TRIPS TRAVEL Go on a 19 days 4x4 Jeep tour full of adventures and superlatives through Bolivia and Chile:
Visit the biggest salt flat worldwide, the Salar de Uyuni, the highest city in the world, Potosí, various colorful and beautiful lagoons surrounded by breathtaking mountains, the driest desert worldwide, the Atacama, and finally take a bath in the hot springs in the National Park Sajama. Furthermore you are going to explore Cochabamba and Sucre, the highest capital in the world.
We offer you an unforgettable adventure journey with our private landcruiser and a experienced driver across Bolivia and Chile.
Day 1: Arrival in Cochabamba
You arrive in Bolivia and our English-speaking guide is going to welcome you at the airport and takes you to your hotel. This will be your first ride with our landcruiser, which is going to accompany you during the whole trip. The rest of the day is free so that you can recover from your flight and get ready for the following days. You spend the night in a hotel in Cochabamba.
Day 2: City Tour Cochabamba - Quillacollo - Pairumani Sipe Inkarakay
Today we are going to discover Cochbamba and afterwards are going to visit the town Quillacollo and Pairumani Sipe Inkarakay.
Day 3: Cochabamba - Tarata - Totora
Today we are going to drive 29km to Tarata, one of the most charming cities in the region with a beautiful landscape, impressive buildings, streets with cobblestone pavements, many palms and jarcaranda trees. In the afternoon we continue our journey to Totora and spend there the night.
Day 4: Aiquile - Sucre
In the morning we drive to Aiquile, a original city famous for the Charangos (= instrument) manufacturing. Then we are driving to Sucre and stay there over night.
Day 5: Maragua Valley - Sucre
Today we are visiting the valley Maragua with its various geological formations. During our round trip we are getting to know the most momentous streets and squares, which were significant settings in both the Bolivian and the American history. We are wandering through the beautiful environment with neoclassical facades and gorgeous churches from the colonial period.
Day 6: Sucre - Potosi - Tarabuco - Yotala - Millares - Betanzos
About noon we start our ride to Potosí, the most powerful mining city in America. First we are visiting "Calvario", the market of the miners. Hundreds of miners are offering material and equipment for their work: dynamite, ammonium nitrate, acetylene flame lamps, flint-borer, coca leaves, hard liquor and much more. You can take pictures of the market and buy some things. Then we are visiting a refinery for zinc, copper and silver and look at the amalgamation. Our final stop are the silver mines, where we learn a lot about the history of the miners and the compulsory labor during the last centuries.
Day 7: Potosí - Uyuni
Today we drive to Uyuni. When we arrive there in the afternoon we are going to discover the graveyard of the trains were old trains and steam engines are parked. Our final stop is at the "Ojos del Salar" (eyes of the Salar), sparkling gases that rise from underneath the salt layers. We spend the night in Uyuni.
Day 8: Uyuni - Island Incahuasi - San Juan
After the breakfast you have some free time. At 11:00 am we are leaving Uyuni with our 4x4 landcruiser to discover the biggest salt flat worldwide. During our journey today we are going to see the village Colchani, which is located on the brink of the big salt flat and will be our entrance to the Salar de Uyuni. In this "dried out harbor" we can learn a lot about the production of salt. Until today the salt production at Colchani is handicraft. The inhabitants are going to explain us the processes of drying, grinding and packaging the salt, until it is ready to be sold in stores. We are going to find a salt hotel in the middle of the salar, which we are going to visit. Today it is no longer used as a hotel but as a museum instead and we can observe the walls, beds, tables, chairs and grounds made out of salt. From here you can also enjoy the great view of the Salar. Our next stop is the island Incahuasi. The island is full of giant cactuses, which reach heights up to 10m, although they grow very slowly. From the peak of the island you have one of the best views of the widening of the Salar the Uyuni. We have lunch and drive to our night camp at San Juan.
Day 9: San Juan - Red Lagoon - Villa Mar
Today you have the chance to admire the active volcano Ollague and the lagoons Canapa, Hedionda, Chiarcota and Honda, which are natural habitats for flamingos. After lunch we continue our tour to the Siloli desert, where we find interesting rock formations, which have been shaped by wind erosion over hundreds of years. The most impressive one is the "arbol de piedras", which looks like a tree made out of stone. Eventually, we arrive at the Laguna Colorada (the red lagoon), which is located in in the Andina Eduardo Avaroa National Park. The lagoon is famous for its variety and multitude of flamingos and its red color, due to sediments of zoo plankton and phytoplankton. We eat and sleep at a camp at Villa Mar close to the red lagoon.
Day 10: Villa Mar - Laguna Colorada - Laguna Verde - San Pedro de Atacama
At 4:00 am we start our tour to the ebbing and flowing springs and fumaroles (volcanic zone). This spot is also known as "Sol de Mañana“ (morning sun). Our second stop of the day are the thermal springs of Polques, where we are going to relax in the warm water and eat breakfast before we continue our tour to the white and green lagoons (Laguna Blanca and Laguna Verde), which are located at the feet of the volcano Llicancabur at 4.350m. The green color of the lagoon verde is due to the accumulation of magnesium in the rocks. The lagoon verde is our last stop in Bolivia. We drive to the border of Bolivia and Chile and from there to San Pedro the Atacama, where we spend the night.
Day 11: San Pedro - Salar de Atacama - Lagoon Miscanti
Today we are visiting small villages in the highlands of San Pedro. Afterwards we drive to the desert Salar de Atacama, where we find beautiful lakes, flamingos and other birds. Our next stop is the village Toconao, located 38km from San Pedro at 2475m. Due to its origin in the precolonial period, it has an interesting architecture with white volcano stones. Then we cross the "Sector Soncor y Laguna Chaxa", a region with plenty lagoons and wetlands. In the desert you will recognize an accumulation of salt crystals, which developed due to the evaporation of salted subterranean water. The Chaxa Lagoon is a beautiful spot to observe flamingos and other birds, like the Puna Plover, the Baird´s sandpiper and Andean gull. These birds eat microscopical small organisms and algas. We reach Socaire, located 100km from San Pedro. It is the last village before the border with Argentina. Socataire is famous for its gold mines. The lagoons Miscanti and Meniques are situated 110km from San Pedro at 4000m. You should not miss the view from the summit of the Atacama desert and two lakes. The lakes have developed after the eruption of the volcano Meniques about 1 million years ago. Until then they enchant their visitors with crystal blue water and white banks. The region belongs to the flamingo nature reservat and you can find the endangered bird species horned coots here.
Day 12: San Pedro - Valle de la Luna
In the afternoon we start a trip to the valley of the moon (Valle de la Luna). We stop on our way to take pictures of the salt mountains. In the valley of the moon we are visiting the salt statues "Las Tres Marias", the salt mine and the salt caves. In the end we are enjoying the sun set from one of the biggest dunes. When the sun has set we are driving back to San Pedro and spend the night.
Day 13: San Pedro - Atacama Salt Flat in the evening night bus to Arica.
Free day to choose your activities. San Pedro is the capital of tourism in the north of Chile. In the evening we take our night bus to Arica.
Day 14: Arica - Vicuña - Lauca.
Today we will visit Arica, its malecon, its square and surroundings. After lunch we continue our journey towards the Andes, which contrasts strongly with the blue skies. Along the way we have several stops. Here we will spend the night in the Conaf Lauca refuge.
Day 15: Lauca Chungara (Lauca National Park) Sajama.
We will appreciate the sunrise and after breakfast. Today we cross the Tambo Quemado border. Then we visit the forest of queñuas "native trees" Dinner and overnight in local house.
Day 16: Sajama (Sajama National Park) La Paz.
05:30 a.m. We will begin our walk for 1 hour and a half approximately, from the town of Sajama to the geysers, in order to better appreciate the vaporization of the fumaroles, there we will have breakfast, after the visit we will continue with the walk for 2 hours to the hot springs to take advantage in taking a natural bath. 12:00 p.m. We will have lunch and there our transportation will be waiting for us to return to La Paz. By route 4, arriving after 4 hours.
Day 17: Complete visit of La Paz.
In the morning City tour of the city. In this tour you will know this wonderful city, where we will appreciate the cultural, historical, architectural and natural richness. Visiting the Murillo Square, the Cathedral, the Government Palace, the San Francisco Church, etc. and in the afternoon we will appreciate the Moon Valley. This is located 15 Km. from the center of the city. The erosion has managed over the years to form a set of amazing stone formations, which give the visitor the feeling of having discovered an unknown world. A true and almost "real" lunar landscape.
Day 18: Tour Tiahuanaco - Bolivia.
Visit to the pre-Inca archaeological ruins of the Tiahuanaco culture (800 years B.C.) where you can appreciate the monoliths, the famous Sun Gate and the authentic Benett monolith, recently returned from the city of La Paz, after almost 70 years and now in the new archaeological museum. Arriving at Tiahuanaco we will visit the museum and then take a walk and visit the pyramid of Akapana, the temple of Kalasasaya, the Sun Gate, the monoliths Friar and Ponce, the semi subway temple. With the nailed heads.
Day 17: La Paz.
The City of Peace. Farewell after a long adventure.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Day 19: La Paz
We reached the end of our adventure trip. We take you to the airport and hope you had a great tour with unforgettable memories.
Included:
-all activities mentioned in the program
-all national transports
-hotels with breakfast
-all entrances to National Parks, museums etc. mentioned in the program
-transport in touristic buses
Not Included:
-international flights
-drinks and meals not mentioned
-snack, mineral water, alcoholic drinks, entrance to clubs