What a visitor's money does in Bolivia: every guide rated from very cheap to very expensive, cheapest first, then the things that cost travellers money without buying anything — the ATM, the taxi, the SIM.
Bolivian Boliviano (BOB) · Official 1 USD = 11.7 BOB; the parallel rate has been considerably higher
Bring cash. Uyuni town has limited banking, the tours are paid in cash or dollars, and the salt hotels on the flat have no card machine and often no signal.
Avoid: arriving without cash, which is the common mistake
Use: Banco Unión, Banco Bisa in Uyuni town
Two or three machines in the whole town and they empty in high season. Tours, salt hotels and the lagoon route are cash or dollars. Draw in La Paz, Sucre or Potosí first.
A short ride in Salar de Uyuni: Bs 15–35 across town — cheap
Cheaper than a street taxi, and a radio taxi called by the hotel is the other safe option.
Salteñas are eaten mid-morning and never later, are full of hot stew, and there is a technique to not wearing them. Api with pastel for breakfast. And La Paz has, improbably, one of the best restaurants in South America in Gustu, which trains Bolivian cooks with Bolivian ingredients.
Uyuni town is not a food destination and nobody pretends otherwise. On tour you eat what the cook brings: quinoa, llama, soup, and a bottle of wine on the flat at sunset if the operator is a good one. Ask what is included before booking.
The cost rating is this site's own, for a visitor, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in. The general rules — the conversion prompt, shoulder season, the airport taxi — are in budget travel tips.
