5 day trip from tupiza to Uyuni
climbing uturuncu

Today you will visit Quebrada de Palala, a spectacular jagged rock formation, formed over many years by intense erosion of the mountainside. After this you will head on to El Sillar where you will have a few minutes to get out and enjoy this dramatic landscape before we continue through Nazarenito, a small gold mining community. Then we will go to visit Ciudad del Encanto, where you will see impressive rock formations. After that, you will arrive to San Pablo de Lípez (4250m). Then you will go to San Antonio de Lípez and finally to Quetena, where you will spend your first night in a Basic Accommodation.

Today, we will depart early in the morning, around 04:30 and drive for around 1-2 hours with direction to Volcán Uturuncu. We can go with the car until 5300 m.a.s.l. approximately. Around 07:00, we will start our trekking on the volcano which takes around 3 hours to get to the top of the Uturuncu Volcano (6008 m.a.s.l.) and around 2 hours more to go back to the car. Then, we will go to back to Quetena for lunch, arriving approximately at 13:30. After lunch, we will continue our trip crossing two small lagoons, Laguna Hedionda and Laguna Kollpa. Finally, we will arrive to Polques, the hot springs, where we will spend our second night. Here you can swim while appreciate a nice view of the stars.

Note: The trekking to this volcano is not difficult, but could be a little hard because of the altitude.

Early in the morning you can go outside of the accommodation and see an amazing sunrise in the hot springs. After breakfast, we will drive for 15 min to arrive to Desierto de Dalí, a place with mountains of surrealist colors, reminiscent of the photos of Salvador Dalí and rock formations of petrified lava. Then we will visit Laguna Verde (4250 m.a.s.l.), which presents an emerald green coloration due to arsenic and magnesium content in its waters. It is located at the feet of Volcano Licancabur (5868m), which represents the border between Chile and Bolivia. Then, we will travel back to hot springs (takes around 1 hour). Then, we will go to “Sol de Mañana” Geysers (5000m above sea level). Then we will spend around 1 hour in Laguna Colorada and finally we will travel to Villamar to spend the 3rd night (Basic Accommodation).

After the breakfast, we will start visiting Valle de Rocas, where you will see many rocks formations like Copa del Mundo and El Camello. Then we will go to Italia Perdida, where you will have some time to walk around the rocks. After that, we will go to Laguna Catal or Laguna Negra. Next is Cañón de la Anaconda which is a canyon where the Anaconda river runs. Some towns like San Agustín and Julaca will be passed in order to arrive to Villa Candelaria to stay there. This night you will stay in a basic salt accommodation.

Today we will cross the immense Salar de Uyuni (3650 m.a.s.l.) early in the morning to see the Sunrise in the Uyuni Salt Flat. With 12,000 km², the Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt plain in the world, stretching away in all directions as far as the eye can see. From here you can see volcano Tunupa impressively overhanging. The salt flats are made up of 11 separate layers with a thickness that ranges from 2 to 10m. The depth of salt is 120 meters and with that it is the biggest reserve of minerals such as lithium, magnesium, potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus and borax in the world. It has 14 small islands, the most important is the Incahuasi Island. Around the island, you can see Ojos de Agua, these are springs which act as pores for the salt flats. Leaving the salt bed, we will visit Colchani, the village where the salt is processed. Here there are various salt souvenirs and alpaca or llama wool clothes. Finally, we will go to see Cementerio de Trenes, where you will see a lot of ancient trains. Then we will go the central part of the city to finish the tour around 1-2pm.

Note: If you want to finish in Tupiza, it is possible, after we finish the tour in Uyuni, we will drive around 3 hours more to get to Tupiza.