Backpacking Bolivia: our best things to see and do in Bolivia

Welcome to Bolivia!Here you will discover some of the most beautiful landscapes of South America! (it is really true!!). We will take you to the incredible Salar de Uyuni, the breathtaking lagoons and volcanoes in Sajama National Park, the beautiful small town of Sucre or the impressive La Paz. Traveling to Bolivia is all that at once, incredible landscapes that could really come from another planet and we will remember this country forever.

Bolivia is also the country where Benoit first climbed over the symbolic 6000m by reaching the top of the Parinacota volcano (which goes up above 6300m)

Bolivia was really one of the countries we loved the most during our round the world trip and we hope we can come back one day fore some more adventures (maybe a multidays hike).

Our Bolivia travel map

In all we spent a month in Bolivia and wrote 6 blog posts about this South American country. You will find all our articles at the end of this page, but if you prefer to see them on a map you can simply click on the button below to display our Bolivia travel map.

Show the Map

Our tips to visit Bolivia

First thing: it's a great idea to come and visit Bolivia! :) It is most probably the country where we have been most impressed in terms of landscapes and their variety. There hasn't been a day where something did not Wooowwwed us away :)

Visa for Bolivia

Administration wise, Bolivia is quite simple: for French, Swiss, UK or Belgian nationals there is no need for a visa to enter Bolivia if the stay is less than 90 days.

A stamp is applied to the passport on arrival (by land or air) and allows a tourist stay of up to 3 months. Dead simple no?

For US citizens, a visa is required. The visa can be done on arrival and requires the following:

• a hotel reservation for the first nights / or a letter of invitation
• sufficient funds to travel
• 160$.

The visa issued is valid for 10 years and allow multiple territory entries.

When to visit Bolivia?

The first thing to know is that since Bolivia is in the southern hemisphere, it means that the seasons are reversed: winter here is summer there and vice versa.

The second thing to know is that due to the variety of landscapes but also altitudes there is not one single climate rule.

Personally I recommend that you come in the so-called "dry" season, i.e. during the southern winter which extends between March/April and November. It is also possible to come between November and March, but there might be more rain. Seeing Uyuni's salar under a thin layer of water can be magical (we would really love to see that!), but you have to know that if it rains too much then the salar will not be accessible at all!

We arrived in Bolivia at the end of August and it was great. During the austral winter, temperatures can be cool (especially at altitude and in the Salar) but this is acceptable if you bring good jackets and a hat (and a pair of leggings);)

Our best things to see and do in Bolivia

We are far from having seen everything in Bolivia... For example, the whole Amazonian part is totally unknown to us! But if we were to give you our best recommendations of the things to see and do in Bolivia would be:

• The Uyuni salt flats (Salar de Uyuni): A pure wonder! Seriously, don't miss it! And if you come here, don't be shy in the number of days you want to spend there. We have done a 4-day tour and were amazed. 3 days are also good... less??? it would be a real pity and frustrating to have only such a small glimpse of this wonder! Our Uyuni salt flat blog post
• Sajama: The gem of Bolivia's northwest. It is a region that is less touristy because it is not necessarily super easily accessible, but it was a highlight of our trip to Bolivia. Read our experience in Sajama national park
• The ascent of Parinacota: That was Ben's big dream for this trip! He wanted to climb a peak at more than 6000m (19'600 ft) and he chose the Parinacota volcano (or maybe the volcano chose him). Located in Sajama National Park on the border with Chile, this experience was one of the highlights of his trip. Read his climb on the Parinacota volcano
• La Paz: a truly unique city that must be seen at least for one day for its unique topography! After that, if you are short in time and prefer nature over cities, then that's clearly where I would cut off days of visits.
• Lake Titicaca: The highest lake in the world with breathtaking scenery and its famous Isla del sol. Read our post about Lake Titicaca

Trip to Peru and Bolivia: Can we combine the 2 destinations?

We have regularly been asked the question whether Bolivia and Peru could be combined. So during a log trip: of course! That is what we have done.

On the other hand, I prefer to tell you that if you plan 2 weeks of vacation it seems like it's just too much. The journeys (buses mainly) are long and not always super comfortable... So really if you want to combine the 2 countries, I recommend you to plan at least 3 weeks and limit yourself to regions that are not too far from each other.

An idea for a 3-week itinerary could be:

• Arriving in La Paz (3 days), then a night bus to Uyuni
• Visit of Uyuni, the salar and the south lipez, 4 days
• Bus to Potosi or Sucre, 2-3 days on site
• Night bus to return to La Paz and continue on Lake Titicaca
• 2 days at Lake Titicaca then a night bus to Cusco (we had made this trip in the other direction)
• Cusco, Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu, 4-5 days
• Night bus to Lima and city tour, 2 days
• Return flight from Lima

You see it, even if you do a "light" program, it's a lot over 3 weeks... In short, I would rather recommend you to take your time and chose one or the other country.

After that, there are tours that  will do it in 2 weeks including a lot of internal flights (the flights are not very expensive), but personally doing 5 or 6 flights withing 2 weeks seems like a total ecological aberration, so I don't recommend you consider this option.

Trip to Bolivia: Money and Budget

The Bolivian Currency

In Bolivia the currency is called Boliviano (abbreviated Bs).

The exchange rate for this currency is relatively stable and generally fluctuates at 7.2-7.5 Bs per €1.

Card payments are possible in some hotels and good restaurants, but overall it is clearly better to plan cash rather than cards in Bolivia. Rather than leaving with large amounts of money in € or $, we recommend that you simply withdraw your money from ATMs.

There are many ATMs and during our visit we did not have the slightest problem to withdraw, international cards are well accepted. To limit bank charges, we recommend you to make sure you do not have any charges with your bank, or to subscribe to an online bank.

Travel budget in Bolivia

Bolivia is a very cheap country. To tell you the truth, this has been one of the cheapest country of our round the world trip (in terms of quality/price ratio).

In total we had a budget of 21.1€ per day and per person in Bolivia.

This budget includes many excursions (4 days at The Salar de Uyuni, the ascent of Parinacota, etc.). In addition, we had Ben's parents visiting us for 2 weeks, which pushed us to spend a little more than usual because we chose "a little better" accommodation and we ate less street food.

See our detailed budget and itinerary in Bolivia

Practical information to travel in Bolivia

Time Zone: Bolivia is located in the UTC -4 spindle in summer. This means that when it is noon in France, it is 6am in Bolivia. Note: In Bolivia there is no summer or winter time.

Official language in Bolivia: The official language of Bolivia is Spanish. If you have the basics, you will get by easily. After that, it should be noted that in Bolivia there are still many indigenous languages spoken (there are more than 30). But to tell you the truth, it is relatively unlikely that you will start speaking Queshua or Aymara... Spanish is clearly your best bet as english is only known by locals in touristic areas.

Sockets: The power sockets in Bolivia are of type A/C. In the A's we can use our European chargers, but for the C's you will need a universal adapter

Internet: This is more complicated.... :) No, in reality, the Internet is present in Bolivia in hotels and guesthouses. On the other hand, the speed is often quite limited. Things change over the years, but Bolivia is and remains one of the countries in South America with the worst internet connections. For our part we had always managed to access our emails, but on the other hand for the upload of photos we clearly waited until we were in Chile to make our backups. ;) (hopefully this has changed since our trip)

Health in Bolivia: Bolivia is not really the most advanced country in terms of medical technology. In case of a problem you will always find a doctor or a pharmacy, but this is clearly not the cutting edge of medicine. In other words, for Bolivia it is really important to have a good travel insurance. You don't have insurance? Have a look at our travel insurance comparison. The insurances presented are those we recommend for a round the world trip, but they can also be taken for shorter trips at advantageous rates.

The most important health-related risk is probably hygiene and water! It is clearly in Bolivia that we have encountered the most intestinal problems :) . It's no big deal, but let's say that the tourista was never far away. ;) In other words, never drink non filtered tap water (travel with a filter bottle), avoid ice cubes and, more generally, eat only well-cooked food or fruits that can be peeled.

Useful resources for a trip to Bolivia

• Hotelscombined: The best site to compare hotel prices
• Travel guides: The Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide
• Make sure to have a good travel insurance as well! See our full travel insurances review here

Alternative for accommodations: You can compare hotels, apartments and guesthouses directly on the map below. Simply zoom in on the city of your choice and use the filters to refine the results:

Our Bolivia Travel Video

Our video dates back from 2015 and is not quite what we might call a great achievement :) (to say the least), but it will still give you a great overview of our trip (and is a great memory for us). And if you want to come and see the videos we're making now, don't hesitate to come and subscribe to Our Youtube channel.

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