So we had been tossing up doing the Salt Flats pretty much up until we got to Bolivia. We’d heard good reviews, but it was a 10 hour bus ride there and back, and honestly, how amazing can some big white plains be?

Pretty amazing, is the answer.

We got a taxi to the bus station in central La Paz, found our bus company, and were given seats 1 and 2, which was awesome because we got bulk leg room. At 9pm we were on our way. The bus trip itself wasn’t actually too bad, the service was nice, seats were comfy and the road was smooth…the couple of Codral night time pills I had didn’t hurt either.

We arrived at Uyuni around 7am. Uyuni is a pretty nothing town, but it’s relatively clean, and it feels safe. We met our guide and our little group for the day and headed to the train cemetery. Here we saw a group of around 100-year old trains left for dead, when it became easier to transport goods by truck rather than train. It was cool, but nothing mind-blowing.

We then headed to the Salt Flats. They really are quite remarkable, and to state the obvious – unlike anything I have ever seen, or will see anywhere else in the world. We stopped for lunch in a ‘hotel’ which was a stopping point for the Dakar Rally, and then went to a little island the Incas used as a rest stop on their journeys across the playa.

This island was my favourite part because of how surreal it was. A small island populated only by little salt huts and towering cacti..and a llama. The views from the top were amazing, and worth the climb even though I was coughing the whole way up. It was so silent and all you could see in every direction was white. The Salt Flats are over 10,000kms squared which is quiiiiiite big.

After the island we sped back across the flats in our jeep to take the obligatory photos then headed back to Uyuni where Scott and I ended up having burgers with our guide before our bus ride home (seats 1 &2 again – boom).

I would recommend making the effort to go to Uyuni – it”s quite special. There are 1 -3 days tours, and we have heard either do one or three, as two isn’t that much better than one.

And we would recommend Todo Turismo for the bus and Got Salt for the tour 🙂