How to Get Around Bolivia

Getting in. El Alto above La Paz and Viru Viru at Santa Cruz Department are the main international airports. El Alto is at 4,061 metres — among the highest commercial airports in the world — and arriving there directly from sea level means altitude symptoms within hours.

Buses are how Bolivians travel: cheap, extensive and variable. Overnight services between the main cities are comfortable in the better companies and grim in the cheap ones; roads in the highlands are mostly paved now, in the lowlands often not.

Internal flights save days on a country this large and are worth it for Rurrenabaque and Santa Cruz Department.

In La Paz, the Mi Teleférico cable car network — the longest urban system in the world — links the city to El Alto on the rim, and is both the practical way to move and the best view in Bolivia.

Driving is demanding: altitude, unpaved sections, and the Yungas road, which has a fearsome reputation. Most visitors use buses, tours or a driver.