Bolivia

The big recent change: under the new government of President Rodrigo Paz, Bolivia abolished the ~US$160 reciprocity visa for US citizens in late 2025, so Americans now enter visa-free for 90 days — reversing nearly two decades of the old fee. UK, EU, Canadian and Australian visitors have long been visa-free (note the entry stamp is often 30 days, free-extendable to 90 at a migración office).

A yellow-fever certificate is needed for the Amazon lowlands (Rurrenabaque, Madidi, the Santa Cruz region), though not for the highland circuit alone. Bolivia remains among the cheapest serious travel in South America.

Because the US visa-free rule is brand new (late 2025) and the government is volatile, re-confirm it right before booking — older guides and even some airline desks may still cite the old reciprocity visa. Carry a yellow-fever certificate if the Amazon is on your plan (and for onward entry to some neighbours).

More than anything, altitude dictates how you plan Bolivia. Arriving by air at El Alto drops you straight to over 4,000 m, and almost the entire classic circuit — La Paz, Uyuni, Titicaca, Potosí — sits above 3,600 m, with mountain passes far higher. Soroche is real and can be serious.

The mitigation is simple but non-negotiable: go easy on arrival, don’t schedule the Death Road or a trek for day one, hydrate, avoid alcohol at first, and use the local coca tea or leaves (or acetazolamide from a pharmacy).

Build an acclimatisation buffer into day one — a gentle La Paz arrival, no strenuous plans — and if you’re coming overland from lower Peru or Chile, ascend gradually. Don’t dismiss soroche: at these altitudes it can escalate, so if symptoms worsen (not just a headache), descend. Coca tea is the ubiquitous, legal first remedy.

The Salar de Uyuni is Bolivia’s signature and, at ~10,500 km², the world’s largest salt flat. The headline decision is the season: the wet months give the surreal mirror (and the floating-on-sky photos) but limit how far the 4x4s can roam; the dry months give the cracked white expanse and full access to the cactus-covered Incahuasi island and the far lagoons.

Most people do the classic 3-day 4x4 tour from Uyuni town, south through the Eduardo Avaroa reserve’s red and green lagoons, geysers and hot springs — frequently continuing over the border to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile.

Pick your tour operator with care and your season deliberately: the mirror (wet season) and full access to the island and lagoons (dry season) are mutually exclusive, so decide which matters more. The 3-day tour is cold and basic (freezing high-altitude nights) but unforgettable; it’s also a popular, scenic way to cross into Chile.

La Paz spills down a dramatic canyon from the El Alto rim, and the best way to grasp it is the Mi Teleférico — the world’s highest and longest urban cable-car network, ten colour-coded lines doubling as the city’s metro, with astonishing views. In the streets, the Aymara Witches’ Market sells herbs, amulets and offerings to Pachamama.

From here come two icons: the Death Road (the old Yungas cliff road, now a world-famous downhill mountain-bike ride) and the pre-Inca ruins of Tiwanaku (UNESCO) out toward Lake Titicaca, plus the eroded spires of the Valle de la Luna.

Ride the Mi Teleférico as both transport and sightseeing — a few bolivianos buys the city’s best views, and it beats the traffic. Save the Death Road bike ride for after you’ve acclimatised (not day one), and book it with a reputable operator with good bikes and guides — it’s exhilarating but genuinely exposed.

Lake Titicaca, at ~3,810 m, is the world’s highest navigable lake — a huge, luminous expanse shared with Peru. On the Bolivian side, the pilgrimage town of Copacabana (with its revered basilica) is the base for boats out to Isla del Sol, the Inca mythological birthplace of the sun, laced with ruins, terraces and gentle hiking.

It’s an easy, scenic addition to the La Paz leg — and a slightly gentler altitude experience than the salt-flat tour.

Isla del Sol makes a fine overnight or long day-trip from Copacabana, but note that intermittent community disputes have at times restricted access to parts of the island — check locally before committing. The lake is high, so it’s still an altitude day: take the walking gently.

Bolivia rewards going beyond the altiplano. Sucre, the whitewashed UNESCO constitutional capital, is lower, milder and elegant — a gentler base than La Paz; Potosí, higher still, is the haunting former silver city beneath Cerro Rico, whose mines bankrolled the Spanish Empire and are still worked today.

For a total change, drop to the Amazon via Rurrenabaque (Madidi National Park’s jungle and pampas) or the hot eastern lowlands around Santa Cruz and the restored Jesuit Missions — a tropical Bolivia that feels like another country.

• The classic highland circuitSkipoverreaching across the countryGoLa Paz, Uyuni and Titicaca — adding Sucre/Potosí with time
• A milder, lower city baseSkipaltitude-heavy La PazGoSucre (~2,810 m), the elegant white city
• Jungle and wildlifeSkipstaying on the cold altiplanoGothe Amazon via Rurrenabaque (yellow-fever jab first)

Treat the highlands and the lowlands as separate trips linked by a cheap BoA flight — Rurrenabaque’s jungle or Santa Cruz’s heat is a world away from the altiplano and a welcome break from the altitude. A Potosí mine tour is sobering (still a working, dangerous mine), not a theme-park experience — go in with that in mind.

The dry season, May–October, is the best all-rounder — clear skies, reliable roads, full access across the Salar — with the catch of bitterly cold altiplano nights (well below freezing in June–August). The wet season, November–April, is the only time for the Uyuni mirror, but brings rain, mud and harder, sometimes-rerouted travel.

As with the Salar itself, you choose before you book: the reflection, or reliable access and roads.

Bolivia is very cheap and a largely cash economy — but 2026 brought real turmoil: the long-standing boliviano–dollar peg ended, the currency fell sharply, inflation jumped, and fuel shortages recur. The old advice to bring US dollars for a parallel rate no longer pays; spend in bolivianos and carry cash, as cards and ATMs are patchy.

The culture is the continent’s most visibly Indigenous — Aymara and Quechua peoples and languages, the bowler-hatted cholitas (and their famous wrestling in El Alto), coca woven through daily life. The practical watch-outs are road blockades (bloqueos), which can strand travellers for days, and the ever-present altitude.

Plan for bloqueos: protest road blockades and fuel shortages can shut highways at short notice in 2026, so build buffer days and keep cheap BoA domestic flights as a fallback (they usually keep running). Carry plenty of boliviano cash, avoid the Chapare region (advisory), and treat every day as an altitude day.