La Paz

Advantages: A lively and exciting city
Disadvantages: Thieves all over the place

La Paz - Bolivia's capital - is an incredibly lively, colourful, bustling city with loads of character. From around 4060m at its highest point to 3100m at its lowest (the better off you are, the lower down you live), the city sprawls across a huge valley surrounded by massive snow-capped mountains, and it looks amazing. Because La Paz sometimes seems to be so full of bustling people and honking taxis and in-your-face street-sellers and things going ...
...such a buzz to it La Paz is a great city just to have a wander around - past all the street-sellers and salteña stands and traditional women wearing colourful Aymara dress, who in turn walk past the trendy businessmen wearing suits and sunglasses, and the markets and witchcraft stalls and the little minibuses on the main road, which constantly holler their fares and destinations as they drive along. And the people dressed up in zebra costumes who ... Read review

Advantages: Amazing sights, very cheap, unique city, great shopping
Disadvantages: Altitude sickness, hard to get around

...a smaller plane bound for La Paz. You've no idea what time of what day it is in what part of the world. You get the feeling it's going to be one of those days........ That is until the captain comes on and asks you to fasten seatbelts, as you're preparing for landing. You do so almost mechanically as you have done with every other flight. But all of a sudden you realise something's wrong. Something's very wrong. The planes going UP. Turning to look ...
...times during your time in La Paz you're going to be truly speechless. looking out the window, you can see a vast volcano below, thousands upon thousands of buildings spreading from the very centre up the walls of the crater, and the plane is soaring above them all, heading for the highest point of the volcano where the airport lies. This was how our trip to La Paz began as has so many others, and it is certainly worth visiting the city just for this ... Read review

Advantages: Unforgettable scenery and people
Disadvantages: Very basic living standards

Arriving at La Paz by bus is somewhat of a shock to the system. This is in part due to the altitude (particularly if arriving by plane which is meant to be harsher). I am (reasonably) fit, young (25) and healthy, and found it a little difficult and therefore anyone travelling here will be well advised to take it very easy at first. I can't tell you about the airport etc. 'cause I didn’t come that way! Arriving by bus is an amazing experience ...
...city, The main street of La Paz is level (more or less) - everything else is uphill from that point. It can make for tiring sightseeing, but on the positive side you will shedloads healthier by the time you leave! On arrival in the main station, you WILL be tired and exhausted. Its best to time the journey so that you get there at about 10 AM - as the taxi drivers seem to be less cunning at this time. Here I was very lucky, as I had a nice Bolivian ... Read review

Advantages: World's highest capital that's high on life.
Disadvantages: Oxygen tanks are expensive.

...population of 1.5 million people La Paz has become an important stop on the gringo trail in South America. As well as being the capital of Bolivia (excepting Sucre of course, the constitutional capital) it is also the highest capital in the world sitting at a breath stealing 3,600 metres above sea level. La Paz can be a chaotic town at times and its people are often in your face (and in your pocket if you are not careful!) but overall there are less ...
...you blank them. La Paz has a maze of steep cobblestoned streets that are surprising slippy especially late at night (funny that!). The most popular tourist street is calle Sagarnaga which has many of the better hotels, souvenir stalls and internet cafes. Plaza San Francisco is as near a centre as you'll get. It's not exactly that much to look at aesthetically but the constant whirl of people, stalls, ornate buildings and the huge concrete head (with ... Read review

Advantages: Mysterious, steeped in culture,
Disadvantages: altitude

I visited La Paz in early 1996 during my gap year whilst I was backpacking. Being the highest capital city in the world, altitude sickness can be a problem. We were ok, but we had been high in the Andes for a few days before arriving and when we first got up high we felt light headed, headachey and a bit sick! This can be avoided if you tell yourself to take it easy, and don't smoke as many cigarettes as usual (like I did!). Once over the altitude ...
...dried llama foetuses..... La Paz is really really cheap so stock up on your woolly jumpers here and all those ethnic goodies!! Food is cheap to, but watch what you eat I don't think the word hygeine had been invented in some places I went! We found a friendly hostel really quickly using our Lonely Planet guide book, we met a number of other travellers there which was good. We were able to organise a trip to Ruinerbaque, in the rainforest, by hiring ... Read review