Uyuni, Bolivia

The town center of Uyuni, Bolivia
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Town_Centre_Uyuni_Bolivia.jpg
Author: Jialiang Gao


Uyuni is a city in southwestern Bolivia that serves as the gateway to Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flats in the world. Located at the edge of a plain about 3,700 m (12,139 ft) above sea level, it has a population of around 21,000 people (2012 estimate)

Uyuni was founded in 1890 as a trading post. Due to the harsh climate with limited source of water, the town cannot support agriculture in a large scale. Since the late 20th century, the town has developed its tourism infrastructure due to the proximity of Salar de Uyuni. Today some 60,000 visitors come here every year just to experience the scenery of the salt flats.

One of the unique attractions of Uyuni, apart from the salt flats, is the antique train cemetery. Located about 3 km outside the town center, it has a collection of trains which were once used by the mining companies until the mid 20th century, when the industry collapsed when the ores were depleted. Today many of these trains are still well preserved.

Salt farming at Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salar_de_Uyuni_salt_farming.jpg
Author: Phillie Casablanca

Visiting Uyuni

Uyuni has a small airport. There are flights from Cochabamba on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. You can also take a bus to Uyuni from La Paz, a journey of some 12-15 hours.

Places of Interest in Uyuni

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

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