Bolivia in nine days: a canyon capital strung with the world’s highest urban cable car network, a flight out to the blinding white expanse of the Salar de Uyuni for a night in a hotel built from salt, two more days chasing red and green lagoons through the Siloli Desert, a crossing of Lake Titicaca to the Inca-sacred Isla del Sol, and a final stop in the whitewashed colonial capital of Sucre — with real hotels, licensed tour operators, and 2026 prices for every stop.
Day 1
Arrive in La Paz
Touch down at the world’s highest international airport and settle into the thin Andean air with an evening among the potions and dried llama fetuses of La Paz’s famous Witches’ Market.
🚕 Private Airport Transfer — Transturin
~45 minutes · From $30 USD, private car for 2
A private transfer meets arrivals at El Alto International Airport (LPB) — at 13,325 feet, the highest international airport in the world — for the descent into downtown La Paz.
Transturin · +59122422222 · transturin.com
🧙 Witches’ Market (Mercado de las Brujas)
~1.5 hours, self-guided · Free to browse
Stalls along Calle Linares sell dried llama fetuses, herbal remedies, and amulets used in Aymara offerings to Pachamama — a strange, essential introduction to Andean spiritual life before dinner nearby.
🍽️ Dinner — Gustu
~2 hours · $40–$60 USD / person, tasting menu
A restaurant co-founded by one of the chefs behind Copenhagen’s Noma, built entirely around Bolivian ingredients — Amazonian fish, Altiplano quinoa, and highland tubers — in a sleek dining room in the Calacoto district.
Gustu · +59169830327 · www.gustu.bo
🛎️ Overnight — Atix Hotel
From $114 USD / night, for 2 people
A concrete-and-glass design hotel (a member of Design Hotels) in Calacoto, with a rooftop terrace facing snow-capped Illimani and a restaurant built around native Bolivian ingredients.
Atix Hotel · +59169831262 · atixhotel.com
Day 2
La Paz by Cable Car
A full day riding the world’s highest and longest urban cable car network above the sprawling bowl of the city, followed by a walk through the colonial core and a wind-carved desert just south of town.
🚡 Mi Teleférico Cable Car Network
~2 hours, self-guided · ~$0.60 USD per line
Ten color-coded lines of Mi Teleférico carry riders silently above La Paz and El Alto — the world’s largest urban cable car network — with the Red and Yellow Lines offering the best views over the canyon city toward Illimani.
Mi Teleférico · miteleferico.bo
🏛️ Historic Center Walking Tour — Magri Turismo
~3 hours, guided · $35 USD / person
A guided walk through Plaza Murillo, the Basilica of San Francisco, and the steep colonial lanes of Calle Jaén, ending with coca-leaf tea and a stop among the artisan shops of Sagárnaga Street.
Magri Turismo · +59122442727 · magriturismo.com
🌕 Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley)
~2 hours, self-guided · ~$2 USD entrance
A short taxi ride south of the city leads to a maze of eroded clay spires and canyons, carved by wind and rain into a landscape that gave the site its lunar nickname.
🛎️ Overnight — Atix Hotel
From $114 USD / night, for 2 people
A second night in Calacoto before tomorrow’s early flight to the salt flats.
Day 3
Fly to Uyuni, Salt Flats Begin
A short flight swaps the canyon city for the flat white horizon of the world’s largest salt flat, with a stop at a bone yard of rusted steam locomotives on the way in.
✈️ Flight — La Paz to Uyuni (Boliviana de Aviación)
~1 hour, direct · From $120 USD / person, one-way
BoA’s daily morning flight covers in an hour what would otherwise be a 10–12 hour overnight bus, landing at Uyuni’s small airport on the edge of the salt flat.
Boliviana de Aviación (BoA) · 901105010 · www.boa.bo
🚂 Train Cemetery (Cementerio de Trenes)
~45 minutes, self-guided · Free
Rusting 19th-century steam locomotives, abandoned when Bolivia’s mining industry collapsed, sit half-swallowed by sand on the edge of town — a favorite stop for photos before heading out onto the salt.
🧂 3-Day Salt Flats & Red Lagoon Tour — Quechua Connection 4WD
3 days / 2 nights, private 4WD · From $320 USD / person, all-inclusive
A private jeep tour departs Uyuni for the edge of the Salar, crossing 4,000 square miles of blinding white salt crust toward the cactus-covered Isla Incahuasi — in the wet season, a thin layer of standing water turns the entire flat into a mirror of the sky.
Quechua Connection 4WD · +59126933923 · quechuaconnection4wd.com
🛎️ Overnight — Palacio de Sal
Included in tour package (independent rate from $255 USD / night, for 2)
The original salt hotel, built almost entirely from blocks of compressed salt — walls, furniture, and beds included — on the edge of the Salar.
Palacio de Sal · +59126225186 · palaciodesal.com.bo
Day 4
Across the Salar
A full day crossing the blinding white salt crust to a cactus-studded island, then on to the volcanic Siloli Desert for a night beneath some of the clearest skies on Earth.
🪞 Salar de Uyuni Crossing & Isla Incahuasi
Full day, included in tour · Isla Incahuasi entrance ~$5 USD
The jeep crosses the endless white salt pan to Isla Incahuasi, a rocky outcrop covered in towering cacti, then lingers for a sunset that can turn the flat’s surface into an unbroken mirror of orange sky.
🌋 Siloli Desert & Árbol de Piedra
~3 hours driving, included in tour
The route climbs into red rock canyons and wind-sculpted volcanic boulders, including the famous stone tree (Árbol de Piedra) balanced on a narrow base after millennia of desert wind.
🛎️ Overnight — Hotel Tayka del Desierto
Included in tour package
A stone-and-adobe lodge built into the Siloli Desert landscape near the Eduardo Avaroa reserve, with heated rooms and dinner by candlelight — the lack of light pollution here reveals the full sweep of the Milky Way after dark.
Tayka Hoteles · +59174241724 · tayka-hoteles.com
Day 5
Colored Lagoons & Return
A pre-dawn drive to boiling geysers and a flamingo-filled crimson lake, before the long drive back across the Altiplano to Uyuni town.
💨 Sol de Mañana Geysers
~1 hour at sunrise, included in tour
A 4:00am departure reaches the bubbling mud pots and steam vents of Sol de Mañana at 16,000 feet just as the sun rises, when the geothermal field steams most dramatically in the cold air.
🦩 Laguna Colorada & Laguna Verde
~3 hours, included in tour
A blood-red lake stained by algae and mineral sediment hosts hundreds of James’s flamingos, while the emerald waters of Laguna Verde shimmer at the foot of Licancabur volcano near the Chilean border.
🚙 Polques Hot Springs & Return Drive to Uyuni
~6–7 hours total, included in tour
A midday soak in the Polques thermal pools breaks up the long final drive back north across the Altiplano to Uyuni town.
🛎️ Overnight — Tonito Hotel
From $59 USD / night, for 2 people
A backpacker-favorite hotel near the train station in Uyuni town, with hot showers and a well-stocked pizzeria — a welcome comfort after three days on the salt.
Tonito Hotel · +59173743730 · www.tonitouyuni.com
Day 6
Uyuni to Copacabana
A flight back to La Paz, then a long overland transfer across the Altiplano — including a ferry crossing of the Strait of Tiquina — to the lakeside town of Copacabana.
✈️ Flight — Uyuni to La Paz (Boliviana de Aviación)
~1 hour, direct · From $120 USD / person, one-way
A midday flight retraces the route back over the Altiplano to El Alto International Airport.
Boliviana de Aviación (BoA) · 901105010 · www.boa.bo
🚌 Transfer — La Paz to Copacabana (Transturin)
~3.5 hours, includes Strait of Tiquina ferry crossing · From $25 USD / person
A coach follows the shore of Lake Titicaca to the narrows at Tiquina, where passengers cross by small ferry — while the bus itself floats over separately on a wooden barge — before continuing on to Copacabana.
Transturin · +59122422222 · transturin.com
🛎️ Overnight — Hotel Rosario Lago Titicaca
From $94 USD / night, for 2 people
A lakefront hotel built in traditional Andean style on the shore of Lake Titicaca, with rooms looking out over the water toward Isla del Sol.
Hotel Rosario Lago Titicaca · www.gruporosario.com
Day 7
Isla del Sol
A boat crossing to the birthplace of the Inca sun myth, where stone terraces and sacred ruins look out over the deepest blue water in the Andes.
⛵ Isla del Sol Boat Tour — Crillon Tours
~7 hours round-trip, guided · $25 USD / person
A boat crosses Lake Titicaca — the highest navigable lake in the world — to Isla del Sol, believed in Inca mythology to be the birthplace of the sun, with a guided walk past Inca terracing, the Sacred Rock, and the Pilko Kaina temple ruins.
Crillon Tours · +59122337533 · crillontours.travel
🥾 Yumani Village & the Inca Steps
~1.5 hours, self-guided · Community entrance ~$2 USD
A climb up the island’s 700-year-old stone Inca Staircase, past the Fountain of Youth spring, ends in Yumani village with sweeping views back across the water to the Cordillera Real.
🛎️ Overnight — Hotel Rosario Lago Titicaca
From $94 USD / night, for 2 people
A second lakeside night in Copacabana before tomorrow’s transfer to Sucre.
Day 8
Copacabana to Sucre
A return to La Paz followed by a flight south to Bolivia’s white constitutional capital, a city of colonial arcades and red-tiled roofs.
🚌 Transfer — Copacabana to La Paz (Transturin)
~3.5 hours · From $25 USD / person
The return coach retraces the lakeshore route and Tiquina ferry crossing back to La Paz in time for an afternoon connecting flight.
Transturin · +59122422222 · transturin.com
✈️ Flight — La Paz to Sucre (Boliviana de Aviación)
~1 hour, direct · From $110 USD / person, one-way
A short hop south lands in Sucre, Bolivia’s constitutional capital and a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its whitewashed colonial center.
Boliviana de Aviación (BoA) · 901105010 · www.boa.bo
🏛️ Plaza 25 de Mayo & ASUR Textile Museum
~2 hours, self-guided · Museum entrance ~$4 USD
An evening walk through Sucre’s whitewashed colonial core past the Casa de la Libertad, ending at the ASUR museum’s collection of intricately woven Jalq’a and Tarabuco textiles.
🛎️ Overnight — Parador Santa María La Real
From $106 USD / night, for 2 people
A restored 19th-century colonial mansion two blocks from Plaza 25 de Mayo, built around a plant-filled courtyard with a small spa and rooftop terrace.
Parador Santa María La Real · +59146439630 · www.parador.com.bo
Day 9
Sucre & Departure
A last morning tracing dinosaur footprints frozen in a vertical limestone wall before the flight home.
🦖 Parque Cretácico (Cal Orck’o Dinosaur Tracks)
~2 hours, guided · $5 USD entrance + $2 USD DinoTruck
More than 5,000 dinosaur footprints, tilted to near-vertical by tectonic uplift, cover a limestone quarry wall on Sucre’s edge — a life-size dinosaur park and short guided walk explain how the 68-million-year-old tracks were preserved.
☕ Mercado Central & Last Coffee
~1 hour, self-guided · Free to browse
A final walk through Sucre’s covered central market for fresh tropical fruit juices and a last cup of Bolivian coffee before checkout.
✈️ Departure — Alcantarí International Airport (SRE)
Self-guided
Closes a nine-day loop that ran from La Paz’s cable cars and Witches’ Market to the mirror-white Salar de Uyuni, the sacred waters of Lake Titicaca, and the colonial streets of Sucre — check international connections, as most flights home route back through La Paz or Santa Cruz.
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