La Paz is in the middle of the Andes and the perfect starting point for a hiking/mountaineering trip. There are different options, but if you don't have mountaineering experience: the Huyana Potosi is the accessible option. Don't get me wrong: you will have a hard time!

We booked with Hiking Bolivia Tours and did the 3 days - 2 night trip. You will climb to 6,088 meters, so time to acclimatize is necessary. We had a private guide and everything was very well organized. They informed us well in advance and the equipment and organization was great! Don't start this hike if your level of fitness is not adequate.

• Day 1: You will pick up all the gear you need at the travel agencies. Once packed, the group travels to one of the basecamp huts. From there, you do a ice climbing and other exercise close to the camp.
• Day 2: The next day, you start the hike to 5,200 meters high to the next camp. You will not get a lot of sleep here, the altitude will make you sleep very light.
• Day 3: You will start in the ascent (around 6 hours) in the middle of the night. Bring coca and chocolate to give you some extra powers. Once you arrive at the top, you can only stay there for around 15 minutes and start the descend (4 hours). You walk all the way back to basecamp and take the car back to La Paz.

Good luck!

• Take a night bus from La Paz to the town of Uyuni. To book bus tickets, you have to go to the bus station and visit the different bus stands to decide.
• Check-in your hotel and decided which trip you want to make to the Uyuni Salt Flats. The bus will arrive very early so it is also possible to start the Uyuni trip direct after the night bus.
• Don't worry about booking in advance. There are so many tour agencies and they all arrange the cars in the morning.
• We booked with Uyuni Trans Adino and had a great experience. We did the 3 day tour with a group in a 4x4. Our driver and guide was amazing! We visited the salt flats, cactus mountains, we saw the most beautiful sunsets, slept in salt hotels, made funny pictures, saw alpaca's, flamingo's, geysers, hotsprings, .. and so much more!
• After the 3 day trip, we took the night bus to our next destination!

• Don't rush. This town is at 4060 meters high, so you will need time to acclimatize.
• Visit the 'Cerro Rico' mines with old mine workers so you will get a good understanding about the conditions of the workers. They will not take you through dangerous tunnels or places. You can book it through whatsapp. Find their contactinformation on their website.
• You will learn about the history of the town, the active mining, the cooperations, their beliefs,.. after the mines, you will also visit a refining factory.
• Eat lava soup in the evening!

Bolivia makes wine? Yes they do!

Tarija is a bit of the beaten track destinations. Not so much tourist come here, except Bolivians, which makes it even more special.

• Take a wine tour to different wine producers.
• Rent a bike and bike around Tarija.
• Visit and hike in the Coimata Nature Reserve.
• ...

Sucre, the main capital of Bolivia, is the city for Spanish classes and learn about the dinosaurs!

• If you have a lot of time, it is very cool to practice your Spanish. We had the best time in the El Camino Spanish School (at least one week). The school also arrange homestays with families where you can continue to practice your Spanish. The school arranges a lot of cultural activities as football games, salsa dancing,..
• Visit the Mercado Central for shopping.
• Book a city tour with guide from Greentrekkers and play the local Sapo Game.
• Visit the Parque Simon Bolivar.
• Book a cultural night out with diner and performances at the Espacio Cultural Origenes.
• Visit the Parque Cretacico (if you like dinosaurs).
• Go to the very traditional and local Tarabuco market (2 hours from Sucre - only on sunday). Take a taxi of take a shared bus at this location.
• See the best sunset at the Monestary and have a drink at Café Time & Coffee.

If you like hiking and have a little bit more time.. the Maragua Crater hike is pretty cool!

We had a hard time figuring out the transport to the starting point, the trails, where to sleep and how to get back to Sucre. That's why we documented everything on Wikiloc. Follow our instructions there!

• Day 1
• Day 2

Enjoy!

From La Paz, you can easily travel to the north, in the direction of the Amazone.

Instead of taking another public bus, it is fun to mountainbike the first part until Coroico. Book your trip in La Paz and they will guide you all the way to Coroico. The mountainbiking trip is 70 km downhill. Instead of taking the bus with the group back to La Paz, you can stay in Coroico.

We had the best time in Ecolodge Sol y Luna. They can arrange yoga lessons you can make beautiful hikes, visit the town, swim in one of their pools,..

• From Coroico or La Paz, book a nightbus to Rurrenabaque. This is you starting point to a jungle trip or trekking.
• You have two choices here:
  • Do a Madidi Jungle stay
  • Or do a Rurenabaque Pampas Tour
• We did a 3 days/2nights visit in the Madidi National Park with Madidi Jungle ecolodge. There where a lot of guided day and night hikes where we saw so many different birds, monkeys, special plants,.. The last day we went tubing in the river!