OUR DESTINATIONS
Let us help you find your perfect holiday by phoning us on
We offer holidays to the four corners of the globe. If you want specialist advise please phone our travel team and we will be happy to help.
Alternatively, check out some of our holiday offers below.
- Destinations
- South America
- Bolivia
- La Paz
La Paz
The air is indeed rare in La Paz, the world's highest capital
city, at two and a half miles (4km) above sea level, or 11,910ft
(3,630m). Living in La Paz is a bit bizarre because it is akin to
living in a giant bowl. Around the rim are brick buildings and
workshops, the inside slopes are scattered with houses, and across
the bottom is the dense city centre. Rising up in the background is
the most well known of Bolivia's lofty peaks, Illimani, standing at
21,188ft (6,420m). The most pleasant way to explore the diminutive
city centre is on foot; the alternative is to sit on a crowded bus
in congested traffic. Expect your sightseeing to leave you
breathless. Steep, narrow streets lead into an assortment of little
alleyways while well-used staircases wind their way up between
crooked houses and colourful hotels.
More than a million people live in La Paz, adding colour,
culture and vibrancy to the otherwise dusty barrenness of a high
altitude city. The most rewarding (and least exhausting) activity
is to people-watch. Andean women dress in brightly coloured,
multi-layered skirts and thick knee-length stockings with bowler
hats perched jauntily over long, plaited strands of hair. There are
also smartly dressed businessmen and scruffy street urchins wrapped
in woven blankets, shoe shiners and fruit sellers, trinket vendors
and alpaca wool weavers.
The city also has some interesting museums, modern and
comfortable hotels and is an excellent place to purchase authentic
local souvenirs. Beautiful hand-spun alpaca wool products,
paintings, silver handcrafted jewellery, music and musical
instruments are just some of the many things on offer.
Information & Facts
Climate
The weather in La Paz is usually bright and sunny all year
round, but in summer rain occurs in showers most afternoons.
Temperatures year round are cool to mild, the average in summer
being 72°F (22°C) and in winter 59°F (15°C).
Getting Around
La Paz is a small city with one main road running along the
bottom of the valley, and satellite streets reaching up the sides
of the canyon. It can be explored on foot, unless you find the
hillsides a bit tiring in the high altitude. There are buses and
mini-buses plying various routes, and plenty of taxis available.
Transport is extremely cheap. Expect to pay at most $1 for any
journey within the city.
Language
Spanish is the official language, but only 60 to 70% of
the people actually speak it, and then often only as a second
language. The other main languages are Quechua and
Aymar.
Money
The official currency is the Boliviano (BOB), which is divided
into 100 centavos, and is tied to the US Dollar. Money can be
exchanged at exchange bureaux called
casio de cambiosin the main centres, at banks and hotels.
Banking facilities are good in the main cities and ATMs cater for
Visa, Cirrus and MasterCard. Many hotels and other tourist-oriented
institutions accept US Dollars. Major credit cards, including
MasterCard, Diners, Visa and American Express, are accepted in the
bigger hotels, restaurants and shops. Travellers cheques can be
exchanged in
casio de cambiosin the major cities and are best taken in
US Dollars to avoid additional charges.
Time