If some time ago you finally decided that you’d had enough of this cool (not yours!) Salar de Uyuni pictures all over the internet and you have to see it yourself – congratulations! And not only on this decision, but also on the whole bunch of choices you’ll have to deal with about this trip…
The main headache is usually regarding the good tour company as there are tonnes of agencies ready to show you around! But first things first – think about time and money you want to spend in Bolivia. If you’re a millionaire and have a lot of time, you can stop reading my advice. Just go. If your budget is under strict control please go on.
Very important point when planning Uyuni tour is season! My trip was in May, that’s right after the rain season (January-March) and just before the endless stream of rich European tourists (summer months). So, officially it’s considered to be a low season and standard 3-day tour costs about 700 bob (~100$). When it’s peak months of the year the price will come up till 1200 bob. Maybe for someone it would be the reason to have Uyuni tour in May. 🙂
One more key point about Uyuni tour is the duration – there are options from 1 to 4 days but the most popular ones seems to be 1 and 3. One day tours include only the main sights of the Salar de Uyuni: the salt flats, the salt museum, the salt hotel, the salt… This day is usually absolutely the same for all the groups. If you choose 2-days trip you’ll have a night in a hotel in the north of the Salar near the Tunupa volcano. The second day is also salt only! 3-days option includes 1 day at the Salar and then 2 more days down to the Altiplano with its surreal landscapes: lagunas, volcanoes, stone formations, geysers and much more. And finally the longest 4-days tour offers 2 days at the Salar and 2 day at the Altiplano.
Don’t wanna advise anything here, I took 3-days tour as it seemed to be more balanced. BUT I’ve read some reviews about how cool is it to see Tunupa volcano sooo close! Also if you have only a couple of days would be great to see at least the salt flats as it’s absolutely stunning! By the way there are also night tours available to see the stars over the Salar. That’s exactly what I wanna see when I’m in Bolivia next time. And during the rain season! Ah, can’t wait!
Next point that I did was reading the reviews of the companies on TripAdvisor – there are options for every budget! Now you have 2 versions what can happen: you buy the chosen tour in advance at home or you buy one when you arrive to Uyuni.
Advantages of the first option:
♦ you don’t have to worry about the tour and spend all the morning to find the best company;
♦ you can negotiate and find everything out about the Uyuni tour in advance;
♦ the best thing is that you can negotiate the price of the tour! I saw how one couple took the tour for 80$ as it was discussed in the emails. Just don’t forget the evidence of the arrangement.
Advantages of the second option:
♦ if you are for some reason (flight or bus delay) late for the tour – you won’t lose any money;
♦ you’ll know for sure what you are going to do when you arrive to Uyuni: as you have to find the perfect agency to go to the tour with;
♦ the best thing here as well is that you can negotiate the price of the tour – you just have to know how to behave!
I’ve read sooo many reviews about awful Bolivian roads and that the busses are always late so I decided not to book a tour in advance. Of course the bus from La-Paz came even earlier (like at 5.30 a.m.), so I had enough time not only to get breakfast and choose the tour, but also to start panicking. You know… when you’ve already paid the money and start thinking what if it’s not the best option!!1 🙂
And now it’s time to say a few words about 2 main strategies when choosing the tour-agency. First of all it’s better to start around 7-8 a.m. after the breakfast and it’s better to go one by one to different companies (even if you’re with a group). Usually when you arrive to the bus station early in the morning there will be some sneaky guy forcing you to choose his tour as it’s the best (which is not true)! It will be the most convincing lie of how other agencies suck and you can’t make a mistake of picking the wrong one. And as the only thing you can think of at 5 a.m. is “Find the tour! Find the tour!” there is a chance that you may follow this guy to his warm office and even pay the money feeling relieved. But please don’t! Or at least try to lower the price.
What you can do is start walking away when you hear the price (even if you liked it!). This may cause a fright of loosing a client and soon the tour agent will catch you up and say that ONLY today and ONLY for you they might get a special price offer – that’s how I reduced the price from 750 bob to 700 including the bus to Chile! If this is not working screw them! You can try another way in other office and suggest bringing more people and get «group» discount. This is exactly how I finally got the tour for 650 bob travelling with a couple from Germany that I met during breakfast in Uyuni!
This is how the preparation to the Uyuni tour is happening. On the first picture you can see the company we’ve chosen – Andes Salt Expeditions. Attention, now is gonna be unpaid advertisement of this agency!
I really want to recommend them even though they are only at the 4th place on TripAdvisor – service they provide is awesome. Our driver Walberto spoke very good English and we didn’t have to pay for the translator at all. All the food was delicious and there was enough of it. Yeah, of course there were some people who were hungry even after lunch. Well, you know these skinny freaks with incredible metabolism who eat all the time. By the way in our group was one girl who had gluten-free diet and Walberto always found the way to feed her! One more advantage is the sleeping bag that I got with a discount from the company. And finally my crossing the border with Chile and further transportation also went very smoothly. I’d say that I was more than satisfied with the Uyuni tour! And not only me – look at all these smiley people!
