everything you need to know before booking your Salar Del Uyuni tour
One of the Flamingo Lakes in Bolivia
The Uyuni salt flats are quickly becoming one of the most popular tourist attractions that Bolivia has to offer, if not one of the most popular in the whole of South America. You’ll be hard pressed to find a tourist in South American who doesn’t have Salar del Uyuni in their travel itinerary these days.
The Uyuni salt flats are the largest in the world covering roughly 10,000 square KMs and growing in size and height every year due to the rain fall, they’re not just the largest but also the highest at a whopping 3650m. What makes them so spectacular and the reason people flock to see the salt flats is that there is only about 5m difference in total, allowing tourist to grab those all important perspective pictures. Interesting fact, because they are so flat NASA uses the area to calibrate its satellites... beautiful and scientifically useful, who knew?
What you’ll find in this blog
Booking your tour Which tour to pick What Company to book with What to expect on the tour Cost break down How to get to Uyuni When to visit the Salt Flats What you’ll need to bring on your tour Highlights your tour shouldn't miss Getting your best perspective picture
Booking your tour
This can be a daunting decision in terms of both when to book and where to do it from. If you have the time, and enough of a 'hair in the wind' kind of attitude, we would recommend booking your tour when you arrive in the town of Uyuni. If you book online from your home country expect to pay a hefty commission fee from which ever company you book from, it can be upwards of 3x more expensive! Even if you decide to book from La Paz or Sucre, the closest cities, you will get a higher quote than if booking directly in the town. Everyone has to make their money someway. Again, it will be more expensive if booking from the Chilean side in San Pedro de Atacama, as Chile as a country is considerably more expensive than Bolivia, and the route is less popular at the moment. Hopefully this will change for everyone planning on travelling north from Chile. When you arrive in Uyuni you will be overcome with the choice of who to book your tour with. Especially if you arrive via the bus, when you get off there will be around 30 agents waiting for you, attempting to get your business. We would recommend politely telling them you’ve already booked and heading to a cafe for a some coffee, food and WiFi (the last chance you’ll have to get connected for a few days) before making your choice. 6am with no Coffee is not the best time to be making decision on the best of days. If you plan on arriving and starting your tour the very same day, tours leave at around 10:30 every day so it is possible, you’ll be able to get the best deal as operators are trying to fill the seats in the cars so will offer great last minute deals. Just make sure you're prepared to spend the night in Uyuni just incase the companies are full and not taking on any more cars. You don't want to book with a dodgy company trust us! Which tour to pick Your next decision is which particular tour to pick and who to book it from. The most popular tour to pick is the 3 days and 2 nights option, the first day exploring the salt flats and the second the beautiful desert landscapes and Flamingo filled lakes. If you only have a short amount of time there is a one day option, exploring solely the salt flats, which may also be for you if you’ve come from the Atacama desert and had your fill of Flamingos and lakes! There is also a 4 day option to really soak up all the Park has to offer.
Flamingos feeding in the beautiful red Lagoon
What company to book with?
As we mentioned you’ll be bombarded with offers as you disembark the bus, and if you’re a good bargainer you’ll be able to drive the price right down. The problem here is you don’t know who your booking with, there are some really terrifying stories out there about bad companies not delivering on what they promised, guides who literally do less than the bare minimum and drivers who drink so much they leave the tour group completely stranded in the desert! So obviously it’s really important to pick the right company to deliver the best tour possible. Unfortunately we had a bit of a nightmare experience on our tour, which we’ll go into more detail later, this could have been avoided by doing more research or by paying more money. If you can speak Spanish, or don’t mind not understanding what’s going on and just looking at the scenery you can book a Spanish only soaking tour which you’ll be able pick up from between 500-900 BOB depending on your bargaining skills and the reputation of the company. If the thought of understanding nothing during this once in a lifetime tour is something you’d rather avoid you’ll have to pay slightly more, prices for English speaking guides go for anything upwards of 1000 BOB. We would recommend using either ‘Red Planet’ or ‘Queshwa Travels’ as they have by far some of the best reviews of all the agencies out there, and offer the best itinerary’s too. Different tour companies use different itineraries, so it’s important to pick an agency which offers the best one. This area of the world is one of the best for star gazing (providing, unlike us, you don’t go during the full moon) so you’d be crazy to not have this activity as part of your tour. The best agencies will offer a night of star gazing and a night time dip under the stars in the thermal pools, not an early morning one! So make sure you choose a tour with this option. As we mentioned we didn’t have the best experience with our tour operator, it was lucky that the other people in the tour were great company which made things bearable but do your self a favour and DONT BOOK WITH A MAN CALLED LUIS OR A WOMAN CALLED FATIMA, WHO WORK FOR A COMPANY CALLED EITHER ‘SANDRA TRAVELS’ OR ‘JULLIETS TOURS’ Read this blog for more information on bad salt flat companies. Read more here Your final decision when choosing a tour is deciding where to finish. You have the choice of returning back to Uyuni or continuing on into Chile and getting a transfer to San Pedro de Atacama. For the later expect to have between 70-100 BOB added onto the price to cover the additional transfer costs.
What to expect on the tour
Below we will outline our experience of the 3 day 2 night Uyuni salt flat tour, ours ended up taking slightly longer though! Most of the itineraries offered are quite similar, the only real difference is the star gazing opportunities and obviously the length of the tour you choose.
All tours generally start around 10:30-11am, and once you’ve loaded up the 6 seater 4x4 (make sure there are no more than 6 people in your car) you’ll be on your way to the eerie steam train graveyard to spend 30 minutes among their old rusted shells. Uyuni is a hub for transportation around South America as it connects so many different countries, in the 19th and 20th centuries it was used as a place to dump all of the old mining locomotives when they were out of service and when upgrading to more modern trains. It’s worth walking to the far end of the yard to get some pictures without other tourists in as it can get extremely busy here.
Train Graveyard in Uyuni
Once you’ve explored this area you’ll be back in the 4x4 and head out towards Colchani, a small village on the edge of the salt flats solely supports by the salt farming industry. Here you’ll stop to look around the tourist market which will look identical to any other in South America with the exception of the small salt sculptures for sale. Here we also got walked around one of the local salt workshops and taught about the process of salt extraction from extracting it from the earth to putting it on your dinner. From the town we drove out on to the salt flats where we had a quick stop at ‘Ojos de Sal’ the eyes of the salt, which are bubbling salt pools which were oddly ice cold, before stopping off for lunch at the only salt hotel actually on the salt flats.
After you’ve had your fill of food it’s time to head across the desert and take some perspective pictures on the salt. Hopefully your driver/ guide will help you with this, but if they aren’t too accommodating we’ve included some tips at the end of the blog to help you out.
Perspective Picture on the Salt Flats
Once you’ve successfully captured yourself fighting with Godzilla it’s time to visit Incahuasi Island or Fish Island in English, a huge petrified coral island remaining from when the salt flats were covered with water. The island is covered with huge cacti up to 4 metres high, entrance onto the island is 30BOB but it’s free to walk around the edges. We walked 10 minutes from the car park around the corner and suddenly had the place all to ourselves, away from the hoards of other tourists. You might be told by guards walking around that you need to be 200m away from the island unless you have a ticket, but just pretend you don't understand and walk away unless you're on the Island your fine. Our guide told he was just chancing his luck in case we'd get scared and buy a ticket from him. People are always trying to make money out of you!
Fish or Cactus Island in the middle of the Salt Flats
By the time you’ve finished here the sun will be on its way down and you’ll drive to a place to watch the beautiful sunset over the mountains surrounding the salt flats. Make sure you have warms cloths in you day pack as they wont want to get your big pack down off the top and as the sun nears the horizon it gets colder and colder!
Sunset on the Salt Flats in Bolivia
Your accommodation will depend on who you booked your tour with but we stayed in the small village of Atulcha in a small salt hotel. Make the most of the hot shower, which you’ll have to pay 10BOB for, as tomorrow night the accommodation is even more basic. Top Tip: We always recommend taking a pack of cards with you when you have a bit of down time, and before dinner is the perfect time to play a card game with your group. If the weather and lunar cycle is right you will head back out after dinner for a spot of star gazing, unfortunately for us we arrived for the tour during the full moon which renders star gazing virtually impossible, but still absolutely beautiful. The next morning was when our troubles really started, our car wouldn’t start! We’d seen our driver working on it throughout the previous day but this time even he couldn’t get it started! As a result we had to spend the whole of the day in Atulcha, and after 20 minutes of walking through the town we’d seen all there was to see, so back to the hostel for a day of playing cards and drinking Bolivian wine. Hopefully your tour will not include this option, not great for those of us who had buses booked and accommodation.
After our ‘bonus’ day on the salt flats we were back on the road after a lot of unnecessary hassle organising another driver and car, but nevertheless we were back on the ‘road’.
The second day of the Uyuni salt flats tour you will spend driving around the desert next to the salt flats, stopping intermittently to marvel at the dramatic landscape, see a variety of different coloured lakes, being blown away by the geysers, seeing the stone tree and watch flamingos frolicking around. Be prepared for a long day of driving though, take a book or make sure you’ve got your playlist sorted out to keep you entertained. The day will finish off with an evening in the hot springs under the stars, even if the moon is full the view is beautiful. The thermal baths will cost you 6BOB per person, make sure you take a beer down with you to really make the most of your dip!
Flamingos feeding in Bolivian Lake
The third day of the tour is mostly spent driving apart from a quick visit to the volcano viewpoint. If you’re getting a transfer to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile then you’ll be dropped off at your transfer for a 9am departure or drive roughly 250km back to Uyuni arriving anytime after 4pm. Cost breakdown Here we will try to give you an idea of how much everything should cost during your trip so you can be as prepared as possible. Spanish speaking Tour ending in Uyuni 500-800 BOB Spanish speaking Tour ending in Chile 600-900 BOB English speaking Tour ending in Uyuni 1000-1300 BOB English speaking Tour ending in Chile 1100-1500 BOB
These are prices when booking on the day of leaving while in Uyuni.
You might be able to go even cheaper if there is a big group of you all booking at the same time. It never hurts to ask. Other costs: Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna nation reserve entrance on day 2 - 150 BOB. Make sure your guide gives you your ticket. We have heard of company's just taking the money and then when you try to leave the park you're presented with a fine. Not ideal. Fish Island - 30 BOB Hot showers - 10BOB Hot springs - 6BOB Bathrooms - 3-5 BOB Exiting Bolivia - 15 BOB Depending on your passport, make sure to find out your requirements. Total 216BOB but always make sure to carry a little more, it is very easy to change over to Chilean Pesos.
Salt Pools at the start of the Salt Flats
How to get to Uyuni
There are various different ways to get to Uyuni, the 3 main options you have are getting the bus, flying into Uyuni airport or taking the train. We always take buses as they are generally the cheapest option and we have the luxury of time. However, if you are pushed for time and have a bit of a higher budget then flying is a great option, as is the train, we were told the scenery on route is beautiful. Unfortunately price change drastically due to how far in advance you book and what time of year you're planning to visit. An overnight bus from La Paz takes around 8 hours getting you in first thing in the morning in time for a tour that day. Our bus cost us £20 each but we opted for the full bed option which came with a chicken and vegetable dinner. We just booked at the terminal and got the lastest bus we could departing at 10pm arriving in Uyuni at 7am. A bus from San Pedro in Chile will take around 11 hours including a boarder crossing. When to visit the Salt Flats There is practically zero rainfall during the months of April through to September and only a tiny amount during October and November so if you want to see an ocean of rock hard white salt then this is the time of year for you to visit. The rainy season on the salt flats happens from December through to March and this time of year completely transfers the salt flats into a 30cm deep reflective lake as far as the eye can see. As you can imagine it makes crossing the lake slightly more problematic so you won’t see as much as during the dry season but the views look out of this world. We visited the salt flats during the dry season so we will 100% be returning to experience the vast difference the rain makes at some point in the future!
Jake trying to get close to feeding flamingos
What you’ll need to bring on your tour Below we will be telling you everything you could possibly need in order to make the most of the time on your 3 day 2 night Uyuni salt flat tour (during the dry season). ➳ Extra cash- 200BOB for other fees outlined above and another 150BOB for drinks, snacks and toilet stops along the way. ➳ Camera- you don’t want to miss out on these once in a life time shots. ➳ Props for your perspective photos- most tour companies provide some but it’s always best to check before you leave. ➳ Toilet paper- even though you have to pay for the privilege of using the loo they rarely provide paper! ➳ Water for the trip- We’d recommend getting a big 5 litre bottle in Uyuni for the tour before you leave, it will be a lot cheaper than purchases water on the tour. ➳ Alcohol- if you fancy having a drink while away it’s best to buy in Uyuni before you leave, it will be half the price. Kohlberg wine seems to be the only option in Uyuni, you can get a bottle for 25BOB (you need to walk a few blocks from the main strip) if you buy at the salt hotels expect to pay around 60BOB. ➳ Snacks- You’ll get fed reasonably well on the tours but it never hurts to carry extra snacks. ➳ Warm clothes- At that altitude expect it to get very cold at night time so prepare. ➳ Swimmers/ towel/ flip-flops - Don’t forget these for your trip to the thermal baths. ➳ Torch- The power in the accommodation on the second night will often turn off at night so a torch will be a real life saver. ➳ High factor Suncream/ sunglasses/hat- It’s cold at night but during the day the sun packs a real punch so take precautions. ➳ Entertainment
➳ Travel insurance- It’s always safest to make sure you have good travel insurance when heading to such high altitude. We always find WoldNomads to be cheap and easy. We have included a box at the bottom to get a quote for your trip. Make sure you check it out, insurance is the number one thing you don't want to forget before you do any kind of trip.
Dried salt lake in Bolivia
Highlights you’re tour shouldn’t miss
All the tours should cover these spots but make sure you confirm before you book. Getting your best perspective picture ➳ Have your props prepared before hand. ➳ Have your ideas prepared too, you don’t want to run out of time before you’ve captured everything. ➳ You have to get down low to take the picture so It’s best to put a blanket down so you don’t get your clothes too salty. ➳ Get your phone/ camera as close to the ground as possible. It’s best to rest it on the floor for maximum stability and it gives you the best angle to capture your pictures. ➳ Take as many pictures as possible as it can be difficult to get that perfect shot. ➳ Clear communication, so you can get the positioning perfect. ➳ They can’t be done on a timer you’ll need teamwork to get the job done. We hope this helped you plan your trip to the Uyuni salt flats and got you suitably excited for one of the best trips of your life! As always if you have anything to add please let us know in the comments below. other blogs you might like to readremember to leaver leave home without travel insurance
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Posted
January 2019
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