole time.

Everyone lined up on one office computer to register an excessive amount of information on the system to find out it would not accept foreign credit cards.  We tried 2 cards, the group after us 4, and the group after them 2. Every group who's cards did not work offered cash.  Not accepted. We tried to pay in person on card.  Not accepted.  Apparently only bank transfer, so too bad if you don't have a chilean bank account. I would have felt bad for the lady in the office, as this built to be a small angry mob, but she was obstructively unhelpful and visibly uninterested, talking to friends on whatsapp the whole time.

We left after 1.5 hours having registered but unable to pay. We could not access the laguna and had to fly out the next day. We were not the only ones to miss out on the experience.

If any chilean official reads this: sort this out! I assume these are COVID measures but it is counter productive when 20 people are packed into a shipping container for hours. I voluntarily pay for conservation but your process is selfish and...

The Altiplano lagunas are stunningly beautiful. Please buy your tickets online. There is a registration office in Socaire where they will look at your registration and issue a paper receipt. We didn't buy the ticket in advance but the kind ladies at the office let me use their computer to buy the ticket. They are clearly overwhelmed by unhappy tourists without a ticket!! There were many others who were turned back at the gate so don't waste your time driving all the way up if you don't have a ticket. The guards will turn you back

I really think Authorities should look into this process and make it easy for folks who are self driving and not part of a tour.

The 14500 ft altitude gets to you so you really can't spend more than 30 to 40 mins here. But it was totally worth it for us to see this stunningly beautiful place with vicunias grazing...

We went in September, on a sunny day... Alas the wind was blowing like the world is going to end. We were the last ones (rented car) to be allowed in at 2pm due to the severity of the wind. Most of the surroundings were covered in snow so we could only observe the laguna from afar. 3000 pesos charged is a rip off considering there is very little information given and they didnt bother to clear up a path so that visitors can approach the lake. Yes it's beautiful, but having crossed into Chile from Argentina where almost all natural attractions are free, it's quite frustrating paying for similar...