La Paz, Bolivia 7 Day Itinerary
El Alto International Airport, where your flight lands, is the highest commercial airport in the world at over 4,000 metres. La Paz city centre is lower, at around 3,630 metres, but that is still higher than any peak in the continental United States. The altitude is not a disclaimer, it is the central fact of your visit. Plan around it and the rest of the week takes shape naturally.
Getting In
A taxi from El Alto Airport to central La Paz costs 80 to 100 BOB (roughly 11 to 14 USD at current rates) if you go to the official taxi stand and agree the price before getting in. Drivers often open at a higher number with foreign passengers; 80 to 100 BOB is the reasonable range and worth insisting on. The journey takes 30 to 45 minutes depending on traffic, descending from the flat Altiplano of El Alto into the bowl of La Paz, which is one of the more dramatic urban approaches on earth: the city materialises below you in a natural amphitheatre ringed by jagged peaks.
Currency and cash: Bolivia uses the boliviano (BOB). Most transactions in La Paz are cash. ATMs exist and work reasonably well at large banks downtown; carry enough cash for daily needs including restaurants, transport, and markets.
Language: Spanish throughout. In La Paz, with its large indigenous Aymara population, you may also hear Aymara spoken in markets and among older residents. A basic Spanish phrase list is more useful here than anywhere in the region.
Where to stay: The Sopocachi neighbourhood (mid-range, local restaurants, walkable) and San Pedro are both good bases. Hotel Rosario on Illampu Street is reliable mid-range. The Casa Grande Hotel in Calacoto (Zone Sur, the wealthier southern district at lower altitude) is the splurge option; note it is at around 3,200 metres which is easier on the body but farther from most sights.
Day 1: Arrive, Rest, First Look at the City
The best Day 1 plan in La Paz is a boring one. Check in, drink coca tea (available everywhere, standard hotel offering, genuinely helpful for acclimatisation), eat something light, and do very little. Skip alcohol completely for the first 48 hours. The altitude is not something you can push through; it either passes or it does not and forcing activity makes it worse.
If you feel reasonably settled by the afternoon, walk ten minutes to the Witches’ Market (Mercado de Brujas) on Linares Street and Jimenez Street. This is not a performance for tourists; it is an active market supplying the ritual and medicinal needs of La Paz’s Aymara population. The stalls sell dried llama foetuses (buried in foundations as offerings to Pachamama), dried frogs, herbs, coloured powders, and amulets for every purpose. It is somewhere between a pharmacy and a chapel supply store. Browse slowly without photographing vendors without permission.
For dinner, go to Gustu on Calle 10, Calacoto. This is Bolivia’s most internationally recognised restaurant, founded by Claus Meyer of Noma fame and now led by chef Marsia Taha, who was named Latin America’s Best Female Chef in 2024. The tasting menu uses only Bolivian ingredients from the Andes, Amazon, and Altiplano, and is genuinely one of the more interesting meals you can eat in South America. A tasting menu runs to roughly 400 to 600 BOB per person (55 to 85 USD), which is expensive by La Paz standards and good value by international ones. Book in advance.
Day 2: Plaza Murillo, San Francisco, Sagarnaga Street
Start with salteñas for breakfast. These are Bolivia’s supreme contribution to the savory pastry genre: golden oval cases of slightly sweet dough filled with a soupy stew of chicken or beef, potato, peas, olives, and Andean spices. They are eaten in the morning and mid-morning only by convention; most bakeries stop selling them by 11am. Find a queue of office workers near Plaza Murillo and join it.
Plaza Murillo is the civic core of La Paz: the Government Palace on one side, the Metropolitan Cathedral on another, bronze statues of national heroes everywhere. The atmosphere on a weekday morning is more administrative than touristic, which is a better way to see it.
Walk south to the San Francisco Church, a seventeenth-century Baroque building with a heavily carved facade that blends indigenous Andean motifs into Spanish colonial architecture. The museum attached to it has a collection of colonial religious art and access to the church roof with views over the city. Entry is small.
Sagarnaga Street, running north from San Francisco, is the main tourist shopping street with textiles, alpaca goods, silver jewellery, and musical instruments. The quality varies significantly. For better quality alpaca clothing (though at higher prices), try the shops in the Sopocachi neighbourhood or the Artesanias Bolivianas collective shops.
Day 3: Tiwanaku
Take an early bus or shared taxi from La Paz to the Tiwanaku ruins, roughly 72 km west toward the Peruvian border. Buses leave from the terminal near the cemetery district (Plaza Ballivian area) and cost about 15 to 20 BOB each way. The ruins are the remains of a pre-Columbian empire that peaked around 500 to 900 AD and influenced Andean civilisations including eventually the Inca. The Gateway of the Sun (Puerta del Sol), carved from a single massive block of andesite with a figure in full ceremonial regalia, is the centrepiece. The site museum has excellent context; buy the combined museum and site ticket at the entrance.
Return to La Paz by late afternoon. The light over the Altiplano on the return journey, with Illimani behind the city catching the late sun, is one of the better scenes of the week.
Day 4: Valle de la Luna and Mi Teleferico
Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley) is 10 km south of central La Paz, a maze of clay pinnacles and eroded badlands created by wind and rain acting on soft sediment. It looks alien in the best sense. Take a taxi (negotiate 40 to 60 BOB) and allow two hours for a walk through the marked paths. Morning light is better for photographs.
In the afternoon, use the Mi Teleferico cable car network, which stretches across and above La Paz in multiple lines. The system was built to connect La Paz and El Alto, cities at very different altitudes, and now covers a significant portion of the urban area. A single ride costs 3 BOB (under half a dollar). Take the red line (Rojo) from central La Paz up to El Alto for the aerial view of the city below. El Alto itself is worth seeing briefly: a sprawling city of mostly Aymara residents, the Juyra Pujru craft market, and a completely different urban character from the bowl of La Paz.
For dinner, Cholita Linda in Sopocachi serves modern takes on traditional dishes, including local river fish, quinoa preparations, and Bolivian-influenced desserts. Mid-range pricing, consistently good reviews.
Day 5: Death Road Cycling
This needs advance booking: do it two or three days in advance through a reputable operator. Gravity Bolivia (operating since 1998, over 90,000 riders) and Barracuda Biking Company are both well-reviewed. Prices run from about 85 to 130 USD per person including transport, bike, gear, guide, and a meal in Coroico at the bottom. Do not book through operators with cheap prices and unclear safety records; the road is genuinely narrow with steep drops and the difference between hydraulic disc brakes and mechanical ones matters.
The Yungas Road covers 61 km of descent from roughly 4,700 metres to about 1,200 metres, from Alpine cloud to subtropical jungle. Freight traffic switched to a new parallel road in 2006 and the old Death Road is now almost exclusively used by cyclists and the occasional farm vehicle. The ride takes four to five hours at a relaxed pace with stops. It is not technically difficult but it is not relaxing: the gravel surface, intermittent fog, narrow ledges, and drop-offs concentrate the mind. The view into the valley below Coroico, once you can look up, is extraordinary.
Your operator drives you back to La Paz in the evening. You will be tired. Order room service.
Day 6: Lake Titicaca Excursion
Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world at 3,812 metres and is shared between Bolivia and Peru. From La Paz, the most straightforward day excursion is to Copacabana on the Bolivian shore (2.5 hours by bus, 20 to 35 BOB, departing from the cemetery bus terminal). From Copacabana, boat trips to Isla del Sol leave in the morning; the larger island is divided between north and south communities that have been in dispute over tourist access in recent years, so check current access information before booking. The north has the Chinkana ruins and the Escalera del Inca; the south has the Pilkokaina palace. Many travellers visit one end and hike between them, which takes two to three hours along the ridge.
If a Lake Titicaca day trip does not appeal, use Day 6 to ride the Chacaltaya peak, 25 km from La Paz at 5,421 metres. It was once the world’s highest ski resort; the glacier retreated almost entirely by 2009. Agencies in La Paz run morning tours for around 50 to 70 BOB. The view of the Altiplano and the Cordillera Real from the summit is the highest point most visitors to La Paz will reach on foot.
Day 7: Mercado Rodriguez, Sopocachi, Departure
The Mercado Rodriguez (or Rodolfo), running along Rodriguez Street in the morning, is the largest daily street market in La Paz. Rows of chola women in traditional dress sell fruit, vegetables, street food, and household goods. This is where the city actually shops; it is not a tourist market. Arrive before 10am for the best atmosphere. The fresh-squeezed orange and grapefruit juice from the market stalls costs almost nothing and tastes better than it should at altitude.
The Sopocachi neighbourhood east of the market has good independent cafes for a final coffee and a browse. The area around Avenida 20 de Octubre has bookshops, small galleries, and the best concentration of local coffee shops in the city.
Allow 90 minutes minimum from central La Paz to El Alto Airport for your departure, more during morning or afternoon peak traffic. The ascent from the city bowl to El Alto can slow significantly in traffic. If your flight is before noon, leave by 7am to be safe.
The taxi scam worth knowing: unlicensed taxis (trufi-style cars without markings) in La Paz have been used to pick up tourists and then “express kidnap” them, driving to an ATM to force a cash withdrawal. Always call your hotel reception to order a taxi or use an app, and never flag a random car from the street at night. Official airport taxis at the El Alto stand are safe.