Lagunas Altiplanicas + Piedras Rojas

This trail was made with a tour agency, its normally called just Piedras Rojas (red stones), it suppose to include all the places in the tour Lagunas Altiplanicas (plateau lakes), but goes a little bit further to reach the red stones for the extra price.

Entrances fee: at Laguna Miscanti y Meñiques, and in Laguna Chaxa too.
Walking, Hiking: the tour don't allow too much time to do that but there is almost no place where you can do it, short walks can be done with the waiting time they give to you. Most of the places are reserves so you cannot just walk freely.
Times: the earlier the better, avoid crowds, specially in Piedras Rojas, otherwise you won't get any good picture. The other places it will be annoying if too many people but ok to take pictures.
Weather: extremely windy and dry, bring windproof jacket, gloves, glasses or your eyes will dry, lips balm is very useful, skin moisturiser is good idea to bring.
When you head to Laguna Chaxa (in Atacama Desert) the weather will change a lot, very hot and dry, bring sun screen.
Wildlife: for me it was easy to see vicuñas, flamingos not so easy, just few in Laguna Chaxa, some other animals its difficult to spot.

TOUR AGENCIES
Crazy difficult to understand, they merge with other companies, so if you pay more its not necessary a better service, you might end up in the vehicle of other agency with cheaper price. The driver is the important thing here, if you don't book a pack of tours and you meet a good driver in some tour ask how to do more tours with him. Usually the tours are done in mini van, 12 to 20 passengers, so there are not many stops to take pictures on the road, only the main destination (too much time getting everyone out and in again) the vehicle for some reason normally cannot open the window. Getting a private tour in a car might be very good idea so you can skip boring places, ask for more stops on the go. No idea the price for private tour, try find more people and share