South & Central America

La Paz

Standing at over 3500 metres, La Paz is the world’s highest capital city and is a staggering sight either if you fly in or as you drop down into the huge canyon from the altiplano with the triple-peaked Mount Illimani providing a dramatic backdrop. It is a colourful and vibrant city with pretty colonial plazas, Baroque churches and steep streets lined with Aymara women selling an extraordinary variety of handicrafts and fruit & vegetables, whilst The Witches Market is devoted to the sale of lotions, potions and bizarre objects.

The Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) is a nearby valley where erosion has created extraordinary and weird rock formations that resemble a lunar landscape.

The nearby Tiahuanaco ruins make a fascinating diversion and can easily be visited in a day trip from La Paz.  They are thought to have once been part of a magnificent imperial capital that thrived 1500 years ago and believed to have exerted more influence than its famous successor the Inca Empire.  The Tiahuanaco Empire is believed to have comprised half of present-day Bolivia, southern parts of Peru, the northwest section of Argentina and nearly half of Chile, with the ancient city of Tiahuanaco being at its centre.

Our preferred hotels in La Paz include:

Presidente Hotel

Hotel Europa

Casa Grande Hotel

Camino Real Suites

Hotel Andino