Destinations

Tarija does not feel like Bolivia. The street rhythm is slower than La Paz. The accent is closer to Argentine Spanish than to the Quechua-influenced Spanish of Cochabamba. The food leans more Mediterranean. The locals call themselves Chapacos, not Bolivianos, and many will tell you with mild seriousness that the city should rejoin Argentina. The … Read more

The flight from La Paz to Santa Cruz takes 50 minutes and crosses 3,200 vertical metres in the process. You leave the canyon city at 3,650m, drift over the eastern slopes of the Andes, and land at Viru Viru International Airport at 415m. Step out of the air-conditioned terminal and the heat hits you. The … Read more

Cochabamba does not get the international attention that La Paz or Uyuni get, and that is broadly fine with cochabambinos. The city sits in a temperate valley at 2,560 metres, has the country’s best food, the largest market in South America, a 33-metre statue of Christ visible from anywhere in the city, and the most … Read more

Sucre is the only Bolivian city that asks you to slow down. La Paz is fast and vertical; Santa Cruz is broad and tropical; Uyuni is a base camp for the Salar. Sucre is the white-washed colonial capital where you sit in a plaza for an afternoon, take a Spanish class in the morning, eat … Read more

You probably have an image of the Salar de Uyuni in your head before you read this. Maybe the one with the surface flooded after rain, perfectly mirroring the sky and any human figure standing on it. Maybe the dry-season hexagonal salt-cell pattern that runs to the horizon. Both versions are real, they happen at … Read more

The first thing to understand about La Paz is that the city is built into the wall of a canyon. The administrative centre sits at around 3,650 metres, the high suburbs of Achumani drop to 3,200, and El Alto on the rim above climbs to 4,150. You will spend your first hours in the city … Read more