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Please note that public visits are not allowed.
APEX headquarters at Sequitor
The APEX Sequitor Base, located nearby San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, is the workplace of the astronomers and support staff running APEX, the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment. Sequitor Base is also an administrative point that supports the operation of the antenna and serves as connection between APEX and the rest of the ESO sites in Chile. It is also an important contact point for the local authorities and the people of the Sequitor community.
APEX/Sequitor is a science operations facility from where astronomers and engineers remotely control the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment, a 12-metre antenna allocated at 5100 metres altitude on the Chajnantor plateau, in the Atacama Desert (Chile). Built in the small village of Sequitor, near San Pedro de Atacama, APEX/Sequitor is also an administrative office that serves as liaison between APEX and the other sites in Chile. APEX is a collaboration between the Max-Planck Institute for Radioastronomy (MPIfR), the Onsala Space Observatory (OSO), and the European Southern Observatory (ESO). The telescope is operated by ESO.
Arriving by plane
The closest airport to APEX/Sequitor is the El Loa International Airport in Calama.
Driving directions
There are several car rental companies based at the airport, such as Alamo, Budget, Econorent or Hertz. The average daily cost of a car in Calama is up to CLP 65 000 (about EUR 92) and it takes about two hours to drive to APEX/Sequitor from airport. For driving directions from the airport, please check this map.
To drive from a different city, take the Panamerican Highway as far as the turn for route 25 to Calama. Pass the El Loa International Airport and take route 23 to San Pedro de Atacama. Just before San Pedro there is a road to the right to Sequitor and down the road to the right, before reaching the turn to Toconao, there is an access road to APEX/Sequitor. It takes around four hours to reach APEX/Sequitor from the Panamerican Highway.
For driving directions from another city, please see this external map.
Further references on how to reach APEX/Sequitor are available here.
Accommodation
There are no public visits to APEX/Sequitor, so it is not possible to stay overnight or obtain food there. Media visits are allowed on special request. For further information on media visits please check here.
ESO staff and special visitors usually stay at dormitories in APEX/Sequitor or at La Casa de Don Tomás in San Pedro de Atacama.
Restaurants
ESO staff and visitors usually eat at the facilities in APEX/Sequitor.
Further information on restaurants in San Pedro de Atacama is available here.