This submit might include affilliate hyperlinks. It implies that when you purchase one thing by one in every of these hyperlinks, we would get a small fee at no additional value to you. Affiliate fee helps us hold this journey weblog working.
Planning your journey to Bolivia and solely have a couple of days to spend on this lovely county? On this submit, I’ll share our itinerary for five days in Bolivia visiting La Paz and Salar de Uyuni (and, moreover, you’ll be able to go to yet another location of your alternative, Lake Titikaka, Cochabamba and even drive the well-known Loss of life highway). We had been planning to go to Cochacabana on lake Titikaka, nevertheless, sadly, because of the lack of vacationers, no excursions had been going there on the one day we had been there.
The overview of hyperlinks used on this article:
Issues it’s essential know earlier than travelling to Bolivia
Bolivia is likely one of the lesser-visited international locations in South America and in contrast to most international locations on the continent, it’s landlocked. Bolivia additionally doesn’t have nice worldwide flight connections – once we went there simply after the covid restrictions had been lifted, there have been solely two worldwide flights per day going to and from Bolivia. One was to Lima, one other one to Bogotá. On prime of that, there have been days when there have been no flights in any respect.
Have your paperwork prepared
It’s additionally considerably tough to enter Bolivia: these requiring a visa on arrival should spend hours within the queue! Even when your entry was easy (e.g. no visa required), you possibly can nonetheless spend 10-Quarter-hour on the passport management counter. Since there isn’t any wi-fi on arrival and most international locations don’t have good roaming agreements with Bolivia (in contrast to in Peru, the place we had limitless information and requires £6 a day with Vodafone), it’s very tough to retrieve your paperwork. The paperwork you want are insurance coverage, resort bookings and return tickets. Additionally, relying on the present necessities, you would possibly want some vaccination certificates and PCR assessments – however which may change quickly.
Be sure that to avoid wasting them in your cellphone (take screenshots or simply save them within the recordsdata), as passport management officers will verify all these paperwork!
Carry a couple of financial institution card
In Bolivia, money is king. In fact, you’ll be able to pay by card in good eating places, however most locations solely settle for money. There are ATMs on the airport (fairly a couple of), however not all of them work with worldwide playing cards. We needed to attempt two playing cards till we tried our Monzo card that labored in one in every of 8 ATMs. Sadly, I didn’t bear in mind which financial institution owned this ATM, but it surely was in the direction of the tip of the room. Be sure that to deliver a couple of journey financial institution card and don’t get discouraged if a lot of the ATMs received’t work – there are ATMs there that may work with international playing cards.
Web and information in Bolivia
Since we wanted information to seek out our manner round La Paz, we determined to purchase a SIM card in one of many memento retailers in La Paz airport (the one open place). They solely accepted money as properly. We received a SIM card with information and purchased two scratch playing cards for information refills. I have to say that the web is a bit costly in Bolivia: for 20 Bolivianos you solely get about 2GB of knowledge. It doesn’t stretch too far, so that you most likely find yourself solely utilizing information for navigation and important issues and use Social media at your resort.
Security in Bolivia: how protected is La Paz
Earlier than travelling to Bolivia, I’ve heard some blended critiques about security in La Paz and El Alto. Some individuals felt uneasy there, whereas others felt very protected. Having spent 3 days in La Paz (and a bit little bit of El Alto as properly), I have to say that we all the time felt very protected there. Not even as soon as have we skilled a scenario the place we felt uneasy or somebody was unusually interested by us. As an individual, who grew up in Mexico Metropolis, Jose has an eye fixed on individuals, who would possibly discretely comply with you and have an excessive amount of curiosity in you for no good purpose. That was very completely different in comparison with the town centre of Quito (the capital of Ecuador), the place it wasn’t very protected in any respect.
Nonetheless, it’s price mentioning that we adopted all the traditional precautions, e.g. not strolling alone late at evening, taking solely authorised taxis, and being attentive to all our belongings. For travelling South America I purchased a really discrete crossbody bag with plenty of pockets, together with some inside pockets, which might be very onerous to entry for pick-pocketers. Furthermore, it’s waterproof and suits plenty of stuff! I feel it’d nonetheless be offered on-line, when you’re , you’ll be able to discover it right here >>
Earlier than we begin with our options for five days in Bolivia and our detailed itinerary, I wished to share the overview of our itinerary:
Our itinerary for Bolivia in 5 days:
Day 1: Arriving at La Paz airport (most likely late at evening / early within the morning), exploring La Paz, evening bus to Salar de Uyuni
Day 2: Day tour to Salar de Uyuni, an evening at Lodge de Sal, Luna Salada (or an evening bus to La Paz)
Day 3: Flight to La Paz with 5 hours to spend in Cochabamba, evening at Selina La Paz or MET Lodge La Paz
Day 4: A day tour of your alternative: Copacabana (Titikaka Lake) or a tour to the Loss of life highway
Day 5: Exploring La Paz, late evening flight onwards to Lima or Bogota
Now let’s discuss this itinerary for Bolivia in 5 days in additional particulars!
Day 1 of 5 days in Bolivia: La Paz and evening bus to Uyuni
Passport management in La Paz
We landed in La Paz round 3:30am! Since there aren’t too many worldwide flights arriving to La Paz (as of now, you’ll be able to solely fly there from Lima or Bogota, we flew from the latter), you’ll seemingly land in La Paz very early, simply le we did. On the one hand, it’s glorious, as a result of you might have your complete day to spend in La Paz. Alternatively, when you haven’t had an opportunity to sleep within the airplane (s), you’ll arrive exhausted. Since passport management takes fairly a little bit of time (I’ve written about it in a separate paragraph proper in the beginning of this submit), you’ll solely get to the town centre of La Paz at 5:30am and even 6:00am. Since we had to purchase a SIM card and, surprisingly, the method took a bit lengthy, we arrived simply after 6am.
The place to remain in La Paz
In case you’re feeling superb, you’ll be able to simply go away your luggage at some hostel for a price and begin exploring La Paz. Nonetheless, we had been tremendous drained, so we really went straight to our hostel. We booked Selina La Paz for two nights (regardless of solely needing it for about 16 hours), but it surely was solely £18 per evening for a personal room, so we didn’t hesitate a lot. After arriving at Selina, we went straight to sleep and slept till 11am (for about 5 hours), which gave us sufficient vitality to outlive the day!
In case you’re similar to us and really feel such as you want a resort to sleep for not less than a few hours, I positively suggest Selina!
Some nicer and posher motels are positioned within the South of La Paz, e.g. Achumani station, however will probably be very inconvenient to remain there only for a few hours since a lot of the landmarks are positioned within the metropolis centre, and that’s the place the buses to Uyuni depart from as properly. You may keep there later while you return from Uyuni.
Exploring Sopocachi and consuming in the most effective restaurant in Bolivia
Selina, the place we stayed for the primary day, is positioned in Sopocachi, among the best areas to remain in La Paz for younger individuals. There are many good bars and low locations throughout the world. There are additionally a couple of road meals markets, eating places and it’s typically only a very good and hipster space to stroll round. The one draw back in Sopocachi is site visitors. Even at 12pm, plenty of roads are fairly congested! We ended up arriving 20 minutes later to the restaurant, as a result of we waited for a taxi for about Quarter-hour. Then, because of the site visitors situations, it took us about 35 minutes as a substitute of 15-20 to get to the South of La Paz, Calacoto.
Gustu is positioned within the South of La Paz, that’s thought of a fancy space of the town. Gustu was opened by a co-founder of the well-known Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, Denmark, one of many world’s greatest eating places. We took a 3-course menu, which value round £22 per individual and was price each penny! You may select a starter, major and a dessert and all of the dishes had been distinctive. We relied on the waiters’ assist to clarify the menu to us as we couldn’t recognise a lot of the components. Among the many dishes, there have been native river fishes from the Bolivian a part of the Amazon rainforest, varied distinctive herbs, greens and fruits and even alligator carpaccio!
Strolling across the metropolis centre and visiting Mirador Kili-Kili
Later, we took a taxi to get again to the town centre, the place we visited Calle Jaen – one of many only a few protected streets in La Paz, the place it’s not allowed to demolish buildings and do just about any visible modifications to the streets. Calle Jaen is certainly the prettiest road in La Paz, so head there for some lovely images. On Calle Jaen, we discovered a stunning little tour company, the place we booked some excursions for the upcoming days in La Paz (a meals tour and a teleferico tour of the town).
We didn’t spend an excessive amount of time within the metropolis centre this time, as we knew that we’ll have extra time in La Paz later and also have a correct tour of the town. Earlier than heading again to the resort, we determined to go to the most effective place to see La Paz from above – mirador Kili Kili! You solely have to stroll for about 20-25 minutes to get there from Calle Jaen.
The view from Kili Kili is admittedly beautiful – you’ll be able to see the 360 panorama of La Paz!
Taking an evening bus to Uyuni
After visiting the mirador, we returned to our resort to bathe, pack our luggage (we determined to go away our suitcase in Selina and choose it up in a day) and convey simply our backpacks with us. We determined to take the bus to Uyuni from an organization known as Todo Turismo. That they had the most effective critiques and security document; actually, it was an important expertise.
The bus departs within the night, at 9pm, nevertheless, it’s essential be at their workplace not less than Quarter-hour earlier than that. Todo Turismo workplace has bogs and different amenities.
Our bus was wonderful – it had two ranges – the VIP on the bottom stage and the traditional seats on the primary ground. Since I’m fairly unhealthy at sleeping within the buses, we went for essentially the most handy choice, the VIP seats that recline fairly properly (most likely round 150 levels or so). Regular tickets value round $36-38 a technique and VIP prices a bit extra, round $45 every manner. It’s positively not low-cost, however the planes to Uyuni are far more costly, plus, you’re saving cash on the resort. Alternatively, if that’s not obtainable otherwise you’re in search of a less expensive choice, you’ll be able to discover extra tickets right here.
The tickets additionally embrace meals – dinner and breakfast and so they had been good! The one drawback we had was the truth that it received extraordinarily sizzling inside the gorgeous insulated VIP compartment – I wakened due to that and needed to go and ask them to modify on Air-conditioning.
A day tour round Salar de Uyuni
We arrived on the Todo Turismo workplace in Uyuni round 7:45 am. Their workplace additionally has bogs, tea and a few comfortable sofas if you wish to wait there for a short while till your tour begins. Truly, the excursions begin round 10:30 am, however it’s essential get to the tour company’s workplace Half-hour earlier.
We determined to e book this tour – it was the best-rated tour in Uyuni and it exceeded our expectations. It began fairly slowly, the primary 3 hours had been fairly uneventful (simply the practice cemetery, some technical stops to choose up the wellies and a cease within the salt museum and memento store), nevertheless, later it was solely getting higher and higher!
We had a beautiful buffet lunch in the midst of Salar, 1 hour in Fish island after which we had a photoshoot in the midst of Salar. Our group was fairly massive – we had been 18 individuals in complete and our information shot a video with all of the tour members – it was enjoyable! After that, we had some snacks and wine watching sundown in Salar and even one additional exercise – stargazing, which was wonderful!
It was such a protracted tour and we received to our resort round 8:45pm (they introduced us all the best way to Lodge de Sal Luna Salada, which we booked for one evening).
This tour is fashionable and it tends to promote out, so be certain to verify the costs and availability right here >>
Evening at a salt resort
We had been initially hoping to remain at Palacio del Sal, nevertheless, it was absolutely booked, so as a substitute, we booked one other good salt resort, Lodge de Sal Luna Salada. It’s positioned barely additional away from Uyuni, circa 15-20 minutes driving, nevertheless, among the rooms had a view of Salar, which was wonderful. Total, the resort itself was beautiful, however the meals and the spa weren’t nice. Nonetheless, we nonetheless loved our expertise – it was very distinctive! And the resort itself was completely beautiful, particularly the beautiful lounge areas with fireplaces with views of Salar.
Day 3 in Bolivia: Flying to La Paz, Cochabamba
Uyuni to Cochabamba by airplane
For the reason that first and second days in Bolivia had been already fairly tiring, we determined to take a flight from Uyuni to La Paz as a substitute of the evening bus. Earlier than the pandemic, there was once loads of direct flights to La Paz from Uyuni, nevertheless, as of Could 2022, there have been none. Truly, there have been simply 3 flights per week and all of them went to Cochabamba and never La Paz. Nonetheless, it was doable to purchase a flight from Cochabamba to La Paz as properly. There are a number of flights to La Paz from Cochabamba, so you’ll be able to take the one with the shortest ready time if you wish to go to La Paz as quickly as doable. Alternatively, you’ll be able to spend a couple of hours in Cochabamba and uncover the town.
Issues to do in Cochabamba in a couple of hours
Cochabamba just isn’t an enormous metropolis, so it’s positively doable to see some major highlights in simply a few hours. The airport is nearly 10-Quarter-hour away from the town centre. You may simply seize a taxi and head to the Plaza de Armas.
Cochabamba can also be the meals capital of Bolivia. All of the individuals we met in La Paz (locals) really useful us to go to Cochabamba to eat!
Lastly, it’s price mentioning that Cochabamba is admittedly sizzling! Whereas each Uyuni and La Paz are positioned at excessive altitudes, Cochabamba’s altitude is sort of zero – and it’s 30 levels there!
Night in La Paz, shifting motels
Relying on the time you arrive in El Alto – La Paz, you’ll be able to both head on to your resort or stroll round and eat dinner someplace.
We selected the second choice. For dinner, we picked Manq’a, a spot specialising in Bolivian dishes. Every part was completely scrumptious there and so they had plenty of uncommon dishes on the menu (together with some distinctive desserts and drinks).
After dinner, we needed to choose up our baggage from Selina. We didn’t choose Selina for the following few nights in La Paz as a result of there have been plenty of feedback within the critiques concerning the noise on the weekends, as there’s a nightclub positioned within the basement of Selina.
After a really tiring a part of our journey to South America, we determined to deal with ourselves and keep in among the best motels of La Paz, the lately opened MET Lodge positioned within the leafy neighbourhood known as Achumani.
Day 4: Exploring La Paz or taking a day journey
On the 4th day in Bolivia, you’ll be able to both keep in La Paz and proceed exploring the town or take one of many day journeys and both go to Copacabana (lake Titicaca) or to one of many mountains, or, alternatively, possibly you are feeling match to go to the well-known demise highway biking journey?
Listed here are among the greatest excursions you’ll be able to take in your 4th day in Bolivia:
Personal tour to lake Titikaka (requires minimal two individuals) – it is possible for you to to see one of the lovely and largest lakes on the earth – verify availability right here.
The well-known bike tour to the demise highway (it’s a descent from over 5k over the ocean stage), but it surely’s nonetheless a really difficult tour, because it requires excellent bodily situation – e book right here.
Stunning Palca Canyon Tour with an elective cease at Valle de las Animas – verify right here.
Chacaltaya & Valle de Luna Tour (be certain to deliver heat garments, as Chacaltaya was once a ski resort) – verify right here.
Condoriri and the lagoons full trekking tour for trekking lovers – verify the provision right here.
Austria Peak Trek – verify availability.
Well-known Huayna Potosi mountain trek – all the best way as much as 5000m above the ocean stage with beautiful views (difficult) – see value.
In case you determine to spend a day in La Paz as a substitute…
In our case, the excursions for lake Titicaca weren’t obtainable on that day on account of lack of guides and vacationers as properly and I had some odd points with my knee, so I couldn’t go on any excursions that concerned plenty of strolling (not even mentioning trekking), so we determined to remain in La Paz as a substitute.
We spent the morning and early afternoon strolling across the “posh” a part of La Paz – Achumani. The buying space was positioned circa 10 minutes strolling from our resort, which was nice. This space is far better than the centre of La Paz and likewise, it’s a lot simpler to breathe there, because it’s additionally decrease than the remainder of La Paz. There are many retailers and cafes as properly.
For lunch, we went to a restaurant known as Ancestral for lunch. Ancestral is a steakhouse and it was fabulous. I can positively suggest it! The costs had been most likely 3-4 occasions decrease than in London.
Heading to the town centre and visiting Mercado de las Brujas
After lunch, we determined to take the teleferico to the town centre to go to the well-known Witches Market or Mercado de las Brujas, the place they promote new child llamas and llama foetuses that hold outdoors the stalls (they give the impression of being surreal and even a bit terrifying). Contained in the “Brujas” stalls, they promote varied teas, soaps and sweet which are produced for various causes, e.g. to assist discover a job, discover love, getting wealthy amongst different issues.
Taking a meals tour of La Paz
Within the night, we had our meals tour of La Paz., the place our information introduced us to the primary meals market of La Paz, Mercado Lanza, positioned steps away from the primary sq.. There are such a lot of meals stalls and most of them promote varied Bolivian dishes. We had an opportunity to attempt a few them and so they had been fairly distinctive and excellent! Afterward, we went to a restaurant with our information, the place we had a tasting of 5 extra common dishes in Bolivia, similar to Fricasé, Sopa de Mani, Chairo and others! In case you’re interested by taking an analogous tour, you’ll be able to verify the costs and availability right here.
Our final day in Bolivia: Teleferico tour of La Paz, yet another go to to Mercado Lanza, Ice Cream from Netflix and the flight to the following vacation spot
Teleferico tour of La Paz
The final day of our 5 days in Bolivia we determined to spend in La Paz and this time, see La Paz correctly and discover our extra concerning the historical past of the town. We booked a Teleferico tour of La Paz (you’ll be able to discover the provision right here).
I can positively suggest this tour – it was simply $10 per individual and even included all of the tickets for the Teleferico. Our information, Maria, instructed us so much concerning the historical past of La Paz and El Alto and concerning the Cholitas (girls in conventional Bolivian attire) and Cholets (a word-play for Cholitas + Chalets), which rich Aymara (indigenous individuals) of El Alto and La Paz construct for themselves. There’s additionally a captivating tour of the most effective Cholets in El Alto together with visiting a celebration – you’ll be able to discover out extra right here >
Making an attempt Sopa de Cardan and Helado de Canela
After the tour, we determined to go to Mercado Lanza one final time and attempt to discover the well-known bull testicle soup of Bolivia – Sopa de Cardan. This soup may be very common in El Alto within the mornings, however we managed to seek out it in Mercado Lanza within the afternoon as properly. Then, we went to attempt one other thrilling dish in La Paz, this time, a dessert! There’s a well-known Netflix road meals documentary and one of many episodes was devoted to La Paz. So we went to attempt the well-known ice cream place close to the cemetery in La Paz. It serves a really distinctive cinnamon ice cream (it’s not really an ice cream, extra like a sorbet) – and it’s crimson!
Within the afternoon, we walked across the metropolis centre and tried the final of the dishes really useful to us by the locals – the normal pasties – Salteñas. There are many spots serving salteñas within the coronary heart of La Paz, nevertheless, we discovered a restaurant known as Paceña la Salteña, which specialises in them. I picked a vegetarian one and Jose received a meaty one – each of them had been very liquid inside and tasted like a soup, which was fairly distinctive. When consuming a salteña, it’s very straightforward to make a large number, so be certain to watch out when consuming it!
We additionally went to a shopping center known as Las Torres and spent a while in Juan Valdez cafe there. It was additionally very fascinating to see how a Bolivian shopping center seems like.
After that, we went again to our resort MET to start out packing and attempt to get some sleep earlier than our flight at 3am. As I discussed beforehand, the 2 worldwide flights depart from La Paz each depart at evening. One departs at 3:30am, one other one a bit later. It’s onerous to determine whether or not to go to mattress early and attempt to sleep 3-5 hours earlier than the flight or stay awake in any respect. Taking a taxi to El Alto airport at evening additionally means there received’t be any site visitors, so you may get there in simply 20-Half-hour relying in your location! In our case, it took round 28 minutes to go there from the Southern a part of La Paz
Abstract of 5 days in Bolivia: Uyuni and La Paz
I hope you discovered this itinerary for Bolivia in 5 days helpful and received some concepts in your future journey to lovely Bolivia. Naturally, 5 days should not sufficient to see plenty of Bolivia, but it surely’s sufficient to see Uyuni and get to know La Paz (and likewise one of many areas like Copacapaba or the Loss of life Highway)! We beloved our Bolivia expertise and hope to return there at some point!
Another posts you would possibly discover helpful:
Most Instagrammable spots in Lima, Peru
Is it doable to go to Machu Picchu in 2 days?
3 days in La Paz: the most effective issues to do
Instagram information to Bogota, Colombia
Coyoacan – the most effective space to go to in Mexico Metropolis
