Planning a trip to Bolivia? You undoubtedly will come across the Salar de Uyuni within minutes of starting your trip research. We did, and it immediately was added to our list of must dos while in South America for 4 months. Don’t miss this, it’s a must see place in this vibrant world.
Booking and Getting There
We had just finished up a volunteer build in Cochabamba and needed to head south towards Uyuni, the small town that serves as the jumping off point for trips into the Salar. We bused a few hours over to Oruro, because from there, you can take a decent train all the way down to Uyuni. Booking tickets was easy at the main train station in Oruro, so we got them for a couple days later, that way we’d have time to research and book our Salar tour and get laundry done before we left.
While it’s easy to just show up in Uyuni and pick a tour company, we wanted to read some reviews and ensure we had as safe a trip as possible. We had read a few bad stories of large wrecks with multiple tourist deaths, mainly resulting from reckless or drunk drivers and no safety belts. So, we figured we’d take some extra time deciding. We settled on Red Planet Expedition. They, like most the tour agencies, in town, offer 1-3 day trips, with the option of heading into Chile afterwards as well. We were heading towards La Paz afterwards, so we picked a 3 day tour, returning to Uyuni. While there are some bad reviews online, the majority were fairly good, and they were priced competitively.
After seven hours on the train watching American movies, that are dubbed in Spanish with English subtitles added back in (messes with your head), we arrived in Uyuni around 10:30PM. It was already really cold, and we were glad we booked a small budget hotel right across the street from the station. We were up the next day, and ready to go! We got to the tour office and met up with our guides and drivers, and were split up into trucks. There were 11 in our tour group, which is pretty normal. We were split into two Land Cruisers, and after making sure our seat belts worked well 😉 we were off!
Into Salar de Uyuni
Our first stop, just a few minutes outside of town, was the Train Cemetery. After the decline of mining many decades ago, tons of trains were just left here to rot, and the area has turned into quite the tourist attraction. It’s fun to climb around on them for a while.
After an hour or so playing on trains we packed back in the trucks and headed towards the Salar. En route, we stopped in the small village of Colchani to see how salt from the Salar is turned into table salt. We made it to the edge of the salt flat and were able to see how it’s “harvested”.
Next stop was Isla Incahuasi, or Cactus Island, for gringos. If you hike to the top, this place offers some amazing views of the Salar. Also around here is where many of those classic depth perfection shots are taken. Make sure to bring some cool small props with you to take some great photos. Our driver had a toy dinosaur, and we spent at least an hour taking funny photos.
That night we stayed at a hotel made entirely of salt. Many different groups share this hotel, and other lodging along the route so expect to meet up with other travelers. The meals provided are pretty good, and they were even able to provide gluten free meals for me the entire trip.
The next day we drove south of Salar de Uyuni through the Chiguana desert almost to the border of Chile. Views of Volcan Ollague were awesome, and we were able to get out and scramble around on the rock formations while gazing at the volcano in the distance.
Our next day was spent driving south through amazing landscapes to the Eduardo Avaroa National Reserve. Just before entering the reserve, we stopped by the amazing Laguna Colorada, with it’s beautiful red hue. Our favorite stop was in the Reserve at the Laguna Verde with views of Volcan Licancabur….such an awesome view. There was snow on some of the mountains and flamingos in the lagoons, which throws you for a loop. We spent our second night in a shared dorm style lodge with several other tour groups. A nice big group dinner was served and then we went to check out the hot springs right near the lodge. Our next morning we headed out early for the 6 hour ride back to Uyuni.
Onward Travel
If you’re heading on to Chile, Red Planet Expeditions, and many other tour companies, can take you to the nearby Chilean border on the last day, and help you get the bus to San Pedro de Atacama. Or if you’re staying in Bolivia and don’t want to backtrack, there are some companies that do Salar tours that end in Tupiza. We were heading to Lake Titicaca, so we needed to head back to La Paz. There is a nightly tourist bus by Todo Turismo that leaves at 8:00PM and takes about 10.5 hours to get back to La Paz. They have a nice office with wifi that you can chill in until the bus leaves. Or they’ll let you leave your backpack there if you want to explore the town or grab dinner. The bus ride was pretty comfortable on the very bumpy roads. A meal, coffee/tea, and blankets/pillows are provided. Book a few days ahead, as it’s usually all booked up the day of. It’s easy to book on company’s website, Todo Turismo, or on the Kanoo Tours site as well. We arrived at 7:30AM in central La Paz safe and sound.
If you plan on heading to Bolivia, do not skip seeing the amazing landscapes of Salar de Uyuni and Southwest Bolivia.
