Salar de Uyuni Tour (Salt Flats Tour) Bolivia

Country: Bolivia

Salar de Uyuni Tour (Salt Flats Tour)

Duration: 4 Days

The number one priority on most traveller’s list to do in Bolivia is the Salar de Uyuni Tour. Salar de Uyuni in southwest Bolivia is the world's largest salt flat. It covers 12,000 sq km and is 3653m above sea level. (Altitude tablets recommended!) It was created when a prehistoric lake dried up, leaving a salty crust behind.

While all tours do indeed visit the Salt Flats, which is the supposed highlight of the tour, that is only part of either a three or four day trip. The tour could easily be called ‘A Tour of South West Bolivia’

There are many companies that do a salt flats tour and there are three different routes, depending on the direction or your travels, budget and preference. You can go from Uyuni back to Uyuni, San Pedro de Atacama in Chile to Uyuni, or what we did, Tupiza to Uyuni.

Take great care in choosing which tour operator to go with when visiting the salt flats. We heard many stories about fatal accidents due to unsafe vehicles and drunk drivers. I think you get what you pay for with these tours. The company we chose was Tupiza Tours and we had no problems. Our 4x4 didn't break down or loose a tyre mid driving and our driver Freddie was sober for the entire trip (although he spoke no English and we spoke no Spanish! You can pay extra for an English guide. I would recommend this.) The other tourists in your 4x4 will also hugely dictate how enjoyable your tour is (as you spend 24/7 together.) We were lucky and had a lovely Belfast couple with us and we became good friends!

Johnny sitting in the front as he gets travel sickness and he had bad altitude sickness (again)

You cover a lot of ground (mainly dirt tracks) on this trip and see numerous landscapes, lagoons, wildlife, mountains, geothermal activity, and of course, the salt flats themselves.

Here are a collection of the highlights for me. (The Salt Flats are on Day 4.)

Day One:

Canyons, eroded rock and winding roads

 

Puebla Fantasma

An old town in ruins (4690m high!) 

Our basic accommodation!

We also slept in layers of our clothes and a woolly hat! We were not there at the coldest time of the year either. Make sure you bring or rent a sleeping bag.

DayTwo:

Pink flamingos in Laguna Hedionda

Laguna Verde (Green Lagoon)

Its colour is due to the lead, copper and other heavy metals from the nearby mountains.

A llama farm

The llamas had cute, colourful tags!

A thermal pool with incredible scenery

 This geothermal “hot tub” was so warm even though there was such a cold wind which made it hard to strip off and get in, and even harder to get out of!

Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa 

(National Park)

Unique landscape

Geysers

We experienced geysers for the first time and saw the nearby volcano whose underground lava river caused the steam to rise and mud to bubble.

Geysers

Boiling Mud Pools

Volcano Ollague

 A semi active volcano that is predicted to erupt at some stage in the next 20 years. 

Ice formations

 (Near the volcano and geysers! How strange!)

Laguna Colorada (Red Lagoon)

The colour is due to the algae that live in it.

Day Three:

The 'Stone Tree'

Desert Roads and Mountains

More beautiful lakes and mountains

Another lake filled with flamingos 

Train Tracks Over Salar de Chiquana 

These tracks run from Uyuni in Bolivia to Calama in Chile but are not in use anymore.

The Salt Hotel

This was our final night and the best in terms of accommodation.  The walls, the base of bed, the tables, the chairs…everything was made from salt! 

Salt bricks and bed!

Day Four:

The Salt Flats

The Salt Crust

Bolivians are allowed to mine the salt on the edge of the flats. You can see the mounds of salt behind us in this selfie!

A Salt Flats island

This island is home to giant ancient cacti and we had 360 degree panoramic views of the Salt Flats

The Train Cemetery in Uyuni

The trains were mostly used by the mining companies. In the 1940s, the mining industry collapsed, partly because of mineral depletion. Many trains were abandoned, producing the train cemetery.

The train cemetery marked the last stop on our trip. It was an excellent tour and I loved every minute of it! All that was left to do was wait around for the night bus to La Paz in Western Bolivia. (What was to be the roughest bus journey we ever experienced!)

Tips for surviving the Salar de Uyuni Tour!

Bring:

1. Wet wipes and dry shampoo as you don't shower for the duration of the tour!
2. Plenty of warm clothes and a sleeping bag as it's freezing at night time
3. A torch as electricity (if any) is very limited at the accommodations
4. A spare battery for your camera again due to electricity. I kept my battery warm in my pocket at night as I heard this preserves your battery for longer! (I don't know how true that is though!)
5. Some small change for entry into parks, shops (we did come across one tiny shop in 4 days!) and the markets at the entrance to the salt flats
6. Sunglasses as the salt flats are blinding!
7. Toilet paper
8. Altitude tablets/coca leaves to chew on or make tea with, as the altitude is very high
9. Suncream. Although the winds can be cold, it can also be very sunny and Johnny got scalded on the last day.
10. A swim suite for the dip in the thermal pool

Something to note:
We did the Salar de Uyuni Tour during the dry season. I would recommend to visit during this time as the nights are not half as cold and we had no rain. During the wet season, you cannot visit as much of the Salt Flats because of the rain water. The only advantage of visiting during the wet season is that you see the Salt Flats with the layer of water on the surface, creating a mirror image. You can see fabulous photos of these on the internet.