From La Paz, it’s also possible to take a four-hour bus to Oruro and then hop on a train to Uyuni, another six or seven hours away. However, to get here from southern Chile, departures are more frequent to nearby Calama. Because there are fewer tourists starting from here, you may need to wait a day or two for a complete group of tourists to form (you need at least four in your group before you can depart). If you’re in Chile and want to pop across the the salt flats, a tour from San Pedro de Atacama makes the most logistical sense. In fact, a… At night, the stars can appear in double, reflected by the watery mirror on land. While the hotel offers WIFI, the signal is only good in common areas and doesn’t necessarily reach into the private rooms. Salar de Uyuni is located in the Daniel Campos Province in Potosí in southwest Bolivia. Despite the warm weather and blistering sunshine during the day, this part of the world is very cold at night with temperatures often falling well below freezing and sometimes even as low as -15 C. For more information on tours of Salar de Uyuni click here. flamingoes in lagoon at the salar de uyuni in bolivia - salar de uyuni stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images. The vast expanse of white, glistening salt stretches across 10,582 kilometers of the Altiplano and can even be seen from space. Guyana Both agencies can also organize private tours for a much higher price. Tunupa, Bolivia Sacred Mt. Tour guides should speak English; be sure to confirm this when you book. Salar de Uyuni: a journey across Bolivia’s remarkable salt flats 3 min read • Published Jan 10, 2013 The world's largest salt flat - Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni - is a surreal realm of mirages, where the bone-dry landscape reflects the sky like a mirror… Uyuni also has a small airport. From the bus terminal in Calama, buses leave hourly for San Pedro de Atacama; Tur Bus has the most frequent departures. Take pictures in the famous Salar de Uyuni. Expect to pay around $30 BOB  ($6 USD). Worldly Adventurer – aka Steph Dyson – is a bilingual freelance travel writer and guidebook author from the UK. Saltsletten er omtrent 25 ganger større enn Bonneville Salt Flats.. To be fully prepared for the Bolivian salt flats, you’ll want to pack the following when visiting the Salar de Uyuni: To be honest, I would suggest not actually staying in Uyuni. Salar de Uyuni (Uyuni Salt Plains) – Bolivia. Whereas tours from Uyuni all take the same route and mean that you can expect to be in a procession of other 4WD vehicles packed with tourists and who all get out at the same spots at the exact same time, as there are only two tour agencies departing from Tupiza, you’ll likely only see a handful of other cars during your trip. The lithium contained in the brine is likely to be processed into lithium carbonate. If you choose a three-day tour, those will take you up to 4,500 metres (almost 15,000 ft.)! Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable body of water, is located at the border with Peru, and the country’s largest … : Salt Flats of Uyuni) in Bolivia is the world’s largest salt flat and has a surface of 10,582 square kilometres. They offer many tour options leaving from and Uyuni, including one from La Paz to Uyuni via lesser-visited Sajama National Park, where you can see Bolivia’s highest peak and visit pre-Incan burial sites before visiting the salt flats. Warm clothes for sleeping… especially a pair of good, thick socks! Alternatively, you can take a tour from Tupiza, a town located some 200 kilometres south of Uyuni. Rain makes mud, so the going gets tough at points along the road. That said, the sun can be really strong at high altitudes, meaning you’ll want to pack plenty of layers. If you want to take a bus, unless traveling during a really busy holiday weekend in South America (like Carnaval), you can probably walk right into any bus station in Bolivia and purchase tickets at the counter. The rate of evaporation is ten times more than precipitation, meaning that Salar de Uyuni is a never ending salt source! Salar de Uyuni and Mt. The most common ways to get to Salar de Uyuni are via La Paz in Bolivia or San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. Don’t care so much about the train graveyard or the Laguna Colorado and want to spend more time in the hot springs? The drivers of these cars are well experienced and used to breakdowns so if issues do arise there’s no need to panic. but standards of tour operators are often better and it saves you having to take the long and uncomfortable bus across the border from Calama (Chile) to Uyuni. We are trying to do a 3-day tour starting in Uyuni and ending in Calama in late Feb. Cover photo full. If you want to take a tour starting in Tupiza, it’s a four-hour bus journey from Uyuni, with buses leaving a couple of times each day from the bus terminal in the latter. This means that altitude sickness can play a decisive factor in whether you enjoy your time here or not. If you’re going to stay in Uyuni for multiple days, you might as well go big and see all there is to see! It’s still pretty spectacular, and the expanse of white stretches on forever! Visiting El Salar de Uyuni between December and March, Visiting El Salar de Uyuni between April and October, Visiting El Salar de Uyuni in late March or late November. My biggest suggestion, especially if you opt for a private tour, is to be upfront with your guides about exactly what you’re hoping to get out of the tour. A rise in temperatures coupled with a change in climate from wet to dry caused the water to slowly evaporate. Bolivia The LUX awards is the most important Professional Photography awards in Spain and so I am still on a high after receiving this prize and wanted to share more about how this photo came to be. Salar de Uyuni offers an unforgettable experience at any time of year. In Bolivia’s Altiplano, Salar de Uyuni—a 4,086-square-mile (10,582-square-kilometer) stretch of land encrusted with thick etchings of salt—is the world’s largest salt flat. Another great tour operator is Banjo Tours. These include all of the destinations listed above but in the opposite order. Best Dining in Uyuni, Potosi Department: See 2,935 Tripadvisor traveler reviews of 43 Uyuni restaurants and search by cuisine, price, location, and more. Water from the surrounding mountains gathered here because there was no drainage outlets in the Altiplano. This company’s guides are fluent in English and were very helpful. You also might miss out on some of the activities, like riding bikes across the flats. Her advice and wide array of options also allowed us to be flexible. On a still day, a thin layer of water covering the salt transforms the salt flat into ‘The World’s Largest Mirror’ reflecting the sky. Once, when we had a problem at the terminal due to a “Dia de Peaton” (Pedestrian Day… a fun Bolivian tradition that can be a bit less fun if it interferes with your travel plans), the website even refunded our tickets for lost time. The salt flats are formed by several prehistoric lakes, which change shape about 30,000 to 42,000 years ago. A night in a hotel made out of blocks of salt. If you don’t mind being outside of town and want to see the Salar de Uyuni at night, stay closer to the salt flats at one of the more expensive, salt hotel options near the village of Colchani. Visits can be done as a day trip or a multi-day tour, with lengthier tours venturing further into the remote landscapes up to the Chilean border. From Calama, you can take a transfer directly to San Pedro de Atacama ( $12,000 CLP ($17 USD) $20,000 CLP ($28 USD) return) with TRANSVIP,  Transfer Andino or Transfer Pampa Expedition. Steph. If you want to save time, and avoid the twisty, turning Bolivian roads, the flights from La Paz to Uyuni are only about an hour. It is recommended to bring warm clothes and a warm sleeping bag if your tour is over one day long as these tours involve a night’s stay in very basic accommodation. Two-day tours add the region’s colorful, mineral lagoons, while in three days, you can see it all – salt flats, lagoons, deserts and dramatic rock valleys. The extra day sees you touring some of the country’s most remote scenery, where a series of deserted mining towns, volcanic peaks and deserted altiplano plains filled with native wildlife are the highlights. From San Pedro de Atacama, the most recommendable agencies include Chilean company Cruz Andina Travel and the Bolivian company Estrella del Sur Expeditions. Peru We felt comfortable embarking on a six-week backpacking trip with kids ages 8 and 11 with Steph on our team. For a traveler visiting South America or Bolivia, visiting the Salar de Uyuni is a must. Salar de Uyuni is the worlds largest salt flat, spanning 4086 square miles (10,582 sq. Salar de Uyuni nebo také Salar de Tunupa je největší solná pláň na světě, jež byla dříve dnem jezera.Má rozlohu 10 582 km² (přibližně jako rozloha Libanonu, resp. Prices and (probably!) Wikipedia | Google | Google Images | Flickr. Private tours are obviously pricier but grant more flexibility; to meet new people and save money, go for the group option! This marvellous reflection of the sky is most likely to be seen during the rainy season (December to April). It does seem a little high though, so I suggest you contact a couple of other tour companies to get comparable quotes. Most guides want you to be happy with your experience; I’ve found that being clear about what we wanted out of our tour was best for everyone. For an increased chance of seeing this, you should visit between March and April. La Torre are also another highly recommended operator based here. These include the Hotel Palacio de Sal (Orillas Salar de Uyuni, Colchani, double 1,076 BOB ($156 USD)) modern lodgings that are supposedly the first salt hotel in the world, and Hotel de Sal Luna Salada (Orillas Salar de Uyuni, Colchani, double 945 BOB ($137 USD), which even has salt floors! It also gave us peace of mind knowing that we had someone we could call if our plans went awry. Be aware that it’s winter during these seasons, so you can expect temperatures to drop to below freezing once the sun goes down (around -6°C or -22°F). Hiking and sleeping at 3,600 metres (about 12,000 ft.) above sea level can get pretty chilly, especially at night. Water underneath the salt flat continues to evaporate under the heat of the sun, leaving behind more salt on the surface. Aeropuerto Internacional El Loa (CJC) receives around a dozen flights from Santiago with carriers LATAM (expensive), Sky Airline (low cost) and Jet Smart (super low cost). Save time, stress & money with a customized travel itinerary planned for you by a South America expert. What’s more, tour agencies in Tupiza have a reputation for being far more responsible, with vehicles kept in better conditions and generally a high-standard of guides being employed. Three-day tours start from around 1250 BOB ($180 USD). Chott el Djerid is a large endorheic salt lake in southern Tunisia, close to the … Guatemala Does that sound about right? Many companies in the town of Uyuni offer salt flat tours. For those on a smaller budget, La Casa de Matilde (Avenida Pedro de Valdivia, $13,000 CLP ($21 USD) dorm, $55,000 CLP ($89 USD) two-bedroom mini apartment) is really homely and has comfortable dorms (all single beds and no bunks). The once bubbling towns of San Antonio de Lipez and San Cristobal de Lipez are flooded in history and captivating stories. However, flights are often the same price and significantly more time efficient. One good option is the Toñito Hotel (Av Ferroviaria 60, double 500 BOB ($72 USD), which offers private rooms with hot showers, heaters in the rooms, and yummy pizza downstairs in the Minuteman Pizza restaurant. Tours are a little more expensive than those from Uyuni, starting from around $195 USD per person. Reviews. Dry season in Bolivia lasts from around April to October and during this time, the salt flats look less like a giant mirror and more like… well, a giant salt flat. It’s also centrally located and easy to walk or get a taxi anywhere in Uyuni. Salar de Uyuni er verdens største saltslette med en overflate på 10 582 km². I’ve used this website multiple times and my reservations have always been honored. The natural beauty and uniqueness is something you’ll never forget! However, the real treasure for the locals lies beneath the salt flat, where approximately 70% of the world’s lithium reserves can be found. In an attempt to care for her baby, she flooded the plain between them with her milk so it could be fed.