Getting in and visas for Bolivia

By plane

Air travel is the obvious way to get to Bolivia, the main airports are located in La Paz to the western side of the country and in Santa Cruz to the east. The arrival plan must be based mostly in the purpose of your visit to the country; you have to remember that La Paz receives most of their visitors due to the immense culture and heritage from the Incas and other indigenous cultures from the Andean region, and therefore from La Paz it is easier to move to the Tiwanaku ruins, Oruro’s carnival, Potosí’s mines, Uyuni, Lake Titicaca, Los Yungas valley and the Andes mountains; since La Paz is the seat of government all the embassies and foreign organizations has their headquarters in the city in case of any emergency nevertheless there are councils from some countries with offices in Santa Cruz. On the other side, Santa Cruz with a warmer weather could become a good location for doing business visit other alternatives in tourism like the Misiones, the Noel Kempff Mercado national park or visit the eastern cities. But don’t forget that the cities in the south and central Bolivia, like Cochabamba, Tarija and Sucre also offer a very rich experience, there are several to get to these cities from La Paz or Santa Cruz. From the USA There are departures from Miami to La Paz and Santa Cruz with the Bolivian airline Aerosur, and other nations’ airlines including American Airlines, TACA, LAN Chile, LACSA, Avianca, among others. The price could go from 522$us with a duration of 6 Hours and 20 minutes in a direct flight Miami-La Paz provided by American companies and 685$us with a duration of 8-17 hours in flights from Miami-Santa Cruz-La Paz provided by Aerosur. Other Latin American companies also offer less expensive flights with scales in Lima, Bogotá or other cities in the continent. American Airlines, Delta Airlines, United Airlines and Continental Airlines also offer flights from major US cities to La Paz but all of them make scales in Miami before heading to the Andean city. From Europe Regular flights are booked from Madrid (Barajas) to the International Airport in El Alto, La Paz and Viru Viru in Santa Cruz service provided by companies like Aerolineas Argentinas, Air Comet, Delta Airlines, KLM and Aerosur; the last one only offering the route Madrid-Santa Cruz-La Paz, while the others stop directly in La Paz; the cost could go from 1000-1200€ to other higher prices depending on the class and duration. There are also less frequent flights to La Paz from other major European cities like London, Rome, Amsterdam, Berlin but they may have scales in other European cities before crossing the Atlantic. Once you have your international flight booked - its far easier and cheaper to organize your internal flights from the point of departure. From within South America Gol airlines will have your best deals to Brazil, and Aerolinea Argentina the best deals to Argentina. LAN Chile/Peru will always have flights between Bolivia and these countries but many budget travelers still find them a bit expensive and prefer overland options

By train

There are many train lines in Bolivia, each with varying degrees of quality and efficiency. However, adequate transportation via train can be found. The FCA timetable can be found at their website [2]. Watch your belongings.

By car

It is common for tourists to travel through a land border at the north-east of Chile/ South-West of Bolivia. Keep in mind that only about 5% of all the roads in Bolivia are paved. However, most major routes between cities are paved (Aka big cities, Santa Cruz, La Paz, Cochabamba, Sucre) . 4x4 is particularly required when off the flatter altiplano. Be aware that in mountainous regions traffic sometimes switches sides of the road. This is to ensure the driver has a better view of the dangerous drops. An international drivers license is required but * most* times EU or US drivers licenses will be accepted. There are frequent police controls on the road and tolls to be paid for road use.

By bus

There are many options for traveling from Argentina to Bolivia by bus. Check out the Bolivian Embassy's website [3] in Argentina for specific options. There is also a bus that runs from Juliaca and Puno in Peru to Copacabana.

By boat

It is common for tourists to arrive in Bolivia by boat, by navigating from the port city of Puno, Peru, over Lake Titicaca.