La Paz

La Paz's city center sits at 3,600–3,700 meters; El Alto (airport level) is at 4,062 meters. Altitude sickness (soroche) affects a significant proportion of visitors — expect headache, fatigue, and shortness of breath on the first day. The standard protocol: rest the first day, drink plenty of water, avoid alcohol, and drink coca tea (widely available and legal locally). Symptoms usually resolve by day two. People with heart conditions should consult a doctor before visiting.

La Paz's Teleférico (cable car transit system) has 10 colored lines connecting the city bowl to El Alto on the altiplano above. Rides cost 3 BOB (about $0.43) per segment. Buy a Mi Teleférico card at any station or pay cash. The Red, Yellow, and Blue lines cover the main tourist areas. Riding continuously across multiple lines on a clear morning is one of the best city tours anywhere in South America.

The Mercado de las Brujas (Witches' Market) is a cluster of market stalls on Calle Linares and nearby streets selling ritual items for Aymara spiritual practices: dried llama fetuses (buried under new buildings as offerings to Pachamama, the Earth goddess), herbal medicines, amulets, and ceremonial supplies. The vendors — women in traditional dress — are serving the local Aymara community, not tourists. It's a working ritual market that happens to be open to the public.

The Yungas Road (officially the world's most dangerous road) descends 3,500 meters in 64 km from the La Cumbre pass (4,700m) to the Yungas valley town of Coroico (1,200m). Dozens of operators offer guided mountain-bike descents — a full-day experience where the road narrows to 3.5 meters with sheer drops into the jungle valley below. Fatalities were common when the road was a main highway; in the guided-bike context with safety protocols, it's a thrilling but managed adventure. About $60–80 all-inclusive.

Relatively safe in the tourist zones (the Prado, Sopocachi, the Witches' Market area). The main risks are pickpocketing in crowded markets and minibuses, and express robbery from unofficial taxis. Never get into an unmarked taxi; use radio taxis, the Easy Taxi or Tappsi apps, or let your hotel call one. Avoid El Alto and outer neighborhoods after dark unless with a trusted guide.

Tiwanaku was the capital of one of the most important pre-Columbian civilizations in South America — a theocratic empire that dominated the altiplano between 200 and 1000 CE. The site 72 km west of La Paz includes the Gateway of the Sun (with its carved calendar deity), the semi-subterranean temple with dozens of stone faces, and the Kalasasaya ceremonial platform. A half-day bus tour from La Paz costs around $15–25. A guide adds considerably to the experience.

Cholitas are Aymara and Quechua women who wear traditional dress — layered pollera skirts, embroidered blouses, bowler hats (introduced by British railway workers in the 1920s and adopted as a style statement), and long braided hair. Cholita wrestling (Lucha Libre) is a Sunday performance in El Alto where cholita wrestlers in full traditional dress perform theatrical wrestling matches — acrobatic, comedic, and culturally specific to Bolivia. It's performed for a predominantly Bolivian audience and is one of La Paz's most genuinely local experiences.

The Teleférico Silver Line (Línea Plateada) connects El Alto's main station to the city center — a 20-minute scenic cable-car ride for 3 BOB ($0.43). Alternatively, take a radio taxi (negotiate a fixed price before — approximately 80–120 BOB to the center). Never take an unmarked taxi from the arrivals area.

The Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat — 10,582 km² of pure white salt at 3,656m in southwestern Bolivia. Organized 3-day tours from Uyuni cover the salt flats, the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna Reserve, the Laguna Colorada (red lagoon), and the geysers at Sol de Mañana. From La Paz: overnight bus to Uyuni (10 hours), or a 1-hour flight from El Alto. The Uyuni salt flat tour is one of South America's top travel experiences.

Salteñas — baked pastry pockets filled with spiced meat, olive, and hard-boiled egg — are a La Paz breakfast staple and eaten standing at counters around 10 AM. Anticuchos (grilled beef heart skewers) at the market. Silpancho (breaded beef on rice and fried egg). Api (hot purple corn drink) with pastel (fried pastry) for breakfast. Singani (Bolivian grape brandy) is the national spirit — try it in a chuflay (singani, ginger ale, lime).

Yes — coca tea (mate de coca) is completely legal in Bolivia and widely drunk as the primary remedy for altitude sickness. You'll be offered it at your hotel immediately upon arrival. The coca leaf contains small amounts of cocaine alkaloids but in tea form has mild stimulant effects comparable to strong coffee — entirely safe and genuinely helpful for soroche (altitude sickness). It is illegal to bring coca tea or coca leaves out of Bolivia.

A landscape of eroded clay pinnacles and gullies at the southern edge of the city (Mallasa district) — shaped like a miniature badlands by the erosion of the soft altiplano sediment. A 30-minute taxi from the center; admission around 15 BOB. Combined with the Muela del Diablo rock formation for a half-day south-of-center excursion. Best in morning light.

Yes — Copacabana on Lake Titicaca is 4 hours by bus from La Paz (buses from the Terminal Bimodal). The lake is the world's highest navigable lake at 3,812 meters, sacred in Andean cosmology and shared between Bolivia and Peru. From Copacabana, boats run to Isla del Sol — the mythological birthplace of the Inca sun god. A 2-night extension from La Paz is the classic combination.

Sopocachi is the most comfortable neighborhood for most travelers — pleasant streets, good restaurants and cafés, safe for evening walks, and mid-range hotels. The Witches' Market / Sagárnaga area is closer to tourist sights and has more budget options. The city center (Prado) is central but busier and less pleasant to walk at night.

At minimum, two nights in La Paz before Uyuni — the first night for arrival and acclimatization, the second for sightseeing. Three to four nights is better: proper acclimatization means you'll feel significantly better at Uyuni's 3,656 meters if you've spent a few days in La Paz's similar altitude first. Rushing to Uyuni directly from sea level makes the salt flat more uncomfortable.

San Pedro prison became a tourist attraction in the early 2000s (documented in the book 'Marching Powder') when visitors could enter and buy cocaine. This practice has long since ended and the prison is no longer accessible to tourists. The San Pedro neighborhood is a pleasant residential area for walking and has no ongoing tourism issue.

Mercado Rodríguez (Tuesday and Sunday food market, one of the best in the country), Mercado Central (daily, excellent salteñas and almuerzo counters), the Witches' Market on Calle Linares (ritual and artisan items), and the El Alto Sunday Cancha market (the largest open-air market in South America — produce, goods, and everything else).