Salta - La Paz

[nataliewardo]

Hi,

Has anyone got any advice for this journey to make it as pain free as poss? Can't really do it over a few days as need to get to La Paz, preferably need to travel on the weekend. Have searched online but can't really find anything conclusive! Any help greatly appreciated!

natalie

 

[davonz]

You can take the train from the border to a couple of hours south of la paz - it goes via the salt plains, then take a bus. I took a night train, but cant remember if there was one during the day. And at the time was better/quicker than bus due to crap roads, but this may have changed.

 

[Newsjunkie]

If you can find it within your budget, I would avoid the roads and fly from Tarija to La Paz. Due to the persistent rainy season this year in Bolivia most of the roads in route to La Paz are in precarious shape, and even though you could risk it, you never know if a landslide in the road could delay you a few hours or even a day or two.

If you can get to Tarija by bus, you can book a trip from there to La Paz with most major Bolivian airlines. If you decide to go down this road make sure the carrier you choose has availability on your dates. I think that a couple of them might have numbers in Argentina that you could call (maybe Aerosur and Boa, which are the biggest ones).

These are the airlines that I can think of:

http://www.aerosur.com/
http://www.tam.bo/
http://boa.bo/

Good luck

PS Remember that there is some sort of entry fee in Bolivia if you are an American.

 

[Amargo]

The quickest would be: Salta to La Quiaca by bus, cross on foot to Villazon, catch a bus there to La Paz.

 

[Markgeezer]

I have done that journey by train, many years ago. These days you would have to take the bus to La Quiaca, take a taxi to the train station in Villazon and then either take the train or bus it. I still think the train would be an excellent, perhaps less cramped, experience. I would strongly advise to get off and spend one night in Uyuni. It's a town with in the salt desert and you'll see lots of odd things made out of salt, like furnicture for example. It's a different planet ! I'm not sure if you can even get there by road, as it's way off the beaten track. There are some paved roads as you get nearer to La Paz... e.g. from Orouro. good luck