The Ultimate 3 Week Travel Itinerary for Bolivia
Bolivia is beautiful. We spent a month traveling around Bolivia. Every day had something of wonder or beauty. If you are also planning a visit, here is the ultimate 3 week travel itinerary for Bolivia.
A landlocked country in South America, Bolivia has the world’s largest salt flat. With a strong indigenous culture, there are at least 36 different languages spoken. Bolivia has the 5th highest airport in the world, and La Paz is the most populated city at a high elevation of approximately 11,975 feet or 3,650 meters. Plus, so much more!
About The Ultimate 3 Week Travel Itinerary for Bolivia:
Everyone’s personal interests will be different. We loved this modified travel itinerary, especially as it was our first time in Bolivia. This was a nice circular route that flowed well. This route enabled us to experience culture, wildlife, city life, and small-town life. All in all, this was an easy and pleasant way to visit Bolivia. Add days or stops to your own liking. This ultimate 3 week travel itinerary for Bolivia could easily be shortened or extended for whatever your own desires may be. Just don’t try to add too much in too quickly! The elevation can make you tire more easily. Although we had generally very smooth travels, always leave a little wiggle room in your plans for unexpected delays or road closures.
With that, let’s begin. Here is the route overview for the ultimate 3 week travel itinerary for Bolivia:
Santa Cruz > Sucre > Potosi > Uyuni > La Paz
Santa Cruz (Days 1-2)
Santa Cruz is a great entry city into Bolivia – mostly because it’s flat and not at high elevation. Santa Cruz has all the conveniences for travelers to get settled into the country – plenty of ATMs, money changers, places to buy sim cards, and great food to eat.
Some remark it does not feel like a ‘tourist city’ – there’s barely any souvenir shops (gasp!). The city offers a chance to slip into local life by simply being there. As photographers and writers, we stayed in Santa Cruz a week for the start of our trip to unwind and catch up on tasks. There are plenty of places you can enjoy some nice digs with pools if you want to put your feet up for a few to relax!
We also very much took on the pace of local life and went to the Plaza de 24 Septiembre every evening. There was always something different going on. We really took to the activity of “bench sitting and watching.” We would even have to take laps sometimes as we waited for a bench to open up!
Otherwise, a day or two would suffice for travelers on a tighter timeline. I wrote an additional post with what to do around Santa Cruz. Don’t miss the opportunity to try as many local dishes and traditional drinks at the highly rated El Aljibe restaurant. We stayed at several places, one of them being Tradicion. This apartment was close to the September 24 Square, and we liked that location.
Wildlife and Nature Adventure (Days 3,4,5)
Get your fill of nature and wildlife. Santa Cruz is a great jumping-off point for Amboro National Park, Kaa Iya National Park, private reserves, and other parks.
Jaguars were the target species we were hoping to photograph. We went with Nick’s Adventure Bolivia. He is the only company that goes to what is called Jaguar Land, a habitat for jaguars on a private reserve. Nick’s Adventures Bolivia has a strong reputation for wildlife trips. The services were beyond what we expected. We wanted to have the highest chance of photographing jaguars in Bolivia, which is why we went to Jaguar Land. However, always do your own research and pick what option you feel is best for your needs.
Santa Cruz (Day 6)
Depending on your logistics and whether you plan to take an overnight bus or flight, you may need a night to transition in Santa Cruz. This is a great chance to catch up on laundry, internet, and do another money exchange. We took a quick flight to Sucre the next morning, but there are plenty of bus options too.
TIP: morning traffic can be a thing. Don’t cut it too close for getting to the airport.
At the time of writing, the flight was around 1 hour and cost approximately $60 USD each.
The bus is a 12 hr night bus journey – so that into consideration for your time management and what makes sense for the flow of your trip.
Sucre (Day 7,8,9)
This beautiful colonial town attracts visitors with its white buildings and authentic markets. Enjoy the museums, eat some tasty food, and take in the architecture as you wander the city streets.
Visiting Cal Orck’o is an easy and unique half-day activity. You can pick up the Dino Bus at the main city square and go out to see one of the world’s best-preserved dinosaur footprint sites.
The Museo de Art Indigean was one of the best textile museums we have been to. We enjoyed great arepas at Bienmesabe. A must try is the saltenas at Salt Eneria el Patio – the lines were out the door and the atmosphere was always bustling.
Potosi (Day 10,11)
After reading the options, we took a shared taxi from Sucre to Potosi. It cost $70BOB, which was only a small amount more than the bus and was twice as fast. We also got picked up directly at our guest house, which saved us the cost of getting to the terminal.
Nestled alongside what was once the world’s largest active silver mine, Potosi is a town with many reputations. At one point, Potosi was one of the richest cities in the world. It is also a place of some of the world’s worst human losses. It is estimated that over 8 million people may have died while working in the Potosi silver mine.
At approximately 13,123 feet or 4,000 meters in elevation, Potosi welcomes visitors with narrow cobbled streets and historic architecture. Most people, including us, were pleasantly surprised by the charm of Potosi.
Before going, I thought this was a one-night kind of stop to break up the trip. However, we were delighted with local attractions and enjoyed the menu of the day at Sabor Cochabambino. We also tried the K’alapurka soup, or volcano soup – a must try.
Highlights included: The Mint Museum, at the time of writing the English tour was at 11am; The Church of St Francis, current tour time was 2pm which allows you to the roof and the views were so cool; the main square in town frequently had parades and music as well.
Touring the mine is the main activity that most visitors decide to do or not do. Even today, children are working as miners. Working conditions remain difficult with a miner’s life expectancy of approximately 40 years old. The decision to tour the mine is a completely personal choice up to each traveler.
Whether you tour the mine or not, Potosi holds its own as both a convenient stopping point and a city rich with history. We stayed at Los Faroles Hostal, and it was exceptionally clean.
Uyuni (Day 12, 13, 14, 15)
No ultimate 3 week travel itinerary for Bolivia would be complete without going to Uyuni. Uyuni has long been Bolivia’s hot spot for visitors as the starting point for the Bolivian Salt Flat tours. The town is flat and dusty. The streets around the main part of town are paved, but the others are dirt and dusty. This can give the town a bit of a rough look, however, don’t be in such a hurry to leave town that you miss out on the stargazing tour.
One of the best things we did on the trip was a Sunset and Stars tour with ArielMagic Tours. The experience and photos we got from this evening have been some of the most talked about and favorite photos from the whole two-month trip.
Here’s the catch – it’s likely the salt flat tour you are going on will not give you the extensive star gazing photo tour experience we got with Airel Tours. We saw many visitors come to Uyuni on the overnight bus from La Paz and get on a tour at 10 am, return from the tour, and then get back on the night bus to La Paz.
We stayed at Hostal sin Fronteras which allowed us to store our luggage and pay for a shower when we got back from the salt flat tour. It was so nice to shower before the night bus!
To do the Stargazing tour, you need an evening in Uyuni. When we show people our Bolivia photos, the stargazing tour photos are some of the most spectacular. If you think you would like that, my best tip for you is to give yourself an evening in Uyuni so you can do the stargazing tour.
Plan to do the stargazing tour on your first night and then do the salt flat tours. If you take a night bus from La Paz, book the stargazing tour on your first evening. Plus, in case you don’t sleep well on the night bus, you can catch up before you head out onto the salt flats.
The other regret I saw people have was not allocating time to do the three-day salt flat tour. Of course, if all you can do is a one-day tour of the Bolivian salt flats, go for it. But if you are coming all this way, to this remote town, give yourself the ability to go on at least the three-day tour. This will allow you to experience the most and give a true feel of how vast and remote the Bolivian salt flats are. We went with Discovery Colored Lagoon. We organized everything over WhatsApp which worked well.
There are decent restaurants all around Uyuni. We enjoyed good pizza and a unique atmosphere at Minute Man Pizza. An American fell in love and married a Bolivian. They run this pizza place which Anthony Bourdain visited, along with their guesthouse. We also had a delightful lunch at Memo’s Coffee and Bistro.
TIPS:
The tour is accommodating but rugged. By default, the higher elevations make general day-to-day living more difficult. The sun is intense. The wind is intense. The elevation is intense. Wear layers, wear sunscreen, and drink water.
There will be a lot of driving. If you are at all prone to motion sickness – make sure you have medicine on hand.
Altitude. As someone who has gotten altitude sickness before, make sure you have the medication on hand and take it if you need to. With lots of extra hydration and giving yourself some time to acclimate, you can hopefully avoid altitude sickness. But. If you do get symptoms, remember you will be remote. Best to ask your doctor ahead of time for any medications you may need.
Overnight bus to La Paz (Day 16)
The evening we returned from the Salt Flat tour, we took a night bus back to La Paz. This seemed to be the best flow of time management to get the most out of Uyuni.
We booked tickets ahead of time and went with Todo Turismo bus company. The ticket costs $40 USD per person. However, the waiting room was very nice with clean toilets, drinking water and tea, and wifi. The bus was clean, comfortable, and well-organized. Dinner was served immediately upon boarding, and there was a small breakfast in the morning. A bathroom was on the bus as well. For the comfort of the seats and being able to recline them so much, personally, we felt the value was worth it.
TIP: Do not book the last row on the bottom level of the bus. Those seats do NOT recline and there is no mention of that on the website.
Glamping near La Paz (Days 17, 18, 19)
We had no idea how relaxing the glamping spot would be at Colibri Eco Lodge. If you are a long-term traveler or someone coming from a highly stressful environment, and you are looking for a peaceful place to plop, Colibri Eco Lodge is it.
We stayed there four nights and could have stayed more. This is the type of place travelers go to and extend a night. And then another night. And then another. Before you know it, two weeks have pleasantly passed and people feel revived to hit the road again.
If this doesn’t seem like your cup of tea or if you are on a shorter trip, this would be an easy section to cut. Here are some past articles about Bolivia if you need inspiration. If you do stay out there, there are day trip options to the Valley of the Moon and other surrounding areas. Or you could simply be there and enjoy the space.
La Paz (Days 20, 21, 22)
La Paz blew us away as a city of the future. It’s huge, traditional, and modern. It offers so much, depending on what you want to get out of the experience. We are typically not city people. However, if we are going to be in the city, we try to enjoy the best things it has to offer.
MUST DO in La Paz: Mi Teleferico
I say La Paz is a city of the future because we were so impressed at how well the public transportation of the Teleferico worked. We rode around, high overhead, getting a bird’s eye view from the teleferico that traverses large portions of La Paz.
It was one of the neatest things we did. We used it to get all around, and then we did ‘go for a ride’ one evening at sunset.
If you plan to ride more than five times or so, consider getting a reloadable card and avoid waiting in line to buy individual tickets.
We stayed at Anata Hostal. We enjoyed this stay very much as it was not on any direct road so there was no traffic noise
FANCY EATING in La Paz:
After reading the rave reviews of Gusto Restaurant, we treated ourselves to a nice meal out. If we had been there with a group of friends, we would have loved to do the multiple-course tasting menus they offer. We went for lunch and chose three courses.
A great place to treat yourself, where almost all the dishes had flowers on them!
Some general travel tips for the ultimate 3 week travel itinerary for Bolivia:
CLOTHING
Layers will be your best friend in Bolivia. I wore my rain jacket and rain pants much of the time as a windbreaker. It is windy frequently. Have a hat and gloves on hand, too.
MONEY
Bolivia is in the midst of a currency “crisis.” If you are able, bring USA cash in crisp $100 bills for the best exchange. MoneyGram transfers and picking up the cash directly at a bank was a great way to get money as a traveler. We had no fees when we did this.
FOOD & HEALTH
Ensure you drink plenty of water. Do not get caught off guard and dehydrated. So much of Bolivia is at high elevations. If you enjoy alcohol, do so with awareness. The elevation is no joke and has caused upheaval to many a traveler’s plans and itineraries.
DISTANCE
Take note of how long getting from A to B should take you. Distances can be far in Bolivia and take longer than anticipated. Don’t try to cram too much in and get exhausted. Keep a reasonable itinerary and expect some things to go wonky. We saw several travelers become completely overwhelmed by trying to do too much in too short a time.
VISAS
Always recheck this for the most current updates – it was just changed that US citizens no longer need to pay for a visa entry fee. We each just paid $160 per person! So if you are a US citizen – as of the time of this writing, that is a very recent update. All nationalities should always check the exact and up-to-date entry requirements before planning their trips.
PAPERWORK
Although they say you can show immigration electronic copies of where you staying for your first night of accommodation and such, PRINT it off on paper! Have a printed copy of your outward airline ticket, proof of funds, yellow fever, and any other paperwork that you may be asked to show. It was about 50/50 which travelers were asked to show this and which were not. We actually had to show our marriage certificate to appease the customs lady that we were both staying at the same accommodation. They will likely keep your paper copies, so make sure you print enough to give immigration a copy and keep a hard copy for yourself.
Our month in Bolivia was one of the most enjoyable and hassle-free travel destinations we have been to. Bolivians, simply put, were so nice! For a first-time visit to the country, this felt like the ultimate 3 week travel itinerary for Bolivia. However, there is so much more to see. I think one of the highest compliments to give to a country is to say, “See you next time.” Bolivia, we’ll be back.
