La Paz: Cable Car, Cemetery & El Alto Shaman Tour

Three thousand meters up: cable cars, street art tombs, and a shaman's reading in El Alto

You ride La Paz's cable cars above the city, walk through the painted cemetery district learning local traditions, visit a shaman in El Alto for a fortune reading if time allows, and explore the high-altitude market city on foot before returning by teleferico. Cable car tickets, cemetery entry, and your bilingual guide are included. The 2pm start means you're moving through the city during afternoon light.

Step-by-step itinerary

Cable car, cemetery, shaman and El Alto

• Ride the amazing cable cars
• Visit cemetery street art museum
• Explore El Alto market and city
• Visit local shaman for fortune

The experience

Hands grip the cable car's metal rail as the city drops away below, and it's not a tourist in a harness, it's you, suspended between La Paz's neighborhoods on what might be the world's most exposed commute. The teleferico isn't a novelty here. It's how people move through a city built on a mountainside so steep that streets become stairs. Your guide meets you at 2pm and takes you straight into it, no preamble, no hotel lobby wait. You're riding the cable cars that locals use every day, watching the Altiplano spread out in all directions, the city's geometry suddenly visible from above.

From there you drop into the cemetery district, not a quiet place of headstones but an open-air street art museum where graves are painted in colors so bright they seem to glow against the afternoon light. Your guide explains the traditions here, the way families keep their dead close, the symbolism in the designs. It's the kind of neighborhood most tourists never see, and not because it's hidden. It's just that nobody thinks to go. You walk through it on foot, taking in the details, the sounds of the city echoing up from below. The cemetery isn't morbid. It's alive in a way that catches you off guard.

Then back into the cable car for the ride up to El Alto, the city that sits even higher than La Paz, where the air is thinner and the markets (on Thursdays and Sundays) sprawl across entire blocks. Your guide takes you to a local shaman, and if time allows, you can have your fortune read, not as theater, but as something people here actually do. The shaman works in a small space, and the reading happens in Spanish or English depending on your guide. After that, you wander El Alto's streets, see how the city actually functions, then ride the teleferico back down to the center as the light changes.

The whole thing runs about four hours. You're not sitting on a bus listening to a script. You're moving through the city the way it moves, on cable cars and local streets, with someone who knows which details matter and which ones don't. Your guide is bilingual, which means you're not missing the context. The why behind what you're seeing, not just the what.

What’s included

• Your day includes cable car tickets for all rides, entrance to the cemetery district, a bilingual local guide for the full four hours, and a visit to a shaman in El Alto where you can have your fortune read if time allows.
• You'll use the teleferico to move between neighborhoods and walk through the cemetery and El Alto on foot.
• Meals and personal purchases are separate.

Before you book

Days and timesEvery dayDeparts at 14:00

Book up to3h before

AgesAdult (12 and older) · Under 12: can't be booked

GroupUp to 25

Live guideEnglish

Meeting point and pickupNo hotel pickup: you go to the meeting point. Ends back at the starting point.

Cancellation and refundsFree cancellation up to 24 h before the start. After that, no refund.

Prices and times updated 3 days ago

Good to know

Moderate physical effortPublic transport nearby

Operated by Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking

Is this one for you?Book this if you want to see La Paz the way residents do (on cable cars and through neighborhoods most tours skip) without arranging transport or figuring out which stops matter. The 2pm start and small-group format mean you're moving at a pace that lets details land, not rushing through a checklist.

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Top questions

What time does the tour start?

2pm. Your guide meets you at that time and the tour runs approximately four hours.

Are cable car tickets included?

Yes. Cable car tickets and cemetery entrance are both included. You pay nothing extra for transport during the tour.

Can I get my fortune read by the shaman?

Yes, if time allows. The shaman reading happens in El Alto and is part of the tour, though timing depends on how long you spend in other stops.

Is this tour suitable if I'm not very fit?

The tour requires at least a moderate level of physical fitness. You'll be walking through the cemetery district and El Alto, and you're at high altitude (La Paz sits at 3,640 meters). If you have concerns, mention them when booking.

What's included in the price?

Cable car tickets, cemetery entrance, and a bilingual local guide. Meals and any additional purchases are not included.

Does the market visit happen every day?

The market in El Alto is open on Thursdays and Sundays. On other days you'll still visit El Alto and see the city, but the market won't be running.

Is the guide bilingual?

Yes. Your guide speaks both Spanish and English.