Bolivia, Uyuni, Salar de Uyuni and South-West Circuit

A 4x4 trip across the Salar de Uyuni and through the remote South-West of Bolivia has been one of our trip highlights.

Most tours start in Uyuni where it's cheaper to organise than La Paz or elsewhere.

We travelled to Uyuni from La Paz. We found the best way was a combination bus / train.
There is a Expreso del Sur train that leaves Oruro for Uyuni at 15:30 on Tuesday (used to be Monday but has changed) and Friday which gets to Uyuni at 22:30. We booked the ticket in La Paz at the office of FCA on Guachalla 494. You can book the ticket on the day when you arrive in Oruro but it's probably better in advance so you avoid the scrum at the train station. We booked a salon ticket which cost 45 bolivianos and the train was comfortable - even heated! The food for sale was also good.

The other option is by bus on a very bumpy road which only gets into Uyuni at 4am which is a pain to find accommmodation and you'll be tired so enjoy the train if you can.

In order to get to Oruro you need to take a bus from La Paz's main Terminal de Buses. There are a few different buses that leave for Oruro at 10:00 and cost between 15 and 30 bolivianos. We took a Felix bus for 15 bolivianos that took 3 hours. On arrival they tried to charge some other passengers extra for luggage but just fob them off. A taxi from the bus station in Oruro to the train station cost 5 bolivianos with bargaining.

When you arrive at the train station you can store your luggage in the luggage compartment and get a receipt.

When you arrive in Uyuni there will be a major scrum to get your luggage.
Tip: leave the train as soon as you can and go to the back of the train where they are unloading the luggage. Stand as close as you can to the station building close to the railing between you and the luggage. Once all the luggage is off the train, they open the railing and you go into a room and identify your luggage and show the recepit before leaving the building. If you're early in the queue you will have more choice of accommodation in Uyuni when you exit the station and start looking before everyone else. Hotel Avenida where we stayed is a good spot and near the train station.

We booked our trip with Cordillera Tours (02-6933304, cordilleratravel_927@hotmail.com) a few doors down from Hotel Avenida. We'd found good reviews on the web even though they are not in any guidebooks we saw. We also spoke to a returning group who said they were good.

We opted for a four day trip returning to Uyuni but many people do a 3 day trip and cross over to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. From here it's apparently easy to get to Argentine if that's where you're heading.

We had to return to Uyuni to see more of Bolivia from there but it would be much better to plan your trip so you end your Bolivian leg with this tour and head onto Chile or Argentina as the last day and a half spent coming back to Uyuni was not as interesting.as the rest.

The first day we started by visiting the train cemetary which is very photogenic. Ask that the tour company does this first as many only do it when returning to Uyuni and you'll miss out if you finish in San Pedro. The rest of the day was spent on the amazing Salar de Uyuni seeing the sites and staying in one of the salt hotels. Cordillera is one of the few operators to offer this. The hotel was comfortable and warm. Hot showers were available for 5 bolivianos.
The second day was spent driving through the dramatic scenery of the south-west seeing plenty of lagoons with flamingos and llamas and vicuñas. We were told to expect very basic accommodation near Laguna Colorado for the second night but it wasn't as bad as we expected. We stayed in a basic dormitary with the 6 people in our group and had OK loos. It may be pot luck where you stay so maybe we were lucky.
The third day has an early start and more amazing scenery, geysers and hot pools before stopping at Laguna Verde where we dropped off the people heading for Chile. We then joined another 4x4 and driver and people from 2 other groups for the trip back to Uyuni. Our new driver wasn't as clued up and some of the other people who we joined up with said their accommodation with their groups had been terrible and they had payed the same as we had. The third night was spent in a family run place with basic accommodation. We actually moved places as the first was very basic and Cordillera had said we would have a double room which the first place didn't have. A bit of gentle persuasion and the driver found somewhere else that was much nicer. The last day was spent driving back to Uyuni. Our new driver managed to run out of petrol on the way so you can never be sure what happens.
Everything depends on the driver and his mood so unfortunately it's a bit of gamble.

Our first driver, Javier was excellent. He had lots of useful information in Spanish if asked but don't expect a tour guide for the trip.

Many of the other tours had a driver and his wife as a cook but we think it's better if you only have a driver as it gives you another seat in the 4x4 and the food is going to be the same whether the husband or wife cook.

We had 6 people for the first 3 days and then 7 for the trip back to Uyuni.

We payed US$70 for the trip, the people who went to San Pedro payed US$65 including the bus to San Pedro.
We got them to include a sleeping bag for the second night when it is freezing cold.

All meals were included which were actually quite good. You need to take your own water.
Take some extra snacks as sometimes breaks between meals are long.

There was an extra 10 bolivianos to pay on the Salar de Uyuni and 30 bolivianos park fee for the Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa.

Make sure you charge your camera batteries before you start and have lots of memory card space or video tapes as there's lots to photograph.

Uyuni
A cold dusty little town but you'll have to pass through to start your tour.

Minuteman Pizza next to the Toñito Hotel has fantastic pizza and a great warm welcome from the friendly owners. Their breakfasts were great, especially the pancakes. They also have a book exchange.

Restaurant 16 de Julio on the square had OK breakfast but painstakingly slow service, it's better to eat at the small place on the square next to it.

We went by bus from Uyuni to Potosi.
There are lots of different companies at the bus station offering the same service who leave either between 09:30 and 10:00 or in the evening. It's a winding 6-7 hour trip so going by day means you arrive at a reasonable time. It should cost between 20 and 25 bolivianos.