Planning a Trip

Visitor Information

The Bolivian Ministry of Tourism has very limited resources. There are virtually no government-sponsored tourist offices outside of Bolivia. The U.S.-based Embassy of Bolivia has a moderately useful website at www.bolivia-usa.org. For general travel information, you can also log onto www.boliviaweb.com or www.boliviabiz.com.

For more specific travel-related information, your best bet is to contact travel agencies that specialize in trips to Bolivia. Some of the best include:

Andean Summits, Aranzaes 2974, P.O. Box 6976, La Paz (tel./fax 0102/2422-106; www.andeansummits.com). This Bolivia-based company specializes in active vacation packages, including sea-kayaking trips in Lake Titicaca and treks up Huayna Potosí. All of the guides are certified by the German Alpine Club.

Bahia Travel Agency, 81-31 Baxter Ave., Elmhurst, NY 11373 (tel. 800/833-3138 or 718/639-3310; www.bahiatravelagency.com). Based in New York and La Paz, Bahia offers great air deals to Bolivia.

Crillon Tours, 1450 S. Bayshore Dr., Suite 815, Miami, FL 33131 (tel. 888/TITICACA or 305/358-5353; www.titicaca.com). This is by far the best travel agency offering organized tours to Bolivia. The Bolivian owner is based in Miami, but the company has a huge infrastructure in Bolivia. Crillon Tours is the owner of several fantastic hotels in the Lake Titicaca area, and the company arranges high-end package tours throughout Bolivia.

Explore Bolivia, Inc., 2510 N. 47th St., Suite 207, Boulder, CO 80301 (tel. 877/708-8810 or 303/545-5728; www.explorebolivia.com). This company is your best bet if you're looking for adventure tours in Bolivia -- they specialize in kayaking, trekking, and mountain-climbing packages.

Rutahsa Adventures (tel. 931/520-7047; www.rutahsa.com) offer an annual veritable crash course on Bolivia, a 19-day journey that really takes you off the standard tourist trail. Their comprehensive Bolivian tour starts in Santa Cruz and includes stops in Sucre, Potosí, La Paz, Copacabana, and Lake Titicaca, in addition to other towns. The tour is also timed to coincide with the Carnaval of Oruro. Apart from 3 days celebrating the pageantry of Carnaval, the highlight of this tour is a flight over the Salar de Uyuni in a classic DC-3. Prices start at $2,526 per person.

In Bolivia -- Although the Viceministerio de Turismo has an office in La Paz (tel. 02/2358-213), the staff doesn't speak English, and the only resources on hand are some promotional brochures. You're much better off heading to the visitor information office on Plaza del Estudiante, where you can buy regional maps.

Telephone Dialing Info at a Glance

To place a call from your home country to Bolivia, dial the international access code (011 in the U.S. and Canada, 0011 in Australia, 0170 in New Zealand, 00 in the U.K.) plus the country code (591), plus the Bolivian area code minus the 010 (for example, La Paz 2, Santa Cruz 3, Cochabamba 4, Sucre 464, Potosí 262, Copacabana 2862), followed by the number. For example, a call from the United States to La Paz would be 011+591+2+0000+000.

To place a call within Bolivia, you must use area codes if you're calling from one department (administrative district) to another. Note that for all calls within the country, area codes are preceded by 010 (for example, La Paz 0102, Santa Cruz 0103, Cochabamba 0104, Sucre 010464, Potosí 010262, Copacabana 0102862).

To place a direct international call from Bolivia, dial the international access code (00), plus the country code of the place you are dialing, plus the area code and the local number.

To reach an international long-distance operator, dial tel. 35-67-00. Major long-distance company access codes are as follows: AT&T tel. 0800-1111; Bell Canada tel. 0800-0101; British Telecom tel. 0800-0044; MCI tel. 0800-2222; Sprint tel. 0800-3333.

When to Go

Peak Season & Climate -- The peak season for travelers in Bolivia is mid-June through early September, but this is only because most travelers come here when it's summer in the Northern Hemisphere. Ironically, this is the coldest time of year in Bolivia. Fortunately, it's also the dry season.

In the high plateau areas of Bolivia -- La Paz, Lake Titicaca, and Potosí -- it's generally always cold. The weather is only mildly more pleasant in the off season. La Paz has an average daytime high of 57°F (14°C) and an average nighttime low of 34°F (1°C). Santa Cruz has a tropical climate, although it can get chilly from June through September. Cochabamba has a pleasant springlike climate year-round.

Public Holidays -- Each city in Bolivia celebrates its own independence day, which always seems to correspond with a local festival. La Paz's independence day is July 16. The whole world seems to converge on Sucre on August 6, Bolivia's official independence day. In small towns throughout the country, you'll find colorful indigenous festivals on or near the summer solstice (June 21). National holidays include: New Year's Day (Jan 1); Carnaval (dates vary); Good Friday; Labor Day (May 1); Corpus Christi (dates vary; usually in mid-June); Independence Day (Aug 6); All Saints' Day (Nov 1); and Christmas (Dec 25).