7 Days in Bolivia
Trip Overview
Seven days thread Bolivia's blockbuster sights with the small stuff that lingers: first light igniting the blinding Salar de Uyuni, panpipes bouncing down Tiwanaku corridors, wet-jungle air drifting off the Rurrenabaque river. The rhythm stays brisk but sane, two nights ap in La Paz and Uyuni to keep altitude jumps gentle, ending with an Amazon cooldown. You'll bite smoky anticuchos fresh off eucalyptus coals, crunch salt crust under your boots, and watch the Andes photocopied on a paper-thin sheet of brine.
Pace
Active
Daily Budget
$140, 190 per day
Best Seasons
May, October (dry season, clear skies for salt flats; Amazon trails stay passable)
Ideal For
First-time visitors, Photography enthusiasts, Adventure-minded families, Altitude-tolerant travelers
Day-by-Day Itinerary
A complete plan for every day of your trip
1
Arrival & Cable-Car First Glimpse of La Paz
La Paz
Touch down above 3,600 m, ride a scarlet teleférico car over brick-red rooftops, then stretch your lungs on an easy loop through the Witches' Market.
Morning
Airport-to-city teleférico ride (Línea Roja)
Catch the red cable car straight from El Alto airport and see the city tumble down the canyon like spilled Lego. Morning light bronzes tin roofs and car horns fade behind thin air.
Pick up the rechargeable 'Mi Teleférico' card at the airport kiosk and glide past the station queues.
Lunch
Café del Mundo, Calle Sagárnaga
Afternoon
Witches' Market & San Francisco courtyard
Inhale dried llama fetus and sweet quirquincha side-by-side; inside San Francisco church cool stone swallows your footfalls while candle smoke snakes past 16th-century cedar beams daubed with tropical fruit.
Evening
Sunset pint and high-altitude dinner
Knock back a Singani sour on Gustu Bar's 12th-floor terrace, then head downstairs for alpaca carpaccio slicked with uchucuta sauce.
Where to Stay Tonight
Sopocachi (Hotel Rosario La Paz)
Oxygen-enriched rooms and round-the-clock coca tea blunt first-night altitude headaches.
See all Bolivia accommodation options →Chew coca leaves slowly with a pinch of bicarbonate; it's cheaper and punches harder than tourist coca candy.
Day 1 Budget: 120 USD
2
Moon Valleys & Tiwanaku Time Travel
La Paz
Dawn walk across razor-edged clay spires in Valle de la Luna, then roll on to pre-Inca Tiwanaku where stone faces glare across millennia.
Morning
Valle de la Luna trek
The trail threads ochre pinnacles. Gravel cracks under your soles while wind whistles new hollows in soft clay. Low sun stripes violet and gold across cactus ridges.
Arrive by 8 a.m. to shoot photos before the shadows disappear.
Lunch
Uma restaurant, Calle Potosí
Afternoon
Tiwanaku archaeological site
Press your palm to cold basalt at the Sun Gate. The guide maps Andean constellations you'll see later. A totora-reed scent drifts from nearby Lake Titicaca canals.
Buy combo ticket that includes on-site museum to skip second queue.
Evening
Peña show with charango music
Huari Peña, Sagárnaga 339, order chuño chorreado while dancers stamp boots within arm's reach.
Where to Stay Tonight
Sopocachi (Hotel Rosario La Paz)
Stay put and let your body settle. Staff will stash your bags if you roll in late from Uyuni next week.
See all Bolivia accommodation options →Tiwanaku guides linger by the ticket booth. Haggle a two-person rate and pay half the agency price.
Day 2 Budget: 130 USD
3
Salt Flats Express: La Paz to Uyuni
Uyuni
Night bus across the altiplano, dawn in the salt town, then a half-day warm-up among rusting locomotives and quinoa fields.
Morning
Cemetery of Trains photo stroll
Scale graffiti-scarred engines abandoned since the 1940s. Cold steel groans while vicuña-shaped clouds drift overhead and oxidized iron mingles with dry salt dust.
Lunch
Tika restaurant, Avenida Potosí
Afternoon
Colchani salt workshops & first salt-flat rim
Watch men shave salt blocks with machetes and stack them like white bricks. Finger the razor-edged hexagons, taste a shard, pure brine detonates on your tongue.
Grab a palm-sized salt-crystal llama. Your driver will swear it's 100 % local, not Peruvian import.
Evening
Stargazing on the edge of Salar
Hotel de Sal Luna Salada rooftop, wrap in the supplied alpaca blanket, sip api morado while the Milky River doubles in the salt crust below.
Where to Stay Tonight
At the salt flat edge (Hotel de Sal Luna Salada)
Walls, beds, even tables are carved from salt blocks, sleeping inside the landscape beats any town hostel.
See all Bolivia accommodation options →Pack SPF 50 lip balm; UV ricochets off salt and fries lips faster than skin.
Day 3 Budget: 160 USD
4
Salar de Uyuni Infinity Mirror Day
All-day 4×4 loop: cactus island, polygonal crust, and the mirror that erases the horizon.
Morning
Isla Incahuasi cactus climb
Climb past 10-m cacti older than the Conquest. Spines snag the low sun and finches rustle inside dry fruit. From the top the salt desert gleams like polished marble.
Guards unlock the gate at 7 a.m.; beat the vans for clean wide-angle shots.
Lunch
Picnic on the salt flat
Afternoon
Mirror-season photo shoot (rainy months) or perspective tricks (dry)
A skim of water turns clouds into floor tiles under your shoes. In dry months the guide props a toy dinosaur for forced-perspective crunch. Salt snaps like brittle porcelain.
Bring colorful props. Hotel gift-shop sells cheap plastic llamas.
Evening
Sunset over Tunupa volcano
Driver pauses at the northern edge. Sip coca tea while the volcano blushes pink and the flats ignite orange.
Where to Stay Tonight
At the salt flat edge (Hotel de Sal Luna Salada)
A second night lets you dump luggage and rinse salt before tomorrow's bone-rattling drive.
See all Bolivia accommodation options →Tell the driver to drop tires to 15 psi; you'll skid less and spare your cameras the shakes.
Day 4 Budget: 150 USD
5
Eduardo Avaroa Reserve Colors & Siloli Desert
Southwest Bolivia
Bump south into the high desert: blood-red lakes, smoking volcanoes, stone trees sand-blasted into surreal shapes.
Morning
Cañapa & Hedionda lagunas flamingo stop
Steam coils off sulfurous water; James's flamingos feed upside-down, pink feathers flashing against turquoise rings. Cold wind brings sulfur and damp feather scent.
Bring 50 mm lens. Birds come within 10 m of vehicle.
Lunch
Basic refuge near Polques hot spring
Afternoon
Siloli Desert & Árbol de Piedra
Wind screams through volcanic pores. Sand needles your cheeks. The stone 'tree' balances like modern art, casting a shark-fin shadow across dunes.
Climb leeward side of dunes to escape wind for photos.
Evening
Stay in stone refuge under star-stuffed sky
Huayllajara dorm, nurse a quinoa beer while lightning stitches distant Chilean volcanoes.
Where to Stay Tonight
Huayllajara village (Eduardo Avaroa Refuge dorm)
It's the only bed inside the reserve. Waking at 4,000 m for sunrise geysers beats any day-trip crush.
See all Bolivia accommodation options →Keep your water bottle inside the sleeping bag. Outside it turns to ice by midnight even in September.
Day 5 Budget: 140 USD
6
Geysers, Green Lagoon & Night Bus to Rurre
Southwest Bolivia to Rurrenabaque
Dawn at 4,900 m geysers, emerald Laguna Verde, then overnight bus down to Amazon lowlands.
Morning
Sol de Mañana geothermal field
Mud belches like thick soup; rotten-egg stench mixes with air that freezes breath into glitter. Tread lightly, crust hisses and cracks underfoot.
Rent knee-high rubber boots (2 USD) so steam condensation doesn't soak your socks.
Lunch
Polques hot-spring dip + hard-boiled eggs
Afternoon
Laguna Verde viewpoint, border formalities, bus to La Paz
Licancabur doubles in jade water. The breeze tastes metallic from copper dust. Back in Uyuni by 5 p.m., catch the 8 p.m. Trans Omar sleeper to Rurrenabaque.
Book lower-deck 'cama' row; aisle stays flat when seats recline.
Evening
Overnight bus descent
Pack a neck pillow and noise-cancel buds. The bus swings from freezing altiplano to steamy yungas in six hours.
Where to Stay Tonight
On the bus (Reclining seat)
You save a hotel night and hit the Rurre dock at 8 a.m. ready for the boat.
See all Bolivia accommodation options →Keep coca sweets for the climb. Swap to ginger chews once the bus drops into cloud forest.
Day 6 Budget: 120 USD
7
Amazon Dawn & Pampas Wildlife Parade
Rurrenabaque, Pampas del Yacuma
Glide into the seasonally flooded grasslands where caimans sprawl like sun-drunk statues, capybaras mutter gossip and pink river dolphins corkscrew around your paddle.
Morning
Boat transfer to eco-lodge & pink-dolphin swim
The outboard hacks through coffee-brown water. Air wraps you like a hot wet towel smelling of bruised leaves. Slide overboard and feel dolphins bump your calves with snouts soft as erasers.
Pack biodegradable sunscreen. Guides will seize chemical lotions at the dock to keep the river clean.
Lunch
Lodge veranda platter
Afternoon
Wildlife-spotting walk & caiman spotting at sunset
Tall grass hisses as howler monkeys catapult overhead. Dust coats your tongue when white-lipped peccaries stampede by. From the boat at dusk, hundreds of red caiman eyes catch the headlamp like glowing embers.
Bring 200 mm lens. Guides stop engine 20 m away for clean shots.
Evening
Night boat for stargazing & caiman eyes
Kill the torch. The Milky Way mirrors itself in black water while fireflies stutter like broken LEDs.
Where to Stay Tonight
Pampas eco-lodge (Caracoles Eco-Lodge (mosquito-netted dorm))
The raised boardwalk keeps boots dry during June floods and drops you minutes from the main wildlife corridor.
See all Bolivia accommodation options →Soak socks in permethrin before leaving La Paz; Amazon sandflies bite through cloth and hunt ankles.
Day 7 Budget: 170 USD
Practical Information
Everything you need to know before you go
Getting Around
Domestic flights link La Paz, Uyuni and Rurrenabaque if buses feel brutal. Shared 4×4 jeeps for the salt flats (reserve the day before), teleférico for quick La Paz hops, overnight buses with recliner seats for long hauls. Roads are paved except inside reserves, expect washboard gravel.
Book Ahead
Salt-flat 4×4 tour (2 nights), Eduardo Avaroa refuge bed, Rurre eco-lodge, La Paz, Uyuni bus seat, travel insurance with 4,000 m altitude coverage.
Packing Essentials
Layers for -5 °C nights on the salt flats, light quick-dry kit for 30 °C Amazon, 30 SPF lip balm, dry-bag for the boat, power bank (many generators run only 3 h).
Total Budget
1,200, 1,330 USD excluding flights into Bolivia
Customize Your Trip
Adapt this itinerary to your travel style
Budget Version
Trade Luna Salada for a basic Uyuni hostel, cook your own quinoa dinners, hop public minivans La Paz, Uyuni, and pick the 2-day salt-flat tour. Cuts roughly 40 %, about 800 USD total.
Luxury Upgrade
Fly La Paz, Uyuni with Amaszonas, reserve a private 4×4 with a photographer guide, upgrade to Kachi Lodge domes on the salt flats, and end at Rurre's Chalalán Ecolodge with mahogany-floored suites, cost rises to 2,800 USD.
Family-Friendly
Ease altitude by flying into Cochabamba first, hire a private driver for the salt flats (kids nap better), book lodges with family rooms. Swap the overnight bus for an Amasjonas flight to Rurre. Tack on an extra rest day in Sorata for gentle hikes.
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