Classic Bolivia trip: cities, salt flats and Lake Titicaca

Itinerary in brief:

• 2 nights in Santa Cruz
• 2 nights in Sucre    
• 1 night in Potosi
• 2 nights in Uyuni
• 1 night in La Paz
• 2 nights in Huatajata
• 2 nights in La Paz

Day 1: Depart UK

Depart the UK from your chosen airport.

Included: International flight

Day 2: Arrive in Santa Cruz

On arrival in Santa Cruz, you’ll be driven to your hotel where you will check in for a 2-night stay.

In the afternoon, we’ve included a private tour of the city and its main sights.

Included: Private arrival transfer, tour, hotel

Day 3: Samaipata Ruins

This morning you will be collected and driven to the c around 120 km from Santa Cruz. The road to the ancient fort leads through the mountainous Andean area called Volcanes. Here you can visit El Fuerte, which an interesting, pre-Incan archaeological site that was built for magic rites.

We’ve included lunch in a local restaurant.

Included: Breakfast, private tour, lunch, hotel   

Day 4: Santa Cruz to Sucre

This morning, you’ll be collected and driven by private transfer to Santa Cruz airport for your flight to Sucre. Once you land, you will be met and taken by private transfer to your hotel where you will check in for a 2-night stay.

In the afternoon, we’ve included a privately guided tour of the whitewashed, colonial city which is considered to be one of the most beautiful in the country.

Included: Breakfast, private transfers, domestic flight, private tour, lunch, hotel                               

Day 5: Sucre

You now have a full day to explore Sucre at your leisure so why not take a stroll, have a coffee in a colonial square whilst people-watching, or visit one of the many chocolate shops?

Included: Breakfast, hotel           

Day 6: Sucre to Potosi

Today you’ll be driven over to Potosi, the famous colonial city and source of silver mines that bankrolled the Spanish Empire – causing Potosi to become one of the wealthiest cities in the Americas. Once you arrive at your hotel you will check in for a 1-night stay.

Included: Breakfast, private transfers, hotel      

Day 7: Potosi to Uyuni

This morning, there’s a visit to the Casa de La Moneda, the museum dedicated to the old colonial mint where you’ll be able to see the wooden machinery they used to mint silver coins for Spain during the colonial era.

In the afternoon, you’ll be driven by private transfer to Uyuni. Once you arrive, you will check in your hotel on the shores of the salt flat, for one night with dinner included.

Included: Breakfast, private transfers, private tour, dinner, hotel             

Day 8: Uyuni

In the morning you’ll be collected from your hotel and taken on a private tour of the spectacular Uyuni salt lake and Isla Incawasi – the rocky ‘island’ in the middle of the salt lake. Located high in the Bolivian Andean Altiplano, Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat where you’ll see the beautiful, pentagonal, salt crystal formations.

You will have lunch at Isla Incawasi with views over the lake. After the tour, you will be driven to your hotel in Uyuni where you will check in for a 1-night stay.  

Included: Breakfast, private tour, lunch, hotel

Day 9: Uyuni to La Paz

Today you’ll be collected from your hotel and taken by private transfer to Uyuni airport for your flight to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia and the world’s highest capital city. Once you land, you will be met and driven by private transfer to your hotel where you will check in for one night.

This afternoon, we’ve included a private tour of the city so you can discover the highlights, including a scenic cable car ride that offers stunning aerial views of the capital and the peaks of the Andes that surround it.

Included: Breakfast, private transfers, domestic flight, private tour, hotel            

Day 10: La Paz to Huatajata

After breakfast today, your tour begins by visiting some ruins which are the remains of one of the oldest civilisations in the Americas, the Tiwanaku Empire, from long before the Incas. Explore the Sun Gate, the Temple of Kalasasaya and the Pyramid of Akapana – some of the magnificent architecture from this once great agricultural civilisation.

In the afternoon, you’ll be driven to Huatajata to visit the Andean Roots Eco Village. Here, you can spend time exploring the Altiplano Museum and seeing some reed boats and mud houses that are similar to the dwellings still inhabited by local Chipaya people today. Visit the handicrafts village for some souvenir shopping then you’ll meet a Kallawaya – a traditional Bolivian healer descended from the Tiwanakus – naturopaths who knew how to treat Malaria before the Europeans. End our day of cultural sightseeing with a lovely candlelit dinner and stargazing into the southern skies at the Observatory.

You’ll stay overnight in Huatajata for two nights.

Included: Breakfast, private tour with transfers, dinner, hotel   

Day 11: Huatajata and Lake Titicaca

In the morning, we’ve included a hydrofoil cruise on Lake Titicaca so you can visit Sun Island. You’ll get to climb the Grand Inca Staircase and sip the waters of the Sacred Fountain, thought to bring eternal life!

Lunch is included at Uma Kollu archaeological restaurant and nearby, you will be able to visit a local market, before driving back to Huatajata in the afternoon.

Included: Breakfast, private tour, hydrofoil, lunch, hotel

Day 12: Huatajata to La Paz          

Today after breakfast, you will be driven by private transfer to your hotel in La Paz where you will check in for a 2-night stay.

Included: Breakfast, private transfer, hotel         

Day 13: La Paz

You now have a full day to explore La Paz at your leisure.

Included: Breakfast, hotel

Day 14: Depart La Paz

Today you’ll be collected from your hotel and taken by private transfer to La Paz airport to connect with your onward flight back home.            

Included: Breakfast, private transfer, international flight            

Day 15: Arrive UK    

Why not add in a stopover?