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BOLIVIA TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATIONTravel and transportation can be a real challenge in Bolivia. Landlocked Bolivia is likely the most isolated of all countries in South America. It has just slightly more than nine million people and the majority live in one of three large cities:
Santa Cruz,
Cochabamba and La Paz,
as well as several secondary cities such as: Oruro, Potosí, Sucre, Tarija, Yacuiba, and Trinidad. The remaining portion of the population is widely dispersed throughout the country in much smaller towns and villages and other remote rural regions, most of which can only be reached by river or dirt road.
In Bolivia, traveling by road through remote areas or the Andes Mountains and dense jungles of the Yungas is hazardous and it can take hours and hours to cover just one hundred kilometers by bus and even longer by motorcycle or bicycle. You could opt to rent a car and shorten the trip by one or two hours. While four-wheel drive vehicles can cost more, upwards of $50 per day, including insurance, sometimes it is the best way to go. The extra money you spend on the vehicle will be time saved on the snail-like buses and will save you many headaches during your Bolivia trip. Despite these difficulties, most shipping is done overland by truck to ports in Chile and Peru with which Bolivia has agreements. For small packages see my section on couriers and postal services. The villages surrounding Lake Titicaca rely on reed boats, motorboats, and rowboats for transportation, while hovercraft are used primarily by tourists to cross the lake into Peru. Tour boats will take you to the Islands of the Sun and Moon. Barges and small boats with outboard motors are used to navigate and transport cargo and people by river throughout the country, especially in the tropical eastern plains, although Bolivia has only a few well-equipped ports along these
waterways.
It may be because of this that Bolivia is 7th among all nations in the world in terms of the number of airports and landing strips are found here, (over 1200, although most of them are just short dirt runways). The cities of La Paz and Santa Cruz are major international airports, both with customs and immigration services, and Cochabamba has the third largest airport in the nation. Numerous national and international airlines connect Bolivia to the rest of the world. In major urban areas local buses, mini-buses, taxis, motorcycle taxis abound and most of the population is accustomed to using public transportation. If you rent a car or own a vehicle, you’ll need an acceptable driver's license, but these are easily acquired. And most cities have several companies that provide towing services, should it become necessary. However you choose to get around, some creativity and much patience will be needed. Bolivian travel agencies are your best source for further information on travel, touring, transportation. Be sure to read this very important section on traveling with kids on laws for single parents, unaccompanied minors, foreign children, adopted children, or orphans. Here you'll find info on pet relocation, documents, quarantines, medications for anxiety, and everything you'll want to know if you plan to travel with pets.
Click here for current travel and security information for US citizens and ways to contact the US Embassy in Bolivia and its associated consular agencies (this list also includes all other foreign embassies in Bolivia). Be sure to read these special pages on preparing to travel to Bolivia before your trip. And once you're here, be sure to take these suggested international travel precautions. You might find these tips on etiquette in Bolivia helpful while you are here as well as some Spanish in Bolivia. The following are Bolivian holidays.
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