La Paz 3-day itinerary

Begin at the Mercado de las Brujas on Calle Linares and Sagárnaga, where cholita vendors sell dried llama foetuses, miniature houses, love potions, and ritual items for traditional Aymara ceremonies. This is not a tourist show — these are genuine spiritual goods used in Pachamama offerings. Walk downhill through the steep cobblestone streets to Plaza Murillo and the colonial core with the Presidential Palace, Cathedral, and Congress building. La Paz sits in a deep canyon at 3,640m and every street offers vertiginous views.

Spend the afternoon riding the Mi Teleférico cable car system — 11 colour-coded lines spanning 33km across the city. The Red Line from the centre to El Alto is the most spectacular, lifting you from the canyon floor to the Altiplano rim at 4,100m with panoramic views. The Blue and Yellow lines traverse the southern zone. At 3 bolivianos per ride, it is absurdly cheap for what is essentially the most dramatic urban transport system ever built. Each cabin holds 10 passengers and the system moves 300,000 people daily.

On Thursday and Sunday evenings, head to the El Alto multifunctional centre for cholita wrestling — an extraordinary spectacle where indigenous Aymara women in traditional pollera skirts and bowler hats body-slam opponents in a wrestling ring. The event is theatrical, hilarious, and deeply empowering — cholita wrestlers are celebrities in Bolivia and the show mixes genuine athletic skill with scripted entertainment. The crowd of locals and tourists creates an electric atmosphere. Tours from central La Paz include transport and entry.

Depart La Paz at 7am for the 1-hour drive to La Cumbre pass at 4,650m — the starting point of the North Yungas Road, known worldwide as "Death Road." Before the new highway was built in 2006, this narrow gravel road clinging to the mountainside was the only route from La Paz to the Yungas lowlands, and hundreds of vehicles plummeted off the cliff each year. Today, with virtually no traffic, it is one of the world's most famous mountain bike descents — a 64km, 3,600m drop from freezing Altiplano to tropical jungle.

The ride begins on paved road at 4,650m before switching to the infamous single-lane gravel track carved into the cliff face. The road is barely 3 metres wide with sheer drops of 600+ metres and no guardrails. The scenery transforms from barren Altiplano to cloud forest to lush subtropical jungle as you descend. Waterfalls cascade across the road, mist drifts through the trees, and the temperature rises from near-freezing to 25°C. The ride takes 4-5 hours with photo stops and the sense of achievement at the bottom is immense.

Arrive at the bottom in Yolosa at 1,100m — warm, humid, and tropical. Tour operators provide a celebratory lunch and access to a pool or shower. The temperature difference from the morning's freezing start is extraordinary. The return drive to La Paz takes 3 hours up the new highway, arriving in the evening. You will be physically tired but buzzing with adrenaline. Celebrate with a steak dinner and Bolivia's excellent Huari beer in the Sopocachi neighbourhood.

Take a micro bus or taxi 10km south to Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley), a surreal landscape of eroded clay pinnacles and canyons created by centuries of wind and rain on the soft sedimentary formations. Walking paths weave through the spires, bridges, and crevasses — the formations are genuinely otherworldly and the scale is impressive. The site sits at 3,300m in the Mallasa neighbourhood, which is warmer and drier than central La Paz. The morning light creates the most dramatic shadows in the rock formations.

Return to central La Paz and visit the Museo Nacional de Etnografía y Folklore on Calle Ingavi, housed in a colonial mansion. The museum covers Bolivia's extraordinary cultural diversity — from Aymara and Quechua highland cultures to the Guaraní and Mojeño lowland peoples. The textile and mask collections are outstanding. Afterwards, explore the sprawling Mercado Rodriguez for local food — api con pastel (hot purple corn drink with fried cheese pastry), tucumanas (fried meat turnovers), and fresh fruit from the Yungas lowlands.

Walk to Mirador Killi Killi for the finest sunset panorama in La Paz. The viewpoint looks across the entire canyon city — thousands of brick buildings cascading down the hillsides with Illimani's snow-capped summit (6,438m) glowing pink behind. As darkness falls, the city lights up from bottom to top and the scale of this impossible vertical metropolis becomes apparent. Return downhill for a farewell dinner of pique macho — a Bolivian sharing plate of chopped steak, sausage, potatoes, eggs, and hot peppers.