Salar de Uyuni is a Surreal Natural Wonder:

The Salar de Uyuni is easily one of the most beautiful places i’ve seen on this floating rock we call home.  It is the largest salt flat on Earth comprising 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 square miles) located in southwest Bolivia in the Potsoi region at an elevation of 3,656 meters (11,995 ft.) above sea level!  The Salar is truly one of the great natural wonders of the world.  If you are lucky enough is visit after it rains, it creates a reflection on the surface of the salt making it look like the sky goes on forever.  This is the perfect destination for people that love to travel and see places truly unique that haven’t been trampled and ruined by herds of other tourists.  When I was there I think I only saw about 8 other people the entire time.

 

How to Get There and Where to Stay:

There are several ways to get to the Salar de Uyuni however I found the easiest way was to fly from La Paz to Uyuni for around 220 USD round trip.  It’s a short 45 minute flight on either TAM or Amaszonas Airlines.  You can also take a bus from La Paz for much cheaper (around 15 USD) but the journey takes around 12 hours over bumpy roads.  The town of Uyuni is pretty small but there are a few hotels and hostels to choose from.  I stayed in Hostal Oro Blanco for about 20 USD per night.  Good value for such a low price.

 

How to Get Around the Salar and What to See:

There are a handful of companies in Uyuni that offer essentially the same packages depending on how much time you have.  For those with time restraints a one day tour of the Salar is around 30 USD or if you have plenty of time and would like to camp on the salt flats, a three day tour is around 200 USD.  I only had time to do a day tour but I am very happy I did, it was one of the most gorgeous places i’ve ever seen.  Most of the tours will start by taking you to the Train Graveyard.  This is a place filled with abandoned trains dating mostly to the early 20th century.  This place has a cool and strange vibe to it definitely worth checking out.  You can take photos and climb on the old trains.

 

 

 

After the Train Graveyard you can go to the small village of Colchani to get some souvenirs and refreshments.  They also have a salt museum with some cool animal carvings made of salt!

 

 

Your tour operator will arrange lunch for you, for our lunch we stopped at a place called Hotel Playa Blanca at Dakar in the salt flats.  This is a hotel made entirely out of salt!

 

 

Next you should try to go to Laguna Hedionda if you can.  It’s a beautiful lake over the salt where you can usually find pink flamingoes.  A lot of day tours don’t include this but you should try to get them to add it when negotiating a price.

 

My favorite place in the Salar was Isla Incahuasi.  This is an island right in the middle of the salt flats made of fossilized coral and covered in 1000 year old cacti.  It was like a surreal oasis on another planet.  Make sure to visit here if you go to the Salar, you won’t regret it.  This little island is in my top three favorite places in the world.

 

 

On the drive back to Uyuni hopefully you can stop somewhere along the salt flats and experience a sunset over the Salar.  This is another surreal experience.  I absolutely loved this place and hope to go back sometime, there’s much more to see.  Sometimes the road seems never ending but as long as there’s stops like these i’ll be happy.