Lonely Planet Bolivia

Isabel Albiston

Description

Lonely Planet: The world's number one travel guide publisher* Lonely Planet's Bolivia is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Explore the world's largest salt flat, walk in the path of the Inca and search for magic potions in La Paz markets - all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Bolivia and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet's Bolivia: Full-color images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights provide a richer, more rewarding travel experience - history, art, food, drink, sport, politics Covers La Paz, Lake Titicaca, the Yungas, the Cordilleras, the Southern Altiplano, Salar de Uyuni, Cochabamba, Potosi, Santa Cruz, the Amazon Basin and more. The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet's Bolivia is our most comprehensive guide to Bolivia, and is perfect for discovering both popular and off-the-beaten-path experiences. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveler since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travelers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveler's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia) *Source: Nielsen BookScan: Australia, UK, USA, 5/2016-4/2017

Sujets

• Bolivia

Informations

• Publié par: Lonely Planet
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 4
• EAN13: 9781788685092
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 30 Mo

Extrait

Bolivia

Contents

Plan Your Trip

Welcome to Bolivia
Bolivia’s Top 12
Need to Know
First Time Bolivia
If You Like…
Month by Month
Itineraries
Bolivia Outdoors
Eat & Drink Like a Local
Travel with Children
Regions at a Glance

On The Road

La Paz & Around
La Paz
Sights
Activities
Courses
Tours
Festivals & Events
Sleeping
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Around La Paz
Valle de la Luna
Muela del Diablo
Mecapaca
Valle de las Ánimas
Cañón de Palca
Cerro Chacaltaya
Tiwanaku
La Paz Markets
Lake Titicaca
Copacabana
Copacabana to Yampupata
Isla del Sol
Isla de la Luna
Huatajata
Islas de Wiñaymarka
Isla Kalahuta
Isla Pariti
Isla Suriqui
The Cordilleras & Yungas
Cordillera Real
Huayna Potosí
Condoriri Massif
Ancohuma
Illimani
Chachacomani
The Yungas
Coroico & Yolosa
El Choro Trek
Takesi Trek
Yunga Cruz Trek
Chulumani
Around Chulumani
Guanay
El Camino del Oro
Sorata
Aucapata & Iskanwaya
Cordillera Apolobamba
Charazani
Área Natural de Manejo Integrado Nacional Apolobamba
Cordillera Quimsa Cruz
Southern Altiplano
Oruro & the North
Oruro
Around Oruro
Curahuara de Carangas
Parque Nacional Sajama
Uyuni & the Southwest Circuit
Uyuni
Salar de Uyuni
Los Lípez
Tupiza & Around
Tupiza
Around Tupiza
Central Highlands
Cochabamba
Around Cochabamba
Parque Nacional Tunari
Eastern Cochabamba Valley
Tarata & Huayculli
Incallajta
Totora
Mizque
Parque Nacional Torotoro
Sucre
Around Sucre
Tarabuco
Cordillera de los Frailes
Potosí
South Central Bolivia & The Chaco
South Central Bolivia
Tarija
El Valle de la Concepción
Reserva Biológica Cordillera de Sama
Padcaya & Chaguaya
The Chaco
Villamontes
Santa Cruz & Gran Chiquitania
Santa Cruz
Around Santa Cruz
Buena Vista
Parque Nacional & Área de Uso Múltiple Amboró
Samaipata
Vallegrande
La Higuera
Gran Chiquitania
Jesuit Mission Circuit
Amazon Basin
Chapare Region
Villa Tunari
Parque Nacional Carrasco
Puerto Villarroel
Western Bolivian Amazon
Rurrenabaque
Parque Nacional Madidi
San Borja
Reserva de la Biosfera y Estación Biológica del Beni
San Ignacio de Moxos
Eastern Bolivian Amazon
Trinidad
Northern Bolivian Amazon
Santa Ana de Yacuma
Barba Azul Reserve
Guayaramerín
Riberalta
Riberalta to Cobija
Cobija

Understand

Bolivia Today
History
Life in Bolivia
Indigenous Culture
Music in Bolivia
The Natural World

Survival Guide

Directory A–Z
Accessible Travel
Accommodations
Consulates & Embassies
Discount Cards
Electricity
Food
Insurance
Internet Access
Language Courses
Legal Matters
LGBT+ Travelers
Maps
Money
Opening Hours
Photography
Post
Public Holidays
Safe Travel
Shopping
Telephone
Time
Toilets
Tourist Information
Visas
Volunteering
Work
Transportation
Getting There & Away
Entering the Country
Air
Land & River
Getting Around
Air
Bicycle
Boat
Bus
Car & Motorcycle
Hitchhiking
Local Transportation
Tours
Train
Health
Before You Go
Insurance
In Bolivia
Healthcare
Infectious Diseases
Traveler’s Diarrhea
Environmental Hazards
Language
Behind the Scenes
Our Writers
Welcome to Bolivia

Superlative in its natural beauty, rugged, vexing, complex and slightly nerve-racking, Bolivia is one of South America’s most diverse and intriguing nations.

Adventure
Bolivia is not for the faint of heart: rattling down the World’s Most Dangerous Road into sultry Yungas; soaring breathless above verdant La Paz valleys in a paraglider; jumping on a horse for a Wild West adventure near Tupiza; pulling a catfish that outweighs you out of an Amazon river (and maybe cooking it for dinner!). Whether your tools are crampons and an ice axe for scaling 6000m Andean peaks, or a helmet and bravado for jumping into the abyss on a glider, Bolivia’s rocks, rivers and ravines will challenge – nay, provoke – you into pushing your own personal limits.

Culture
Bolivians love a parade, and hardly a month passes without a procession of brightly costumed celebrants honoring an important historical date or deity. You’ll hear them from blocks away before the brass bands and whirligigging dancers approach and envelop you (you may even get to join in). Learn about the history and culture of the country’s indigenous peoples at excellent museums, and through the continued presence of traditions and customs in everyday life. Bolivia has South America’s largest percentage of indigenous people – get to know them better by participating in community-based tourism and hiring local guides.

Nature
Bolivia is so biodioverse that unique species are being discovered to this day. Tiptoe into caves of tube-lipped nectar bats, their tongues probing the darkness. Tread lightly on the terrain of the poisonous annellated coral snake, deadly in look and effect. Listen for the cackling call and response of a dozen different macaw species (among 1000 bird species) including the world’s rarest, the bluebeard, which can only be found here. Multihued butterflies and moths flit at your feet in the jungle; lithe alpacas and vicuñas stand out in the stark altiplano. Deep in the forest live jaguars, pumas and bears.

Food & Drink
Ever had a llama tenderloin? Here’s your chance, maybe with a glass of Tarija wine. Bolivia’s food is as diverse as its peoples and you’ll find new delicacies to sample in every town. Markets are a good place to start, though the steaming pots of unfamiliar concoctions might test your nerve. Freshly blended fruit juices will no doubt become a daily habit, and Yungas coffee can be found in a number of new cafes that are popping up around Bolivia. La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz have thriving restaurant scenes where you can sample contemporary takes on traditional local dishes.

Traditional dance performance on Isla del Sol | JESS KRAFT/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Why I Love Bolivia
By Isabel Albiston, Writer
My first impressions of La Paz are imprinted on my mind: steep narrow streets, piercing blue skies, colorful textiles, popcorn vendors in pigeon-filled squares. What I took to be a parade (people in traditional Andean dress with drums) turned out to be a political protest. I was hooked! In Bolivia, traditional life is interspersed with 21st-century modernity like a mixed-up pack of photographs. It’s a country of sublime landscapes, where true adventures are possible in a way that often eludes travelers. The swaths of wildlife-filled forests and the immensity of the mountains always draw me back.
For more, see Our Writers
Bolivia’s Top 12

Salar de Uyuni
Who knew feeling this cold could feel so good? While a three- to four-day jeep tour through the world’s largest salt flat will leave your bones chattering, it could quite possibly be the defining experience of your Bolivian adventure. The vastness, austerity and crystalline perfection of the salt flat will inspire you. An early-morning exploration of rock gardens, geyser fields and piping-hot springs along with the camaraderie of three days on the road with your fellow ‘Salterians’ will create a lasting memory.

SERGIO PESSOLANO/GETTY IMAGES ©

Top Experiences
Parque Nacional Madidi
Perhaps the most biodiverse area on the planet, Parque Nacional Madidi encompasses a spellbinding range of habitats, from Andean mountains to steamy lowland rainforests, home to an astonishing array of wildlife. Take it all in on guided rainforest walks and boat trips on the river before bedding down for the night at one of several community-run ecolodges. Here the cinematic beauty of the surroundings is enhanced by a soundtrack of birdsong at dawn, the buzzing of insects, the call of the howler monkey and the croaking of frogs.

JESS KRAFT/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Top Experiences
Trekking in the Cordillera Real
Walk in the path of the Incas along the many trekking routes that weave their way from the Andes into the Amazon Basin, through the remarkable skyward-bound wilderness of the Cordillera Real . These four- to 14-day treks are no small undertaking, but it will be worth every step, every drop of sweat and every blister. Along the way, you’ll have the chance to dine with locals, cool off beside cascading waterfalls and connect with Pachamama (Mother Earth) deep within her potent green realm.

EVGENY SUBBOTSKY/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Top Experiences
Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca
Plopped onto sprawling Lake Titicaca like the cherry on an ice-cream sundae, Isla del Sol is considered the birthplace of Andean civilization. You can easily spend four days here, tracking down forgotten Inca roads to small archaeological sites, remote coves and intact indigenous communities. At the end of the day, take in the sunset with a cerveza (beer) from your ridgetop lodge. The lake itself has a magnetism, power and energy unique to this world – no wonder many claim the ancient civilization of Atlantis was found here.

VADIM NEFEDOFF/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Top Experiences
La Paz Markets
The whirling engine that feeds and fuels a nation, the markets of La Paz are so crazy, so disjointed, so colorful and mad and stinky and remarkable that you’ll end up spending at least a few afternoons wandering from stall to stall. There are sections for food, sections for sorcery, sections where you can buy back your stolen camera, sections for pipes and Styrofoam – in every shape and form imaginable – and sections packed with fruits, flowers and rotting fish that will push you to olfactory overload.

ANDREANORD/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Top Experiences
Sucre
Glistening in the Andean sun, the white city of Sucre is the birthplace of the nation and a must-see for any visitor to Bolivia. Occupying a lush valley, surrounded by mountains, it’s an eclectic mix of the old and the new. Here you can while away your days perusing historic buildings