Uyuni Salt Flats tour: 3-day private flights salt hotel

Salt flats, colored lagoons and geysers across three days in the Bolivian altiplano

A 3-day private tour from La Paz to the Salar de Uyuni includes round-trip flights, two nights in a 5-star salt hotel and a desert lodge, a professional guide, all meals, and 4WD transport across salt plains, volcanic landscapes and flamingo lagoons. Pickup from your La Paz hotel is included. The itinerary departs at 7am on day one and returns by evening on day three.

Step-by-step itinerary

Day 1: La Paz to Uyuni and Salt Flats

• Pick up from La Paz hotel
• Transfer to El Alto Airport
• Flight to Uyuni
• Meet guide and driver at Uyuni Airport
• Buffet lunch at local cafe
• Visit outdoor train museum
• Enter Salar de Uyuni at Colchani
• See salt processing and piles
• Visit Salt Hotel and downtown Uyuni
• Visit Incahuasi Island and viewpoint
• Drive north to Tunupa Volcano
• View Tunupa Volcano and flamingos
• Watch sunset on Uyuni salt flat
• Overnight at Salt Hotel in Colchani

Day 2: Salar de Uyuni to Siloli Desert

• Visit Fish Island in the morning
• Continue to Mala Mala Bay
• Explore Galaxy Cave
• Visit Laguna Cañapa and see flamingos
• Observe flamingos and other birds at lagoons
• Overnight at Tayka del Desierto Hotel

Day 3: Siloli Desert to La Paz

• Depart hotel at 5:30 am
• Visit Sol de Mañana geysers at dawn
• Relax at natural hot springs
• See curious rock formation
• Visit Laguna Verde at Licancabur volcano
• Lunch at Laguna Colorada and see flamingos
• Return to Uyuni
• Transfer to Uyuni Airport
• Flight to La Paz
• Transfer to La Paz hotel

The experience

The tour starts with a 7am pickup from your La Paz hotel and a 45-minute flight to Uyuni, where your English-speaking guide meets you at the airport. After breakfast, you visit an outdoor museum of restored trains, then enter the Salar at Colchani to see salt processing and piles of salt drying in the sun. You climb Incahuasi Island, a volcanic rock formation studded with giant cacti that rises from the white plain and gives an extraordinary viewpoint across the entire salt flat. In the afternoon, you head north to Tunupa Volcano on the banks of the Salar, where flamingos gather, and watch the sunset before settling into the 4-star Salt Hotel in Colchani, built on the edge of the salt flat itself.

Day two takes you across the Salar to Fish Island and Mala Mala Bay, then to Galaxy Cave, where ancestral burials and petrified cacti sit in the rock. You visit Laguna Cañapa to see flamingos, then drive to the Tayka Red Stone Hotel in the Siloli Desert, where dinner features regional flavors. The lagoons flanking the route (Cañapa, Stinking, Chiarkota, Honda and Ramadita) hold large numbers of flamingos alongside geese and Andean gulls, with snow-capped volcanoes rising beyond them.

Day three departs at 5:30am to reach the Sol de Mañana geysers at dawn, the highest point of the route at about 5,000 meters. You soak in natural hot springs fed by volcanic heat, wade through red and gray mud pools where the earth seems to boil, and see rock formations carved by wind and time. The tour includes Laguna Verde at the foot of Licancabur volcano, where the water shifts from emerald green as the light changes, and Laguna Colorada, the main nesting site for three species of flamingos whose pink color comes from algae and plankton activated by sun and wind. After lunch at Laguna Colorada, you return to Uyuni for the 7:30pm flight back to La Paz, arriving by 8:15pm and transferring to your hotel.

What’s included

• Round-trip flights from La Paz to Uyuni.
• two nights' accommodation in private rooms (5-star salt hotel on day one, desert lodge on day two).
• all meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner each day).
• professional guide who speaks English.
• private 4WD transport throughout.
• oxygen bottle for altitude.
• complementary wine.
• hotel pickup and drop-off in La Paz.

Before you book

Days and timesEvery dayDeparts at 06:30

Book up to12h before

AgesUp to age 90

GroupPrivate

Live guideEnglish, Spanish and Portuguese

Meeting point and pickupHotel pickup included.

Cancellation and refundsFree cancellation up to 24 h before the start. After that, no refund.It may be canceled due to bad weather. If that happens, you're offered another date or a refund.

Prices and times updated 12 days ago

Good to know

Low physical effortWheelchair accessibleAccessible transportInfant seats availableInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Joker Expedition, Bolivia.

Is this one for you?Choose this if you want a self-contained private journey with flights from La Paz included: no need to coordinate separate bookings for transport or lodging across multiple operators.

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Top questions

What languages is the tour guided in?

Live guide in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

What happens if it rains?

It may be canceled due to bad weather. If that happens, you're offered another date or a refund. Free cancellation up to 24 h before the start.

What's included in the 3-day Uyuni tour from La Paz?

The tour includes round-trip flights from La Paz to Uyuni, two nights' accommodation (one in a 5-star salt hotel, one in a desert lodge), all meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner each day), a professional guide who speaks English, private 4WD transport, an oxygen bottle for altitude, and complementary wine. Hotel pickup and drop-off in La Paz are included.

How high is the altitude on this tour, and what should I expect?

The highest point of the route is Sol de Mañana at about 5,000 meters (16,400 feet). The tour provides an oxygen bottle to help with altitude adjustment. The cold is intense at this elevation, especially at dawn when you visit the geysers, so bring warm layers.

What time does the tour start and end each day?

Day one starts with a 7am pickup from your La Paz hotel. Day two is a full day of driving and sightseeing in the Siloli Desert. Day three departs the hotel at 5:30am to reach the geysers at dawn, and the return flight leaves Uyuni at 7:30pm, arriving back in La Paz by 8:15pm.

Can I see flamingos on this tour?

Yes. Flamingos gather at several lagoons on the route: you see them at Tunupa Volcano on day one, at Laguna Cañapa on day two, and at Laguna Colorada on day three, which is the main nesting site for three species of flamingos. The lagoons are flanked by snow-capped volcanoes.

What are the colored lagoons, and when do I visit them?

Laguna Verde, at the foot of Licancabur volcano, shifts from emerald green to a duller tone as the light changes throughout the day. Laguna Colorada appears pink because of algae and plankton activated by solar radiation and wind, and you stop there for lunch on day three. Both are visited on the final day of the tour.

Is this tour suitable for people with mobility concerns?

The tour is wheelchair accessible, and transportation options include wheelchair-accessible vehicles. However, the itinerary involves early starts, high altitude, and extended time in a 4WD vehicle across remote terrain. Discuss any specific mobility needs with the operator when booking.