Exploring Uyuni’s Salt Flats!

Dan and I visited Bolivia’s Uyuni salt flats in April and of course, we really wanted to experience the very best of the salt flats as efficiently as possible. We, however, did not want to do a multi night Salt Flats tour, which is common, as we heard from many sources that those tours were a bit backpack-ery, and that was just not what we were looking for… We ended up taking a full day tour of the Salt Flats from Uyuni and a separate star gazing night tour the following day. This articles details our Uyuni tours, which itinerary I understand is the same for most similarly priced companies.

The Salt Flats at sunset.

For those unfamiliar, seeing Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni is a wild experience. Located at over 12,000 feet above sea level, the salt flats span 4,000 square miles, going all the way from Uyuni town to the Chilean border. The salt flats are so large, you can see it from the sky, apparently even outer space. The salt flats look like a huge area covered in snow or sand, but it’s actually all salt. Yes, like the salt you put on food. Tourists come here from all over to experience the salt flats and see its unique landscape.

The Uyuni Salt Flats.

View of Uyuni Salt Flats from the plane.

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Hotel Review: Palacio de Sal, Uyuni, Bolivia.

Dan and I stayed a few nights at the Hotel Palacio de Sal in April 2023 on our trip through Bolivia.  We selected this hotel because it is super close to the Uyuni Salt Flats, looked luxurious online, and had a lovely looking pool. This article reviews the hotel and its amenities and food.

Hotel Palacio de Sal, located in the middle of nowhere.

HOTEL PALACIO DE SAL

Located just outside of the Uyuni Salt Flats in literally the middle of nowhere, Hotel Palacio de Sal self-identifies as the “first salt hotel” in the Uyuni Salt Flats. I’m not sure if this is accurate, but it is one of two hotels very close to the salt flats that I could find when booking our accommodation (the other being Hotel De Sal Luna Salada). We settled on Hotel Palacio de Sal for the sole reason that the pool looked nicer in photographs (and the pool did end up being one of my favorite parts of the hotel).

In any case, Hotel Palacio de Sal is located right on the edge of the Uyuni Salt Flats, near absolutely nothing else within an easy walk. Guests are pretty much “stuck” at the hotel unless they leave via car. This was fine, and we figured this going in. The hotel is also alleged “made of salt” from the salt flats. While it’s definitely not totally made of salt, some parts are made of salt, including the roof of our hotel room.  Salt is also featured prevalently throughout the hotel, kind of like sand often is at beach hotels. This was a cool feature!

Here is the hotel. It does indeed look outerspace-ish. The domes are all made of salt!

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