Home › Destinations › Oruro
Oruro, Bolivia - Things to Do in Oruro

Things to Do in Oruro

Oruro, Bolivia - Complete Travel Guide

Oruro squats on the windswept altipl at 3700 m, a brick-red mining city where the air tastes metallic and the horizon shivers with heat mirages. Diesel engines echo off canyon-coloured hills. Llama-jerky smoke drifts from Sunday street stalls. The centre feels like a half-remembered film set: art-deco cinemas, glass-brick arcades, miners' bars where dice clack against brass-band marches leaking from doorways. Come Carnival the town detonates in feathers, brass and 48-hour drumming that rattles your ribs more than your ears. The rest of the year Oruro dials the volume down. Yet the altitude headache, soot-flecked snow on the cordillera and nightly tang of eucalyptus on every corner remind you you're still on Bolivia's roof.

Top Things to Do in Oruro

Carnaval de Oruro

For ten February days the city becomes a moving kaleidoscope: 20 000 dancers in sequined devil masks shuffle down Avenida Civica to the boom of 150 brass bands, sulphur from fire-cracker cords mixing with sweet chicha spilled by onlookers. The Diablada's horned headdresses catch sodium street-light. That image still turns up in your dreams months later.

Booking Tip: Reserve a pavement seat on Adela Zamudio four months out. Bring altitude meds and a dust mask. By noon the air is powdered confetti.

Museo Etnográfico Minero

Inside a 19th-century mansion, retired miners guide you past glass cases of carbide lamps, shrunken llama fetuses and a replica tunnel where dripping water pings onto your helmet. The metallic tang of pyrite and pickaxes played through tin speakers give a claustrophobic taste of life 400 m below the altiplano.

Booking Tip: Arrive before 11 a.m. Ex-miners demonstrate how dynamite was once kneaded like bread.

Santuario del Socavón

The hill-top church glows ochre at sunrise while women in polleras sweep yesterday's petals from the stone ramp where dancers begin the Carnival pilgrimage. Duck inside to smell beeswax and see the Virgin painted with a silver shovel. Climb the bell tower for a 360° view of corrugated-iron roofs glinting like fish-scales.

Booking Tip: Photography is fine outside Mass. Bring a wide-angle lens. The nave is surprisingly narrow.

Mercado Campero

Under plastic tarps that flap like sails, stall-holders pile purple chuño, golden quinoa grains and freeze-dried fish that smells faintly of lake-bed mud. Mid-morning the air fills with sizzling oil as ladies fry puffed pork-skin. Bite in; the crackle echoes like thin ice breaking.

Booking Tip: Prices drop after 4 p.m. when vendors pack up. Perfect time to taste api api, a warm cinnamon-spiced corn drink ladled from metal drums.

Urus Iruitos floating islands

A 20-minute colectivo south takes you to Poopó's edge where totora reeds crunch underfoot and the water smells of salt and flamingo feathers. Urus families show how they build their own reed islands and let you pole a balsilla raft while pink-streaked coots scatter ahead.

Booking Tip: Go during the dry window of May-Aug when the lake still holds water. Afterwards the shoreline can recede 5 km, turning the outing into a salt-flat walk.

Getting There

La Paz's main terminal has hourly buses that climb east for 3½-4 h across ochre canyons. Choose Trans Oruro or Trans Copacabana for cushioned seats and working heaters. The night-service from Cochabamba (7 h) snakes over 4200 m passes, so bring coca sweets for nausea. By rail, the twice-weekly Expreso del Sur from Villazon pulls in at dawn. The wagons rattle but the sunrise over the cordillera is worth the lost sleep. Oruro's airport handles only chartered flights, so most flyers land in La Paz and continue by road.

Getting Around

Micros painted lime-green cruise Avenida 6 de Agosto every few minutes. Fares sit in the pocket-change range and conductors yell route names out the window. Taxis use meters inside the centre but agree on a fare before heading to the mining suburbs. If you're day-tripping to the lake or Capas Blancas dunes, shared trufis leave from Mercado Zudáñez once full, usually quicker than waiting for a schedule that exists only in theory.

Where to Stay

Centro: balconied guesthouses within earshot of cathedral bells

Cala Cala: quiet streets uphill, warmer nights thanks to thermal springs

Avenida Ejército: mid-range hotels handy for the bus terminal

Santuario: roof-top views of Carnival route, book a year ahead

Chorolque: budget hostels in converted miners' lodgings

Zudáñez market fringe: functional but noisy, good for 5 a.m. bus departures

View Full Accommodation Guide →

Food & Dining

Orureños swear by Mercado 16 de Julio for mid-morning api api and fritanga pork crackling that snaps like thin ice. On Ballivián street, picanterías ladle spicy sajta de pollo under low timber beams while huari music crackles from 70s radios. For splurge-night dinners, Avenida 6 de Agosto's north end grills llama steak until the exterior blackens and the interior stays rose. Pair it with a peat-reduced tarqueada beer brewed up on the hill. Around Plaza 10 de Febrero, evening anticuchos perfume the air with beef-heart smoke and cost about the same as a city bus ride.

When to Visit

Carnival (week before Lent) is spectacular but you'll share the city with 400 000 extra bodies and pay triple for beds. Post-Carnival March brings clear skies, empty hotels and the smell of wet adobe as cleaners wash confetti glue from the drains. May-July is crisp, dry, good for high-desert hikes though nights drop below freezing; UV is fierce so bring glacier-strength sunscreen. November rains turn streets to chocolate pudding and can strand you if you're headed to the salt lakes, worth avoiding unless you're after muddy photogenic drama.

Insider Tips

Chew coca or drink coca tea on arrival. Even fit hikers feel the 3700 m squeeze
Sunday is market mayhem. Great for people-watching, bad for finding an open pharmacy.
Carry small coins. Buses and kiosks scowl at the 200-boliviano note you withdrew in La Paz.
Pack layers: sun-roasted skin by day, goose-bumped shivers by night

Explore Activities in Oruro

Didn't see anything interesting yet?

Browse Viator's full catalog of tours, day trips, food experiences, and private guides in Oruro.

See All Oruro Tours on Viator

Continue Planning Your Trip

Itineraries

Sample trip routes and plans for Oruro

Getting Around

Transport options and tips for Oruro

Where to Stay

Accommodation guide for Oruro

Budget Guide

Trip costs and money tips for Oruro

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Oruro, Bolivia Known For?

Oruro is famous for hosting the Carnaval de Oruro, a UNESCO World Heritage event featuring elaborate folk dances, devil masks, and religious processions every February or March. Outside of Carnival season, it's a quiet mining city at 3,706 meters elevation, serving as a way into the Uyuni salt flats and home to the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Socavón.

Is Oruro Worth Visiting Outside of Carnival?

Oruro is worth a brief stop if you're passing through, the Museo Nacional Antropológico Eduardo López Rivas has strong mining and textile exhibits, and you can visit the Virgin of Socavón sanctuary year-round. Most travelers spend just a few hours here en route to Uyuni (3.5 hours by bus) or La Paz (4 hours), as the city itself is fairly industrial and cold.

How Cold Does It Get in Oruro?

Oruro sits at nearly 3,700 meters, and nights regularly drop below freezing year-round, expect lows of -5°C to -10°C in June and July. Daytime temperatures hover between 10°C and 18°C, but the sun is intense at this altitude. Bring warm layers even if visiting in summer (December, February).

What Is the Monumento a LA Virgen Del Socavón?

This is a large hilltop statue overlooking Oruro, dedicated to the Virgin of the Mineshaft, the city's patron saint. You can climb the stairs or take a cable car to the viewpoint at Cerro Pie de Gallo, which offers sweeping views of the city and surrounding Altiplano. The shrine inside the hill is an active pilgrimage site.

When Is Carnaval De Oruro Held?

Carnaval de Oruro takes place the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, usually in late February or early March. The main parade (La Entrada) runs for more than 20 hours, with thousands of dancers performing the Diablada, Morenada, and other folk dances along a 4-kilometer route.

How Do You Get from LA Paz to Oruro?

Buses leave La Paz's main terminal every 30, 60 minutes for Oruro (3.5, 4 hours, 25, 35 Bs). The route follows a paved highway across the Altiplano. Trains also run a few times per week on the Ferroviaria Andina line. But buses are faster and more frequent.

What Is the Population of Oruro, Bolivia?

Oruro has a population of around 265,000 people, making it Bolivia's fifth-largest city. The population swells significantly during Carnaval, when more than 400,000 visitors arrive for the festivities.

Can You Visit Working Mines in Oruro?

Oruro has a long mining history, and some tour operators offer visits to nearby tin and silver mines, though these are less developed than the cooperative mine tours in Potosí. Ask locally at your hotel or the municipal tourism office (Oficina de Turismo) for current options and safety conditions.