La Paz (officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz — Our Lady of Peace) is the seat of government of Bolivia (Sucre is the constitutional capital; La Paz is the de facto administrative capital where the executive and legislative branches operate) — a city of 900,000 (2.7 million in the Bolivian Altiplano metropolitan area) at 3,640m altitude (the seat of government at the world's highest altitude), in a dramatic canyon cut by the Choqueyapu River in the Bolivian Altiplano, surrounded by the snow-capped peaks of the Cordillera Real (the Illimani — 6,438m — overlooks the city from the east). La Paz is one of the most visually extraordinary cities in the world: the city has grown by filling the canyon walls with informal housing (the hillside neighborhoods called 'barrios altos' — the brick-and-adobe settlements of the Aymara and Quechua indigenous majority that climb the steep canyon sides for 800 vertical meters above the colonial center), and the Mi Teleférico (the urban cable car network, opened 2014 and now the largest urban cable car system in the world with 10 lines and 10 stations) provides public transport between the bowl of the center and the rim cities of El Alto. The Witches' Market (Mercado de las Brujas — the market of the yatiris (Andean healers/shamans) where llama fetuses, dried frogs, medicinal herbs, and ritual objects for Pachamama (Mother Earth) offerings are sold) is the most singular market in the Americas. Best months: May–October (the Bolivian dry season).
Altitude acclimatisation (La Paz at 3,640m is significantly above the altitude threshold where acute mountain sickness (AMS) commonly occurs (2,500m); at 3,640m, approximately 25% of visitors experience some symptoms of AMS in the first 24–48 hours: headache (the most common symptom), fatigue, dizziness, and nausea; symptoms are usually mild and resolve with rest and hydration; severe AMS (HACE — High-Altitude Cerebral Edema — or HAPE — High-Altitude Pulmonary Edema) is a medical emergency requiring immediate descent)). The standard acclimatisation practice in La Paz: (1) rest on arrival (avoid physical exertion for the first 6–12 hours); (2) coca tea (mate de coca — a mild stimulant tea made from the leaves of Erythroxylum coca (the same plant that is the source of cocaine; the coca leaf in its natural form contains 0.5–1% alkaloids and is a mild stimulant similar to strong coffee; coca tea is legal throughout the Andean countries and is the standard altitude remedy)); (3) drink 3–4 litres of water per day; (4) avoid alcohol for the first 48 hours. Plaza Murillo (the central political square of La Paz — the Presidential Palace (Palacio Quemado — 'Burned Palace'), the National Congress, and the Cathedral surround the square): a gentle morning walk. Free.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMercado de las Brujas (Calle Jiménez, between Sagárnaga and Linares; the 'Witches' Market' of La Paz — the most singular market in South America: a street market of the yatiris (Aymara and Quechua shamans and healers) who sell the ritual materials for Andean traditional religion (the syncretic Andean belief system that blends Catholicism with the pre-Columbian Aymara and Quechua spirituality)): the products: llama fetuses (dried foetal llamas — the most important ritual item; a dried llama fetus is buried under the foundations of a new building or offered to Pachamama (Mother Earth) in a 'payment' ceremony (ch'alla — the ritual of gratitude and appeasement to the earth and the spirits; the llama fetus is burned with dried flowers, coca leaves, and sugar confections in a charcoal brazier; the smoke carries the offering to the spirit world)); dried frogs, serpent skins, minerals, medicinal herbs (the Andean pharmacopoeia of 200+ plants), and the traditional Andean amulets (the talisman figures of ceramic and lead (the 'ekeko' figure — the Andean god of abundance, a smiling figure loaded with miniature objects symbolising the things the worshipper wants)). Free.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCalle Sagárnaga (the main tourist and artisan street of La Paz: a 5-block pedestrianised street climbing from the Plaza San Francisco to the Witches' Market, lined with shops selling Bolivian textiles (aguayo — the bright striped carrying cloth used by Aymara and Quechua women to carry babies, vegetables, and goods; the largest aguayo market in Bolivia), Bolivian silver (Potosí silver — the mineral wealth that funded the Spanish Empire for 200 years), alpaca wool products (the finest wool in the world, from the Andean alpaca (Vicugna pacos), finer than cashmere), and Tiwanaku-inspired ceramics (the pre-Columbian motifs of the Tiwanaku civilisation (500–1000 CE) reproduced in modern craft)). Mercado Lanza (the central market of La Paz, 1 block from Sagárnaga on Max Paredes): the lunch market of La Paz (the 'almuerzo' section of any Bolivian market serves a 3-course set lunch (sopa + segundo + postre) for BOB 12–20 (€1.60–2.70)); the soup is typically lawa (a thick potato soup with meat and ají amarillo (the yellow Andean chilli)) or sopa de quinua (quinoa soup).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMi Teleférico (Mi Teleférico — the urban cable car public transit network of La Paz and El Alto; opened 2014; 10 lines (Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Orange, Purple, White, Silver, Brown, Sky Blue) covering 30 stations and 30km of cable; the world's largest urban cable car network (by number of stations and lines)); the lines ascend from the historic La Paz bowl (3,640m) to the El Alto plateau (4,150m — 510m higher), giving passengers the most dramatic urban panorama in South America (the view from the Yellow Line (connecting the Mirador Killi Killi to El Alto) shows the entire La Paz canyon, the Illimani (6,438m) dominating the southern horizon, and the sprawling brick neighbourhoods of El Alto above the canyon rim). Cost: BOB 3 (€0.40)/trip (the cheapest urban cable car in the world). The Red Line (from the 16 de Julio/El Alto to the Central Station) is the most scenic for tourists (the crossing above the city takes 12 min at 60m above the canyon)). BOB 3 per trip.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBolivian cuisine (the cuisine of the Bolivian Altiplano — a high-altitude diet based on the Andean crops and animals): Salteñas (the Bolivian empanada — the most beloved Bolivian street food; a baked pastry filled with a wet, juicy stew of chicken or beef with potatoes, olives, raisins, boiled egg, and a rich sauce thickened with gelatin (the gelatin is critical: the filling is made liquid, then chilled until the gelatin sets; when baked, the gelatin melts to create the juicy interior; the challenge is to eat a salteña without spilling the filling — there is a right way: hold horizontally, bite the end, suck the juice, then eat the pastry); sold from 07:00–12:00 only (salteñas are exclusively a morning food in Bolivia)); Anticuchos (anticuchos de corazón — the Andean beef heart skewer; marinated beef heart grilled over charcoal, the most popular street food of La Paz at night (the anticucho vendors set up from 18:00 in the plaza areas)); ají de lengua (the Bolivian beef tongue in yellow ají amarillo sauce). Sopocachi is the bohemian neighbourhood of La Paz (restaurants, bars, and the best coffee shops).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideValle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon — Mallasa, 10km south of central La Paz; accessible by taxi (BOB 30–50, 20 min) or micro-bus (BOB 2, 30 min); a geological landscape of pinnacles, towers, and labyrinthine canyons eroded from the soft clayey rock of the Bolivian Altiplano by wind and the sparse rainfall of the dry season; the landscape is called the 'Valley of the Moon' because the grey-white pinnacles and the absence of vegetation give the terrain a lunar appearance (the comparison is more apt than usual: the altitude at the site (approximately 3,600m) means the sky is a deeper blue-black than at sea level, giving the white rock pinnacles a distinctly otherworldly illumination in the midday light)). The walk (the designated trail through the valley: 45 min for the short loop, 90 min for the complete circuit; guided walks available from the entrance (BOB 30 guide fee)); the valley at sunrise (the best light — the first hour of sun from the east illuminates the east-facing pinnacles while the west is still in shadow, creating a strong contrast). Adults BOB 15.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMercado Rodríguez (Calle Rodríguez, Sopocachi — the neighbourhood market of the middle-class Sopocachi district; considered the most photogenic food market in La Paz (the large format of the market stalls, the extraordinary variety of Andean produce, and the colourfully dressed Aymara market women (the 'cholas' — the Aymara women in traditional dress: the bowler hat (sombrero bombín; introduced to Bolivia in the 1920s by British railway workers and adopted by Aymara women as a status symbol), the multilayered skirts (pollera), the embroidered blouse, and the aguayo carrying cloth on the back)). The produce: native Andean potatoes (papa — Bolivia has 4,000+ varieties of the potato (all the world's potato varieties are descended from the Andean potato; the diversity preserved in Bolivian highland markets is extraordinary — purple, blue, red, yellow, and black potatoes of every size and texture)), chuño (freeze-dried potato — the ancient Andean method of food preservation: the potatoes are laid on the altiplano ground (at 4,000m+ altitude, the temperature drops below 0°C every night even in summer), freeze overnight, then pressed and sun-dried over 5–10 days; the result is a desiccated potato that stores for 10+ years and is the most important preserved food of the Andes)), quinoa, and ají peppers.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCholitas Lucha Libre (the 'Cholitas Wrestling' of La Paz — a distinctly Bolivian spectacle combining Mexican-style lucha libre wrestling with Bolivian Aymara cultural dress and comedy; the name 'cholitas' refers to the Aymara women wrestlers who perform in full traditional dress (the bowler hat, the voluminous pollera skirt, and the embroidered shawl) while executing acrobatic wrestling moves and theatrical villain/hero storylines)); held every Sunday at the El Alto Coliseum (14km from central La Paz on the plateau; BOB 100 taxi; USD 15–25 ticket at the entrance); the show (approximately 3 hours, starting 16:00): 6–8 wrestling bouts, alternating between male and female wrestlers; the female (cholita) bouts are the most popular and most theatrical (the storylines involve: the police bully and the cholita fighter for justice, the rich city woman and the poor indigenous cholita, and the romantic triangle); the wrestlers (both male and female) are professional athletes who train for years in the acrobatic luchador style. USD 15–25 ticket.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLa Paz craft beer (la cerveza artesanal de La Paz — a relatively recent phenomenon in Bolivia (the craft beer movement arrived from Argentina and Chile in approximately 2010; La Paz now has 15+ craft breweries); the challenge of brewing at 3,640m: water boils at 87°C (not 100°C) at this altitude (the reduced atmospheric pressure lowers the boiling point by approximately 1°C per 300m of altitude); this requires adjustments to hop isomerisation (hops release bitterness more slowly at lower boiling temperatures), mashing temperatures, and fermentation protocols (yeast activity changes significantly with altitude). The result: La Paz craft beers often have distinctive character — somewhat lower carbonation (CO2 escapes faster at altitude), brighter hop flavours, and a lighter body). Best craft beer bars: Supernova (Sopocachi — the most acclaimed craft brewery in La Paz (opened 2015)); Cactus Bar (Sopocachi). The La Paz 'chicha' (the traditional Andean fermented maize beer — a slightly sour, low-alcohol (2–4% ABV) fermented beverage with 10,000 years of history in the Andes; available at chicha bars for BOB 5–10/glass).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTiwanaku (Tiahuanaco — 70km west of La Paz near Lake Titicaca; 1.5 hrs by bus (BOB 15) from the La Paz cemetery bus terminal; UNESCO World Heritage Site 2000; the capital of the Tiwanaku civilisation (500–1000 CE) — the most powerful pre-Columbian empire of the South American highlands before the Inca (the Tiwanaku state controlled territory from northern Chile to Lake Titicaca and the Bolivian Altiplano, approximately 900,000 km²)); the site (the excavated civic centre of a city of 30,000–100,000 people): (1) the Akapana Pyramid (17m high, 200m × 200m base — the largest structure at Tiwanaku; a stepped pyramid with superimposed terraces and a sunken court at the summit; the structure was massively looted for building stone in the Spanish colonial period; the 1991 excavations found a large cache of human and llama sacrificial burials at the base); (2) the Kalasasaya Platform (the large rectangular platform with the famous monumental sculptures: the Bennett Monolith (7m tall granite figure, the largest Andean stone sculpture before the Inca, now in a La Paz museum) and the Ponce Monolith (3m; on-site)); (3) the Gateway of the Sun (Puerta del Sol — a single block of andesite (10 tonnes), carved with the iconic Tiwanaku deity figure (the 'Staff God' — a frontally facing figure with a sun-ray headdress and two staffs (one has condor heads, the other serpent heads))). Adults BOB 100.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCamino de la Muerte (Death Road — North Yungas Road; the 64km downhill mountain road from La Cumbre (4,700m) to Coroico (1,200m); descends 3,500m of altitude in 64km; called the 'World's Most Dangerous Road' by the Inter-American Development Bank in 1995 (an estimated 200–300 people died per year in the 1980s–1990s when it was the main road between La Paz and the Amazon lowlands, due to narrow road (3.5m wide, cut from vertical cliff), no guardrails, fog, and rain)). The current Death Road experience: since 2006, a new paved road (the Cotapata-Santa Barbara highway) has replaced the Death Road as the main traffic route; the old Death Road is now used almost exclusively by mountain biking tour groups (approximately 500 cyclists per day in peak season): the 64km downhill (starting from 4,700m at La Cumbre, where the temperature is near 0°C and the terrain is Andean grassland; ending in the tropical jungle at 1,200m where the temperature is 25°C) takes approximately 4 hours of cycling with an organised tour. The views from the cliff edge (the Yungas valley 1,000m below) are the finest in the tour. USD 50–90 per person (includes bike, guide, shuttle).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMirador Killi Killi (the viewpoint on the western rim of the La Paz canyon; accessible by the Mi Teleférico Yellow Line (BOB 3, 12 min); the Killi Killi hillside gives the most complete panoramic view of La Paz at sunset: the entire city in its canyon (the colonial centre at 3,640m visible at the bottom, the brick-red barrios climbing the canyon walls for 800m, and the El Alto plateau disappearing into the distance behind the cable car towers); the Illimani (6,438m) is directly to the southeast — at sunset the peak glows orange-pink with the alpenglow (the reflected light from the setting sun on the high snow surface, most intense 15 min after the sun drops below the western horizon)). Cable car: BOB 3.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideFinal dinner at a Bolivian restaurant: the complete Bolivian platter (picante mixto — a mixed plate of the main Bolivian dishes, common at tourist-oriented Bolivian restaurants): sausage (chorizo de cerdo), charque (freeze-dried beef, similar to biltong or jerky; another Andean preservation technique), llajwa sauce (the Bolivian hot sauce: fresh tomatoes blended with locoto pepper (a round, red Bolivian pepper (Capsicum pubescens) with intense heat (Scoville rating 50,000–100,000 SHU); the most important condiment in Bolivian cooking)), chuño (freeze-dried potato), and tunta (white freeze-dried potato, a milder version of chuño that is also soaked in river water during the freeze-drying process). Singani (the Bolivian national spirit: a clear brandy (aguardiente de uva) distilled from white Muscat-of-Alexandria grapes grown in the Tarija Valley (the Cintis region of Bolivia, 2,000m altitude); the Singani cocktail: Singani + lemon juice + ginger ale = Chuflay (the most popular cocktail in Bolivia; BOB 25–40/drink)).
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