The beautiful Salar de Uyuni is with its 10.582 square km (4.085 square miles) the world's largest salt flat. It is located in the Department of Potosi in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, at 3.650 meters high.
Some 40.000 years ago, the area was part of Lake Minchin, a giant prehistoric lake. When the lake dried, it left behind two modern lakes, Poopó and Uru Uru, and two major salt deserts, Salar de Coipasa and the larger Uyuni. Uyuni is roughly 25 times the size of Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States.
Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt of which less than 25.000 tons is extracted annually.
Every November, Salar de Uyuni is also the breeding grounds for three species of South American flamingos - Chilean, James's and Andean.
In the middle of this salt sea lies a waterless oasis. La Isla del Pescado, full of giant
cactuses, or the Island of Fish, is named for the shape of a fish it appears to have as you approach. It is the only sign of life for miles.
Laguna Verde, Laguna Colorada and hot springs can also be visited during the Uyuni salt lake tour when entering the National Reserve Eduardo Avaroa. Laguna Verde (Green Lagoon) is a beautiful green colored salt lake on the Chilean border at the foot of the volcano Licancabur. Its color is caused by sediments, containing copper minerals. It is elevated some 4.300m (14.000 ft) above sea level. Laguna Colorada is a red colored salt lake, also because of the presence of minerals. In these lagoons live flamingo's (flamingos at that high and cold altitude!) creating a very unique scene of spectacular beauty!
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Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt of which less than 25.000 tons is extracted annually. |
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REFERENCE PROGRAM (program may change in the wet season from December to February)
This reference program is based on a private tour with very good ´Tayka´hotels.
One of them is the salt hotel, another one is a hotel made out of stones and there is the Desert Hotel 40 min. from the red colored Lake. Please contact us for more information.
Salar Tour 3D/2N Uyuni – Uyuni (Reference Program Salar de Uyuni)
Day 1
Today we will have an unforgettable trip across 12 000 km2 of fantastic salt landscape. Prepare your camera! The amazing white coat of the Salar de Uyuni (or Thunupa) looks like a huge glacier.
We will enter the Salar by Colchani, where we will stop to visit the salt factory and we will receive comments on the salt family economy which command the life of this village.
Once our first visit is done, we will enter the Salar and stop at the salt mounts from where we will continue to the dominating and magic Thunupa Volcano. We will ascend a part of the volcano with the car to the Coquesa Mummies. From this point we will have a nice view upon the monumental Salar.
Then we will descend to Tahua where we will have lunch at the comfortable Tayka Salt Hotel. On the afternoon we will get away from the hotel to Chillima village, at the north, from where we will start the second ascension still with the car toward La Pucara. We will start a between 60 and 90 minutes walk to the impressive flat landscape of La Pucara de Chillima. This part is like an intimate retreat of the Salar with an incomparable beauty but as well with a peculiar spiritual presence which come from the stones edifications. With more than 1000 years of antiquity, theses constructions make us think about the way of life of our ancestors. This time the view on the Salar is from the west (sensual Salar) with islands and bays and not very known by tourism. We will return to the car by an approximate 30 minute’s down walk.
We recommend to the people who like to walk to return straight from Pucara to the Hotel by walking. In this case they can use an old way used by the ancients to make ritual visits to this mystic centre. It is about a 2h15 minutes trek which allow to feel a unique and unforgettable experience (If you decide to do so, you have to organize it with the guide).
We will spend the night in the Tayka Salt Hotel with private bathroom, hot water and heating (L, D).
Day 2
This day we will cross the Salar from north to south with the first visit at the Incahuasi Island which one of the central tourist attraction. We will follow the little path to arrive at the top of the island from where we will get the amazing 360 º view on the Salar. Then we will continue toward the Mala Mala Bahia, to find the Galaxia Cave where we will find a cactus sanctuary and petrified stromatolites and finally a Chullpas cemetery (ancestral burying) . The cave presents a very weird sub-aquatic geological formation from the era of the Michin Lake (300 000 years ago) and from the Tauca Lake (40000 years ago).
We will continue the expedition towards San Pedro de Quemes where we will have lunch and a break in the Tayka Stone Hotel.
In the afternoon, we will go towards the lagoons chain of Cañapa, Hedionda, Chiarkota, Honda and Ramaditas, where we will see a good quantity of the three kinds of flamingos and other kinds of birds as andean seagulls and wild ducks. These birds live on the lagoons alongside of the volcanoes with their eternal snow on the top and their green sides mixed with other colors done by the borax and sulphur.
After the last lagoon, you will enter the huge and great desert area with no roads or ways. These fantastic deserts gather all the colors from browns, reds, oranges, brass, coffee and beige which are successively shown at every curve of the trip. In this area you will find the Tayka Desert Hotel, with private bathroom, hot water and heating (B, L, and D).
Day 3(B, L)
We will start this day early to see the desert under the lights of the sunset. Later on, we will appreciate the svelte figure of the wild Vicuñas entering the Eduardo Avaroa National Reserve. We will visit the Stone Tree and see Yaretas and Vizcachas (wild desert rabbit). Then we will arrive to the Geysers of Sol de mañana during the most active moment and with the first ray of lights. This point is the higher altitude of the tour. We will be at 5000 meters above the sea level. The cold is intense, and we will be able to walk among the smoky and noisy geysers, boiling mud stewpot where red and grey mud is boiling like water.
The desert and Salar of Chalviri are an another sceneries of big value which combine the white of the snow and from the borax with the red brown of the desert and with the blue of the water. In that place we will have the opportunity to have a bath in the Hot Springs of Polques and then to have a delicious open air breakfast.
Then you will take the way to the Ladies of the Desert, Chef d’oeuvre of the wind work. The columns of stones sculpted by the wind show fantastic colors. After that you will arrive at the feet of Licancabur volcano to appreciate La Laguna Verde (the Green Lagoon, one of the pearl of the reserve) at its best moment to observe the change of color from emerald green to deeper green. We will have lunch on the shore of the Green Lagoon.
We will continue to the next gem of the reserve, La Laguna Colorada (The Colored Lagoon) which is the main flamingos nesting site. The red color of the lagoon and of the flamingos comes from the effect of the solar radiations and wind on the algae and plankton.
On the way back to Uyuni, we will stop at San Cristóbal village which has been moved from its original site to the actual one (even the church!) for the needs of one the biggest mine in the world.
We will say goodbye to the llamas and vicuñas before arriving to Uyuni.
Nobody can forget the experience of this trip to the end of the world…
(Please take note that due to climate and road conditions (rainy season: December to Mart) these routes may vary and can sometimes be changed without notice, reason for which this previous detail of the tour in Uyuni is only for reference, and is not to be taken as an exact itinerary of what this tour implies).
We also offer 2 and 4 days excursions. Just contact us for more information.
Needing transfer from/ to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile)? Then check out our programs for the Uyuni tours from/to San Pedro.
Tour includes:
- Overnight stay as described in program, in comfortable Tayka hotels like the salt (entirely made of pure salt), stone (made of rocks) and desert (located in a beautiful desert only 40 minutes away from the Red Lagoon) hotels.
- All meals with mineral water as indicated in the program (B= Breakfast, L= lunch, D= diner)
- Transport 4X4 equiped with radio communication.
- Spanish driver/guide.
- Also included: natural herbs and medication against altitude sickness and high pressure, oxygen and extinguisher.
Tour does not include:
- entrance fee’s
- alcoholic drinks, personal snacks and tips.
Optional:
- Flight ticket to/from Uyuni (from/to Santa Cruz, La Paz or Cochabamba (only Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays)
- Bus tickets to Sucre or La Paz
- Hotel reservations in Uyuni after the tour has finished
- Bilingual guides
Do not forget to bring the following items:
The route to the salt lake is cold, windy and with high solar radiation. Over day is generally sunny and the weather is pleasant. Our recommendations on what to bring with you are:
- Warm clothes.
- Gloves.
- Wool socks.
- Hat covering your ears and to protect you from the sun.
- Boots.
- Sleeping bag.
- Towel.
- Swimming suit.
- Lips moisturizer.
- Sun block 30+.
- Sun glasses.
- Lantern.
- Raincoat (From December to March)
Note: Don’t forget to bring a copy of your passport.
Contact us for more information or for making a reservation for Salar de Uyuni.
Please read what our clients say about their trip to Uyuni Salt flats!
VIDEOS: Watch some short movies made on and around the salt flats in Uyuni:
