El Tatio Geysers

El Tatio sits at about 4,320 metres in the Andes above San Pedro, which makes it the highest geyser field in the world, and with something like eighty active geysers it is among the largest anywhere after Yellowstone and the Valley of Geysers in Kamchatka. The reason everyone arrives before dawn is thermodynamic rather than aesthetic: the steam columns are tallest and most visible when the air is at its coldest, around minus ten to minus fifteen, and they shrink as the sun warms the basin. The ground between the vents is a thin crust over boiling water, and people have been badly scalded and killed by breaking through it.

The landscape

• The highest geyser field in the world - at about 4,320 metres.
• Around eighty active geysers - among the largest fields anywhere.
• Steam at its tallest before sunrise - the reason for the dawn start.
• Thin crust over boiling water - the reason for the marked paths.

When to go

Year round, arriving before sunrise. Half a day including the drive.

Things to know

The altitude affects most people, and going straight from Santiago without acclimatising in San Pedro first is unwise. It is bitterly cold at dawn. The crust is genuinely lethal off the paths. The road is rough gravel.

Nearby

Machuca village is on the way back; San Pedro de Atacama is south.