Bolivia asks for altitude first. Then it pays in salt, lagoons and thin blue air.
One long day on the Salar, or three that end at the Red Lagoon. A gravel descent out of the Yungas with a driver behind you. An island in Titicaca where the Inca story starts. Prices, timings and honest write-ups for the tours you can book across Bolivia.
Cable cars, a wrestling ring, an island in Titicaca, three days on the Salar.
The four bookings most first Bolivian itineraries are built around. What each one costs, how long it takes and where it fits in the week.
01Day one, gentlyLa Paz and El Alto: Cable Car Rides and Walking TourThree cable-car lines over the canyon into El Alto, then the streets on foot. Ten dollars, and the easiest way to spend a first afternoon at 3,650 metres.
02The night outCholitas Wrestling Tickets and TransferCholitas wrestling in El Alto with the transfer both ways. Bowler hats, pleated skirts and a crowd that treats the ring as theatre.
03The lake dayFull Day Trip to Copacabana and Isla del SolCopacabana by road, then the boat across to Isla del Sol. A long one, and the only day that ends on Inca terraces above Titicaca.
04Three days on the saltRed Lagoon & Uyuni Salt Flats 3-Day Guided TourUyuni, the mirror, the Red Lagoon and the geysers, sleeping in salt hotels between them. The version of the Salar people come home talking about.
One day on the Salar, three days to the lagoons, or straight on into Chile.
The Salar de Uyuni is 10,000 square kilometres of crust and every itinerary makes the same choice about it. Here is what each version of the trip involves and what it costs to board.
Four thousand metres of altiplano, and a lowland city that has never seen snow.
La Paz sits in a canyon under Illimani, Uyuni is nine hours south of it, Titicaca an hour west, and Santa Cruz a long drop east into the heat. Six starting points, and the best day out in each.
La Paz is vertical. Pick your altitude before you pick your day.
Everything in La Paz →
The centre sits at 3,650 metres and El Alto looks down on it from 4,150. Cable cars do the climbing, the rock spires start twenty minutes from the last station, and the road to the Yungas drops 3,600 metres in a morning.
Up the cable cars, into El Alto
Three of the ten Mi Teleférico lines climb straight out of the canyon, and the view down onto the brick city does more for your bearings than any map. Cheap, short, and kind to a head still finding the altitude.
Moon Valley and the spires above it
Wind and rain have cut the clay south of the city into a field of pale towers, with boardwalks threaded between them. Most trips pair it with Valle de las Ánimas, which is bigger, emptier and better.
Down the Yungas road on a bike
From La Cumbre at 4,650 metres to Yolosa at 1,200, most of it on gravel cut into a cliff. Operators run a support van behind the group, and the well-reviewed ones are worth the extra forty dollars.
The days out more travellers book than anything else in Bolivia.
Every review on the site →Eight tours that carry more bookings than the rest of the country put together, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
La Paz and El Alto: Cable Car Rides and Walking Tour
Spend 150 minutes walking through La Paz and El Alto, visiting witches’ markets, San Pedro Square, Jaen Street, and Plaza Murillo while riding several cable car lines. English- and Spanish-speaking guides such as Carolina, Luis, Fernando, and Nickey explain local history, customs, politics, food, and safe areas. Cable car tickets are included.
From · $10
Read our review →
2
Day Trip to Uyuni Salt Flats
from $130
3
La Paz Half-Day Walking Tour
from $3
4
Private City Tour with Cable Car & Moon Valley Visit
from $43
5
Full Day Trip to Copacabana and Isla del Sol
from $59
6
Mountain Bike Down the World’s Most Dangerous Road
from $145
7
Cholitas Wrestling Tickets and Transfer
from $25
8
Uyuni Salt Flat Tour & Overnight Roundtrip Bus
from $275
Nine hours south of La Paz, the ground turns white and stays that way.
Between December and April a film of water turns the crust into a mirror; the rest of the year it is dry hexagons to the horizon. Either way the jeeps leave early, the nights are below freezing and the stars are the best on the continent.
What a day out in Bolivia actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. Bolivia is the cheapest country on the continent to travel in, and the numbers below show it.
City walks, cable-car afternoons, Moon Valley half-days and the short run onto the salt.
Full days: Copacabana and Isla del Sol, the Yungas descent, jeeps out to Incahuasi.
Three-day salt circuits, the crossing into Chile and the climb up Huayna Potosí.
- 1Uyuni Salt Flat Tour & Overnight Roundtrip Busfrom $275
- 2Uyuni tour express from La Paz by busfrom $269
- 33-Day Tour to Salt Flats and Lagoonsfrom $370
Titicaca is 3,812 metres up and still the biggest lake on the continent.
Copacabana is three and a half hours from La Paz by road, with a ferry crossing at the Strait of Tiquina on the way. From its harbour the boats run out to Isla del Sol, where the terraces are Inca, the paths are steep and there is no traffic at all.
- 1Full Day Trip to Copacabana and Isla del Solfrom $59
- 2Titicaca, Copacabana, and Isla del Sol Day-Tripfrom $100
- 3Private Tiwanaku and Titicaca Day Trip from La Pazfrom $200
Three things that only happen in Bolivia.
Mountain roads, night skies and urban transport exist everywhere. A 3,600-metre gravel descent, a horizon with no edge to it, and a commuter gondola at 4,000 metres do not.
The road down to Coroico
The old Yungas road was cut into the cliff in the 1930s and carried two-way traffic on a single lane until a bypass opened in 2006. What is left is gravel, waterfalls that cross the surface and a drop measured in hundreds of metres. Riders start in fleece at La Cumbre and finish in a T-shirt among coca terraces.
- 1Mountain Bike Down the World’s Most Dangerous Road★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 386 reviews
- 2The World’s Most Dangerous Road Biking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 68 reviews
- 3La Paz | Death by Bike Route | Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 3.4 · 7 reviews
The flattest night sky there is
The salt crust varies by less than a metre over 10,000 square kilometres, which is why satellites are calibrated against it. Stand out there after sunset and the horizon disappears in every direction. In the wet months the water holds the stars underneath you as well as above.
- 13-Day Uyuni Salt Flat Tour with Sunset and Red Lagoons★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 83 reviews
- 2Sunset and Starlights Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 79 reviews
- 3Full day Salar- Sunset and Stars; Magic Salar★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 38 reviews
Mi Teleférico
La Paz runs the longest urban cable-car network on earth: ten colour-coded lines hauling commuters between the canyon floor and El Alto on the rim. A ride costs the same as a bus, the cabins run all day, and the yellow line over the cemetery district is the one worth queuing for.
- 1La Paz and El Alto: Cable Car Rides and Walking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 790 reviews
- 2Private City Tour with Cable Car & Moon Valley Visit★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 508 reviews
- 3Cable Car, Cemetery, Shaman, and El Alto Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 218 reviews
Four Bolivian bookings that will not wait for you.
Most of this country can be arranged over breakfast for the same morning. These four run on seasons, fixed departures and boat timetables that take no interest in when your bus gets in.
- 01Climbing Huayna PotosíThe climbing window is roughly May to September, and the good outfits cap the guide-to-client ratio. Outside the dry season nobody goes up.
- 02Uyuni Salt Flats & San Pedro de Atacama 3-Day TourThe crossing leaves Uyuni on set departure days and finishes in another country. Buy it as a one-way and plan the onward leg before you commit.
- 03Full Day Trip to Copacabana and Isla del SolBoats to the island run to a fixed timetable out of Copacabana and the last one back leaves mid-afternoon. Miss it and you are staying the night.
- 04Mountain Bike Down the World’s Most Dangerous RoadGroups are capped, and the operators with the best safety write-ups fill up through July and August. The cheapest quote is usually the oldest bike.
La Paz starts at 3,650 metres. Spend the first day low and slow.
Nothing here is at sea level, and the first forty-eight hours decide how the rest of the trip goes. Keep day one flat and short: a cable-car line over the canyon, a walk through the market streets, a long lunch and an early night. The salt and the mountains will still be there on Wednesday.
By place — altiplano, lake and lowlands
La Paz, Titicaca, the Yungas road, then the salt: the run most first trips follow.
Tiwanaku
The Yungas RoadNew reviews from across Bolivia.
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Uyuni tour express from Sucre by bus (round trip)
Read our review →
Salar de Uyuni and San Pedro de Atacama 3-Day Tour
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3-Days Salt Flats and Desert Adventure Tour with Food
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2-day tour to the salt flat and altiplanic lagoons
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A Day Spent Exploring the Historic Area of the City
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Roundtrip to the Uyuni Salt Flat and the Colored Lagoons
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Salar de Uyuni 1 day + photo session + Sunset (English)
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