Salar de Uyuni and buses in Bolivia

The following are previous posts:

I really would love to visit Salar de Uyuni. I have heard that there are many travel agencies who offer trips, but that a lot of them are quite bad. I would like to make a four day trip.

I would say that they are all quite similar. I have never heard a bad story. A great thing to do is go to the tourist information centre ( attached to a very good restaurant as well ), there you can fill in a form which asks questions about your priorities of the company e.g. how important to you is food hygene/quality, that they carry oxygen etc. Then they will search database and give you a choice of 5 companies according to your needs. Also if you turn up at about 7:00 hours, you can book a tour and go on it at about 9:00 hours that same day.

The Salt Flats tour is certainly a highlight of Bolivia. It is a bit lucky dip with tour operators, even if you book with one, you could get shuffled to another to fill up a vehicle. Mostly the food is pretty basic, accommodation even more basic. Buy some snacks/drinks in Uyuni before you go. Hire a sleeping bag through the tour agency if you do not have one. If there is one going without the full complement of six passengers, that would be better, the very back seat that holds three people is incredibly cramped. Also if you are heading to Chile, then get one with a transfer to San Pedro rather than head back to Uyuni. Do not forget your sunglasses, lots of glare.

My wife and I recently (July 2007) did the Salar de Uyuni tour, starting and finishing at Uyuni. We found it quite confusing beforehand to come by any useful advice, particularly regarding which tour company to use, so perhaps others might benefit from what little we have learned. It turns out that quite recently all the tour companies in Uyuni have agreed on a US$100 per person standard price for the tour with 6 people in a 4x4, $120 per person for an English speaking guide. Nonetheless, a lot of the companies will offer $85 per person, though persistent questioning will reveal that they are simply leaving out some of the things that the $100 per person companies include. Mineral water is one such item, also the national park entrance fees can be included for $100 per person. It seems quite difficult to get an English-speaking guide, although we managed it. I should point out that even at that, the guide was shared between two 4x4 groups. Whenever we arrived at a point of interest, both groups would get out and he would speak to us all at once. The tour company we used was called 'Sumaj Jallpha'. I can recommend them quite highly; our guide, Fabian, spoke excellent English and was perfectly knowledgable. The driver, John, was competent and friendly, while the Land Cruiser was in very good condition. Food and accommodation does not really vary by tour company, as far as I could tell. So, be prepared to pay around the US$100 mark. I found that the most common complaints from other travellers concerned either the driver, if you have not paid extra for a guide, or the condition of the 4x4. Everything else seems fairly standard. Ask lots of questions and be a little suspicious. Unfortunately, there is a tendency for owners to promise all sorts, heating for example, then simply disappear when the disgruntled traveller returns after three days. I hope some of my ramblings are helpful!

Jorge Daniel Barchi.
Buenos Aires.

Hi!
About the night bus's safety: we had an awful accident in November... You can read the previous message I've posted about that.
I'd advise you strongly to take the train from Oruro.
About the Salar, we read so many bad things about the companies in Uyuni that we went to Tupiza. We took Tupiza Tour which was ok.
The advantage is that less people take a tour from Tupiza, so you will not arrive in the different sites with 10 other cars. They all seem do the tour in the same order, at the same time...
With a 4 days package you will see more of the fabulous region of the Sud Lipez (lagunas, flamingoes, volcanoes...).
I wish you a great trip!

We went with Blue line from Uyuni and recommend them. They are not all as good. The business about all the 4WD's arriving at the same time is true but not a serious trouble.
Departing the tour on the third ady to go to san Pedro de Atacama is easy. All the tour companies do it. Organise it with your chosen tour company before you start. Pretty wild border crossing.
Th salar trip is amazing every minute.
Night busses are bad. Day busses are bad. Hated the train. The planes are all as old as your mother. the nature of Bolivia.

Take the train from Oruro and splurge to get first class tickets (about 20$). It's worth every penny compared to the bus.

Most of the companies in Uyuni are equally "okay", not less, not more. And like Isabelle said, they pretty much all follow the same itinerary at the same time. The main differences are in the price and the food.

We took night buses to and from Uyuni due to time constraints and they were both bad. Do not expect to get any sleep at all as the roads are awful and the buses have no suspension. At least during the day you can see the scenery as you bump along. We heard good things about the train but didnt look into it as it sounded like the tickets were hard to come by at short notice.

Our experience with tour companies in Uyuni was a nightmare and put us in a bad frame of mind for the start of the trip. Not one person on our trip had actually booked with the company that we ended up going with. We had all been shafted to that company by other companies (its my sister, we cant take you becuase we have too many people). For us, we were shafted after one hour. We booked with one company, they had another group of five people come in and book so they bumped us to another company in favour of the group. Another couple on the trip had booked days before with an agency in Sucre to be woken up in their hotel the morning they were set to leave to be asked if they would like to do a six day tour instead. When they said no they were shafted to another company and their money for the border crossing did not come with them. They had to pay this again to the new company.

I dont know how to avoid this as it seemed like everyone was willing to lie to get the business (you´ll be staying in the Salt hotel - translation = have lunch there- you´ll have a private room = if we get there before other groups as its a first in first served system), even if it was just for the commission. My advice would be to expect some obstacle to pop up but be flexible and dont let it ruin your trip. There are soooo many companies out there trying to make a living it is not conducive to good service.