La Paz to Uyuni Salt Flats: 2-Day Flight & Volcano Tour

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Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/24

Duration2d

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN · PT +1

PickupAt your hotel

White Desert & Volcano: 2 Days Across Bolivia's Highest Plateau

You fly from La Paz to the Uyuni Salt Flats, spend two days crossing white desert and volcanic terrain with a private guide and small group, stay in a salt-block hotel with stargazing, and return by flight. The pace is unhurried, meals are included, and the altitude support is built in — you're not arranging transport, hotels, or timing yourself.

Step-by-step itinerary

Day 1 — Flight and Salt Flats Exploration

Private transfer to El Alto airport
Flight from La Paz to Uyuni
Private transfer to hotel for rest
Visit Train Cemetery
Explore Colchani artisan town
Visit Incahuasi Island and walk
Lunch with views of Tunupa Volcano
Watch sunset in Uyuni Salt Flats
Stargazing tour in salt desert
Overnight in salt block hotel

Day 2 — Tunupa Volcano and Local Culture

Visit Tunupa Volcano and see wildlife
Lunch with Andean landscape views
Visit bofedales, stone museum, quinoa fields
Experience local community life
Return to Uyuni and overnight at boutique hotel

Day 3 — Return to La Paz

Transfer to Uyuni airport
Flight from Uyuni to La Paz
Pick up and transfer to hotel in La Paz

The Experience

The salt stretches so far that the horizon dissolves into sky, and you can't tell where the ground ends. You'll start at 6 a.m. in La Paz with a private pickup to El Alto airport, then fly 90 minutes to Uyuni at 3,656 meters above sea level. The landscape shifts as you descend — from city to thin air to an expanse of white that looks like someone poured salt across the world and left it there. Your guide meets you at Uyuni airport with a Land Cruiser, and the real day begins.

Day one moves through three distinct stops before you reach the salt flat itself. First, the Train Cemetery — an open-air museum of rusted locomotives and wagons scattered across a field, each one carrying stories of Bolivia's mining boom. Your guide walks you through the history while the metal catches the light. Then Colchani, a small town on the salt flat's edge where you'll see artisans hand-processing salt and locals working the shallow pools. It's not a photo stop; it's a place where people live and work. After that comes Incahuasi Island, a rocky outcrop rising from the white expanse, covered in giant cacti that have survived here for centuries. You climb to the top and eat lunch — actually a proper meal with champagne — while looking out at the Tunupa Volcano across the salt. The sunset happens while you're still out there, the sky turning orange and pink, and then you drive to your hotel: a structure built entirely from salt blocks, five stars, surreal in every way. That night includes stargazing — the altitude and the lack of light pollution mean the sky is so thick with stars it almost hurts to look at.

Day two takes you to Tunupa Volcano itself, a mystical place where Aymara mummies rest in caves and herds of pink flamingos move across the landscape like they're painted on. You'll see llamas, vicuñas, and the raw Andean terrain that shaped the people who live here. Lunch happens in the field with views that don't fit in a photograph. After, you visit the bofedales (wetlands), a stone museum, and quinoa plantations where you meet local families. It's not rushed — the pace lets you actually absorb what you're seeing instead of collecting it. That night you stay in a boutique hotel in Uyuni town, closer to the airport. On day three, you fly back to La Paz, arriving by midday.

The whole thing is limited to six travelers, which means the Land Cruiser doesn't feel crowded and the guide can actually talk to you instead of shouting over a group. Everything is included — flights, both hotels, all meals, oxygen bottles (you'll need them at this altitude), and a certified English-speaking guide. If you need a vegetarian option or have mobility concerns, they work with you before you book.

What’s included

Round-trip flights between La Paz and Uyuni, private Land Cruiser transportation with a certified English-speaking guide, two nights accommodation (one in a salt-block hotel, one in a boutique hotel in Uyuni town), all meals from breakfast on day one through lunch on day three, oxygen bottles for altitude support, hotel pickup and drop-off in La Paz, a glass of champagne, and stargazing on night one.

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleAccessible transportStroller friendlyInfant seats availableInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Joker Expedition, Bolivia.

Is this one for you?Book this if you want to see the Uyuni Salt Flats without arranging your own flights, hotels, or guide — the two-day format fits the main sights (salt flat, Incahuasi Island, Tunupa Volcano, Train Cemetery) into a single trip from La Paz, and the small group size means you're not moving in a convoy.