What's a group trip?
Join a small group of like-minded travellers on a guided trip.
What's a tailor made trip?
We put together a bespoke tour to fit your requirements.
Duration: 7
Comfort Level:
Capacity: 5 per person
Strike out to the remote Andes of Bolivia and enjoy our stunning Apolobamba trek.
Our expert guide will take you hiking into the heart of the Cordillera Apolobamba range, Apolobamba National Park and Madidi National Park.
This fully-supported walking holiday is well off-the-beaten-track in a relatively unexplored area.
The trails are suitable for active walkers looking for a remote, adventurous trek in Bolivia.
Bolivia’s trekking is superb and none more so than this trek.
It’s a relatively unexplored area, to the north of La Paz, and as well as being part of the largest protected reserve in Bolivia, is also home to native healers and great wildlife.
We hike through gold-rich valleys and over high mountain passes, with soaring snow-capped mountains all around.
Keep a look out for vicuña, condors, flamingoes and more, with every step.
This trek is demanding and requires that you are fit, acclimatised and used to camping and being in remote areas.
Apolobamba National Park
The word Apolobamba, originally Apullu Pampa (several plateaus), is the ancient name for the Ulla Ulla plains.
Nowadays, these plains constitute the Apolobamba National Park (Area Nacional de Manejo Integrado Apolobamba), the largest Vicuña reserve in Bolivia.
Ulla Ulla boasts a swelling population of 2,500 vicuñas and healthy numbers of black ibises, Chilean flamingos, Andean geese and viscachas. The wild vicuña herds can be observed at close range.
During the day, the vicuñas graze with the alpaca. Towards evening, when their domesticated brothers and sisters head home to their stone-wall corrals, the vicuñas head off to more isolated pastures.
Kallawaya Indians
The land here has been home to many different peoples through the centuries. Some still survive in the lower mountain valleys.
The Kallawaya Indians, who are the most well known, are the traditional healers of the area. Highly respected throughout South America (they journey as far as Patagonia and Panama), they are expert in the use of herbal medicine.
Their art is making diagnoses by ‘reading’ a llama’s entrails or scattered coca leaves. The Kallawayas also work as arrieros on the trek.
Madidi National Park
The park started as a very small area between the shores of the lower Tuichi River and the Madidi River. As a result of the success of the conservation and tourism development programs more land has been brought into the protected area.
Madidi Park adjoins the Ulla Ulla wild life reservation and together they form the largest protected land area in Bolivia.
Duration: 10
Photograph Bolivia and Chile’s altiplano with our photography safari in Uyuni and Atacama.
Bruce Percy leads our photo safari through the Atacama desert of Northern Chile and the salt flats of Uyuni in Bolivia.
Bruce is renowned landscape photographer and guides you through stunning landscapes, helping improve your photographic skills.
Starting in San Pedro in northern Chile, we explore the Atacama desert.
We have to spend a couple of days in San Pedro de Atacama taking it easy and letting ourselves get acclimatised to the high altitude.
Here we concentrate on capturing the wonderful colours of the desert at dawn and dusk as we acclimatise.
Heading to Bolivia
We head nextto the vast southern deserts of Bolivia in our four wheel drive vehicle to enjoy the starkly beautiful landscapes of this dramatic desert wilderness.
The immense Salar de Uyuni is a natural marvel of South America.
Deep blue skies, clear skies and and the brilliant white salt create a fantastic spectacle.
More about the safari
Bruce Percy is an internationally-travelled and published photographer.
He has visited and photographed South America many times and has the knowledge to help you make the most of this trip, which is limited to 8 people.
Anyone who has a passion for photography can join, as it is designed to allow everyone quality time at some fabulous locations, with accommodation, food and logistics all taken care of.
We use hotels built by and in the traditional style of the local Aymara communities, providing an income in this, one of the poorest parts of Bolivia.
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Duration: 4
Join our climbing and mountaineering course in Bolivia and learn to climb in the Andes.
Huayna Potosi in Bolivia’s Cordillera Real mountain range is the setting for our climbing course.
This introduction to climbing teaches a range of fundamental skills useful for accessing ice-covered Bolivian peaks.
Most of the course takes place on a glacier at around 5,000m/16,404ft and is open to complete beginners.
Top level, professional guides show you how to plan and execute a successful climbing expedition.
We begin by taking a look at the hazards that snow covered mountains present.
Next, we teach you the skills and techniques necessary to help you climb and enjoy the mountains.
Skills covered
Prices From $2450 / £1975.68 per person
Dates: March 2019
Duration: 15
This Bolivia trekking highlights tour takes in the best places to visit in this beautiful Andean country.
Visit all the travel highlights, including La Paz, the Salar de Uyuni salt flats and Lake Titicaca.
Now well acclimatised to Bolivia’s high altitude, top it all of with and a fantastic hike in the Cordillera Real.
From La Paz we travel by bus and train across the altiplano to Uyuni, gateway to the Salar de Uyuni.
The next four days are spent on a four-wheel-drive expedition through this southern altiplano desert. We’ll visit vividly coloured lagoons, conical volcanoes, geysers and mudpools, hot springs and a unique flora and fauna.
Next, to Lake Titicaca and the lakeshore town of Copacabana and to the Island of the Sun, an island rich in history and tradition.
We explore the Island of the Moon, Inca ruins and experience the ancient culture of the locals.
Trekking in Bolivia
Our tour culminates in a four day trek through the heart of the Condoriri National Park in the Cordillera Real.
The trek has three high mountain passes, remote highland communities, herds of grazing llamas, awe-inspiring mountain scenery and soaring condors.
Prices From $2325 / £1874.88 per person
Dates: March 2018
Duration: 13
Explore Bolivia’s highlights on our two-week small group tour around this wonderful Andean country.
On this guided tour we take you through Bolivia’s highlands, where the landscape and culture is as varied as any in South America.
We visit the famous Potosi, Sucre and of course the Salar de Uyuni salt flats. We then move on to La Paz and the emblematic Lake Titicaca.
You start your trip in the city of Santa Cruz (or alternatively you can start in La Paz) then head to the beautiful colonial city of Sucre.
In Sucre you visit nearby indigenous markets, and can shop for stunning traditional weavings.
From Sucre we continue to the colonial mining city of Potosi with its fascinating yet harsh history.
Onwards next to enjoy and experience the vast Uyuni Salt Flats on a four wheel drive adventure among some of the world’s most incredible scenery.
La Paz and Lake Titicaca
The action continues as we visit the world’s highest capital, La Paz, admire its dramatic setting amidst snow-capped peaks and haggle at the colourful witches’ market.
We finish with a tour to the mystical Lake Titicaca, from where the Inca Empire is believed to have emerged.
If you choose you can extend your trip by a few days to relax in the hot springs of Sajama National Park, or head to the nearby Condoriri National Park for high altitude hiking.
For those looking for some off the beaten track adventures there’s Toro Toro National Park and well worth a visit for superb wildlife is the Bolivian Amazon.
Can’t find what you’re looking for? Get in Touch
+44 (0)131 467 7086
+44 (0)131 554 6025
info@andeantrails.co.uk
- What was the highlight of your holiday? Was there a low point? The absolute highlight was the private Salkantay trek. We loved the trekking through the beautiful mountain landscape far away from the crowds, with absolutely amazing crew of the local agency: our great guide Elvis who strived to provide us with the real Andean hiking experience, and our fabulous cook Cezar who spoiled us with fantastic 3-course vegetarian meals! - How would you rate accommodation/ food/ guides/ overall organisation? Everything was very well organized, fully in line with the agreed program of our trip - all pick ups & guides were super professional and always on time. A special notion to all organizers in Cusco who were very attentive and taking great care of us, and to our guide in La Paz who offered us very interesting & refreshing city tour. Food was great, our absolute highlights were ceviche and everything cooked by Cesar during our trek; as a special notion - we requested vegetarian meals and this request was fully observed in all places. - Did you feel you benefitted the local communities? Yes - in each place we had guides from local agencies who often took us to places where we could meet and support local artisans & people from local communities. We especially liked the visit at organic coffee farm run by the female cooperative in Peruvian cloud forest. - What would you like to do differently next time? Most of our trip was the private tour, with however few exceptions like the group visit at Lake Titicaca and semi-private drive in Uyuni; next time we would go 100% private tour that allows to fully tailor the trip to our interests and pace. - Out of interest why did you choose the places you visited and why Andean Trails to organise your trip? Peru & Bolivia were always on our bucket list and we’re very happy to finally make this dream come true. Landscapes with mountains & deserts, great history, as well as contemporary local culture & food are absolutely fantastic! Andean Trails was recommended by Responsible Travel - we were looking for an agency that is expert in organizing trips to South America and also can offer a tailor-made private experience - our expectations were fully met, and our agent Kat helped with many recommendations that made our trip even better. Thank you once more for organizing such great holidays!
A Opalska, Poland, 2018 » Salkantay 5-day Camping Trek
Our trip was fantastic, the highlight was a tie between Machu Picchu and the salt flats. Both of those places were unreal. The accommodations were great, the food was great, and the overall organization was awesome. We were so happy with the way everything worked out, and so grateful to you for making our ambitious agenda a reality! Our salt flat guide and driver were amazing, and we really enjoyed spending time with them. Thank you so much for helping us plan everything. You were so delightful to work with, and we were so impressed that you were able to get this adventure together so quickly for us! We will be recommending Andean Trails to our friends/family, and hope to travel with you guys again in the future.
L Smith, Tailor made Peru and Bolivia, USA, 2017 » Bolivia Uyuni Salt Flats 4WD Tour
