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La Paz

No reviews yetCity La Paz Department, Bolivia
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La Paz, La Paz Department, BoliviaMi Teleférico, La Paz, La Paz Department, BoliviaMi Teleférico, La Paz, La Paz Department, BoliviaMi Teleférico, La Paz, La Paz Department, BoliviaPlaza Murillo, La Paz, La Paz Department, Bolivia

About La Paz

Few cities make an entrance like La Paz. Arriving from the airport on the windswept altiplano, the road tips over the rim of a vast canyon and the city appears below, a bowl of red-brick houses pouring down the slopes towards the centre, with the snowy triple peak of Illimani standing guard. At around 3,600 metres, it is the highest seat of government in the world.

Founded by the Spanish in 1548, La Paz grew into Bolivia's political and commercial heart, while the constitutional capital remained Sucre. Colonial churches and plazas share the streets with Aymara markets, women in bowler hats and layered skirts, and a sky-high network of cable cars that has transformed how the city moves.

Take the first day slowly to adjust to the altitude, then ride the cable cars, wander the museums of Calle Jaén and browse the herbs and charms of the Witches' Market. Weekends bring the huge Feria 16 de Julio and cholita wrestling in neighbouring El Alto, and Lake Titicaca and the ruins of Tiwanaku make classic trips beyond.

Best seasonMay-October (dry season, cold nights)
Ideal stay3-4 days, plus time to acclimatise
ArrivingEl Alto International Airport, above the city

What to See in La Paz: 11 Favorites

Landmarks 2

Mi Teleférico, La Paz, La Paz Department, Bolivia

Mi Teleférico

Opened in 2014 and still growing, this network of urban cable car lines is the largest of its kind in the world and links La Paz w...
Plaza Murillo, La Paz, La Paz Department, Bolivia

Plaza Murillo

The main square of La Paz is named after Pedro Domingo Murillo, a hero of the 1809 uprising against Spanish rule. Around it stand...

Shopping 2

Witches' Market (La Paz), La Paz, La Paz Department, Bolivia

Witches' Market (La Paz)

On the steep streets around Calle Linares, stalls run by Aymara vendors sell medicinal herbs, incense, amulets, love potions and d...
Feria 16 de Julio, La Paz, La Paz Department, Bolivia

Feria 16 de Julio

Every Thursday and Sunday, a vast open-air market spreads across the streets of El Alto, selling everything from car parts, furnit...

Neighborhoods 1

Calle Jaén, La Paz, La Paz Department, Bolivia

Calle Jaén

This short, cobbled lane of brightly painted colonial houses is the best-preserved street in La Paz. Several small museums line it...

Nature 1

Valle de la Luna (La Paz), La Paz, La Paz Department, Bolivia

Valle de la Luna (La Paz)

South of the city in the Mallasa area, wind and rain have carved soft clay and sandstone into a maze of pinnacles, ridges and gull...

Religious Sites 1

Basilica of San Francisco (La Paz), La Paz, La Paz Department, Bolivia

Basilica of San Francisco (La Paz)

Founded soon after the city itself and rebuilt in the 18th century, this church is the finest colonial monument in La Paz. Its sto...

Museums 2

National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore, La Paz, La Paz Department, Bolivia

National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore

Known locally as MUSEF, this museum in a colonial mansion near Plaza Murillo holds some of Bolivia's finest collections of festiva...
Museo Nacional de Arte (La Paz), La Paz, La Paz Department, Bolivia

Museo Nacional de Arte (La Paz)

Set in an elegant 18th-century baroque palace beside Plaza Murillo, the national art museum surrounds a stone courtyard with three...

Viewpoints 1

Mirador Killi Killi, La Paz, La Paz Department, Bolivia

Mirador Killi Killi

Perched on a hill east of the centre, this viewpoint offers one of the most complete panoramas of La Paz, with the city filling th...

Entertainment 1

Cholita Wrestling (El Alto)

On Sunday afternoons in El Alto, women wrestlers dressed in the traditional bowler hats, shawls and full skirts of Aymara cholitas...

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Photo credits

Photo: Leojauregui, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Leojauregui, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: EEJCC, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: EEJCC, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Photo: EEJCC, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Photo: JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

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Photo: PsamatheM, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

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