Getting from la Paz to Uyuni

Todo Turismo: The 10-Hour Service

Todo Turismo runs daily between La Paz and Uyuni, departing 9:00 PM from both ends. The journey takes 10 hours. The company sells two classes on this route: Cama Ejecutivo at $49 and Semicama Master Suite at $44. Dinner and breakfast are served on board.

The La Paz departure point is not the main terminal. It is Pasaje Kramer Nro. 710, casi Av. Uruguay, about 100 meters before the main bus terminal. In Uyuni the company uses an office rather than a terminal, at Av. Cabrera 158, entre Av. Arce y calle Bolívar. Arrive early enough to find the right door in the dark.

Panasur, Trans Omar and Cruz del Norte

Three other operators run the same corridor, and an operator guide also names Trans Titicaca and El Cisne among the companies on it. Panasur departs at 8:00 PM from La Paz's main terminal, daily, using sleeper buses with 160-degree recline, air conditioning and heating, onboard service and toilets. The company has run since 1994 and also serves Cochabamba on the same line.

Trans Omar departs La Paz at 9:00 PM and arrives Uyuni at 6:00 AM, a journey advertised as about 9 hours. Cruz del Norte's run is cited by a ticket aggregator as the fastest bus option on the route at about 9 hours. One extra cost to budget for: departing passengers at La Paz's main terminal pay a terminal usage fee of 2.5 Bs, so keep a few small coins.

Bus Fares and Schedules Compared

The table below lines up the La Paz to Uyuni bus services, using the schedules and fares published by Todo Turismo and Trans Omar on their own sites, Panasur's page on a ticket seller and, for Cruz del Norte, a ticket aggregator because the company has no fare page of its own that loaded. Times are local. The route covers about 569 km on paved road.

What the Bus Does Not Fix: Arrival Timing

Most overnight buses roll into Uyuni between 6:00 AM and 7:00 AM. Salt flat tours from Uyuni typically start around 10am, so the bus gets you there in time for a same-morning departure if the jeep picks you up from the bus office or your hotel. The catch is that you will have slept, or failed to sleep, on a reclining seat, and Uyuni sits at roughly 3,656 to 3,700 m depending on the source used.

Tired plus high is a poor combination on the first day. See the section below on planning the first tour day.

Schedule and Aircraft

Wikipedia lists Boliviana de Aviación (BoA) as the only scheduled carrier at Uyuni's Joya Andina International Airport, flying to La Paz, Cochabamba and Cusco. Flight aggregators and an operator guide also list EcoJet on the La Paz route, so the sources conflict on how many airlines serve Uyuni. On the La Paz to Uyuni route, flight OB 304 departs La Paz at 07:10 and arrives Uyuni at 08:10, about 1 hour, operated with a Boeing 737 in economy class only. EcoJet also flies La Paz to Uyuni nonstop, roughly 59 minutes for the 460 km route, with roughly one flight every two to three days according to one aggregator, though EcoJet's own page carries no schedule figures and the frequency is not confirmed.

Fares are not stated in the sources used here. BoA's own schedule page could not be fetched, so the flight times above come from a route aggregator and should be confirmed at booking.

Why the Morning Flight Wins for Tour Timing

Joya Andina airport sits at 3,665 m (12,024 ft) just northwest of Uyuni town. A plane landing at 08:10 puts you at an operator's office well before tours typically start around 10am, rested and in time for a full day loop that ends at sunset. Both BoA and EcoJet morning arrivals are cited as allowing travelers to join a salt-flat tour the same day.

The trade-off besides price is that neither the plane nor the bus changes the altitude you sleep at on arrival: the airport alone sits at 3,665 m. The CDC advises against jumping from below 1,200 m to above 2,750 m sleeping altitude in one day, so a traveler who lands from abroad and connects straight to Uyuni is breaking that rule whichever way they travel. Nights in La Paz or Uyuni before a tour are the usual fix. For what the jump to the southwest lagoons route adds on top, read the guide to altitude sickness on an Uyuni trip.

Expreso del Sur and Wara Wara del Sur

Two FCA trains cover the Oruro to Uyuni leg, a journey of approximately 5 hours 17 minutes. The Expreso del Sur departs Oruro southbound on Tuesday and Friday at 14:30, arriving Uyuni at 21:20 the same day. It stops only at six main stations and offers Ejecutivo and Salón classes plus a dining car. The Wara Wara del Sur departs Oruro on Wednesday and Sunday at 19:00 and arrives Uyuni at 02:35 the next day. It stops at all 12 stations and offers Ejecutivo, Salón and Popular classes.

The published Expreso del Sur fares for the Oruro to Uyuni leg are Ejecutivo at 100 Bs (about $9) and Salón at 65 Bs, and Popular class is not offered on that train. No Wara Wara del Sur fare is published in the sources used here. The fare table carrying these figures is explicitly labelled indicative and is to be confirmed at the ticket office. The operator's own site could not be reached, so all train figures come from an independent rail-schedule reference site.

The honest complication: this page covers La Paz to Uyuni, and the sources here do not state a La Paz to Oruro leg by train, so how you cover that first stretch is not stated. Bus connections to Oruro exist but no schedule or fare for them appears in the sources used. For most travelers the direct overnight bus is simpler than two tickets and a change of town.

Who the Train Suits

The train suits travelers who are already heading south through Bolivia, for example from Oruro toward Tupiza or the Argentine border at Villazón, and want the Uyuni stop on the way. An evening arrival at 21:20 means sleeping in Uyuni and starting a tour the next morning, which is actually the acclimatization-friendly pattern: CDC guidance suggests 2 to 3 nights at around 2,450 to 2,750 m is markedly protective before going higher, and an extra night for every further 1,000 m of sleeping-altitude gain. Arriving the evening before a tour gives you a night at Uyuni's 3,656 to 3,700 m before the salar day at 3,663 m, and before the southwest route's lagoons at 4,278 m (Laguna Colorada) and 4,310 m (Laguna Verde) if you continue that far.

The Express Bus Package

The Uyuni tour express from La Paz by bus costs $299 for 2 days with Salt Experience Travel, sold on the booking platform with a 4.5 rating from 183 reviews. It includes a premium sleeper bus from La Paz to Uyuni and back, a day of touring covering the train cemetery, Colchani, the Plaza de las Banderas, Incahuasi Island and a sunset, plus food per the itinerary. The group is limited to 6 participants. The bus leaves the Titicaca Experience office at 9:45 PM on day 1 and arrives back in La Paz at 6:30 AM on day 3, and travelers sleep on the bus both ways, so no hotel is included.

Read the inclusions the way the listing writes them, not the way you hope they read. Entrance fees are excluded and paid separately. The listing's own exclusions list hotel pickup even though pickup in Uyuni appears among the inclusions, so confirm the meeting point, the Titicaca Experience bus office on Peru Street inside the La Paz terminal, before you pay. The listing also notes that large bags are not allowed on the tour day and suggests a taxi from the La Paz bus terminal to your hotel when the bus gets back at 6:30 AM. The listing marks it unsuitable for people with altitude sickness.

Bundle or Book Separately?

Bundling buys convenience: one booking, one operator to call if the bus is late, and a jeep already assigned. Booking separately buys choice. Shared full-day tours from Uyuni list at $78 to $95 with lunch, and two Todo Turismo Semicama seats at $44 each plus a $78 day tour add up to $166, against $299 for the package. What the separate route does not include is the coordination: if the bus runs late or a road blockade stops it, you absorb the lost tour day yourself.

One cash figure applies either way. The express package and the day loops stay on the salar, so the fee you meet is Isla Incahuasi at around 30 Bs (about $3), and the express package excludes entrance fees. The Eduardo Avaroa reserve fee of 150 Bs (about $13) for foreign visitors, cash only, applies only if you continue on a multi-day lagoons route.

The Same-Day Salt Flat Loop

The standard day loop from Uyuni takes 8 to 10 hours, and most of the shared ones finish with sunset. For example, one 8-hour small-group jeep covering the train cemetery, Colchani and Incahuasi Island with lunch runs from the salt flats highlights jeep tour listing at $90, with hotel pickup included and groups capped at 6. An overnight bus arriving at 6:00 AM to 7:00 AM fits this with about 3-4 hours to spare, if you have booked ahead and the operator knows your arrival time.

What a same-day loop cannot include: the lagoons, flamingos, geysers and hot springs of the southwest all sit on the 3-day route, hours of driving beyond the salar. If your Uyuni time is one day, book the day loop. If you have three, compare 3-day Uyuni tours and expect the second night at a basic, unheated refuge beside Laguna Colorada.

Altitude, Sleep and the Order of Your Days

Uyuni sits at 3,656 to 3,700 m depending on the source, and sources genuinely disagree, with published figures of 3,656 m, 3,663 m and 3,700 m for the town and salar. The CDC's guidance for travel above 3,000 m is to move your sleeping altitude by no more than about 500 m per night and to avoid jumping directly from below 1,200 m to above 2,750 m in one day. Its most protective step is 2-3 nights at around 2,450-2,750 m before going higher. Arriving from La Paz rather than crossing from San Pedro de Atacama at the 4,480 m Hito Cajón pass spares you the steepest jump, which is covered on the San Pedro crossing page.

The bigger risk comes on day two or three, if you continue to the southwest circuit, where the reserve spans 4,200 to 5,400 m and the Sol de Mañana geyser field sits at about 4,900 m by Wikipedia's figure, with 4,850 m and 4,905 m also cited. Coca-leaf tea is legal in Bolivia and offered as a traditional remedy, though no clinical trial evidence supports it. The practical fix is a night in Uyuni before a multi-day tour and an honest word with the operator about symptoms.

A Morning-of Checklist

Arriving on the bus at 6:00 AM with a tour start around 10:00 AM leaves a window of about 4 hours with three things to do. Confirm the pickup point the night before, in writing, because Todo Turismo arrives at an office on Av. Cabrera rather than a terminal and some operators meet at their own office instead of your hotel.

Carry bolivianos in small notes for the Incahuasi Island fee, around 30 Bs (about $3), and the reserve fee of 150 Bs (about $13) if your tour enters the reserve, since there are no ATMs near the salt flat. Eat something before boarding the jeep, because day tours include lunch but the morning is long, cold and at altitude.

Price and Time Compared

The table below compares the ways of covering La Paz to Uyuni using the fares and durations stated by the bus companies, the rail reference site and the flight aggregators cited on this page. Where no source publishes a figure, the cell says so. Confirm at booking, because Bolivian schedules and the train's indicative fares can change.

The Honest Bottom Line

For most travelers the overnight bus is the right default. It costs $44 to $49, it runs every night, and it delivers you to Uyuni in time for the morning tour start. Pay for the flight only if the schedule or your knees demand it, since the flight price is not published in the sources here and can shift.

The train only starts in Oruro and needs an extra connection from La Paz that no source here prices, which makes it a poor single-ticket choice for this specific question. The $299 package is the simplest door-to-salar option from La Paz, and its exclusion of entrance fees, around 30 Bs (about $3) per person in cash for Isla Incahuasi on its salar day, is the one extra to plan for.