DESTINATIONS IN BOLIVIA

Below are descriptions of the various regions of Bolivia.

LA PAZ

The province of La Paz and its eponymous capital are located in the highlands and serve as the Bolivian centre of commerce, finance and industry. The city of La Paz serves as a starting point for a number of tourist attractions. Even though the official capital is Sucre, La Paz is the seat of the government and ranks as one of the highest cities in the world.
You will find a number of adventure activities in the region, for example, trekking in Sorata, excursions to the nearby cloud forest, the Yungas, down the “world’s most dangerous road” or to Bolivia's most famous ruins, Tiwanaku.

La Paz - Coroico - Sorata - Tiwanaku

The "city of peace" is the largest and most important city of Bolivia and at the same time is the government seat. At an altitude of 3,600m, La Paz is one of the highest cities in the world and is often called the "rooftop of the world". On 20th October 1548, the Spanish founded La Ciudad de Nuestra Señora de La Paz (City of our Lady of Peace) on the ancient site of the Inca settlement of Choqueyapu and during the following years La Paz became an important base for silver and coca commerce.

Spain controlled La Paz with an iron fist and in 1781 a group of Aymara people laid a 6-month siege to the no longer peaceful city of La Paz. Under the leadership of Tupac Katari, they destroyed churches and government property. In 1809 the struggle for independence from Spanish rule began with uprisings against the royalist forces, which finally ended with the founding of the Republic of Bolivia, named after the independence fighter Simón Bolívar.

Today La Paz is a vibrant city, with a population of over 1.3 million inhabitants.
It is an ideal starting point for trips into the surrounding areas and offers many interesting and attractive sights in the city itself. You can visit the Presidential Palace, also known as the 'Burnt Palace' due to repeated fires endured by the building in the past. La Paz also has many beautiful churches such as the Cathedral and the San Francisco and Santo Domingo Churches. In the National Museum of Archaeology (Museo Nacional de Arqueogía) and Natural History Museum (Museo de Historia Natural) you can learn more about the history and different cultures of Bolivia. Other places of interest are the Mercado de Brujas ('Witches market')'where herbs, remedies and other ingredients used for Aymara traditional ceremonies are sold, and the Plaza Murillo in the colonial Old Town of La Paz.

The surroundings of La Paz offer visitors numerous possibilities for hiking, mountain biking and other excursions. More...

Are you interested in culture in La Paz? We have listed the most important museums of the city, with plenty of information. For further information...

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Coroico is a small town in the cloud forest, or the Yungas. With a population of about 4,000, it is considered to be the most important town in the Yungas. Located between the dry highlands and the humid lowlands, the area has a mild warm climate and is situated only 3 hours from La Paz. Here you find ideal conditions to go trekking, hiking, horse riding or even white-water rafting.

Close to Coroico you will find the only African colony in Bolivia. The locals are descended from slaves brought to Bolivia to work in the mines. As this black population could not live in the harsh conditions of the highlands and altitude they settled down in the Yungas to work in coca plantations.

Coroico is also the finishing point of the popular Mountain bike trip down the world’s most dangerous road, “death road“. Furthermore it is the entry point to the National Park Cotapata and one of the most famous trekking routes in Bolivia, the Choro trail.

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The mountain village of Sorata, located in a valley beneath the snow-capped peak of Illampu (6,380m), used to be South America's most important starting point for hikers until a few years ago when social tensions in Sorata and the surrounding areas damaged the image of the town as the hiking capital. Nowadays the town is recovering and is once again a popular and developing hiking base camp for trekking trips.

From here you can find a wide range of trekking tours, beginning from a half or full day trip to a 12-day tour. The climate is mild and the laid-back town is a popular weekend escape for people in La Paz.

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Tiwanaku, or Tiahuanco, was the religious and administrative centre of the pre-columbian culture around Lake Titicaca from 1500 BC until 1200 AC. Tiwanaku was originally located right on the shores of the lake. Today the lake has receded by about 20km. In its height the Tiwanaku culture encompassed the Pacific coast and the Atacama Desert in Chile as well as the Cordillera and the province of Cochabamba and even parts of Argentina.

The most famous attraction of the site is the “Puerta del Sol“ - the gateway to the sun. It is 3m high and 3.75m wide. The weight is estimated to be 7 to 12 tons. Other noteworthy lithic structures at the site are the Ponce and Fraile monoliths located atop the Kalasasaya temple, the Akapana pyramid, Semi-subterranean Temple and the Puma Punku ruins.

The population of Tiwanaku and the Lake Titicaca region today is dominated by the Aymara cultural group. While little is actually known about the ancient population or archaeological site of Tiwanaku, it has been proposed the Tiwanaku culture originated from the Huari culture and may also have been influenced by the ancient Chavin culture. Images of gods and figures were found in ruins, which indicate a close relation between these cultures.

Tiwanaku is easily reached from La Paz and can be visited in a full or half day trip.

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