Bolivia has unexpectedly become one of my favourite countries. It’s still a developing country, challenging you in many aspects, but it’s also still, and perhaps precisely because of this, a beautifully wild and unspoilt country with warm-hearted people. If you want a broad view of Bolivia, I believe you should plan for at least three weeks, ideally four. We enjoyed almost a full month in Bolivia, entering the country from Chile’s San Pedro de Atacama and crossing it from the southern rugged Andean highlands all the way north until its Amazon basin. Despite all the challenges with transportation, I warmly recommend Bolivia and hope to maybe give you some inspiration for your Bolivia itinerary.
Day 1-4: Rugged border crossing from San Pedro de Atacama in Chile to Uyuni in Bolivia
We launched our Bolivian adventures with a 3-day Uyuni Salt Flats group tour. You can read all about it in this post. The tour started in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, and ended in Uyuni in Bolivia. Although I’m usually not a group tour fan, this trip was the perfect solution for us to cross the border, explore rugged Bolivia’s Andean highlands and altiplano landscapes. Otherwise we’d have missed unique lagoons, canyons and other natural formations, which are only accessible by 4×4. However, it is also a challenging option due to the extreme altitudes. We did need a break after the extreme altitudes, and took a literally needed breather in Uyuni for 2 nights.
Day 5-7: Sucre – the missed dinosaurs
I’m highlighting the dinosaurs first because, to my biggest regret, we completely missed Cal Orck’o. It’s a quarry wall with the world’s largest collection of over 5,000 dinosaur footprints from the late Cretaceous period (around 68 million years ago). Unfortunately, we didn’t make it there in our short time in Sucre. After three days of extreme altitudes and a night’s drive from Uyuni to Sucre, we were simply not fit enough to see everything.
Nevertheless, Sucre is also a beautiful and interesting colonial city to see. With appreciation, I recommend Alvaro as a free walking tour guide from Guruwalk*. We had an amazing time with him, walking around the center. His historical knowledge with critical assessments gives you a beautifully broad image of the city and culture.
On Guruwalk, you can choose from many tours with different topics, focus, and languages. They are tips only. However, please be aware that the guides pay a fee of at least 1 USD per participant. Depending on the value of their local currency and the financial tools in place, they may even pay more. For me personally, this kind of tour has been my favorite way to explore cities ever since I first booked a free walking tour in Salzburg, Austria many years ago. Below, you’ll find some examples of tours in Sucre. You can click on one directly or search for more here*.
Day 8-9: Samaipata – a sacred rock in the jungle
Our direct bus ride from Sucre to Samaipata, which I booked via Busbud*, was the easiest transportation in Bolivia. I could easily have stayed more than one full day. There are so many diverse things to do around Samaipata. We booked a guided tour of El Fuerte de Samaipata (UNESCO site) with its giant carved rock, which may take your breath away not only because of its mystical look and history, but also due to the sudden altitude.
Other tours I would consider next time include guided hikes into the biodiverse Amboró National Park (where you can spot e.g. giant ferns and condors), the Las Cuevas waterfalls, and the Refugio Zoológico.
Day 10-13: Cochabamba – Bolivia’s food capital
Reaching Cochabamba was not easy, which is why we organized a private ride. You can read all about our transportation from Rurrenabaque to Cochabamba in my blog post here.
In Cochabamba, we enjoyed a beautifully equipped apartment for a couple of days. We exchanged some USD, cut our hair for the first time after months, and, of course, tasted local Cochabamba dishes. I particularly recommend the restaurant Casa de Campo if you want to taste local cuisine.
Day 14-18: Rurrenabaque – the Amazon basin
We reached Rurrenabaque as a base for the next days by plane from Cochabamba. You can read more about our challenges and tips on how to travel from Cochabamba to Rurrenabaque in this post here.
This beautifully wild part of Bolivia lies at sea level. When you arrive in Rurrenabaque, you immediately notice the many tour agencies. I recommend MASHAQUIPE ECO TOURS, a locally owned and ethical agency working with indigenous guides. With their indigenous guide Wilman, we enjoyed a wonderful 3-day guided tour through the Madidi rainforest and La Pampa.
Bolivia touches the Amazon basin. Therefore, it’s an excellent destination to explore the jungle more sustainably and cheaply than many other famous Amazon tour destinations. The Madidi Rainforest is one of the world’s most biodiverse areas. We spent one night in a luxury tent in the jungle, which allowed us to spot loads of tarantulas with our torches during an amazing night walk. The next morning, however, we were less amused when one of them had made a home on our toilet roll in the bathroom. Our guide Wilman had to stifle a laugh when we came late for breakfast. The tarantula was more scared of us, in his words.
Our second stop was La Pampa, Bolivia’s tropical wetlands. They are famous for their pink dolphins, crocodiles, monkeys and other wildlife. You usually explore the meandering wetlands by boat. Bring binoculars and a good camera to capture the best moments for eternity.
After our tour, we returned to Rurrenabaque where we relaxed for two more nights. As you spend quite some time on the road, in the air or on boats in Bolivia, it calms you down to simply slow down between cities.
Unfortunately, either during the tour or later in Rurrenabaque, we picked up some very persistent stomach bacteria, which we transported to La Paz afterwards. All food was very tasty and standards high during the tour, we also chose well-rated and modern restaurants in town after the tour. Nevertheless, I can confirm today that Bolivia is challenging in terms of hygiene. You can be as careful as you like.
Day 19-23: La Paz – an altitude, culture and historical clash
Due to time constraints, we chose a flight to reach Bolivia’s capital. I would not recommend a flight unless you’re short on time like us. The sudden rise from about about 300 to about 4,000 meters of altitude shocked my body again. In particular I felt short of breath. Ultimately, I even required oxygen and, while walking through the city, Stefano often helped me up the hills because I felt paralyzed by the thin air.
Nevertheless, La Paz is an amazing capital. It is the world’s highest capital at around 3,650 meters of altitude. Especially its unique cable car system, nestled in the Andean mountains, is worth taking a couple of rides by public transport.
I recommend a Guruwalk tour,* which is tip-based, to explore the most important sights and historical facts of La Paz. You can read more about our amazing tour with Cristian in this blog post here.
Day 24: Tiwanaku – the pre-Incan capital
If you’ve got one free day, please don’t miss Tiwanaku and Puma Punku. Tiwanaku is the capital of one of the most important pre-Inca civilizations in South America (roughly 500 to 1000 CE) near Lake Titicaca. It is considered a major spiritual center. You’ll witness impressive stonework there, which made us question our classical history books about humanity’s evolution again.
We reached Tiwanaku by private taxi, which we ordered for the day from La Paz for 600 Bolivianos.
Day 25-26: Isla del Sol – a mystical island in the world’s highest “sea”
We booked two very convenient seats with Bolivia Hop, which brings you from La Paz to Copacabana, the port town connecting the Bolivian mainland to its islands in Lake Titicaca. The guide on board even booked two boat tickets for us to reach our final destination: Isla del Sol. Surely, you can find boats directly in Copacabana, but this was just a very simple way at the same cost.
After a short boat ride from Copacabana, we docked in front of Templo del Sol at Isla del Sol. Our luggage remained on the boat, which we picked up later at the main port of Yumani village. A short trek led us through the Sun Temple (Templo del Sol) towards Yumani village where we had booked Hostal Phaxsi* for one night. It was one of the coldest accommodations of our entire world trip. But you get breakfast and other meals there and are directly in front of the port, which is the most convenient option for just one night. However, I would generally recommend staying at least two nights, possibly at a higher position, so you can calmly explore more of the island and enjoy the views even from your hotel.
Directly at the port, I negotiated a private boat ride towards the northern side of the island. Hiking there would have been a nice but challenging day activity. Due to our limited time and my stomach infection in its final stages, a boat ride was the perfect way to end our time in Bolivia. We got to see the Chincana labyrinth after a few steep steps uphill. And finally, we could calmly explore on foot the higher parts of Yumani village, which rewarded us with beautiful viewpoints from the other side of Isla del Sol, on our second day.
Bolivia: one of my favourite destinations in four weeks
I absolutely adored Bolivia. In spite of the many tourists, Bolivia remains a developing country with very limited infrastructure and partly questionable hygiene standards. As a consequence, it’s not the easiest country to travel. But with the help of some local tour agencies and recommendations (see this post with Bolivia travel advice: Dos and Don’ts), it may turn out one of your favourite discoveries as well. The mix of guided tours and independent travelling gave this trip its special spark. Along the way, we crossed paths with so many deeply beautiful and kind Bolivians, which made me enjoy the discovery of their country all the more.
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