A trip to Bolivia without a 3-day tour of the Salar de Uyuni is like a sky without stars, a cloudy sunset or a pizza without mozzarella, in short: a botched job. In this post we are going to tell you about our experience travelling around this part of the world for 3 days. We will give you all the information to visit the Salar de Uyuni , where to book the excursion, the places to visit and some tips to plan your trip in the best way.
And if you're wondering if it's worth it or not, we really hate spoilers but in this case there's no other possible answer: YES. A lot. A lot. Too much. We want to go back.
3-day tour to the Salar de Uyuni
Stepping on the crunchy salt of this desert, located more than 4,000 meters above sea level, is one of the travel dreams that many of us share. It is undoubtedly a unique place , an extensive plain with km and km of salt, but it hides many other surprises , such as a remote island dotted with centuries-old cacti.
And although the tour is named after the salt flat, the truth is that you visit many more sites, some of which will make you feel like you are on another planet . The landscapes of South America are hard to beat, that's for sure.
Curious to know what awaits you on the 3-day tour of the Salar de Uyuni? Let's get down to business:
Day 1 of the Uyuni Salt Flats Tour
– The Salar –
The day begins at dawn : after a night on the night bus* (note: if you travel in the winter months, prepare for the cold: we arrived with the bus windows frozen), we went to breakfast and met Soraida from the Inti Raymi agency , with whom we booked the tour.
* The recommended bus companies for traveling between La Paz and Uyuni are: Titicaca (the one we took), Todo Turismo or Panasur. The price is around 120-140 Bs. It is best to go to the La Paz Bus Terminal a few days before the trip and book the ticket with the company you trust the most.
He took us to our first night's hotel , Hotel Rustico Casona de Sal , in the town of Uyuni and built with bricks made from the salt from the salt flat. He told us that since we were alone, he had relocated us to another group from another agency (the tour we booked was shared , the private ones are much more expensive). But he promised to comply with everything agreed upon and the truth is that everything was perfect.
We took advantage of a couple of hours to rest in the room and at about 10:00 am we met our guide-driver, Santos (a photography expert) and the rest of the group, some very nice kids from Ecuador (Fabiola, Andrés and Yandri) and another German girl, Damaris, also very nice. We got into the jeep and began the adventure !
What to see in the Salar de Uyuni
This first day was absolutely great as it focuses on getting to know the Salar de Uyuni in detail, the great star of Bolivia. The route is circular, leaving and arriving at Uyuni, although sometimes we take advantage of the opportunity to sleep in another small town like Ajencha to save km, and it lasts all day. The key stops were these:
✓ Train cemetery: where we took a lot of photos with the structures of the old trains that carried minerals to Chile during the 19th century. This salt flat has been (and is) an important source of income for the country, from which tons of not only salt are extracted, but also valuable minerals such as potassium, magnesium and, mind you, lithium, which is the largest reserve in the world (have you heard of the Lithium Triangle ?).
✓ Colchani indigenous community: where we saw how they process iodized salt to sell it and where we spent a few bolivianos in a local souvenir shop 😉
✓ Water pools, salt hotel, flags and Dakar monument : in this area there are some rather curious small water ponds, there we also saw the Dakar rally monument (we were amazed at how this madness could be allowed), we entered the first hotel built with salt and took a selfie with the flag monument.
✓ Salt flat: we stopped in a part of the desert full of crystallized salt forming hexagonal shapes. This is where we ate (very tasty by the way) and where we took the opportunity to take the typical silly photos playing with the perspectives 🙂 Don't worry, the driver brings some dinosaurs to take a photo book of you (ours was VERY good, he even made us a super cool choreography that you can see in the stories of the trip ).
✓ Incahuasi Island: a magical place, a mountain of volcanic origin that seems to sprout from the heart of the Earth, populated by thousands of centuries-old and gigantic cacti, some of which are more than 10 meters high!
✓ Sunset: the day ends in an area of the salt flat where, depending on the season, there is a layer of water on the surface that acts as a gigantic natural mirror. We toasted with a glass of wine as the sun set on the horizon, surrounded by the salt flat covered in water, as if it were an infinite ocean just a few centimetres thick. It was one of the most incredible moments of our lives.
Day 2 of the Uyuni Salt Flat Tour
– On the way to the Eduardo Avaroa Reserve –
We woke up well rested and, after showering and having breakfast, we set off towards the Eduardo Avaroa Reserve , the kingdom of lagoons, volcanoes, strange rock formations and otherworldly landscapes.
We weren't very lucky in terms of weather, as the day dawned VERY windy. And it was VERY cold. We remind you once again: if you travel in winter, bring thermal clothing and wear several layers!
What we saw along the way
Unlike the previous day, today we leave from Uyuni and sleep in the Eduardo Avaroa Reserve area, a few kilometers from the border with Chile, in a kind of "barracks" where we reach a thermal sensation of -17 degrees! Although they give you blankets, it is not a bad idea to bring a good sleeping bag (especially if you get a room with holes in the windows!). This is everything we saw on the route:
✓ San Cristóbal : one of the largest towns in the area, where we ate the best salteña of the trip at the local market. Apart from that, there are a few restaurants, little shops in case you need to do some last-minute shopping, and the San Cristobal Lipez Church with a rather peculiar entrance wall.
✓ Flamingo Lagoon: a brutal landscape surrounded by volcanoes and numerous lagoons populated with dozens of pink Andean flamingos roaming freely. One of the 3 species that live here is the James's flamingo , unique in the world.
✓ Stone tree: this is a curious rock formation shaped like a tree in the so-called Siloli desert. Although what caught our attention the most were the vizcachas! some super cute, fuzzy and friendly rodents that live among the rocks.
✓ Otherworldly landscapes: alpacas, vicuñas, snow-capped mountains, streams… it is not a specific place but the set of landscapes that we cross during this long day of roads and dust. Bring plenty of battery for the camera, because you will need it.
✓ Laguna Colorada: This is where we officially entered the Eduardo Avaroa Reserve. It is supposed to be reddish in color (hence the name), but because of the wind, it looked more like gray (the photo is a stock photo). The wind also brought with it a freezing cold, and almost made us do a Mary Poppins without an umbrella.
Day 3 of the tour to the Salar de Uyuni
– Eduardo Avaroa Reserve –
The third day of the tour to the Salar de Uyuni began with an early start after a strange night. Well, it wasn't so bad for us, since we both slept in a bed with 4 thick blankets, snuggled up, dressed and with our woollen hats on... But our companions spent the night in a common room-dorm with broken windows and we couldn't even imagine the hardships they went through (we stress: it's better to pay a little more but have a private room with effective windows).
What to see in the Eduardo Avaroa Reserve (and surroundings)
It was the hardest day without a doubt, and we left in the middle of the night and arrived in Uyuni with the last rays of sunlight. The fatigue of the trip was noticeable and, although the bath in the hot springs is restorative, we arrived with the battery at a minimum. These are the places we visited on the third and last day of the tour:
✓ “Sol de Mañana” geysers: the day starts VERY early, around 5:00 am for one reason: to get to the geysers area to see the sunrise. And it was worth it: it is a spectacular place. Note: this geothermal field is located at about 4,800 meters above sea level, so it is advisable to have acclimatized to the altitude before coming to the Salar de Uyuni, since altitude sickness is not a problem .
✓ Laguna Verde: This is one of the most spectacular stops on the Uyuni tour, at an altitude of about 4,350 metres, but once again the cold and strong wind took away some of the charm. We could only stay out of the car for a few minutes to take photos.
✓ Dalí Desert: an area so surreal that it seems like something out of this world. Colourful mountains, rock formations that could easily come straight out of a painting by the Catalan artist and volcanoes everywhere.
✓ Polques Hot Springs: only Rober and Damaris dared to take off their clothes and dive into the warm waters of these photogenic hot springs. The rest of us, cowardly and cold, looked at them with envy (but well wrapped up).
✓ On the way back to Uyuni: more brutal landscapes, fields with alpacas, vicuñas and suris (the ostriches of the Andes), and thousands of memories stored in the retina.
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Frequently asked questions about the Salar de Uyuni
This is our experience doing the tour in the Salar de Uyuni, as you may have guessed, we loved it! Below we are going to answer a few questions that are surely on your mind:
› Is the 3-day tour to the Salar de Uyuni worth it?
At this point you're asking us this question? Yes, yes, yes. Don't hesitate. Honestly, everyone in the group agrees that the first day is the best, but the others are also really amazing. But keep in mind that you'll cover a lot of kilometres in a jeep and sometimes it becomes a bit tiring and exhausting.
› I only have one day? Is it advisable to go to Uyuni to see “just” the Salar?
Before going we would have said no. But after spending a day there we are VERY clear: it is totally worth it. The landscapes on the first day are unforgettable and the moment of sunset with the wine is one of those that you will never forget. So if you only have 1 day, it is worth going to Uyuni.
› Can I take the tour from another city?
There are indeed tours in other larger cities further away, which last one or several days, and include transportation to the Salar area and the Jeep excursion + accommodation and meals. For example:
- Uyuni Salt Flats Tour by Night Bus from Sucre
- 3-day excursion to Uyuni from La Paz
- 3-day tour to La Paz and the Uyuni Salt Flats from Puno (in Peru).
› What does the 3-day tour to the Salar de Uyuni include?
In our case it included everything: accommodation in a double room with a private bathroom, tickets to the attractions, meals, transportation... But that is not always the case: our companions, for example, paid less but had to pay for the tickets to Incahuasi Island ($4), the Eduardo Avaroa Reserve ($22), they slept in shared rooms... so be clear about what you want.
› Do you need more tips for visiting the Salar de Uyuni?
In this article we give you a few tips for visiting the Salar de Uyuni and we tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about this incredible place.
We hope that you found our experience on the 3-day tour to the Salar de Uyuni interesting and that it gives you that final push to encourage you to visit this crazy, incredible, unique and extraordinary part of planet Earth.
