Things to Do in Bolivia

About Bolivia

Bolivia begins at 3,650 meters, where La Paz spills down a canyon bowl and the air tastes thin and metallic. Your first lungful feels incomplete, a sharp, cold reminder you’re standing on the roof of the Andes. In the witches’ market along Calle Linares, dried llama fetuses hang next to bundles of coca leaves, the air thick with the sweet-bitter scent of incense and herbs. A few blocks away in the Valle de la Luna, wind-sculpted sandstone spires glow like molten gold at sunset, a silence so profound you can hear the rustle of your own jacket. The logistical reality hits later: the Uyuni salt flats, that infinite white mirror, require a bone-rattling overnight bus from La Paz; the road to the Yungas, where the Amazon begins, is a single-lane gravel track locals call ‘Death Road.’ But the payoff is absolute. A plate of silpancho – crispy breaded steak over rice with a fried egg – costs 25 BOB ($3.50) at a market comedor in Cochabamba. A night in a salt hotel on the Salar, where everything from the walls to the chairs is carved from salt blocks, runs about 400 BOB ($55). You don’t come here for polished convenience; you come because nowhere else on earth feels quite this raw, this high, or this defiantly itself.

Travel Tips

Transportation: Forget renting a car unless you’re an expert at navigating unpaved mountain passes with sheer drops. Between cities, overnight buses are the standard; they’re cheap (La Paz to Uyuni is about 150 BOB / $22 for a semi-cama seat) and save you a hotel night, but bring earplugs and a neck pillow – the movies are loud and the stops are frequent. Within La Paz, the Mi Teleférico cable car network is your best bet, gliding silently over the chaotic traffic for just 3 BOB ($0.45) a ride. Download the app ‘Yango’ before you land – it’s the local ride-hailing service and tends to be more reliable than hailing taxis on the street, where meters are a rare sight.

Money: The Boliviano is currently running weak, which makes your dollars stretch. Cash is king, especially outside La Paz and Santa Cruz. ATMs (cajeros) are widespread but dispense only 200-300 BOB notes; break them immediately as small vendors and taxi drivers often won’t have change. Your best rate tends to be at dedicated exchange houses (casas de cambio), not hotels or the airport. A solid local lunch at a market stall runs 15-25 BOB ($2-$3.50), and a decent hotel room in central La Paz starts around 280 BOB ($40). Tipping isn’t deeply ingrained, but rounding up the bill or leaving 5-10% in sit-down restaurants is becoming more common.

Cultural Respect: The coca leaf is sacred medicine here, not a drug. You’ll be offered mate de coca (coca tea) everywhere to help with altitude sickness – accepting it is a sign of respect. When visiting the Tiwanaku ruins or other sacred sites, don’t climb on the stones or pose irreverently for photos; these are still active spiritual places for many. Photography requires permission, especially of people in traditional dress – a simple “¿Foto?” and a smile goes a long way. In markets, bargaining is expected, but keep it lighthearted; haggling over a few bolivianos with someone for whom it’s a day’s wage misses the point entirely.

Food Safety: Your stomach will likely rebel at some point – it’s part of the deal. The golden rule: eat where it’s busy with locals. The sizzling grills along Calle Sagárnaga in La Paz, where anticuchos (beef heart skewers) are grilled over charcoal, are generally safe because the high heat kills everything. Salteñas (baked empanadas) are a must for breakfast, but buy them from a place with a steady morning queue, not one where they’ve been sitting under a heat lamp for hours. Avoid raw vegetables you can’t peel and unbottled water, including ice. For a gentle introduction, the Mercado Lanza in La Paz has rows of comedores where you can point to pre-cooked stews and soups – it’s cheap, authentic, and the turnover is high.

When to Visit

Bolivia has two distinct seasons: the dry winter (May-October) and the wet summer (November-April). Your choice depends entirely on your tolerance for cold versus mud. The absolute sweet spot is April to early May or late September to October. Daytime temperatures in the Altiplano (La Paz, Uyuni) hover around a pleasant 15-20°C (59-68°F), nights are crisp but not freezing, and the rains have either just ended or not yet begun. This is peak season, so expect hotel prices to be 30-40% higher than in the low months, and book the popular Salt Flats tours at least a couple of weeks ahead. June through August brings the clearest skies for the salt flats – that iconic mirror effect requires a thin layer of water, which is less reliable – but temperatures on the Altiplano can plunge below freezing at night. The wet summer (Nov-Mar) turns the high desert green and fills the salt flats with that perfect reflective layer, but it also means daily afternoon downpours, muddy, impassable roads in rural areas, and sweltering, buggy heat in the Santa Cruz lowlands. The major festivals are worth planning around: Carnaval in Oruro (Feb/Mar) is a spectacular, days-long explosion of costumes and dancing, but the city gets packed. Alasitas in La Paz (late Jan) is when miniatures of everything you desire are blessed by Ekeko, the god of abundance – it’s fascinating, but hotel prices spike. If you’re on a tight budget, the shoulder months of November and March offer a decent compromise: fewer crowds, lower prices, and a decent chance of good weather, with the occasional dramatic thunderstorm thrown in for free.