Salar de Uyuni Bolivia: Here are our Tips for a Successful Trip
The Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia (the salt desert of Uyuni) was a highlight and is in our opinion a must-visit in Bolivia. As the world’s largest salt flat (10,582 square kilometers), the Salar de Uyuni lies at a height of 3650m and can be visited from the villages of Uyuni or Tupiza. Most backpackers do this by using one of the many available tour companies and go either for a 1-to-3-day tour from Uyuni or a 4-day tour from Tupiza.
In a 1-day tour, you will only visit the Bolivia salt flats itself. A multi-day tour will take you all the way down to the border of Chile, seeing also volcanoes, colorful lagoons with lots of flamingos, geysers, the milky-way at night, and many llamas, alpacas, and vicunas.
We did the 3-day round-trip from Uyuni and this blog post will give you all the things we learned (and missed) during our visit.
Tour from Tupiza or from Uyuni?
| Uyuni | Tupiza | |
| Duration | 3 days (most common, more days available) | 4 days |
| Day of Visiting the Salar (salt flat) | In day 1 | In day 4 |
| Estimated cost | ~800 BOB | ~1200 BOB (one day more, less companies) |
| Possible to end the tour in Chile | ✔ | Not recommended – the last day of the tour will be the salt flats and coming to Uyuni, from there you’ll have to take a bus to San Pedro de Atacama (~50$) |
| If you are coming from Argentina | ✔ Tupiza is close to the boarder in Villazon, and you will finish in Uyuni. | |
| Doing the tour as part of your Bolivia itinerary | We chose this option as it was cheaper. The last day is 8 hour drive to Uyuni. Some of the people in the group left, and although there are cool stops, the drive is long. | ✔ You will earn another destination along your way (Tupiza) and end at the Salar. |
We decided to come to Uyuni to do the 3-day round-trip version of the tour. Doing the tour from Tupiza takes one day longer. That, in addition to the fact there is less competition between tour companies (a few dozen compared to hundreds in Uyuni!), makes the tour starting in Tupiza more expensive.
On the other hand, we heard from other backpackers that Tupiza is a nice place to visit with many hikes and that finishing the tour in the Salar is saving the best for last.
How to choose a tour company for the Salar de Uyuni Bolivia
In Uyuni, you’ll find heaps of tour operators. We visited many of them and it seems they all do more or less the same for the 3-day tour (itinerary) though meals and accommodation vary between them. We chose a company based on recommendations from friends and nice people we met in Llama Cafe, that planned to do the same trip. Our choice was based on price (we paid 700 BOB after haggling for a 3-day-trip in low season, returning to Uyuni) and safety – seat belt is called “cinturón de seguridad” and we made sure the company has that and had no reviews of drivers being crazy.
We can sincerely recommend discovery colored lagoons with the great driver Javier. They were able to accommodate our vegetarian menu and had also plenty of gluten-free food for Shir, although note our tips for packing backup snacks. We also got recommendations for Andean Travel and Skyline Travellers.
Booking in person in Uyuni allows you to haggle – though note all tours leave around 10:30 in the morning so this is the worst time to shop around! (They will not offer you a cheaper price if other people are in the office who paid the full online price…)
Often tours in Spanish are cheaper, sometimes by a few hundred BOBs. If you have basic travel Spanish, in our opinion it’s enough – an extended explanation about the places can also be found in any travel guide. You’ll also most likely find a kind translator in your group to assist you.
In addition to the price for the tour you will need to pay 30 BOB for the entrance of Incahuasi Island and 150 BOB for Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa and 6 BOB for the thermal baths.
Itinerary of the 3-day Bolivia Salt Flats Tour
- Day 1: You’ll start at 10:00 am – 10:30 am at the office of your company, and mainly visit the Salar (with some more stops at the train-cemetery, the touristy village Colchani, the Dakar monument, etc…). The highlight of the day is the Salar itself. Amazing landscape that looks like from a different world and invites you to take a lot of pictures (including the classic photos playing with the perspective & sunset with wine). Second highlight: Incahuasi Island with its giant cacti.
- Day 2: Start at 7:30 am and continue south along the Chilean border. Highlights are colorful lagoons with flamingos, volcanic peaks in the distance, rock formations, lots of vicunas and lamas, and the sky at night with almost no light contamination.
- Day 3: Today is a long day if you go back to Uyuni. Get up early to start at 5:00 am to visit the geysers Sol de manana at sunrise. They are at almost 5000m – be prepared for the cold! After this defrost in the Polques hot springs and then continue down to the Chilean border (with some more lagoons and volcanoes). People who continue to San Pedro de Atacama will cross the border around 9:30 am (Bolivian time) the rest of the group will return to Uyuni (arrive there 17:00 – 18:00). Highlights: The geysers, hot springs, Laguna Verde & Laguna Negra.
General Tips for the Salar de Uyuni Tour
Have no Expectations
As Shir’s mother loves to say: no expectations, no disappointment! We were expecting private toilets and a better hotel for the first night, and something very basic on the second night. Eventually, the second night was much nicer. I expected to have no gluten-free food whatsoever and ended up being very full. It’s nicer to feel positively surprised than the other way round 🙂
Prepare for a Road Trip! (Music and Snacks)
The beautiful views of the desert and the salt flats are what you are here for, but most of the time of the tour will be actually sitting in a Toyota Land Cruiser. So be prepared with:
- Download offline playlists: This is the time for all your fiesta and sing-along songs. There is no wi-fi in any of the hostels/hotels and mobile signal is very limited, so don’t count on online access to music. We didn’t do it and grew a bit tired of our driver’s music.
- Bring snacks to share: Unhealthy crunchy food is an inevitable part of a road trip!
What to Pack for a Salar Trip?
Your big backpack will be loaded on top of the jeep and won’t be accessible during the day, so bring a small day-pack with all you need for the day:
- WARM CLOTHS!!! Salar was by far the coldest place we visited in Bolivia. Temperatures at night easily drop below zero, and during the day the winds of the salar make it sometimes freezing. Also a good idea to take warm clothes in your daypack for the sunset/sunrise.
- Wind jacket and pants in the daypack (I had only cotton pants and that got way too cold)
- Wool hat (daypack)
- Gloves (daypack)
- Buff (daypack)
- Thermal clothing – pants and a long T-shirt are really useful during freezing sunrises and stargazing.
- Sun protection: The salt flat is a huge sun reflector, so it’s a bit like going skiing. Be prepared with sunblock, sunglasses, and a hat.
- Snacks and backup food: Especially for celiacs or other diet restrictions, it’s good to have something with you so you won’t starve. I bought a pack of rice crackers for 12 BOB in one of the gringo supermarkets in town (exito, fortune) and had them with a jar of peanut butter for breakfast. Other snack ideas: sesame-honey snacks, nuts (we could find in Uyuni market only peanuts, so either bring from your previous stop or buy expensive ones in Uyuni’s exito), fruit, and potato chips. Gluten-free oats can be a good meal too as you’ll get hot water for breakfast and dinner.
- Water: We brought a big bottle of 7 liters, which was enough for 2 persons for the 3 days (You’ll get some water & coke with lunch, coffee or tea with breakfast and tea or water with dinner)
- Personal hygiene: Bring toilet paper (none in the hostel), soap (even if you don’t plan to shower, it’s nice to wash the dust off and hostels won’t have any), alcogel for the road, and a small towel.
- Swimsuit for the hot springs
- Optional: binoculars/camera if you have one (to watch flamingos up close), cards to play at night (we were too tired)
Toilets in the Salar Trip
In the desert toilets often cost 5 BOBs. You can usually find “Inca toilets” (a hidden natural place to pee behind some rocks…) nearby at all stops. Toilets get cheaper as you are going further from the Salar – in Villa del Mar (day 3) they cost 2 BOB 🙂
Our friend Arthur claims there is a toilet mafia in Bolivia: everyone gets diarrhea and has to pay for toilets! That makes so much sense…
How to take Cool Pictures in the Salar de Uyuni Bolivia
Perspective pictures are the thing in a Salar trip. Your driver will be also the professional photographer and can guide you through it, but here are some DIY tips:
- iPhone does it better – for perspective pictures, one item is close and one is far; iPhone has enough cameras to put both items in focus, and the program merges it after. Find the iPhone holder in your group – they will probably be the communal camera (thanks Lena!)
- For other phones: Zoom out for x0.5 or less (wide-angle lens). This puts close and far things in focus.
- The item/person you want in the front should be close to the horizon (where the sky and salt meet) in order to create the desired effect. You will have to lie down on the ground! And can use some salt to elevate the front item closer to the horizon.
- Google for some inspiration before. Bring beer and toys or just use what you have with you to create pictures.
Stargazing: Salar de Uyuni at Night
Like most deserts in the world, especially those far from human settlements, Salar de Uyuni at night is a dark sky heaven. Light pollution is minimal, allowing you to observe the Milky Way, the Southern Cross, and other incredible galaxies. Note we are in the southern hemisphere, so the constellations look a bit different than you know (… and probably much cooler). The milky way in Spanish is called “vía Láctea” and not – as Shir tried translating it – “Calle de leche“.
For taking cool pictures (thanks Steffen), use manual mode on your phone:
- Place the camera on a tripod or an improvised stonepod. Using a delay timer will keep the phone stable while taking the picture.
- Use the long-exposure feature—the longer, the better (the new Samsung and some iPhones have up to 30 seconds).
- Play with manual focus (till the sky is in focus) and the ISO (light sensitivity) to get the right brightness.
- A good guess for the WB (White Balance) is 5000K.
By the way, you can not only see the space from the Salar – you can also see the Salar from space! But taking a spaceship sounds a tad more complicated than just watching the Salar de Uyuni at night.
Crossing to Chile
A cool option is to finish your tour in Chile – your tour company will take care of the crossing and organize transportation from the border to San Pedro (~3 hours). The jeep will drive you through the Bolivian border crossing on the third morning, around 9 am.
You’ll have to fill out the Bolivian exit form – same as entry – and will get a QR code.
Note: Don’t take any fruit/veggies, nor coca leaves which are illegal in Chile.
We were told people were asked to pay a bribe – you are not supposed to! 🙁 To avoid it, try saying “no entiendo”.
Tour direction
If no one in your group is crossing to Chile, you can ask the agency to do the trip the other way round, ending in a salar sunrise on the last day, which is supposed to be spectacular.
Consider tipping your Driver
Seriously, they work really hard – they drive, cook, clean, organize the hostels, take photos, explain about the area, and make sure you are safe.
If you have any other tips for visiting the Salar de Uyuni, please share them with us in the comments. Enjoy your time in this lovely area!
Want to learn more about Backpacking in Bolivia? Read our full guide here: Backpacking Bolivia: Our Tips
