Bolivia Tips - Uyuni

With 8 days you should just do Salta. I know that is not what you want to hear. There are enough beautiful/mind-blowing/incredible/once in a life time things to see just there alone. Don't bother trying to get to Uyuni and/or San Pedro, it will take anywhere between 10-24 hours depending on which one and how you go, and you will need time to rest after the travel. The bus from San Pedro to Salta is 10 hours during the daytime, so that's a day wasted. San Pedro is the most expensive of the 3 regions.

If you must insist on seeing more than just Salta in 8 days (and I guarantee that at the end of it you will decide that you must go back to Salta for more later- as I did!) then you should do San Pedro as it's closer and more comfortable than entering Bolivia and going all the way to Uyuni for a more 'rugged' (and exhausting) tour. That's not to say you shouldn't go to Uyuni at a later time!! But in San Pedro you need 2.5-3 full days minimum as well not including travel times. There is the Valley of the Moon half-day tour, the full day lagoons/salares tour, and the early morning geysers tour (which I wouldn't recommend but it's some people's 'favorite') .

I still recommend just doing Salta for now and then go to San Pedro + Bolivia on another trip. If you don't do it this way, you will just have to see what I mean when you go. You will decide that it wasn't enough time and that you have to go back anyway.

Salta is AMAAAAAAAAZING... 4 main circuits plus much more:
1. Altiplano + Salina Grande (salt flat of Argentina and more; amazing but if you can't do them all, this is OK to miss)
2. Quebrada de Humahuaca (don't miss this)
3. Drive to and town of Cachi (don't miss this)
4. Quebrada de Cafayate (don't miss this)
others which I have never done but I heard are great : Molinos and Iruya

Plus you need a day or two in the city of Salta (mummy museum and the lift up the hill) and some days to rest in between the 12-14 hour day tours.

Any more questions just ask!!!

Thanks, this is great. As awesome as Salta sounds, I don't think my friend and I want to stay 8 days in the same place, knowing us. My other friend went recently to Salta and said 2 full days is enough to do the town of Salta, Humahuaca, and Cachi. It seems Humahuaca is on the way to Bolivia, too.

I consider Salta the starting point so we were looking at flights there, but if we wanted to just do San Pedro / Salar de Uyuni, how would we do that? Would we fly into Salta, or La Paz, or how would it work? San Pedro is especially interesting to me because of the potential flower bloom. Bolivia is interesting to me because all of my friends who have been have called it their favorite South American destination, and although I've already been to Chile (central), I do want to see Bolivia. What do you think?
 
I did a two day trip and it was perfect. We stayed in one of the salt hotels and got up the next morning to drive out to see the sun rise while we ate breakfast at a salt table in the middle of the flats. Whatever you end up doing make sure you pack warm clothes....I have never been so cold in my life....and im from Canada!
 
Those photos are pretty amazing! Ok, pretty much sold on the multi-day trip!

And good to know that upon arrival, can just figure it out then.

With respect to starting/stopping the tour in Uyani or another town; we'll be flying in/out of La Paz, so just need to figure out if a second town of Uyani will be worth the logistics of getting back to La Paz from there. Assuming it's easy enough to do from Tupiza, sounds like it may be worth the extra money.

Lastly, in terms of timing, we do have some flexibility of the dates. We can also go in the second week of November, which it seems is closer to the wet season, so maybe a little water enough to create some of the cool reflections, but not too much to hinder the access to various areas.

Thoughts on October vs November for anyone familiar with the differences?

Thanks!

I went to Uyuni March, so I don't know about Oct/Nov time. But I'll tell you, I highly doubt you can have BOTH the reflection caused by water on the plains AND safe accessibility to that island, which I've heard is amazing. In March there was neither the cool reflection from the place we were, nor access to the island because of water in between us and it, but it was awesome regardless (especially the sunrise option).

I recommend you go from La Paz to Tupiza. Do the more expensive tour and you get the benefit of seeing the sites in the Tupiza area on the first day of the tour. Also, it goes one way so you don't have to backtrack. If you were to do Uyuni-Uyuni, the entire last day is driving back all the way- really boring. You can do Uyuni-Tupiza but I'd start with the Tupiza stuff and hopefully you'll get to do the salt flats on the last day at sunrise!!!! You could also take a bus from La Paz to Oruro and the train the rest of the way to Uyuni, but you have to transfer and it can be a little complicated and inconvenient depending on the time of arrival.

Be careful though in La Paz. The first time I was in Bolivia, I got a ticket to Tupiza with a bus company called Panamericana to do the tour as I described above. I bought the ticket through the travel agency at the Loki hostel. There were strikes the first night and blockades on the highway; the bus was gonna leave 2 hours late (on top of a 16h journey) and they wouldn't let me exchange the ticket so I forfeited it and just bought another $13USD ticket to go the next night. The second night when I tried to leave, a woman on the bus holding a clip board with a seating chart pretended to be working for the bus company (she looked similar to the woman at the office in the bus station- I thought it was the same woman) and duped me into putting my bag in the section above the seats, telling me I had to and that i could get it after departure (I was thinking, this isn't an airplane! But well, she's the authority). She distracted me and my travel mate by showing us how the window opened (it was broken and actually wouldn't open) while a cholita bitch stole my bag. This is a common scam and not mentioned in the guide book. Five minutes later I went to check and we realized what had happened and had to jump off the bus and catch a micro back to the bus station on the side of the freeway 5 minutes outside La Paz. The people at the office of the bus company didn't care , were probably in on it, and we had to argue with them for a long time just to get the $13 back. The good news is that my travel buddy was a cute Argy guy that I had met at the hostel a few hours prior. He took care of me for the next two days while I got my new passport and some money wired from my mom (with no Spanish skills and no money nor ID!) ... I fell head over heels for him and moved to Argentina to chase him down, and we're still together!!!!

Sorry for the digression but do be careful on those Bolivian buses ... the thieves of La Paz (and elsewhere) are absolutely ruthless!! Don't let it turn you off, just be extra careful and weary of anyone that is friendly or helpful. (Sad but true).

After the trip, I read a great blog article on all the scams you may encounter on South American buses- mine was on there too. I can't seem to find it now but here's a similar one that you should read: http://www.rooshv.com/10-common-travel-scams
 
Thanks, this is great. As awesome as Salta sounds, I don't think my friend and I want to stay 8 days in the same place, knowing us. My other friend went recently to Salta and said 2 full days is enough to do the town of Salta, Humahuaca, and Cachi. It seems Humahuaca is on the way to Bolivia, too.

I consider Salta the starting point so we were looking at flights there, but if we wanted to just do San Pedro / Salar de Uyuni, how would we do that? Would we fly into Salta, or La Paz, or how would it work? San Pedro is especially interesting to me because of the potential flower bloom. Bolivia is interesting to me because all of my friends who have been have called it their favorite South American destination, and although I've already been to Chile (central), I do want to see Bolivia. What do you think?

OK but just so you know, actually doing a day tour of the Quebrada de Humahuaca, you get to stop in all those little towns instead of just glimpsing them as you pass by in the bus. Easy 10 hour day bus from San Pedro to Salta. On a longer Uyuni tour you can opt to transfer to San Pedro on the last day. (Although San Pedro has very similar scenery to that in the longer Uyuni/Salt Flat tour.) I don't think you can fly from those airports as the distances are relatively close. But check. THe San Pedro airport is called Calama. For Uyuni you'd have to fly to La Paz and take an overnight bus. I definitely wouldn't try to do all 3 in 8 days, but you can manage 2 if you cut corners.

Or maybe you could do this: Salta + Cachi 2 days (a real shame to miss the Quebrada de Cafayate!!!). Bus to Bolivia to glimpse the Quebrada de Humahuaca. Train from Villazon to Uyuni. 3 night tour that ends in San Pedro de Atacama. However much time you have left for Valley of the Moon half day, geysers if you like that sort of thing, or lagoons/salares of the Atacama full day tour. Full day bus back to Salta. Anyway not sure if it's feasible but if all else fails you catch a flight from Calama to Santiago and get back to wherever you need to be from there. Gonna be EXHAUSTING!!! And this is assuming you get lucky with 100% nice weather.
 
I did a two day trip and it was perfect. We stayed in one of the salt hotels and got up the next morning to drive out to see the sun rise while we ate breakfast at a salt table in the middle of the flats. Whatever you end up doing make sure you pack warm clothes....I have never been so cold in my life....and im from Canada!

In March it was not as cold as I expected. In October my boyfriend went and said it was pretty pleasant as well. The worst time is May-Sept. Pack for the coldest possible scenario and in the shoulder seasons you will be pleasantly surprised.
 
With 8 days you should just do Salta. I know that is not what you want to hear. There are enough beautiful/mind-blowing/incredible/once in a life time things to see just there alone. Don't bother trying to get to Uyuni and/or San Pedro, it will take anywhere between 10-24 hours depending on which one and how you go, and you will need time to rest after the travel. The bus from San Pedro to Salta is 10 hours during the daytime, so that's a day wasted. San Pedro is the most expensive of the 3 regions.

If you must insist on seeing more than just Salta in 8 days (and I guarantee that at the end of it you will decide that you must go back to Salta for more later- as I did!) then you should do San Pedro as it's closer and more comfortable than entering Bolivia and going all the way to Uyuni for a more 'rugged' (and exhausting) tour. That's not to say you shouldn't go to Uyuni at a later time!! But in San Pedro you need 2.5-3 full days minimum as well not including travel times. There is the Valley of the Moon half-day tour, the full day lagoons/salares tour, and the early morning geysers tour (which I wouldn't recommend but it's some people's 'favorite') .

I still recommend just doing Salta for now and then go to San Pedro + Bolivia on another trip. If you don't do it this way, you will just have to see what I mean when you go. You will decide that it wasn't enough time and that you have to go back anyway.

Salta is AMAAAAAAAAZING... 4 main circuits plus much more:
1. Altiplano + Salina Grande (salt flat of Argentina and more; amazing but if you can't do them all, this is OK to miss)
2. Quebrada de Humahuaca (don't miss this)
3. Drive to and town of Cachi (don't miss this)
4. Quebrada de Cafayate (don't miss this)
others which I have never done but I heard are great : Molinos and Iruya

Plus you need a day or two in the city of Salta (mummy museum and the lift up the hill) and some days to rest in between the 12-14 hour day tours.

Any more questions just ask!!!
Your trip sounds amazing! Did you hire a car or do group tours? I'm travelling up on my own in a couple of weeks so I'm looking for a good group tour company. Thanks.
 
Hola Mind you it's been a few years since we went to Uyuni but we crossed the Boliviana border earley and took the train to Oruro frist for carnaval(never saw more drunks in my life and I lived in E Europe more than 20 years) then back on train to Uyuni. We spend there 2 nights the frist day we went checking out full day tours with good guides and we found one ...sorry I cant remember his name but he was a former salt miner.We found a full day on the salts was enough and Uyuni has little to offer so in my estimation, a 2 night saty is worth it and Uyuni was worth it.Buen viaje! Esteban
 
Your trip sounds amazing! Did you hire a car or do group tours? I'm travelling up on my own in a couple of weeks so I'm looking for a good group tour company. Thanks.

All of those were group tours from the hostel Backpackers Home in Salta. It's an OK hostel; at the time they had free breakfast AND free dinner; rooms a bit grungy but they put me in the staff room which was 2 beds and empty except for me for half of the week that I was there. All those tours were through whoever they contract. I think it was discounted since I booked all 4. I'm sure any hostel would offer the same ones. Better to go through the hostel because there are so many touts downtown; I think they're all the same really except maybe 20 pesos less... for the Altiplano tour there was 3 of us and the tour guide which was great. Smaller groups are always better. Send me a message if you need any more info :)
 
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