Laguna Verde

Laguna Verde lies at about 4,300 metres on the road towards the San Francisco pass into Argentina, a salt lake whose colour comes from dissolved minerals and algae and which reads intensely green in sun. On its shore are hot springs where water comes out at bathing temperature into pools built up with stones - which at that altitude, with the wind and the cold, is a strange and welcome thing. The lake sits below Ojos del Salado and is used as an acclimatisation base by climbers heading for it. There is a basic refuge; otherwise nothing, and the nearest supplies are hours away in Copiapo.

What you actually see

• A green salt lake at 4,300 metres - minerals and algae in the water.
• Hot springs on the shore - stone pools at bathing temperature.
• Ojos del Salado above - the lake is a climbers' acclimatisation base.
• A basic refuge and nothing else - the nearest supplies are in Copiapo.

When to go

December to March; the pass road is snowbound outside that. A full day.

Honest expectations

At 4,300 metres this is high enough to make people ill without acclimatising. The road is long, rough and remote, with no fuel or help. Weather turns fast. The springs have no facilities whatsoever.

Nearby

Ojos del Salado is north-east; Nevado Tres Cruces park is west.