Bolivia · Private journey
Uyuni Salt Flats Tour: Bolivia, Low to High
Photo by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
From $3,720 per personfor the 9-day versionFrom $4,975 per personfor the 12-day versionFrom $6,145 per personfor the 15-day versionland only · 4 or more sharing
See dates & prices- Sucre to La PazSanta Cruz to La PazSanta Cruz to San Pedro de Atacama
- 9, 12 or 15 days
- 1 country
- 4 bases7 bases8 bases
- highest point
- 3,660 m4,600 m4,600 m
- moderate pace
- Private
An Uyuni salt flats tour with Bolivia in the order your body wants it: in at sea level through Santa Cruz, three nights in Sucre, no night in Potosi. Nine, twelve or fifteen days.
Every Bolivia itinerary you can buy starts in the same place, and it is the worst possible one. You land at El Alto, at 4,061 m, and you sleep that night in La Paz at 3,640 m — higher on your first night than Cusco ever gets. Some of them then put you in a vehicle for ten hours the next morning.
This trip runs the other way round. You land at 373 m.
The medical case, and where it stops working
We are going to be precise about this, because most pages selling Bolivia are not.
The CDC’s guidance above 3,000 m is no more than 500 m of gain in the altitude where you sleep, per night, and it says that two to three nights between 2,450 and 2,750 m before going higher is “markedly protective”. It also names La Paz explicitly as a place where travellers can sleep lower than the airport for a night or two first.
Then the uncomfortable part. No Bolivia itinerary of nine to fifteen days meets that ascent rule, including this one. We break it twice: Sucre at 2,810 m to Uyuni at 3,656 m on day six, and Uyuni to the Siloli desert at around 4,600 m on day eight. Every operator selling this trip breaks it, including the ones charging over eight thousand dollars.
What we do instead is sequence everything else in your favour: sea level on night one, three nights in Sucre at the top edge of the protective band, no night at 4,090 m in Potosi, and a descent of roughly 950 m to sleep after the highest night. That is the whole argument, and it is worth about two days of feeling human.
Two things the CDC says that operators quietly leave out: fitness does not protect you — training and physical condition do not affect the risk — and people over fifty are at slightly lower risk, not higher. Talk to a travel clinic before you book. We are not one.
The longer version of this sits in the South America altitude guide.
A thin schedule and one runway
Uyuni’s airport has no international service and a thin domestic one: usually one or two flights a day to La Paz, most of them flown by Boliviana, with smaller carriers adding occasional extra departures. We are not going to quote you an exact timetable, because the published schedules for this route disagree with each other and change by season. What does not change is the shape of it: there is no second airport within two hundred kilometres, and a missed departure is rarely followed by another the same day.
That is why day ten is built as a transfer day with nothing in it but a cable car, and why the fifteen-day version carries a spare day outright. A cancellation on this route is not a delay. It is usually a lost day, and the only question is whose day it comes out of. We confirm the flight schedule for your exact dates when we quote.
The mirror and the salt flat are two different trips
The reflection needs the December to March rains. The European Space Agency’s radar record shows the mirror surface peaking in February, when nearly half the salar becomes mirror-like — not all of it — and fading through April as roughly two millimetres a day evaporates off.
The same water can close the way to Isla Incahuasi and doubles the driving. May to October gives you the hexagonal crust, full access to the island, and no mirror at all.
Anyone who promises you both in the same month is guessing. Our month-by-month guide to when to visit Bolivia sets out which month gives you which salt flat.
What closes, and how often
This is not a tail risk and we would rather you heard it from us.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| January 2022 | The Potosi government prohibited crossing the salar and reaching Isla Incahuasi, enforced by the tourist police |
| June 2025 | The departmental tourism secretariat suspended visits after heavy snow |
| August 2026 | The Eduardo Avaroa reserve suspended tourism entirely for around two weeks, reopening on the 28th |
Three closures in five years, in both seasons. That is why the written reroute policy is in the included list rather than in the terms.
Two things we will never write on this page
“Salar de Uyuni, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.” It is not inscribed, and it is not even on the Tentative List. It is the most repeated error on Bolivia pages and it is a useful test: if a page tells you that, check what else it has not checked. Lake Titicaca is not inscribed either — “Sacred Titicaca Lake” has been sitting on the Tentative List since 2003.
“Potosi, UNESCO World Heritage city” with nothing after it. Potosi has been on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 2014, over uncontrolled mining that has destabilised Cerro Rico. We either say that or we do not use the label.
The fuel, and the thing the British government says about operators
Britain’s Foreign Office records regular petrol and diesel shortages across Bolivia, with queues at service stations and road blockades that have caused fuel and food shortages in some areas. Its words, not ours: the shortages “can make long distance travel difficult and strand those traveling by car for several days while waiting for fuel deliveries.”
Four days of this itinerary are road, two of them in a desert with one lodge in it. We plan fuel margin into the Lipez legs and we hold a spare day on the fifteen-day version for exactly this.
The same advisory contains a sentence worth reading twice if you are choosing between operators: “There are no official minimum standards for tour operators.” In Bolivia, who you go with is not a matter of comfort.
Advisory positions and reserve opening hours change. Everything on this page was checked on 12 September 2026.
The shape of it
Where this trip actually goes
Day by day
Three lengths, one trip
Two fewer internal legs and a lower price. You connect through Santa Cruz the same day and sleep at 2,810 m on night one instead of 416 m, and you see the salt flat without the lagoon desert behind it. It is the version that works; it is not the version we would choose.
Day 1
Land and carry straight on to Sucre
Overnight: Colonial hotel, SucreYou arrive into Santa Cruz at 416 m and connect the same day to Sucre. It is a long arrival day, and the trade is deliberate: you gain nine days' worth of trip by giving up the night at sea level that the twelve-day version keeps.
Day 2
Sucre on foot
Overnight: Colonial hotel, SucreThe Casa de la Libertad, the Recoleta and the central market, slowly, because slowly is the medical point of today as much as the cultural one.
Day 3
Cal Orck'o
Overnight: Colonial hotel, SucreRoughly 5,000 dinosaur footprints across 462 trackways on a near-vertical wall four kilometres out of town, about 68 million years old. Tarabuco market instead on Sundays.
Day 4
Potosi in passing, Uyuni to sleep
Overnight: Hotel, UyuniThe Casa de la Moneda and Cerro Rico, and then we keep driving. Potosi is at 4,090 m and on UNESCO's danger list since 2014; we visit it and we do not sleep in it.
Day 5
The salt flat
Overnight: Salt hotel, eastern edge of the salarColchani and the salar, the crust or the mirror depending on the month, with Isla Incahuasi only if the season and the authorities allow it. Night on the salt.
Day 6
The near lagoons, and back
Overnight: Hotel, UyuniCanapa and Hedionda and the flamingos, as a long day out rather than a crossing. You are back in Uyuni to sleep, which is the compromise this length forces: no Siloli, no Colorada.
Day 7
The morning flight
Overnight: Hotel, La PazThe morning flight to La Paz. Nothing is booked this afternoon except the teleferico, for the reason the twelve-day version explains at more length: on a schedule this thin, a cancellation usually costs you the day, not an hour.
Day 8
Tiwanaku
Overnight: Hotel, La PazSeventy-two kilometres west to the Akapana and the Gate of the Sun, inscribed in 2000, and back to La Paz for the afternoon.
Day 9
Out
Departure dayEl Alto is at 4,061 m with no intercontinental service, so you connect through Lima, Bogota or Santa Cruz.
Twelve days is what the altitude ladder needs. You land at 373 m, sleep three nights in Sucre inside the band the CDC calls markedly protective, and reach the salt flat on day seven already acclimatised rather than on day two out of a plane.
Day 1
Land at 373 metres
Overnight: City hotel, Santa CruzYou arrive into Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia's only intercontinental airport and the lowest point of the whole trip. We meet you and then do nothing else today, on purpose. The single most useful thing you can do for the next eleven days is sleep tonight near sea level.
Day 2
Samaipata: the World Heritage site nobody puts on a Bolivia itinerary
Overnight: Country hotel, SamaipataThree hours west into the Andean foothills to El Fuerte de Samaipata, inscribed by UNESCO in 1998 and skipped by almost every Bolivia itinerary sold. Carved sandstone, a pre-Inca ceremonial rock, and your first working day at moderate altitude rather than extreme.
Day 3
Transfer day, and we will call it that
Overnight: Colonial hotel, SucreBack down to Santa Cruz and the flight to Sucre. There is a La Paz to Sucre flight a few days a week, and we deliberately do not use it: coming through Santa Cruz means your first two nights are at 416 m and 1,650 m instead of 3,640 m in La Paz. You are in the city by late afternoon with nothing scheduled.
Day 4
Sucre on foot
Overnight: Colonial hotel, SucreThe Casa de la Libertad, the Recoleta and the central market, at walking pace. Sucre was inscribed by UNESCO in 1991 and it is the one place on this trip where the label is accurate and uncomplicated. Today is also the first of three nights that are doing medical work.
Day 5
Cal Orck'o, and a day that is doing more than it looks
Overnight: Colonial hotel, SucreA near-vertical limestone wall four kilometres from the city carries roughly 5,000 dinosaur footprints across 462 trackways, around 68 million years old. On Sundays we go to the Tarabuco market instead. Either way you gain no sleeping altitude today, and that is the point.
Day 6
Potosi, and why we do not sleep there
Overnight: Hotel, UyuniSucre to Potosi is under three hours and Potosi to Uyuni about four. We stop for the Casa de la Moneda and the mountain, and then we keep driving. Potosi sits at 4,090 m and has been on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger since 2014 over uncontrolled mining on Cerro Rico. We do not sell a mine tour and we will not ask you to sleep that high.
Day 7
The salt flat
Overnight: Salt hotel, eastern edge of the salarColchani, then the crust or the water depending on your month, and the horizon everyone comes for. Isla Incahuasi if the season allows it: in January 2022 the Potosi government prohibited crossing the salar and reaching the island outright, so we tell you in writing what your month can and cannot promise before you pay for it.
Day 8
Into the Lipez
Overnight: Desert lodge, SiloliSouth-west across the salar and out the far side: Laguna Canapa and Hedionda, the Siloli desert and the Arbol de Piedra. Tonight is the highest and most remote night of the trip. The lodge runs on solar power available only between 18:00 and 22:00, there is no wi-fi and no mobile coverage, and it is the only accommodation in the area. We would rather you knew that now.
Day 9
Laguna Colorada, and back down to sleep
Overnight: Hotel, UyuniLaguna Colorada, the Sol de Manana fumaroles and the Polques hot springs, then north again to Uyuni. It is a long driving day and we are not going to pretend otherwise. You descend roughly 950 m to sleep, which is the direction you want after a night at 4,600 m.
Day 10
The morning flight, and why nothing is booked after it
Overnight: Hotel, La PazThe morning flight to La Paz, one hour. Uyuni has a thin schedule — usually one or two flights a day, most of them Boliviana's — so a cancellation normally means waiting for the next day, not the next departure. That is exactly why nothing is scheduled this afternoon beyond the teleferico: ten lines, 32 stations and 33 km, the largest urban cable-car network in the world.
Day 11
Tiwanaku
Overnight: Hotel, La PazSeventy-two kilometres west to the Akapana, the Kalasasaya and the Gate of the Sun, inscribed in 2000. Back in La Paz for the afternoon, and the Valle de la Luna if you still want a walk.
Day 12
Out
Departure dayEl Alto sits at 4,061 m and has no intercontinental service, so your flight home connects through Lima, Bogota or Santa Cruz. We build the connection around your ticket; we do not sell you the ticket.
Carries a real reserve day for the desert road and finishes at 2,407 m in San Pedro de Atacama instead of 3,630 m in La Paz. You give up La Paz and Tiwanaku to get it, and you end the trip descending rather than climbing.
Day 1
Land at 373 metres
Overnight: City hotel, Santa CruzSanta Cruz, the lowest point of the trip and the only intercontinental door into Bolivia. Nothing scheduled.
Day 2
Samaipata
Overnight: Country hotel, SamaipataEl Fuerte de Samaipata, inscribed 1998: carved sandstone and a pre-Inca ceremonial rock, three hours west and 1,200 m up.
Day 3
Transfer day to Sucre
Overnight: Colonial hotel, SucreBack to Santa Cruz and the flight to Sucre. The low way in: your first two nights were at 416 m and 1,650 m, not 3,640 m in La Paz.
Day 4
Sucre on foot
Overnight: Colonial hotel, SucreThe Casa de la Libertad, the Recoleta, the market. Inscribed 1991, and the first of three nights doing medical work as well as cultural.
Day 5
Cal Orck'o
Overnight: Colonial hotel, SucreRoughly 5,000 footprints across 462 trackways, around 68 million years old. Tarabuco instead on Sundays.
Day 6
Potosi in passing, Uyuni to sleep
Overnight: Hotel, UyuniThe mint and the mountain, then we keep driving. Nobody on this trip sleeps at 4,090 m.
Day 7
The salt flat
Overnight: Salt hotel, eastern edge of the salarColchani, the crust or the water, Incahuasi if your month and the authorities allow it. Night on the salt.
Day 8
Into the Lipez
Overnight: Desert lodge, SiloliCanapa, Hedionda, the Siloli desert and the Arbol de Piedra. Solar power from 18:00 to 22:00, no wi-fi, no coverage, and no alternative lodge.
Day 9
Laguna Colorada and Sol de Manana
Overnight: Refuge, Villamar MallcuThe red lake and its flamingos, the fumarole field, the Polques springs. South rather than back north, which is what the extra days buy.
Day 10
The spare day, and it is a real one
Overnight: Refuge, Villamar MallcuHeld empty on purpose. If the road is open and the weather holds we use it for the Valle de Rocas and the lagoons south of Villamar. If it does not, this is the day that absorbs it instead of your flight home. Every other operator sells this day as scenery; we sell it as margin.
Day 11
Over the border at Hito Cajon
Overnight: Adobe hotel, San Pedro de AtacamaLaguna Verde under Licancabur, then the crossing at Hito Cajon at about 4,549 m and the descent into San Pedro de Atacama at 2,407 m. Chile runs an hour ahead of Bolivia from September to April, and the border closes on Chilean time, so the day is built backwards from that.
Day 12
Down at last
Overnight: Adobe hotel, San Pedro de AtacamaNothing before midday. After eight days above 2,800 m and two above 4,000, the most useful thing San Pedro offers is 2,407 m and a garden. The Valle de la Luna at sunset if you want it.
Day 13
The salt flat you did not expect
Overnight: Adobe hotel, San Pedro de AtacamaLaguna Chaxa and the Salar de Atacama at about 2,300 m, lower than your hotel, with three flamingo species and the Andes behind them. The contrast with Uyuni six days earlier is the argument for ending the trip on this side of the border.
Day 14
El Tatio, or nothing at all
Overnight: Adobe hotel, San Pedro de AtacamaA five o'clock start for the geysers at 4,320 m if you want one more high day, or the Puritama springs, or the day off you have earned. We will not push the geysers on you at the end of this particular trip.
Day 15
Out through Calama
Departure dayAn hour and a quarter to Calama and the flight to Santiago. Your international flight home leaves from Santiago, and its domestic and international terminals are a walk apart, so we allow for that rather than assuming it.
What is included
- Every hotel night for the length you choose, with breakfast: a city hotel in Santa Cruz, a country hotel in Samaipata, a colonial house in Sucre, hotels in Uyuni, a night on the salt, and the only lodge there is in the Siloli desert.
- An English-speaking driver-guide across the whole Uyuni and Lipez circuit. The standard private product on this route lists its guide as Spanish-speaking; ours does not, and that is a real cost line rather than a claim.
- Private 4x4 from day six, carrying supplementary oxygen and a pulse oximeter.
- Every access fee absorbed into the price: the Eduardo Avaroa reserve, Isla Incahuasi, the Polques springs, the border levy and the road tolls. Nobody asks you for cash in the desert.
- All transfers, the listed entrances, daily breakfast and the meals marked day by day.
- A written weather-closure policy, agreed before you pay. Not a force majeure clause in the small print: an actual reroute-and-refund position, because on this route a closure is an operating condition rather than a tail risk.
- Local telephone support around the clock for the whole trip.
What is not
- International flights. The price is land only so the two are comparable. We are happy to book them with you, or leave them to you.
- Internal flights, meaning Santa Cruz to Sucre and Uyuni to La Paz. Roughly 270 US dollars per person between them at published fares. Audley and Exodus fold theirs into the headline price, so when you compare, compare the flights too.
- Travel insurance. Not optional here: we ask for a minimum of 200,000 US dollars of medical cover and for evacuation from altitude to be covered explicitly. Get that in writing from your insurer. An altitude ceiling is the exclusion people discover too late.
- A travel-clinic consultation and any medication, acetazolamide included. We do not prescribe it and we do not sell it.
- Yellow fever vaccination, which the CDC recommends for the lowland east where this trip starts.
- Visas, alcoholic drinks, laundry, tips and personal spending.
- On the fifteen-day version, the Chilean agricultural declaration at the border, which is compulsory and which you sign yourself.
- Single supplement.
Make it yours
This is a starting point, not a package
Every one of these days can move, and so does the length. Tell us what you have and we rebuild it around you, usually within a working day.