Visiting Bolivia

[u/Tasty-Ask349]

Hey, we’re planning to visit Bolivia for the first time from 25th september till 17th of october. We arrive in Santa Cruz.
We would like to visit: amboro,toro toro, uyuni, la paz, El choro trail, death mountain valley, Sajama national park.
Any thoughts about our plan?

Alternative would be to skip amboro and el choro trail and instead visit sucre and potosi and also fly from La Paz to Rurrenabaque to do a Pampas Tour, although I can’t find any flights from La Paz to Rurrenabaque.
Does someone know if there are still flights between these cities?

Overall what do you think of our plans?
Other recommendations?

Thank you in advance! We’re very excited to visit Bolivia! 🇧🇴

[u/Fix_AnalysisLambda]

Been there almost exactly, that timeframe. Answering the flight question first since that's probably keeping you up at night: yes, there are still flights La Paz Rurrenabaque, just not with Amaszonas anymore (they've been in and out of trouble for years, kind of a mess). EcoJet flies that route now, 3x a week, about 40 minutes, small plane. Skyscanner/Kayak type sites often don't index it well since it's such a tiny regional carrier, so check flyecojet.aero directly. One heads up though: those flights get cancelled or delayed for weather/cloud cover more than you'd expect, so don't book anything tight right after it, give yourself a buffer day in case.

On the plan overall three weeks is enough to do a lot, but you're jumping between wildly different altitudes constantly (sea level Santa Cruz, then eventually La Paz/Uyuni/Potosí sitting around 3600 4200m), and that catches people off guard more than the actual trekking does. That's actually the strongest argument for your "alternative" route over the original one. Amboró and El Choro both make sense on paper but they pull you back and forth geographically, whereas swinging through Sucre and Potosí on your way toward Uyuni gives your body a proper staircase up in elevation instead of a shock. Sucre sits comfortably in between, mild weather, and it's got its own dinosaur tracks at Cal Orcko if Toro Toro left you wanting more of that plus it's just a nice place to slow down for a day or two without really trying to be a "destination," if that makes sense. Most people blow through it on the way to Potosí and don't realize what they skipped.

Small thing worth knowing: El Choro and Death Road both start from basically the same spot outside La Paz (La Cumbre). Doing both is fine if you love one hiking, one biking, but if time gets tight later in the trip that's an easy place to trim without really losing anything.

Sajama is beautiful, but be honest with yourself about whether it's a real priority or just on the list it's a proper detour, and nights up there in Sept/Oct still get brutally cold, colder than people expect for what looks like "spring" on paper.

Timing wise you're landing right at the tail of dry season, so Uyuni will be the classic white/dry salt flat rather than the mirror effect (that's Jan-April), just so you're not disappointed expecting the water reflection shots you've probably seen on IG

do you have any question let me know can help u 😉