Top 10 Viewpoints in Bolivia
Bolivia is the highest and most rugged country in South America, much of it spread across the altiplano — a high plateau above 3,500 metres ringed by Andean peaks. Its viewpoints are landscapes of extremes: the world's largest salt flat, coloured lagoons stained by minerals and algae, snow-capped volcanoes and a capital city spilling down a canyon. These ten capture the thin-air drama of the Bolivian Andes and altiplano.
Salar de Uyuni
The Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat on earth, more than 10,000 square kilometres of blinding white crust at 3,656 metres. In the dry season it is a perfect white plain to the horizon; after rain it becomes a vast mirror reflecting the sky. The Isla Incahuasi, a cactus-covered island in the flat, gives an elevated viewpoint over the dazzling expanse.
Laguna Colorada
In the Eduardo Avaroa reserve near the Chilean border, the Laguna Colorada is a shallow lake stained deep red by algae and minerals, dotted with white borax islands and flocks of flamingos, at around 4,300 metres. The viewpoints over the red water and the surrounding altiplano are among the most surreal landscapes in South America.
Laguna Verde and Licancabur
The Laguna Verde at around 4,400 metres glows an intense green from arsenic and copper minerals, beneath the perfect cone of the Licancabur volcano (5,916 metres) on the Chile-Bolivia border. The viewpoint frames the coloured lake against the volcano, one of the most striking high-altitude scenes on the southern altiplano.
Killi Killi, La Paz
The Mirador Killi Killi gives the classic panoramic view over La Paz, the world's highest capital, spilling down a canyon from around 3,600 to 4,000 metres. The view takes in the dense city, the high El Alto rim and, beyond, the snow-capped peak of Illimani at 6,438 metres. Sunset, when the city lights come on below the mountain, is the prime time.
Chacaltaya
The former ski station of Chacaltaya near La Paz sits at around 5,300 metres, once the highest in the world before its glacier melted. The viewpoint from the old station and the short climb to the summit ridge give a panorama over the Cordillera Real, the altiplano and, far below, La Paz. The thin air makes the short walk genuinely demanding.
Valle de la Luna, La Paz
The Valle de la Luna ("Moon Valley") on the edge of La Paz is an eroded landscape of clay spires and canyons, the result of weathering on a mineral-rich hillside. Walkways and viewpoints wind among the formations, with the high city and mountains as a backdrop. It is a strange, accessible viewpoint close to the capital.
Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca
On Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world at 3,812 metres, the Isla del Sol holds Inca ruins and terraced hillsides. Viewpoints from the island's ridge look across the deep blue lake to the snow peaks of the Cordillera Real on the far shore. It is a sacred landscape with some of the finest lake-and-mountain views in the Andes.
Tunupa Volcano viewpoint
Rising from the northern edge of the Salar de Uyuni, the Tunupa Volcano reaches 5,321 metres. A trail climbs from the village of Coqueza to a viewpoint partway up, from which the entire white expanse of the salt flat stretches to the horizon. It is the best elevated perspective over the Salar, with the volcano's coloured slopes above.
Cerro Rico, Potosi
The Cerro Rico ("Rich Mountain") looms over the colonial city of Potosi at around 4,800 metres, its slopes honeycombed by centuries of silver mining. Viewpoints from the city, the highest of its size in the world, frame the conical mountain that once made Potosi one of the wealthiest places on earth. The history is as striking as the view.
Sajama
Bolivia's highest peak, the Nevado Sajama, is an extinct volcano reaching 6,542 metres in a national park near the Chilean border. Viewpoints from the park and the surrounding altiplano frame the snow cone rising above the world's highest forest of queñua trees and grazing vicuñas. It is the symbol of the Bolivian western altiplano.
Explore on the map
From the salt flat of Uyuni to the coloured lagoons of the south and the heights above La Paz, every viewpoint above is plotted on the interactive map. Use it to see which require a high-altitude tour or climb, which are city overlooks or roadside lagoons, and plan a route across the altiplano of Bolivia.