5 driest places in the world you can actually visit

When we say a place is “driest,” we generally mean it receives very little precipitation (rain or snow), often much less than 1 mm–15 mm per year. In some cases, certain sub-regions may go years or even centuries without any recorded rainfall.

These super arid places represent extremes of Earth’s climate, offering insight into how life adapts (or fails to) under such stress. They often feature dramatic landscapes which can make them alluring (if forbidding) to adventurous travellers. And they have, that's why we bring you a list of 5 such extreme and extraordinary places that are hostile (environmentally-speaking) yet, they are so attractive to extreme adventurers.

Stretching along northern Chile’s Pacific coast, the Atacama Desert is an icon of hyper-aridity. The desert gives new meaning to the word “dry”, as some would say. Some weather stations here have never recorded a single drop of rainfall, and in its driest central zones, decades can and have passed without measurable precipitation. Certain parts average less than 1 mm of rain per year. For travellers, Atacama’s dryness gives way to landscapes that feel almost supernatural. Here, you’ll find the Valle de la Luna, a moonlike landscape with a mix of salt, rocks and craters, geysers of El Tatio, Salar de Atacama, shimmering with salt crystals and flamingos, and world-class stargazing opportunities, thanks to the desert’s cloudless skies.


The Atacama has also been used by NASA as a Mars analogue, since its soil resembles that of the red planet.

This is where the Atacama meets the Pacific Ocean. Arica holds the title of driest city on Earth. Its annual rainfall often averages less than 1 mm, and for many years it receives no measurable rain at all. Yet it is home to over 200,000 people. Instead of rain, locals rely on sea mist known as camanchaca, which blankets parts of the coastline, fog-catching nets that harvest moisture from the air, and rivers and aquifers from the Andes far inland. Arica is also surprisingly vibrant for such a harsh climate.

The 55-million-year-old Namib Desert is believed to be one of the oldest deserts on Earth, with arid conditions persisting for 55–80 million years. In its driest core zones, annual rainfall sits between 2–5 mm, making it one of Africa’s most extreme environments.

What makes the Namib unique is its interaction with the Atlantic Ocean. The cold Benguela Current creates morning fog that drifts inland for dozens of kilometres. This fog is the lifeline for much of the region’s wildlife, including beetles that harvest water droplets on their bodies, oryx and desert-adapted elephants, and rare lichen fields.

For travellers, the Namib is a masterpiece of natural drama, especially the Sossusvlei, with its towering apricot-coloured dunes and dead camel thorn trees, and the Skeleton Coast with rusted shipwrecks in a fog-filled wasteland. For those who love photography, few deserts on Earth provide such unforgettable colours and textures.

In northern Sudan, near the Egyptian border, lies Wadi Halfa, a region within the broader Nubian Desert. This area is known to receive as little as 2–3 mm of rain per year, with some years recording no rainfall at all. This desert is defined by rocky plains, ancient riverbeds, and sun-scorched basalt hills. Temperatures during summer can soar well above 45 degrees Celsius, and evaporation rates are so high that even rare rainfall disappears almost instantly.

For travellers, this region offers remote desert landscapes rarely seen by outsiders, strong connections to ancient Nubian culture, and proximity to archaeological sites along the Nile.

The Lut Desert is famous for two extremes: Hyper-aridity, and record-breaking heat (NASA satellites have repeatedly measured ground temperatures above 70 degrees Celsius. Its landscape is just as extreme as its climate. Travellers can experience Kaluts (gigantic wind-sculpted rock formations that stretch for kilometres), salt flats and salt swamps, dunes up to 300 metres high, and a silence so intense it feels otherworldly.

Despite its harshness, the Lut Desert is gradually becoming a destination for adventure travellers, photographers and geology enthusiasts.