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Travel and Tourism in Bolivia
Travel alerts, currency, climate, transit, health, and safety information for visitors to Bolivia.
Practical Information
Travel alert status, currency, climate, and transit details.
- Travel Alert Status
- Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
- Time Difference
- UTC-4 (1 hour ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
- Currency
- 6.91
- Climate
- Bolivia lies entirely within the Tropics, but extreme differences in elevation from 300 feet (90 meters) along the Brazilian border to 21,000 feet (6,400 meters) at the highest peaks produce a great variety of climatic conditions. Coupled with soil diversity, this produces highly varied vegetation, from the sparse scrub grasses in semiarid highlands to lush rain forests containing a variety of hardwoods (Mahogany, South American, Oak, and Cedar). There are two seasons in La Paz: a rainy season beginning in December and continuing through March (it rains almost daily during this period), and a dry season running from April to November. The climate is generally cool, but brilliant sunshine raises daytime temperatures. Midday outdoor parties and activities are pleasant. Rainfall averages 20 inches (51 centimeters) a year.
- Ethnic Groups
- Quechua 30%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry) 30%, Aymara 25%, white 15%
- National Holiday
- Independence Day, 6 August (1825)
- Geographic Coordinates
- 17 00 S, 65 00 W
- Location
- Central South America, southwest of Brazil
- Airports
- 1,067
Destinations
Regions and cities, top sights, national parks, UNESCO sites, and festivals for visitors.
Incahuasi Island and the Giant Cacti
In the middle of the Salar, rising from the flat white like a mirage, is Incahuasi Island, also known as Fish Island or Isla del Pescado, a rocky outcrop that was once an island in the prehistoric lake and is now surrounded by salt instead of water. The island is covered with enormous cacti of the species Trichocereus atacamensis, which grow at an extraordinarily slow rate in this harsh environment, averaging about one centimeter of growth per year. The cacti on Incahuasi Island are estimated to be between 900 and 1,200 years old, many of them reaching 10 meters or more in height, their green columns rising against the white salt and the blue sky in a composition that feels more like art than nature.
Incahuasi is a mandatory stop on any Salar tour, offering not just the remarkable visual spectacle of ancient cacti on a salt island but also the only elevated viewpoint in an otherwise perfectly flat landscape.
Health and Safety
Medical facilities, vaccinations, disease risk, and sanitation conditions.
Throughout the country, both personal hygiene and sanitary practices in food handling are far below U.S. standards. Food and beverage precautions are essential. Medical care in large cities is adequate for most purposes but of varying quality. Ambulance services are limited to non-existent. Medical facilities are generally not adequate to handle serious medical conditions. Pharmacies are located throughout Bolivia and prescription and over-the-counter medications are widely available. Western Bolivia, dominated by the Andes and high plains (Altiplano), is largely insect-free.