What are the Best Day Trips from La Paz?

Don’t let the exceedingly urban environment fool you- there’s plenty to see in and around La Paz, even if you only have one day to do it. These are some of our favorite daytrips and excursions.

Walk or Quadbike through Moon Valley

One of the most common options for a city tour tacks on a visit to Moon Valley, as it’s very accessibly located just outside of the city. With these tours, you start the excursion by soaking in the culture of the city’s Witches Market and colorful Jaen Street and visiting colonial landmarks such as San Francisco Church and Plaza Murillo, but end it among the geological formations of Moon Valley. Admiring the lunar landscape marked by wind-eroded rock towers is a nice change from the urban landscape of La Paz. If you aren’t the tour-taking type, you can visit Moon Valley by yourself by hailing a taxi to the site.

Or, you can opt for a half-day tour that focuses on just Moon Valley: a quadbike tour, which takes you four-wheeling through the site! In this case, a driver’s license is required, and you need to sign a liability waiver before beginning. (The license doesn’t need to be valid in Bolivia, it’s merely a way for agencies to confirm that you can be trusted on a quadbike.)

 

Take a Day Trip to Tiwanaku & Lake Titicaca

We recommend that you do opt for a half-day tour in order to visit Tiwanaku from La Paz, not just for the knowledge of the guide but also because the transportation is convenient. Whether you opt to do it independently or with an agency, however, it’s worth the trip.

The pre-Incan, Aymara-speaking Tiwanaku Empire thrived for a millennium on both the Bolivian and Peruvian sides of Lake Titicaca. The largest and most significant remains of this empire are located at the Tiwanaku Archeological Site, which comprises pyramids and temples with mysterious carvings and stone faces, all dating back to around 200BC. The highlights are Kalasasaya temple, Akapana pyramid, and the frequently photographed Sun Gate.

The site is an hour’s drive from the city, while tours of the actual site take about two hours. This means that a basic tour beginning and ending in La Paz takes around four hours in total. However, there’s a longer tour option follows the site tour with a museum visit and an excursion to small communities on the shore of Lake Titicaca, with lunch lakeside. Consider it if you have a whole day to spare and would like to see more of local life.

If you happen to be in La Paz in June, think about visiting the Tiwanaku ruins during the Solstice, when the Aymara New Year is celebrated.

Bike down Death Road to Coroico

We’ve written frequently about downhill biking trips down the World’s Most Dangerous Road, as these have become more and more popular over the years with intrepid backpackers seeking to tempt fate. The section of the road that is used is paved at the beginning, but eventually narrows to one unpaved lane marked by sharp twists with steep drops. It becomes increasingly more scenic as one enters the lush valley. (Basically, you’ll begin at a high altitude on a cold morning, and end in a hot, humid climate in the afternoon- dress in layers!) After some heart-stopping moments and expansive views, you’ll arrive in the small tropical town of Coroico. It doesn’t have much to recommend it besides its abundant greenery, but for many it’s a welcome respite from the big city. If you’ll be staying, rather than returning to La Paz after a rest and swim as one does with day trips, then consider heading to Vagante River Springs to swim under its waterfall.

Book a tour to bike Death Road to Coroico here.

Explore Sun Island on Lake Titicaca

Another popular daytrip is Copacabana, the most important town on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. (It’s actually the original Copacabana…the much larger and more well-known Copacabana in Brazil was named after this little Bolivian town!) After a four-and-a-half hour bus trip from La Paz, you arrive in Copacabana. The town is small enough to be easily traversed on foot. It’s just a few blocks’ walk to the port, where boats await to take travelers to Sun Island, the largest island of the entire lake. Sun Island is definitely Copacabana’s main attraction. The boats depart as soon as they are full, from 8:30am through 1:30pm.

Considered sacred by the Aymara, and by the Inca after them, the island was believed to have been the birthplace of the sun. Hiking the island will treat you to nice views of the lake and the Andean range behind it, walks through tiny traditional communities, and pre-Incan ruins.

There are two towns on the island, Challapampa and Yumani; we recommend that you take a boat to the former (it costs about 25Bs and takes two hours). Then, you can hike for three hours to Yumani. From the start of the route to the end, you’ll come across the Gold Museum (which displays Incan treasures recently unearthed from the surrounding waters and the Rock of the Puma), the stone Inca Table (believed to have been used for human sacrifices), and natural impressions in rock known as the Footsteps of the Sun. After a plate of trout in Yumani, you can descend the stone Inca Steps which lead down to the shore, ending at a small fountain fed by a stream of water which locals had channeled throughout the hill; the Spanish conquistadors named it the Fountain of Youth. From there, you can take a boat back to Copacabana. Boats depart Yumani until 4pm each day.

Staff at our hostel in La Paz are happy to help you arrange transport or tours for you during your stay in Bolivia’s capital. You can also contact the knowledgeable travel specialists of our travel agency at pirwatravel@gmail.com.