Bolivian Highlands Tour: La Paz, Lake Titicaca, Uyuni & Eduardo Avaroa

Begin your Bolivian journey with a transfer from El Alto Airport to La Paz. Settle in with a welcome orientation over coca tea, the traditional Andean way to ease into altitude. Your representative outlines the days ahead, answers questions, and shares practical tips about Bolivia in a relaxed conversation rather than a formal briefing. The evening is intentionally free, since resting well on the first night at this altitude matters. Overnight is planned at a hotel in La Paz or Copacabana, to be confirmed.

Day two begins with a ride on Mi Teleférico, La Paz’s cable car system, climbing from the valley to El Alto at 13,615 feet. From there, a roughly four-hour downhill urban trek descends through the Hanging Neighborhoods of La Paz, passing streets, markets, plazas and alleyways with changing views of the city and the Andes. A local micro bus then carries you to the market quarter, where you browse several markets, including the famous Witch’s Market, before an overnight stay in La Paz or Copacabana.

Travel from La Paz to Copacabana, then enjoy a generic lunch in a local market. After eating, take a Copacabana Town Stroll and visit the Lakeside Beach, walking through town to the lake shore. This small, easy place on foot offers water and hills, and a slow half hour settles the day before the crossing. Continue with a transfer from Copacabana to Isla del Sol. Overnight is at a hotel on Isla del Sol or in Copacabana, to be determined.

Spend Day 4 on Isla del Sol with a short, scenic trek to the southern part of the island, visiting the Inca Stairs and the Fountain of Youth while learning about its role in Inca cosmogony as the legendary birthplace of the Inca. Wide views over Lake Titicaca accompany the walk. A ferry crossing then returns you from Isla del Sol’s small port to Copacabana, followed by a road transfer retracing the altiplano back to La Paz, where the night is spent.

An early transfer from your La Paz hotel to El Alto International Airport leads to a flight to Uyuni. On arrival, a 4×4 pickup begins the southern altiplano circuit, starting at the Uyuni Train Cemetery. The route continues through Colchani for a salt-harvesting visit before crossing the Salar de Uyuni toward Incahuasi Island, where enormous cacti rise above the white expanse. The day closes with sunset out on the salt flat before returning to Colchani for the night at Hotel de Sal Luna Salada.

After breakfast, a 4×4 day travels south through the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve, passing volcanoes, deserts and multi-colored lagoons with Andean wildlife. A lunch stop follows before the Stone Tree in the Siloli Desert, a wind-carved rock formation in lunar-like terrain. The final visit is Laguna Colorada, the red lagoon, before continuing to a hotel in the Siloli Desert for the night.

Day 7 begins with breakfast before an optional morning soak in the thermal waters known for their healing abilities. The return drive then heads northeast through the Siloli Desert, also called the Dali Desert for its surreal rock forms, passing the Green Lagoon (Laguna Verde). It is a long driving day, but the colored, otherworldly terrain keeps the windows busy. Uyuni is reached by mid-afternoon for the evening flight to La Paz, followed by a transfer from El Alto Airport to a hotel in La Paz or Copacabana.

Your final day begins with breakfast included in the package, followed by a free morning to enjoy La Paz at your own pace. Revisit a market, sit in a plaza, or simply watch the city work after the urban trek, the lake, and the salt flats. Your flight time sets the only deadline. Later, a departure transfer collects you from your La Paz hotel and takes you to the airport, ending the journey at the highest administrative capital in the world.