From Wikitravel

Uyuni is in Bolivia, South America.

Contents 1 Understand 2 Get in 3 Get around 4 See 5 Do 6 Buy 7 Eat 8 Drink 9 Sleep 10 Get Along 11 Get out

Understand

Uyuni a small town situated in the middle of nowhere. It has few attractions but is the starting point for trips to the world's largest salt flats, Salar de Uyuni and Bolivias southern Altiplano. Check out Salar de Uyuni for more extensive information on the tour.

Get in

You will need several hours (12-15 hours) from Bolivia's capital, La Paz, by train and/or bus.

There are several busses daily to and from Potosí (6-7 hours, 30 Bs.), from there you can go one to Sucre (3-4 hours more).

You can also rent a car in La Paz and drive.

Get around

See

• Salar de Uyuni - with over twelve thousand square kilometers, is the largest salt flat in the world; during the wet season it appears as a mirror lake that can be traversed not by boats but by four wheel vehicles-- it is only six to twenty inches deep.
• Train Graveyard - several km south of town, there are many old, rusted trains. Usually a stop by salt planes trips, it is not anything that you could spend more than 30 minutes looking at.

Do

Driving across it is one of the weirdest and most fantastic experiences anywhere on the continent, when the bright blue skies contrast with the blinding-white salt crust. Dawn and dusk on the salt flats are wonderful spectacles, and in the rainy season they turn into a gigantic mirror. It is a photographers paradise.

It is advised that you hook-up with any of the many Uyuni tour companies that operate 4-WD vehicles onto the salt flat. It is possible to drive a rental car you might have, but be aware that soft, muddy spots are plentiful and that if you get stuck, you could well lose your car as there are no emergency services available to help you out. You also will be subject to walking out of the flat to "shore," which, depending upon where you are on the flat, could take days.

Buy

Eat

• Minuteman Pizza - Ferroviaria 60, Uyuni, 591 2 (693 3186) [1] Hours: Breakfast 7:30-10am , Dinner 5-10pm Within the Tonito Hotel, backpackers congregate here in the evenings. Large variety of pizzas (including spicy llama), great breakfast, english-speaking owner, travel-book library. From 30 Bs for an individual pizza.

Drink

Sleep

• Tonito Hotel, Ferroviaria 60, Uyuni, 591 2 (693 3186) [2] THE "high-end" hotel in town. Rooms are situated around an internal atrium area. Clean rooms, electric-heated showers, transportation from train station available, book ahead in the high season. Room heater available for rent for $3 US. 19 rooms. Breakfast Included. Double with private bathroom, $35 US.

• Hostal Sajama, Potosí 35, 6933099. Cheap place with basic clean rooms. Single with shared / private bathroom Bs.25 / Bs.40.

• Hotel Avenida, Uyuni, clean and inexpensive in the town center, near tour operators. Rates unknown.

Get Along

There is no ATM in Uyuni. Prodem gives cash advances on mastercard or Visa creditcards with a 5% commission. There are several casas de cambios to change travellers' checks or dollars, euros, Chilean pesos or Argentinean pesos.

Get the stamps you need at the immigration office at Potosí and Sucre.

There are several slow internet places for around 5 Bs. per hour.

Get out

A visit to the salt flats of the Salar de Uyuni is the main attraction. There are plenty of tour operators offering the trip. Shop around before deciding. The standard tour takes 3 days and cost 60-100 US$ depending on the season and your bargaining skills. If they are asking more than $70 US, ask specific questions about the accomidations and food, as higher rates almost always equate to staying in nicer places, eating better, or an English-speaking guide. The tours leave at 10:30 a.m., so if you arrive in the night or early morning, you still have time to arrange a tour. Make sure if accommodation and the entance fee to the park is included, and don't pay before you have a reciept. It is advised to bring extra water and rent a sleeping bag, as the unheated accomidations in Laguna Colorada can get down to -20 degrees at night.

If you plan to go Chile, travel offices arrange transportation from Laguna Verde (what is usually a stop on their trips) a to San Pedro de Atacama. Remember to get an exit stamp in Immigration Office in Uyuni (the date on the stamp is the expected exit day, so you may get Chilean entry stamp with earlier date). Some tour operators:

• Lincancabur Tours , Sucre 68, 02-693-2996 (lincancatour@hotmail.com), offers 4 day tours which end in Tupiza. The official price is 120/150 US$ in low/high season, but they will go for cheaper as well.

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