Uyuni, Bolivia. Tours, Hotels and prices. Reviews from tourists. Excursions and attractions. Travel photos and videos

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Uyuni

Bolivia, Potosi Department

About Uyuni

The city of Ujuni is located near to the biggest on the Earth the dried up salty lake Solar-de-Ujuni. Road on Ujuni soil, and in the beginning quite passed. There are small small rivers without bridges. When you arrive to Bolivia you could take a bus. Depending on where you board the bus, the time that it takes to reach Uyuni will differ greatly. From La Paz, the trip is about twelve hours, from Oruro it is about four hours, and from Potosi it is around seven hours. You will always want to make sure you have your tickets in advance and that you don't miss your bus. If you do, you might be waiting for a few hours before the next bus comes through.
Trains leave daily on trips back and forth from Oruro and Tupiza, and you might even be able to catch a flight from Cochabamba. The flights only arrive about once a week however, so it might not be the most convenient way of getting to your destination.

Perhaps the best way of getting to Uyuni is by renting a car in another one of the cities. You can drive at your own pace, and even sleep in the car if it comes down to it.

Basic information

Located in western Bolivia are the famous salt flats, the Salar de Uyuni. It is the world's largest salt flats, measuring in at more than 4,085 square miles. The area was not always made of salt, however. 40,000 years ago, there was a huge inland sea called Lake Minchin. As time wore on, the lake began to dry up. When it did, two lakes were left behind –Uru Uru Lake and Poopo Lake. In addition, there were two salt flats, the Salar de Coipasa and the much larger and far more famous Uyuni. About 25,000 tons of salt are removed each year, but with more than 10 billion tons of salt in the desert, there is no chance of running out of the stuff!
Isla del Pescado .
Fish Island, as Isla del Pescado is also called, is a unique ecosystem located in the middle of the salt desert. The "island" is filled with cacti, some of which reach a massive thirty feet in height. You won't find any fish here, however. The reason the island got this name is it looks like a fish from a distance.

Nature

This is an incredible place to visit. Besides just the salt flats, you can visit a number of 'islands' in the sea of salt. Another draw for quite a few tourists is the flamingos that congregate for breeding in certain areas around Uyuni. One can find Andean, James's, and Chilean flamingos. Although the salar itself is incredibly barren, nearby to the west, along the Bolivian-Chilean border, lurks a geologically active landscape characterized by major volcanoes of the late Cenozoic magmatic arc cresting above colorful brine lakes. Active hydrothermal systems are evident by numerous mudpots, geysers, and geothermal springs, providing a stark dichotomy with the frigid climate. In addition, an expansive, flat "Martian" landscape, adorned intermittently with irregularly-shaped wind-eroded boulders, exists between the volcanic peaks. NASA has utilized the extreme environment of the salars and its environs, with respect to landscape, altitude, and climate, in its quest to discover the origin of early life on Earth and on other planets.
Frosts reach in the winter (June - August)-10°С. Seldom, but there are cold snaps and up to-20°С.

Infrastructure

Train Graveyard.
To visit the train graveyard, a place just on the outskirts of town, you don't need a tour guide. All you need to do is walk out to the trains and start snapping some photographs of the rusted out behemoths, locomotives from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. They seem out of place in the desert, almost as though they were forgotten and left to rot. It is a strange place for sure, but one that you will definitely want to spend some time at.
The train cemetery is within easy walking distance from the town, but like all hikes, you should make sure that you have plenty of water.

Arboles de Piedra.
The Arboles de Piedra or the Stone Tree is a strange rock formation that seems to grow out of the ground, and does bear something of a resemblance to an actual tree.

The Lagoons.
You will find several lagoons on your tour, and some of the most interesting are the Laguna Verde and the Laguna Colorada. Located on the Chilean border, the Laguna Verde (green lake) is a gorgeous salt lake colored green. The reason that it is green is due to the high arsenic content in the water. The Laguna Colorada (red lake) is colored as such because of the red sediments and the pigmentation of the algae. Many flamingos of varying species live at this lake, including James's, Chilean, and Andean. These two lakes represent what looks like the landscape of an alien planet – it is quite surreal and beautiful.

Isla del Pescado.
Fish Island, as Isla del Pescado is also called, is a unique ecosystem located in the middle of the salt desert. The "island" is filled with cacti, some of which reach a massive thirty feet in height. You won't find any fish here, however. The reason the island got this name is it looks like a fish from a distance.

The Markets.
On certain days of the week (Thursday and Sunday), you can find a street market that begins at the clock tower near the town center and stretches for several blocks. You can find a number of local handicrafts here, including locally made items such as woolen blankets and salt sculptures.
You should be able to pick up everything you need from the different stores in town, as well as the market – and that includes souvenirs to bring home with you.

Mummies in and out of Town.
While not located within the town itself, you can take a tour that brings you up close and personal to see some of the mummies found in caves in the nearby hills. They are buried in a traditional fetal position, and while it is impossible to tell what they died of, it is believed that they were victims of either starvation or exposure. Some of the local guides can give you a great deal of information about the mummies, as well as some of the former inhabitants of the land, including the Incas. These caves are a must see as long as you aren't squeamish!
If you don't wish to travel to the caves out of the town, you can still see mummies, as well as skulls and other artifacts at the local archaeology museum. If makes for an interesting way to spend a few hours.