La Paz: 12 Things Actually Worth Doing
Before you go: Bolivia in 2026. La Paz is open, welcoming, and worth the trip, but plan around two 2026 realities. The boliviano was floated in mid-2026 and is still finding its level, so do not trust any exchange rate you read here or anywhere else; check a live converter before you fly and again once you land, and carry some small US dollars as backup. Separately, road blockades or strikes can briefly close routes in and around the city, so keep overland plans flexible and check locally before any long trip. Both eased through the second half of 2026, but conditions shift, so check the latest before you book.
La Paz is the highest seat of government on earth, sitting in a bowl at roughly 3,640 meters with the snowcapped peak of Illimani watching over it. Note the wording: seat of government, not constitutional capital. That distinction belongs to Sucre, which holds Bolivia’s judiciary, and getting it backwards is one of the most common mistakes visitors make. La Paz is where the president and congress actually work, and it is also where nearly everything on this list happens.
Altitude comes first because it governs everything else. El Alto International Airport, where you land, sits around 4,060 to 4,150 meters, one of the highest commercial airports in the world, and the city itself is roughly 400 meters lower. Soroche, altitude sickness, is genuinely common at this elevation. Give yourself a slow first day: skip alcohol and heavy exertion, drink water constantly, and try coca tea, the local remedy sold everywhere. Diamox is the medical option if you want to plan ahead with a doctor. Anyone with heart or lung conditions, or who is pregnant, should talk to a doctor before altitude travel, and remember that onward sights climb even higher, Titicaca at roughly 3,810 meters, Uyuni around 3,660 meters, Chacaltaya near 5,300 meters.
1. Ride Mi Teleferico. The world’s largest urban cable car network, with around 11 color-coded lines, is both transport and the best sightseeing in the city. Rides cost only a few Bolivianos, but cash is not accepted at the turnstiles, so buy or load a Mi Teleferico card before your first ride. The Yellow Line gives the best overall panorama; the Red Line delivers the single most dramatic span, framing Illimani as it drops from El Alto into the city bowl.
2. Wander the Witches’ Market. Calle Linares is a living Aymara market, not a novelty stop. Vendors sell herbal remedies, ritual items, and dried llama fetuses that come from miscarriages, buried as offerings to Pachamama, Mother Earth. Browse respectfully and ask before photographing anyone.
3. See Plaza Murillo. The civic heart of La Paz holds the Palacio Quemado and the National Congress, whose clock, the Reloj del Sur, runs backwards on purpose, a small, proud symbol of southern-hemisphere identity.
4. Walk Calle Jaen. The best-preserved colonial street in the city clusters several small museums, gold and precious metals, costumbrista, musical instruments, into a single, walkable hour.
5. Step into Iglesia de San Francisco. Built in 1548 and rebuilt through 1772, its carved mestizo-baroque facade blends Spanish and Andean motifs, and the plaza in front is the city’s real social center.
6. Browse Mercado Rodriguez. A produce market where cholita vendors, Aymara women in bowler hats and layered polleras, sell fresh food; cholita style today is a reclaimed, proud identity, not a costume.
7. Visit Valle de la Luna. About 10km south, eroded clay spires make for a short, strange loop, best in morning or late light.
8. Climb to Mirador Killi Killi. An easy, free viewpoint over the whole bowl, good any time of day.
9. Catch El Alto’s Feria 16 de Julio. One of South America’s largest open-air markets runs Thursday and Sunday in El Alto, above the city rim at roughly 4,150 meters.
10. Watch cholita wrestling. This grew out of domestic-violence-survivor support circles in El Alto and reads as empowerment, not spectacle.
11. Bike Death Road, with a reputable operator only. The old Yungas Road earned its name from vehicle traffic before a 2006 bypass; today the risk is operator quality, not the road itself, so never go DIY.
12. Day-trip to Tiwanaku. About two hours away, this UNESCO pre-Inca site predates the Inca by centuries.
Entry is easier than it used to be: US citizens have been visa-free since 1 December 2025, and UK, EU, Canadian, and Australian passport holders already enjoyed 90 days visa-free before that. What is new for everyone, visa-exempt or not, is SIGEMIG, an online pre-registration required before you travel. Bring a passport valid 6 months out, and if you are continuing to the Amazon or Yungas lowlands, check yellow-fever requirements.
Bolivia is genuinely cheap, one of the best-value destinations in South America, but it is cash-heavy with a lingering US-dollar shortage, so carry small, clean dollars as backup and don’t assume every ATM will cooperate. Tip around 10% at sit-down restaurants.
For food, verified and worth seeking out: Ali Pacha for fine-dining vegetarian food, Popular Cocina Boliviana for casual modern-Bolivian plates, and Propiedad Publica for farm-to-table in Zona Sur. Gustu, once the country’s best-known kitchen, closed in 2025 and is history now, not a current booking. For cheap eats, Mercado Lanza’s food stalls are the honest answer. Salteñas, the juicy meat-and-potato pastry, are strictly a mid-morning food; most bakeries sell out by noon.
Get around by registered radio taxi, called by phone or app, never a street hail. The fake-police scam and express-kidnapping risk are real, specific La Paz dangers, especially near tourist areas like the Witches’ Market; never hand documents to anyone claiming to be plainclothes police.
One more honest note: the Uyuni Salt Flats are spectacular but roughly 550km away, a separate multi-day trip, not a La Paz day excursion. And coca leaf, chewed or brewed as tea, is legal and culturally central here, entirely distinct from cocaine, though it’s illegal to export and can trigger a positive drug test abroad.
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