BOLIVIA VACATION FOR NATURE LOVERS: UYUNI SALT FLATS BOLIVIA

Transfer to Copacabana and Tour:

Pick up from the lobby of your hotel to travel to Copacabana (duration: 3.5–4 hours, altitude: 3,840 m / 12,595 ft).

At your arrival, visit the Basilica—a stark, white, Moorish-looking building decorated with Portuguese-style blue tiles and rounded domes. Inside is the Shrine of Virgen de Copacabana—a statue carved in the 15th century, believed to be responsible for countless miracles. People believe that if she’s removed, Lake Titicaca will rise in rebellion and flood the town.

We recommend you take an optional walk (duration: 1.5 hours) through the 12 Stations of the Cross, as devout Catholics do during the Easter season. This great uphill walk will help you understand the layout of the town and the position of nearby islands. The views of Lake Titicaca, on the way up, are also worth the journey. It is worth noting that in contrast to the strong Catholic influences found in Copacabana, you will also find Yatiris (Aymara masters) performing spiritual cleanings called “challas” or coca leaf readings.

Boat Transfer to Sun Island:

After your tour of Copacabana, transfer by boat to the Port of Pilkokaina in the southern part of Sun Island on Lake Titicaca–legendary birthplace of the Inca Empire– where you will enjoy a traditional lunch in the open air called Apthapi, before continuing on your tour.

After lunch, enjoy a smooth uphill walk with amazing views of the lake and a visit to the Inca ruins of Pilkokaina Palace along the way (duration: 45 minutes). From the lodge, behold an amazing sunset (duration: 8 hours approx.).

Evening free

Overnight on Sun Island: La Estancia (basic lodge)

Meals included: BLD

Escalera del Inca and Transfer to Tiwanaku:

After enjoying breakfast, you will walk down to the Port of Yumani and visit the Escalera del Inca, a stairway leading to the Inca Fountain, once believed to be a fountain of youth, and a place where ceremonies dedicated to water and insemination of earth took place. After a short trek with wonderful panoramic views of Lake Titicaca, you will take a boat back to Copacabana (duration: 1 hour) to then be transferred to Tiwanaku (duration: 3–4 hours).

Half Day Tiwanaku Ruins and Transfer to La Paz:

After lunch in Tiwanaku, visit the Spiritual and Political Centre of the Tiwanaku Culture, which includes beautiful monumental stone buildings that survive in the protected archaeological zones. You will visit the Kalasasaya Temple (Sun), the legendary Sun Gate, the Semi-subterranean temple (Earth), the Akapana Pyramid, the Puma Punku ceremonial center, as well as the museums where you will enjoy an impressive collection of artifacts and tools of ancient civilizations in addition to monumental monoliths (duration: 1.5–2 hours). Transfer to your hotel in La Paz (duration: 1.5 hours).

Evening free

Overnight in La Paz

Meals included: BL

Morning transfer to the airport:

Pick up from the lobby of your hotel and transfer to the airport WITH DRIVER ONLY for your flight La Paz–Uyuni (flight not included).

Uyuni – Ollague Volcano – Minor Lagoons:

Pick up from the airport, where you will meet your guide, and you will travel to Hedionda Lagoon (altitude: 4120 m / 13513 ft). Along the way, you will cross for the first time the Uyuni Salt Flat towards Puerto Chuvica¹ and then pass by the town of San Juan until arriving at the Chiguana Salt Flat. The next stop will be the viewpoint of Ollague Volcano, which is still smoking, and a small and colorful group of minor lagoons² (Chiracota, Honda, Cañapa, and Hedionda), where you can see flamingos and other birds (duration: 7 hours). Transfer to Ecolodge Los Flamencos to enjoy dinner.

NOTES:

1. In the rainy season, the Flamencos lodge cannot be reached through Puerto Chuvica, and the Chiguana Salt Flat is not visited. You will enter through Uyuni, San Cristóbal, Villa Alota, and visit the Los Cóndores Valley, the Ollague Volcano viewpoint, and the minor lagoons.
2. The Ramaditas lagoon is not visited because it is dry.

Evening free.

Overnight at Flamencos Ecolodge.

Meals included: BLD

After breakfast, you will depart to the iconic Árbol de Piedra (rock tree or stone tree) in the Siloli Desert, where you will find vicuñas and vizcachas. You will continue on to the Red Lagoon (also known as Colorada lagoon), home to the famous James Flamingos, unique in its species, and other local fauna. The lagoon itself is very special as it sometimes turns a deep red color because of the combination of reddish sediment in its surface, and the pigmentation of a certain type of seaweed at its bottom. Next, you will visit the Sol de Mañana Geysers, an area with much volcanic activity, full of boiling mud lakes and sulfur steam pools. After, you will visit the Polkes, where you can enjoy its natural hot springs, and you will pass through the Dalí’s Desert, an extremely arid area with landscapes very similar to Salvador Dalí’s surreal vast desert paintings.

Then, you will visit the white and green lagoon with its impressive emerald color and towering Llicancabur Volcano as a backdrop.

Finally, transfer to Colchani passing by Quetena, Soniquera, Culpina K, San Cristóbal and Uyuni town, located to 20 minutes from Uyuni (duration: 12 hours).

Evening free

Overnight at Colchani (hotel made of salt)

Meals included: BLD

Pick up from the lobby of your hotel and transfer to the amazing Uyuni Salt Flat (altitude: 3675 m / 12054 ft), the world’s largest salt desert with an expanse of more than 12,000 square km (7,455 square miles). On your way, you will visit the cemetery of trains, where you can make playful and even artistic pictures on board the remains of 19th- and 20th-century steam locomotives. Next, you will visit the town of Colchani (20 minutes from Uyuni), where you will learn the artisanal salt extraction process from local artisans, and maybe even purchase salt from Uyuni. On this trip, you will also see piles of extracted salt and see up-close the “ojos del salar” or mineralized water springs bursting out of the salt flat.

The next stop is Incahuasi Island located in the middle of the Uyuni salt flat, where you can see the famous giant cacti that are up to 10 meters high and enjoy a short walk to the top of the island and admire wonderful panoramic views of the salt flats. Lunch will be served in the middle of the salt flat for an exclusive experience like no other. This is a perfect time to take advantage of the salt flat’s extraordinary flatness and play with proportion and perspective in your photographs (during the dry season: from mid-April to mid-November, subject to weather changes).

After lunch, transfer to the Tunupa Volcano to visit the Coqueza mummies found in that area and the Chiquini Caves. On the way back to Colchani, you will stop to visit the first hotel made of salt, Playa Blanca, where you can take photos in the flag garden of different countries and with the Dakar monument.

Finally, transfer to the airport WITH DRIVER ONLY for your flight to La Paz and then your international flight (both flights booked on your own).

Meals included: BL