Uyuni
A railway town on the Bolivian Altiplano at the edge of the Salar de Uyuni, more than ten thousand square kilometres of white salt crust under a high, clear sky.
- Arrival
- Uyuni · UYU
- To the town
- About 3 km from the airport
- Private jets
- Daytime only; no fuel, no customs
- Best time
- April to November
The city
White to the horizon.
The Salar de Uyuni covers some 10,582 square kilometres at about 3,650 metres, the largest salt flat on earth. Its crust hides a brine rich in lithium, and out in the middle Incahuasi rises like an island, covered in giant cacti. Uyuni itself grew with the railways the British built across the plateau in the 1880s and 1890s.
From April to November barely any rain falls and the crust lies bare and white; days stay cool at this height. When rain falls in the summer months, a film of still water turns the salar into a mirror for the clouds. Hotels built of salt blocks stand at its edge.
- Incahuasi A rocky island in the middle of the salt, crowded with giant cacti.
- Train cemetery Locomotives rusting on old track about 3 km outside town, abandoned when the mines failed in the 1940s.
- Tunupa The volcano beside the salar, one of the giants of Aymara legend and still revered.
Arriving
A long runway at 3,665 metres.
Uyuni's airport opened in 2011 just outside the town, with a runway of about 4,000 m to suit the thin air at 3,665 m. It is open from 06:00 to 15:00, and later only on request.
- Lima 2 h 15
- Santiago 2 h 15
- Buenos Aires 2 h 40
- St Maarten 5 h 55
- London 13 h 30 long-range jet
When to go
April to November.
On the high plateau the thermometer rarely tops 18 °C, so rain marks the seasons. From April to October rainfall is a millimetre or two a month; December to March bring the summer rain, at most about 40 mm a month.
- 17° J 42
- 16° F 37
- 16° M 27
- 17° A 1
- 15° M 1
- 14° J 1
- 13° J 1
- 15° A 1
- 16° S 2
- 17° O 1
- 18° N 10
- 17° D 22
Elsewhere in Bolivia
More reasons to come.
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