Hey everyone. I plan on visiting Bolivia to specifically ride the Salt Flats. My girlfriend who doesn't ride will be joining in but just not riding. We're trying to plan this all out. I was thinking of heading in several days before her to take on a few days or riding and camping there. It's something I've always wanted to do. I'm trying to get into La Paz, Bolivia and either bus to the flats or take a plane there based on time. I wanted to as you all if anyone has taken this ride on. Also... the best times to ride it. I've read July was a good month. However, that is a year away. Are their any other recommendations for riding here? I'll be on an Ogre with fat tires, not sure what size yet. As for routes and monuments to visit while riding, please pitch in some ideas. I've heard it's quite easy to get lost here. I pitched the idea of riding to Chile after getting to the Salt Flats from La Paz. Is this a good idea? How long would it take to cover this ground or any kind of loop here? All help appreciated.

You seem to have asked the same question in this forum, five months ago: https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/1133266-new-york-bolivia-riding-salt-flats.html

What have you learned and what has changed since then? Last time my reply suggested reading journals of others who have done similar trips on a site like crazyguyonabike.com. I'll start with restating that advice again.

To be honest... I forgot that I even posted that.

Some serious conditions up there. Elevation, you're at 4,000masl on the Altiplano. Dryness, you are not far from the dryest place on earth, the Atacama. Add cold and wind, and you are playing with your life if unprepared. Triple whammy. Soroche (altitud sickness), dryness and dehidration, cold and hypothermia. Caveat emptor.

Thank you for the info. Helps a lot as I'm planing this all out. Thoughts on getting back from Uyuni where the Salcay Hotel is to La Paz? Wanted to fly back with my bike. I wonder if they will take my bike on the airplane back. I'm just planning this out as a through route.

Bolivia is rough and tumble. Never been to Uyuni, but I've been to Titicaca and La Paz areas. The plane is likely to be small so bikes (unfoldable) are probably out. The bus is probably a better bet, but i hear it's a hellish ride.

If you are really intrepid (and well-prepared), i'd continue riding south and cross into northern Chile.

Last year the direct road from La Paz to Uyuni was smoothly paved. The last parts looked like they had been paved ~1-2 years before. Depending on bus routes (e.g. via Potosi or from Oruru direct to Uyuni?) and when the accounts were made, I'd double check the accounts for recentness.

I don't know anything else on the bus as I cycled.

Wow...must have quite a trip...Did you cycle southwards and west to Chile via Laguna Colorada? One day I wanna do that...

Or Argentina:
There is a train to Tupiza or one can ride. Last year ~40% of this distance was paved and there was a lot of construction going on (which was also rough), but also changing rapidly. I read accounts and talked to one person who had cycled across via Chile and it definitely sounded tougher than my route into Argentina.

There is enough changing past few years on Bolivia's roads that I would recommend finding recent journals. I followed one from April 2017 that was pretty helpful to me in August, and I expect fresher ones to be out there now.

This is the route that has intrigued me for over a decade. Southwest of Uyuni passing through several lagunas, and crossing into Chile/Bolivia via the Eduardo Averoa National Reserve.

Last year I met a cyclist named Alex and cycled with him a short distance in Baja and then longer in Argentina later on.

Following is his blog from crossing from Bolivia to Chile:

https://boundlessbiker.com/2017/08/30/from-the-salar-de-uyuni-into-the-atacama-desert/

He was also originally thinking of taking the Laguna route, but after hearing from others took a somewhat modified route. It will vary some from year to year.

​​​​​​Awsome stuff! Twenty-two hour flight to Santiago, Chile from my location, though...

Thanks for the tip. May I ask if there are was to getting back to La Paz faster like via airplane from the salt flats?

The salt flats are a popular destination and it looks like there may be an airport. I don't know more than you'll find from a web search as tourists I met all seem to have arrived by bus or car.

Make sure your girlfriend really wants to go. Spending days (presumably alone in a car or on a bus, if shes not riding) in the salt flats while my significant other cycled across it doesn't exactly sound like a great use of vacation to me. No quicker way to ruin a tour than to being along an uninterested party.