Salar de Uyuni

Currency budget Bolivia

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.

ATMs & cards

Two or three machines in Uyuni town, which run out in high season and during the dollar shortage. Draw in La Paz, Sucre or Potosí before you come.

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.

Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.

Safety all of Bolivia

The altitude and the cold are the whole risk: the flat is 3,656m, the southern lagoons reach 4,900m, and July nights hit -20°C. Choose the tour operator on safety rather than price — there have been fatal 4x4 crashes on the flat caused by speed and by drivers who had been drinking. Ask directly about seatbelts, radios and whether the driver drinks.

Our own assessment, not a sourced index.

Entry & visa Bolivia visa rules

Health & emergencies all of Bolivia

Required to enter

• Yellow fever certificate for the lowlands, and required by some neighbouring countries on the way out

Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.

Food tip

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.

Nightlife

Two or three bars in a town of twenty thousand, and a tour group that has to be up at five. This is not why anybody comes.

• Uyuni — the main street, and the pizzeria everyone ends up in
• Salar de Uyuni — a bottle of wine on the salt at sunset, which the good tours bring

Closing: Midnight.

A beer in a bar: 15–30 BOB

Getting around

• 4x4 tour — the only way onto the flat, one to three days, and the operator matters enormously
• Night bus — La Paz to Uyuni, ten hours, and the good companies have proper beds
• Train — Uyuni to Oruro and Villazón, slow and rather wonderful
• Walking — Uyuni town is six streets
• Airport: Joya Andina (UYU), with daily flights from La Paz

Internet speedall of Bolivia

Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Bolivia, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.

Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026

Must-see

Nearby day trips

Say a few words

Spanish (Latin American)

• HelloHolaOH-la
• PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
• Thank youGraciasGRA-syas
• Yes / NoSí / Nosee / no

The c and z are said as an s here, not the Spanish "th" — gracias is GRA-syas.

Religion

Roman Catholic, layered over Andean belief

Pachamama, the earth mother, is honoured alongside the church rather than instead of it — the offerings sold in the Witches’ Market are for exactly that, and are burned or buried at the foundation of a house. Nobody finds the combination contradictory.

Do's and don'ts

Do

• Accept coca tea or leaves, which are legal, traditional and genuinely help with the altitude
• Ask before photographing anybody, particularly cholitas in traditional dress, and expect to pay
• Say buenos días to a room when you enter a shop or get in a shared taxi
• Pour a splash on the ground before the first drink — the ch’alla, an offering to Pachamama

Don't

• Do not photograph the mummified llama foetuses in the Witches’ Market without asking; they are for household offerings and are not a curiosity
• Do not confuse coca leaf with cocaine, or joke about it — the distinction matters a great deal here
• Do not push through a road blockade during a protest, which is a normal and serious form of politics here
• Do not underestimate the altitude on the first day, however fit you are