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Bolivia by travelers for travelers.

Places to go:

La Paz and Lake Titicaca

La Paz: The highest capital city in the world! It's kinda weird, and high in the mountains. Walking uphill will take your breath away the first days, but stay for a while and you'll learn to love it.

Tiahuanaco (aka Tiwanaku): Bolivia's most important archaeological site 70km from La Paz, close to Lake Titicaca. It's an easy day trip from La Paz

Copacabana: A small and cute town south of Lake Titicaca. A little touristy, but cute. There are plenty of cheap places to stay. It gets very busy (and much more expensive) on carnaval and on religious holidays. Be careful not to get sunburned, even when it's not hot. You can take a boat from here to Isla del Sol island.

Isla del Sol: This island in the Lake Titicaca is the site of the creation myth of the Incas. You can visit Fuente del Inca, a spring that has Inca steps leading up to it from the water. Closeby is another island, Isla de la Luna (island of the moon), which you can also visit. There are lots of little hostels, restaurants and travelers here - it's easy enough to just arrive and look for a place to stay. It's also very easy to camp.

The Yungas

Coroico: Small, laid back town that's a good starting place for some treks. There is lots of vegetation at this altitude. There are plenty of good places to stay and eat.

Southwest, including Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni: One of the largest salt flats in the world, considered as an alternate landing site for the space shuttle. Indescribably beautiful one must experience when visiting Bolivia. This is perhaps Bolivia's top attraction.

Oruro: Oruro used to be a mining town. It has a famous carnival - La Diablada (the Saturday before ash Wednesday). During these events, it becomes much more expensive and hard to find a room. It's 3 hours from La Paz, and can get very cold.

Uyuni: Small town that is the starting point for trips to the incredibly beautiful Salar de Uyuni, lakes and volcanoes in this area. There are loads of companies offering these tours, shop around, but don't go for the cheapest option either. There's a cool train cemetary, with old trains gathering rust in the desert.

Tupiza: Small town in an incredible beautiful landscape (yes, another one) of canyons, colored rocks and cactuses. You can do great hikes, ride horses etc. Plenty of travelers here.

San Vicente: An old mining town, famous as the place where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were finally cornered and shot. (Yes, they made it all the way to Bolivia). You can get here in a (really cold) truck from Tupiza, or there are organized tours these days too. There is a place to stay.

Potosi, Sucre and around

Potosí: City famous for its mines, which you can visit. The city is a world heritage site - there are many colonial buildings.

Sucre: Close to Potosi, this is one pretty town. A UNESCO world heritage site, all the buildings in town (lots of them colonial) are painted a traditional white. There are pretty squares and markets to be seen.

Cochabamba and around Cochabamba

Cochabamba: A reasonable sized town, pretty but not stunning. The nicest thing about Cochabamba must be its beautiful, spring-like climate, a big relief after the colds of the altiplano. There are good treks to be had in the surroundings.

The East, including Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Relaxed small town in the lowlands, good starting place for trips to the surrounding area. The city centre is colonial and relaxed, the surrounding areas of town are more modern and bustling with activity.

Samaipata: Small village close to Santa Cruz. In the weekend it's a popular party place, and it's a good start to explore the area around it with hikes and stuff. There are lots of foreigners living here. There's also a pre-Inca site closeby called El Fuerte. You can rent horses.

Parque nacional Noel Kempff Mercado: And incredibly remote and beautiful national park. It's quite hard to get to (takes days from Santa Cruz, you can hitch a truck and then a boat, and incredibly beautiful. The normal way of getting here is by plane, although a road is planned. The trip to get there is almost as much fun as the park itself. You can camp in the park for a fee. Mosquitos and insects at night will kill you if you venture outside. There are black jaguars, reptiles, orchids, you name it. There is a plateau in the park (the Huanchaca) that you can organize hikes too (always with a guide) that supposedly inspired Conan Doyle's novel "The Lost World" - Colonel Percy Fawcett who discovered the plateau was a friend of Doyle.

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