Acclimatise, or waste the good days

San Pedro de Atacama sits at 2,400 metres. El Tatio is at 4,320. The altiplanic lagoons are at 4,100. Almost everything worth travelling this far for is well above the town you sleep in.

The standard mistake

Fly in on Monday, salt flat on Tuesday, lagoons on Wednesday, El Tatio on Thursday at four in the morning. It is the itinerary most operators sell because it fits a week, and it is why so many people describe the geysers as a miserable experience with a headache attached.

Your body needs days, not hours, to make the adjustment. There is no supplement, breathing technique or coca tea that changes that.

What we do instead

• Two full days below 2,500 metres before anything else
• The salt flat, which is low, on day four
• One night sleeping at 3,500 metres at a refuge
• The lagoons at 4,100 on day six, from a high start
• El Tatio on day seven at the earliest, or not at all

Sleeping high is worth more than visiting high. One night at the refuge changes the whole second half of the trip.

It costs two extra days. In return, you are still enjoying yourself at four thousand metres on day seven, which is the entire reason to come.