La Paz

A FEW FACTS: La Paz is the capital of Bolivia which is a land locked country next to Peru in South America. It is one of the poorest South American countries but this I no way detracts from its charm as a country to visit. Strangely in La Paz the wealthier you are the closer to the bottom of the valley in La Paz is where you live. The poorer people live higher up the mountain sides and so get the best views, I'm not sure why this is whether they ...
...You can fly in to La Paz airport in El Alto which is where we flew out from. They have flights from several South American countries. I'm not sure if you can fly direct from Europe, you may have to go via the USA. We had come by the Andean Express to Puno near Lake Titicaca and the driven over the border to Copacobana in Bolivia. We then went across Lake Titicaca to Huata Hatta where we stayed for one night. We left on our way to La Paz from Huata ...

catsholiday 23.06.2009 · Read full review
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Review of La Paz

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 ...

butimba 26.02.2008 · Read full review
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Review of La Paz

...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 ...

Garth87 28.02.2006 · Read full review
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Review of La Paz

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 ...

bergmcberg 18.12.2004 · Read full review
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Review of La Paz

La Paz is occasionally dubbed the highest capital city in the world - this is partly true; lowland Sucre is Bolivia's constitutional capital, although 4,000 metre-high La Paz certainly plays the central role of the nation's cities. Its considerable altitude has hit the headlines of late after football's world governing body, FIFA, banned matches being played in the city, tired of the tendencies of Bolivia and its Andean neighbours, Ecuador and Peru, ...
...is the first sight of La Paz - the effect perhaps multiplied by the distinctly underwhelming approach all visitors will make through the sprawling city of El Alto which surrounds the canyon in which La Paz lies. It's truly a stunning, slightly surreal moment when the dusty, worn-down and traffic-jammed streets of El Alto ('the high one') open up at the lip of the great bowl and clear air fills your eyeline. Look down, though, and La Paz spreads out ...

Puggers 07.05.2009 · Read full review
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Review of La Paz

...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 ...

indiecater 12.12.2002 · Read full review
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Review of La Paz

La Paz is famously located at 3660 metres above sea-level and is the highest capital city in the world (that even beats Lhasa, Tibet!). Furthermore, it's setting in a crater makes this one of the most impressive cities in the world to bus into- as you pass out of El Alto the road suddenly drops down from the altiplano and there are stunning views over the whole city as the bus winds down the side of the canyon before finally descending into the chaos ...
...to see La Paz is just to wander around the centre and explore for yourself. The markets are colourful, hectic and give a good slice of this largely indigenous city. In particular el mercado de los brujos, or the witches' market is chaotic and fascinating-you can buy anything from tourist souvenirs, fake DVDs to local charms such as a llama foetus. The market is off Saganaga calle at Linares. The second market which is definitely worth a visit is ...

flyingllamas 08.07.2009 · Read full review
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Review of La Paz

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 ...

alisonr 03.08.2000 · Read full review
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Review of La Paz

I visited La Paz a few years ago. The city is the highest anywhere - many people suffer altitude sickness for a day or two, although we found that it wasn't too bad when we took it very easy to start with! The city is very beautiful - set in snow - capped mountains. There are many historic areas, as well as many new (half - built) houses. A great place to buy Bolivian goods - fabrics etc. Take warm clothes even in the summer - you can tan and catch ...

paulhodson 17.07.2000 · Read full review
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Review of La Paz

We went to La Paz for 3 days in September 2006. We flew from Buenos Aires and arrived at the airport in La Paz and immediately noticed how different we felt. The air was very thin and we had to slow down. We had been warned to take it easy and providing you take the advice seriously, there is no reason why you cannot enjoy the delights of La Paz. After checking into our hotel we had a stroll around the wonderful markets, decided where to return the ...
...long sleep, so arriving in La Paz at night is a good start, so that you can go to bed more or less straight away. I was not too keen about eating from the market stalls even though the smells were delicious, instead we ate at our hotel which had an excellent restaurant. We did buy popcorn and pineapple slices from a stall holder and have lived to tell the tale! Its a fascinating place and we were more than happy to spend our days strolling around ...

SusanLydia123 23.03.2007 · Read full review
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Review of La Paz