Tourist attractions

If you’re travelling Bolivia, you should consider visiting these most important sights and places of nature and culture. To prepare your journey to Bolivia and for further information we recommend you the Lonely Planet guide on Bolivia.
If you need any assistance for your travel planning don’t hesitate to contact our HI travel agency in La Paz.

Potosí

(cc) by-sa Gerd Breitenbach

The silver inside the “Cerro Rico” mountain made Potosí one of the most populated cities on earth during colonial times. At that time it had more inhabitants than Madrid, Paris or Rome. Thousands of indigenous people had to work for the Spanish in the mines, many of them died due to appalling conditions. There was so much silver in Cerro Rico that it’s being mined it for over 500 years now.
Working conditions are now better, but still far from “good”. Today tourists can enter some of the shafts to get an impression of the miners’ hard work. 
The buildings in the town center are completely colonial-style and nearly all of them are from the 17th and 18th century. The big majority of them is still in good conditions. Since 1987 they’re part of the UNESCO World Heritage (together with the old industrial buildings and the worker’s accommodations).

HI Hostel in Potosí: book now!
A visit of the museum and of an old mine is part of the two days here during our “Salt and Silver” tour.

Salar de Uyuni, colored lagoons, …

(cc) by-sa Sergio-pessolano

The Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt lake (12,000 square kilometers / 4,600 square miles). It once was a prehistoric sea that was divided and lifted up with the Andes, later it dried up and left behind a massive salt desert.
It’s a unique experience of incredible vastness: you, blue sky, white ground – and nothing else!
As part of the tours with all-terrain vehicles you don’t only visit the salt flats, but also geysers, hot springs, volcanoes, giant cacti and red and green lakes. The Salar de Uyuni is also home to flocks of pink flamingo and herds of vicuna, the endangered relative of the llama. Furthermore you can visit a graveyard of old trains.
This is a must-do on every Bolivia trip!

Visiting the Salar and the other sights is part of our tour “Salt and Silver”

Sucre – "La Ciudad Blanca"

(cc) by-sa Victor Sounds

Sucre is a place that should not be missed on your stay in Bolivia. The country’s constitutional capital has some of the finest colonial architecture in the world; the Historic City of Sucre was declared a World Heritage Site. Many churches, museums, nice cafés and restaurants and its well-kept plazas and parks are the reason why many call it one of the most beautiful cities of South America. Located a couple miles north of Sucre is the world’s largest paleontological site. There are about 1,000 impressions of dinosaur footprints from at least 50 different dinosaurs that are embedded on a gigantic limestone slab.

HI Hostel in Sucre: book  now!

Tarabuco

(cc) by-sa Victor Sounds

Tarabuco, 67 km east of Sucre is well known for its traditional Sunday Market with a lot of native visitors in their original clothing – very colorful. During the week there is a lot more to be seen, like the “Icla” Canyon and the textile craftwork. In the HI Hostel Tarabuco there are volunteers with a strong social engagement in the local community.

Pre-historic wall paintings "Incamachay" outside Sucre

30 km from the capital city Sucre, in the mountain range north-west, you can find a cave with about 6000 year old paintings. Starting at the CEJ (Center for Youth and Environment) in Cajamarca it takes you four hours on a fascinating trekking tour.

La Paz / El Alto

(cc) by-nc-sa César Catalán

La Paz – literally breathtaking, not only because of its altitude (3,000 - 4,100 m / 9,800 - 13,500 feet), but also because this city is so wild and chaotic. La Paz sits in the Andes Mountain range and is the world’s highest governmental capital. The city is located in an about 1,000 m (3300 feet) deep canyon with agreeable climate carved into the Altiplano plateau. In the plateau, north-west of La Paz, around the international airport the city El Alto has come into existence. Poor indigenous Aymara people from the Altiplano villages move here, hoping to find a better life. Within less than 30 years it grew to a city of about 950,000 inhabitants and is now bigger than La Paz (900,000 inhabitants). The big differences in height of course imply big differences in the temperatures. The average difference is about 6 °C, during the day sometimes even 15 °C. Because of these huge differences there’s a correlation between the altitude and the social status. – The poorer you are, the higher you live. La Paz and El Alto are really fascinating, especially because of all the extremes they represent. Visiting these is a must in Bolivia!

Valle de la Luna The “Moon Valley” is a maze of canyons and pinnacles that have been eroded by wind and rain. It offers amazing sights that seem from another world. It is located about 10 km (6 miles) south of La Paz's city center.

HI Hostel in La Paz: book now!

Lake Titicaca

(cc) by-sa Christopher Walker

Lake Titicaca sits in the Andean Mountain region; it’s highest (commercially navigable) lake in the world and South Americas second-largest lake. It is one of the most sacred and mystical places in all of South America, where you’ll find ancient Inca ruins out on the Islands of the Sun and the Moon.
We can highly recommend not only visiting the tourist village Yumani, but also the small village Ch’alla – a place full of tranquility and silence, far away from the common tourism, unforgettable sunrises and sunsets included.
Copacabana, a place of pilgrimage and a three-hour drive from La Paz, is a charming town sitting on the southern shores of Lake Titicaca.

HI Hostels in Copacabana and on the Island of the Sun: book now!
We have a tour to Lake Titicaca visiting the Island of the Sun and the Moon.

Tupiza

(cc) by José Porras

Tupiza is a still rather small town in the southern part of Bolivia, but situated in a beautiful, very colorful valley. That’s why it has the byname La Joya Bella de Bolivia (The beautiful jewel of Bolivia). This is the entry gate to and from Argentina – Salta and Jujuy.

HI-Hostel in Tupiza: book now!

 

Tiwanaku (or Tiahuanaco)

(cc) by Marc Davis

Tiwanaku is an important place of pre-Inca ruins that archaeologists believe were built much before the birth of Christ. The ruins are located 4,000 m (13,100 feet) high near Lake Titicaca, about 70 km (45 miles) west of La Paz. The ruins of Tiwanaku are one of the most important archeological sites in Bolivia and named UNESCO World Heritage. Initially the city was located at the south of Lake Titicaca. Due to evaporation the lake shrinked so it’s now 20 km (12 miles) from the shore. The Sun Gate (“Puerta del Sol”) which was installed more than 2,000 years ago shows a calendar with 365 days and leap years. This requires knowledge that wasn’t available in Europe until the death of Galileo Galilei! At HI travel office in La Paz you can book an interesting one-day-tour.

Santa Cruz de la Sierra

The city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra is located in the western of Bolivia and its economical and financial center. Situated at the foot of the sierras where the Andes Mountain Range begins to rise off the tropical forest floor, its location is part of its name (Holy Cross of the Sierra).
At about 400 meters above sea level, it is warm and tropical most of the year. Through the 1950’s it was still considered a small, marginal city with a population of only 25,000. However, in the early 60’s, with the development of the nation’s transportation infrastructure, highways and railroads Santa Cruz saw its economy boom as it became integrated with national and international markets. It has grown dramatically over the past 25 years (doubling its population during just the last 10 years).
Less than 50 years later, it had become the largest city in the country. According to the latest census, it has over 1.6 million inhabitants. It is quickly becoming the most developed region of Bolivia and currently supplies over 30 % of the country's Gross National Product.

HI Hostels in Santa Cruz: book now!

Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos

(cc) by-sa Bamse/Wikicommons

Between 1696 and 1790 the Jesuits founded several villages for native inhabitants who had converted to Christians, inspired by the ideas of the “ideal city” by European philosophers. In these so-called Jesuit Reductions the traditional local methods of building and Christian architecture were mixed to a new style. The seven renovated wooden churches sites are located in the last villages of that type in Bolivia and have been declared UNESCO world heritage. The Jesuit Missions tour lets you explore the interesting culture and architecture.

Samaipata & El Fuerte

(cc) by-nc-nd Gerardo Diego Ontiveros

Visit the carved red limestone and the Inca ruins in Samaipata about a three-hours drive from Santa Cruz through the lush green foothills of the Andean Mountains, where you'll see incredible scenery on the way. It is also near Vallegrande, the place where Ché Guevara had his revolution and was executed.

HI Hostel in Samaipata: book now!

El Pantanal

The Pantanal is the world's largest wetland and has the world's richest collection of aquatic plant. It spreads across Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay. You can go on exiting boat tour excursions through the Pantanals to spot countless wildlife.

HI Hostel in Puerto Quijarro: book now!

Parque Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado

(cc) by-sa Pattrön/flickr

Visit this stunning and remote National Park located about 400 km (250 miles) northeast of Santa Cruz. You'll discover amazing scenery in this diverse region of the Amazon rainforest, with abundant wildlife such as exotic birds, caimans, pink river dolphins, monkeys, etc. A long way to reach but very worthwile to do so.

 

Parque Nacional Torotoro

(cc) by-sa Pattrön/flickr

If you’re adventurous, explore this park where you’ll find dinosaur footprints, fossils, unexplored caves, cave paintings, ruins, secluded lakes, etc. It is about a seven-to-eight-hour bus ride from Cochabamba. Though the park is not visited often it is definitely recommended and worth your time.

 

Parque Nacional Madidi

(cc) by Paul Bridgewater

The Madidi National Park starts on the snow peak of the Andean Mountain Chain and flows down into rain forest to the Amazon region. Probably one of the less touched areas with the highest biodiversity on earth – over 1000 species of animal and close to 5000 plants and flowers.

 

Rurrenabaque

(cc) by-nc-sa aslinth/flickr

"Rurre" lays in the east of Madidi National Park at the feet of the Andes where the river Beni is leaving the mountains. This city is the starting point for boat trips to the Amazon pampas with an incredible wildlife in day and night time. Hostelling International Bolivia is offering a 4-day trip in Rurrenabaque.