Salar de Uyuni Bolivia, South America Attractions

English-speaking guides aren’t standard so check with the tour company if one is included. Unless you’re confident in your Spanish skills, you’ll likely get more out of a tour with a guide who speaks English. There was so much more to see than I expected and the locations on days two and three were far less crowded because there were no daytrippers at these sites.

Not sure where to start?

It was once a place of ceremony in Inca times (hausi means house in Quechua). Colchani is a small salt-processing village 20 km south of Uyuni. Remnants of a former era, the disused trains lie abandoned and rusting in the salty winds. The great expanse of the white stuff, divided into hexagonal salt tiles, creates an otherworldly landscape.

• The world’s largest salt flat sits at a lofty 3653m (11,985ft) and blankets an amazing 12,000 sq km (4633 sq miles).
• During the rainy season, water can fill parts of the salt flat, creating a stunning mirror-like effect.
• South America has stunning salt flats, but Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest at about 4,674 sq mi (12,106 sq km).
• The dry season, which lasts from May to November, offers clear skies and the opportunity to observe the unique hexagonal salt patterns.
• Walking across the salt flats allows you to truly appreciate the scale of the landscape and feel the texture of the salt crust underfoot.
• I’ve done the 3-day Salar de Uyuni tour twice with different agencies, eight years apart, in 2017 and 2025.

Time

When you are Exploring Salar de Uyuni on a multi-day tour, chances are that you will be visiting this nearby reserve. When these ancient bodies of water evaporated due to time they left behind a thick crust of salt and other minerals and this is what we now call Salar de Uyuni. This spectacular salt flat that covers an area of 10,000 square kilometers is not only the largest in the world, but also one of the most astounding natural marvels in the earth. No special permission is required to enter the Uyuni salt flats. Towel and toiletries – these are not provided in standard tour salt hotels and refuges.
Today they create an eerie environment and stand as a testament to the corrosive power of salt! The first stop on most tours is the Train Graveyard (El Cementerio de Trenes) on the dusty outskirts of Uyuni. The deserted plain is the perfect canvas for taking perspective photographs and when covered in a layer of water it becomes the world’s largest mirror, which makes for stunning reflective images. Sense of distance and perspective become skewed as the salty surface goes on mile after endless mile. As the water evaporated the salt crystalised and formed a crust, which is up to 10 m thick in some places. There are tours that run directly from the Chilean town of San Pedro de Atacama, which is close to the Bolivian border.
We chose a Spanish-speaking tour, and our basic Spanish was more than enough. It’s worth mentioning that you will spend most of your time in the car. So, below are a few points to know before choosing a tour. I recommend booking in person, as it’s usually cheaper.
This has direct consequences for lithium extraction, tourism pressure, and local ecosystems. The Salar’s visual magic is not random—it’s atmospheric physics. So the famous mirror effect is not just pretty—it’s physics, geology, and climate working together.

thought on “Salar de Uyuni: Independently or with a Tour”

The first night’s stay in a salt hotel was very clean and comfortable, with fresh bedsheets, towels, and toilet paper provided. In 2017, on the first night, we stayed in private rooms in a salt hotel. If you want to see the sunset at the Salar de Uyuni, ask your travel agency whether it’s included. Most tour agencies start their tours at 10.30 am.

What will happen to Salar de Uyuni in the future? (Climate + human impact)

When it dried, it left behind two modern lakes, Poopó and Uru Uru, and two major salt deserts, Salar de Coipasa and the larger Salar de Uyuni. Uyuni originates from the Aymara language and means a pen (enclosure); Uyuni is also the name of a town that serves as a gateway for tourists visiting the Salar. The large area, clear skies, and exceptional flatness of the surface make the Salar ideal for calibrating the altimeters of Earth observation satellites. The Salar was formed as a result of transformations of seven Late Pleistocene lakes whose progressive desiccation led to the accumulation of extensive evaporitic salt deposits.

• The two seasons have different viewpoints and therefore it is up to you to decide which one to watch depending on the type of experience you want to get.
• In the salt flat, in the middle, there is an island known as Isla Incahuasi that is composed of ancient coral and is covered with giant cacti some of which are over 1,000 years old.
• Here’s all you need to know about this unique experience.
• A unique geological feature characterised by small, eye-like holes in the salt flats.
• These guides provide in-depth insights for your trips, helping you explore destinations deeply for unforgettable experiences, whether popular or off the beaten path.

For travelers looking to design a trip that feels unique. These guides provide in-depth insights for your trips, helping you explore destinations deeply for unforgettable experiences, whether popular or off the beaten path. For travelers seeking the most comprehensive insights. Salar de Uyuni is one of those rare landscapes that feels like Earth trying to show what it’s capable of. Very few places on Earth bring together three simple elements—minerals, water, and light—in such a dramatic way.
Due to lack of conventional construction materials, many of them are almost entirely (walls, roof, furniture) built with salt blocks cut from the Salar. Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tonnes (9.8 billion long tons; 11 billion short tons) of salt, of which less than 25,000 t is extracted annually. Lithium is concentrated in the brine under the salt crust at a relatively high concentration of about 0.3%. The brine is a saturated solution of sodium chloride, lithium chloride, and magnesium chloride in water. During the wet season, Titicaca overflows and discharges into Poopó, which in turn, floods Salar De Coipasa and Salar de Uyuni.

Its remarkable design features walls, floors, furniture, and even igloo-shaped roofs constructed from salt blocks that are carefully harvested from the surrounding salt flat. The dry season, which lasts from May to November, offers clear skies and the opportunity to observe the unique hexagonal salt patterns. Many visitors enjoy stopping at the Salt Museum, a quaint space made of salt bricks that features a variety of carved sculptures.
It’s an absolute must-visit if you’re exploring Bolivia and South America. It’s a vast expanse of salt stretching to the horizon. If you’re travelling from Peru, the easiest route is via Peru Hop to La Paz, followed by the overnight bus to Uyuni. The most popular starting point for exploring Salar de Uyuni is the town of Uyuni, especially for travellers coming from within Bolivia. December offers the most sunshine, with an average of 7 hours of sunlight per day. January is the hottest month in Uyuni, with an average temperature of 15 °C (59 °F), while July is the coldest, averaging 12 °C (54 °F).
Many first-time visitors to the area (including me!) are surprised to discover how much there is to see beyond the salt flat itself. The first such hotel, named Palacio de Sal, was erected in 1993–1995 in the middle of the salt flat, and soon became a popular tourist destination. The lithium in the salt flats contains more impurities, and the wet climate and high altitude make it harder to process. Through its reliable brands such as Gokite Oman, your journey to the largest salt flat in the world will be continuous, natural and memorable. By choosing spinmaya no deposit bonus code green tours and taking care of any natural environment, it is possible to ensure that the future generations can still keep Exploring Salar de Uyuni in all its impeccable beauty.
On both tours our drivers found spots with no one else around and brought dinosaur toys and wine bottles to use in the shots. The Dakar monument is made of salt, and the flags were left by travelers during their visits. It’s located near the Argentine border and a bit farther from the Uyuni salt flats. In Uyuni, there are plenty of travel agencies offering Salar de Uyuni tours. Unfortunately, standard 2-day tours don’t include these highlights.