What to Expect On The 3 Day Uyuni Salt Flat Tour in Bolivia
Embarking on the 3-day Uyuni Salt Flat tour in Bolivia is a journey into one of the most surreal and breathtaking landscapes on Earth. From the endless white expanse of the salt flats to vibrant lagoons teeming with flamingos, towering volcanoes, and otherworldly rock formations, this tour is packed with unforgettable sights. Along the way, you’ll explore hidden gems, experience Bolivia’s raw natural beauty, and even stay in unique accommodations like a salt hotel.
Whether you’re chasing the perfect sunset reflection, marveling at the Milky Way under the clearest skies, or soaking in thermal springs at sunrise, this adventure is full of moments that feel almost magical. Here’s everything you need to know to prepare for this once-in-a-lifetime trip!
Table of Contents
Uyuni Salt Flat Tour Introduction
All tours start at 10am from Uyuni, as we had arrived 2h earlier by bus from La Paz and before that from Copacabana, we had time to grab breakfast, walk around town and buy some supply for the tour.
The town itself, more the village of Uyuni doesn’t have much to offer. Only the main has a real road where you can find restaurants, tours companies and shops.
It seems not worth to stay longer than 2h in town. The real stuff is definitely the salt flats. If you arrive one day earlier here is a list of good accommodation:
- (€) Eucalyptus Uyuni
- (€€) Casa de Sal – Salt Hotel
- (€€€) Hotel Jardines de Uyuni
Uyuni Salt flat tour companies
First of all, all the Uyuni Salt flat tour companies provided more or less the same tour, and all have similar condition.
We picked “Salty Desert adventurous” because they seem to be a good company with positive reviews, offered free sleeping bag, and had good pricing.
Globally we were satisfied with them. We can’t say that everything went according to plan but that’s what made it an adventure and a memorable souvenir.
We had told them via email that we would come and they offered to pick us up at the bus station, but you can very well go on the spot there and reserve the same day. It all starts at their office where you check-in, chose your meal option (regular/vegetarian) and the type of tour you want.
For the 3 days Uyuni Salt flat tour, there are 3 options: a Spanish tour, English tour or private tour. Of course each of them comes with another price. After reflection, we decided to go for the Spanish Uyuni Salt flat tour which is the cheapest. We told ourselves that there wouldn’t be much to explain and that paying the extra wasn’t worth it. Moreover Tina speaks Spanish, so she could even translate if there are some important information.
We must say that this was the right call! In the end, the guide which is also the driver doesn’t talk that much.
If you want to book online, you can do it via those tours: Uyuni Salt Flats and San Pedro de Atacama 3-Day Tour
Uyuni Salt flat tour Day 1
10am, time to start the tour in front of the tour company office and meet our group. We are now 6, a driver called Iber and a nice Toyota 4×4. After giving our backpack to Iber who put them on the car’s roof and protect them with a big plastic cover, we all introduced ourselves to each other.
Meet our group: Patricia from Germany but living in Austria, Jo from UK, Megan from the US, Simone from Germany living in Switzerland.
Locomotive cemetery
We continued to a small town with a souvenir market and where a toilet break could have been taken before keeping on into the Salt flats.
Salt Hostel
The second stop of the UYUNI SALT FLAT Tour was an ancient hostel made of salt converted into a restaurant. Lunches are brought by the tour company. Our vegan option: Fried eggplant, veggies, quinoa salad, and oranges. Regular option: meat, sausages, potatoes. The food was really yummy, and we all had more than enough to eat.
If you need the bathroom, don’t forget to bring 5bs. Quite expensive toilet regarding how dirty there were.
Salar de Uyuni
It was then a 40min ride in the “Salar de Uyuni” before a 2h break for the most famous picture of all Bolivia. You are now in the middle of nowhere all alone with your group. We were there in July 2019, the dry season so the land was really white but visiting it during the rainy season would also be great as the salar would be flooded.
Iber was really skill and now how to take good picture. He offered us poses to do and assist us on how to do them (check-out the next spot for all our pictures there). You can also tell him what you want, and he will try to make it happen. We would definitely recommend you to bring some items to make cool picture but they would need to be as big as possible. A key holder size stuff animal or so doesn’t work best.
Incahuasi Island
After becoming professional model, we drove to “Incahuasi Island” a national park (entry cost of 30bs)
It is a 40min visit that make you hike along dead corral, fossils, algae’s and huge cactus. This place is the remains of an ancient volcano which was submerged around 40 000 years ago when it was a prehistoric lake.
The view from there is splendid and there are no difficulties to hike this small island. but if you’d rather save 30bs, this attraction is not mandatory. In our group only 4 of us went there. But we would recommend it.
We then drive near the end of the Salt flats to wait for sunset before driving one more hour to reach the hostel.
End of UYUNI SALT FLAT Tour day 1
The hostel was double room with shared bathroom/WC. It was made entirely of salt and the floor was made of salt flake which wasn’t convenient to step on but really unusual.
We were 8 groups there so totally 46 peoples for 2 showers and 3 WC. The shower cost 10bs and was hot but there wasn’t any pressure.
The dinner was so-so, the vegetarian option was light, a piece of bread and a small omelet. The regular option was much better, beef meat and sausages. Our group decided to share a 55bs bottle of wine that was sweet but that we enjoyed all together.
At this point, time for the next day briefing: breakfast is at 7am for a departure at approximately 8am.
At night it became super cold but thanks god we had sleeping bag and a bunch of blankets. There wasn’t 220V plug in the room and you had to charge your electronics in the common area.
The 2nd day of the UYUNI SALT FLAT tour started early. After waking up at 6:30 to pack we went for breakfast around 7am which was again quite light. One piece of bread, one scramble egg and a bit of jam. Positive side, we won’t be too full and sleepy while going in the second day of the tour.
rail tracks
The adventure of the 2nd day of our UYUNI SALT FLAT tour started right away. We left around 8h10 and kept on driving in the salt flats. Only this time it wasn’t anymore completely white, the salt was brownish meaning that it is dirty and mix up with earth. Well, that doesn’t change the fact that the landscape is gorgeous.
At 8h45, first stop of the day. Railway tracks between Bolivia and Chile. Those are still used nowadays, just the train rotation is really low.
Ollague volcano
9h30ish “Ollague” semi active volcano Mirador for 45min. We didn’t hike the volcano but went to its view point. Ollague is located at the border with Chile, its summit reaches 5 868m above sea level and its crater opens to the south.
laguna canapa
10h55 “Laguna Canapa” or Canapa Lake which is a salt lake of 1.42km² and is home of Chilean flamingo. This stop lasted for approx. 15min
laguna hedionda
11h25 “Laguna Hedionda” or Hedionda Lake which is a saline lake and home to various species of pink and white flamingos. It is one of the 9th salt lake in this area and is located at 4 121m altitude and is as big as 3 km². This lake was splendid but cold with strong wind.
Time for lunch break for lunch until 1:00pm. Today our vegetarian option: fried pancake, veggies and our regular option: pasta, chicken. Super duper Yummy.
laguna honda
1:10pm quick stop at “Laguna Honda” for a panoramic picture. This lake is now less impressive than the others but still charming. We are now at 4 114m altitude.
We then went on in our 4×4 in the middle of the dessert until…
viscacha
We reached a rocky hill, host of local rabit “Viscacha”. Where a bunch of them was hanging around. They are obviously used to having human around. But yet you can’t touch them. They remain wild animals.
the break down
This wasn’t an official part of our UYUNI SALT FLAT Tour. An hour or so after while we were in the middle of nowhere our car broke down. First our driver went under the car to start fixing it, then came another car from Salty adventurous, and another one.
As time passed, it ended up being 4 cars together trying to fix it. And when other cars would drive around, the guys would run toward it to try to stop it and ask for tools or help.
Ultimately there was a big oil issue that would take time to fix. We had to separate our group into the other 3 cars until the end of the day.
We went in what they called the French car because there were 3 Frenchy in it. And French do have the reputation to always speaks french… But don’t you guys worry, i am not like that 🙂
There was also a guy from brazil and a couple from somewhere else. We didn’t get the chance to talk to them as one of them was sick.
the tree rock
We kept on and visited the tree rock “Árbol de Piedra” which is a rock formation in the dessert shaped as the tree.
At this spot 2 curious foxes approached and hang around the cars. That was really unexpected but super cool. But better not get to close. Foxes are not known to be friendly to human.
laguna colorada
Onto the last spot of the 2nd day of the UYUNI SALT FLAT tour: the national park. Entry cost is 150bs per person (if you are into this you can get a stamp of the national part in your passport).
Here you first have to buy you ticket at the check point then you get in the park before heading to the “laguna Colorada” or red lagoon, a shallow salt lake of 60 km² at 4 278m altitude.
End of the 2nd day of UYUNI SALT FLAT tour
As our car broke down earlier, we didn’t have our pack and we were informed that they will arrive later tonight around 9pm.
Thankfully, Patricia had her travel UNO with her, so we played until diner while drinking tea and eating biscuit that the hostel provided for free. It was becoming colder and colder but quickly a gas heater was turned on.
We all got a double bed room even though it was supposed to be shared room. It was bigger than the day before and had one charging plug that would work from 6 to 9pm. The rooms were not heated but there was a lot of blanket on the bed. There were 4 shared toilets, but we didn’t see the shower, nor we had any wish to take aa shower at minus 15°C.
Dinner was pretty yummy with a hot soup spaghetti and tomato sauce. And the surprise of the day! A bottle of red wine on the house.
But if you think, adventure ends that easily, you may be surprised. Patricia started feeling bad and eventually got sick. And a while later, Simone started feeling bad as well.
At 9pm our car was finally back, we unloaded our bags, helped with the one from Patricia who was dead sick and resting in bed and headed to our room
It was really cold at night, the temperature was surely the same at outside. We had to sleep with the sleeping bag and at least 4 blankets. What wouldn’t we do to get warm? It even became impossible to move, the blankets were heavy. could feel the old heavy. But then of course it became super-hot during the night due to all those layers. For us, it was quite the hard night between the cold then heat. Plus we heard lots of people rushing to the toilet all night.
Guess Patricia wasn’t the only one sick in the end but that’s the discovery of tomorrow’s breakfast.
The end of our UYUNI SALT FLAT tour was coming. We woke up at 5am for our last day in Bolivia, packed our stuff and went for breakfast. Jo was the first one from our group to come. Megan and Simone were also sick during the night. When the French car group arrived, they also had 3 sick people. We personnally had funny and weird tummy but didn’t get sick. It may just be our brain playing tricks on us. It may be altitude, tiredness or food, but impossible to really know what caused this.
Breakfast was simple but in good, cereals and yogurt, bread and jam. With everybody sick around us, nobody didn’t really feel like eating this morning.
5:30am came and the adventure continue for one-hour drive, it was a really quiet ride. Between the sick and the cold (it was freezing) nobody was really in a good shape nor mood.
We made our first stop at the geyser. It was still night but we could see smoke raising up from the ground. We were still at approx. 4900m with -15°C. We stayed 5min or so and kept on to our next destination, the hot spring which was a 30min drive.
Hot spring
The hot spring temperature is 38°C and it is usually a 40min stop to dive in and enjoy sunset. Nobody of our group was really into it, so we just used the toilet and head on.
Our main concern was that going in or out would be super hard with such low temperature. But you feel more adventurous than us, you will most certainly enjoy it 🙂
Salvador dali desert
7:20am: After 20min ride we stopped at Salvador Dali dessert which is just a picture spot as we didn’t get to hike in it.
Laguna verde
8:15am: “Laguna verde” a salt lake located at 4300m altitude with an area of 1700 ha. The laguna is supposed to be green as per its names. It is due to minerals in it unless the red lagoon that is red due to seaweeds.
border crossing
8:30am: It is the end of the UYUNI SALT FLAT tour and time to reach Chile but the group remains.
We went out of the national park, for this you need to get you entry ticket stamped out (so don’t through it away once you get it). You then fill a form of declaration (Name, passport, reason, money, and so on…) (only for the one going to San Pedro de Atacama)
At 9am we past the Bolivian border where you line up in front of a small building (immigration office.) Once we get our stamp, took our packs from the car, it was time to say goodbye to Jo, Megan and Simone (that have another 7h back to Uyuni). It was definitely easier to get out of Bolivia than to get in.
We then went on a 23-seater minibus to way the next departure for the Chilean border around 10am.
We waited the bus to be full and left at 9:52am. It is a 5min drive to the Chilean border where you wait one hour or so to get in the control area. Then you get your passport stamp and go through bag checking (they opened all the bags, and you can’t bring any fruit with you). It took altogether 15min to went through immigration.
11:05am we are out and driving to arrive at noon at the bus terminal in San Pedro de Atacama. If you are looking for an accommodation in SPDA:
- (€): Casa Voyage Hostel
- (€€) Hostal Montepardo
- (€€€) Hotel Desertica
our feeling about the Uyuni Salt Flat tour
We loved the tour, the landscapes are gorgeous and you really get to see a lot. But what made the most of your trip was our group. It would not have been the same without Jo, Megan, Simone and Patricia. We had such a great time with them and look forward to meet then again for another adventure somewhere else in our amazing world.
English or Spanish Speaking guide
We went for the Spanish guide option. The reason was, we were going to the desert, there isn’t much to explain about it. Also, we would know the place we were going to so we could always check them up later online.
It was totally fine, there wasn’t much explanation in the end, and I could understand some of it. Also, out of 6 peoples, 4 could speak some Spanish so it worked fine.
what to bring on the Uyuni Salt Flat tour
During your Uyuni Salt Flat tour, we will go up to 4900m altitude. Higher than the Mont blanc in the Alps. We would recommend bringing under pants (easy to carry around and light, as you may not need it every day during your trip), merinos t-shirt (great choice for t-shirt as they can be used in warm and cold weather), merinos shocks, gloves, hat and a warm but foldable jacket.
Also, you will need to bring some water, you will be able to refill during the trip, so 1L per person will be more than enough. As always bring snacks along.
Toilet paper, a torch or headlamp, soap for the hostel at night.
And finally ,some cash….
“The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” – Sir Richard Burton
