La Paz: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
La Paz, founded in 1548, fills a deep canyon at about three thousand six hundred metres, the highest seat of government in the world. From 1938 to 1941 Bolivia took in some twenty thousand Jewish refugees from Europe, with the help of the tin magnate Mauricio Hochschild; a small Jewish community still lives in the city. Bolivia cut relations with Israel in 2023; check the visa rules for Israeli passports. Half a day on foot; rest first, the altitude is serious.
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A short history of La Paz
The Spanish founded the city in 1548, after a civil war among the conquistadors themselves, and named it "Our Lady of Peace". It was built inside a deep canyon at an altitude of about 3,600 metres, on the silver road that ran down from the mines of Potosí to the coast. In 1809 one of the first uprisings against Spain in South America broke out here. In 1899, after a civil war between La Paz and Sucre, the government and parliament moved here, although Sucre remained the capital under the constitution. In the late 1930s Bolivia took in thousands of Jewish refugees from Europe, and many of them settled here. Since 2014 urban cable car lines have linked the lower city with El Alto above it, and they have become ordinary public transport.
The ten best sights in La Paz
1Plaza MurilloThe square of power and pigeons
2Cathedral of La PazOn the square, beside the palace
3Palacio QuemadoThe burned palace
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4Museo de Etnografía y Folklore
Masks and textiles of the Andes
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5Calle Jaén
The best-kept colonial street
6San FranciscoA carved mestizo baroque church; roof tours
7Museo de la CocaThe sacred leaf and the drug
8Cementerio GeneralWalls of tombs painted with murals
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9Mirador Killi Killi
The whole bowl of the city
10El AltoCholets and Sunday wrestling
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in La Paz →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in La Paz:
Free walking tours in La Paz
The highest seat of government
La Paz, founded in 1548, fills a deep canyon at about three thousand six hundred metres, the highest seat of government in the world. From 1938 to 1941 Bolivia took in some twenty thousand Jewish refugees from Europe, with the help of the tin magnate Mauricio Hochschild; a small Jewish community still lives in the city. Bolivia cut relations with Israel in 2023; check the visa rules for Israeli passports. Half a day on foot; rest first, the altitude is serious.
- Plaza Murillo · The square of government, where in 1946 a mob dragged President Gualberto Villarroel from the palace and hanged him from a lamppost. On the Legislative Assembly the clock has run backwards since 2014, a gesture of the government of the time to the south.
- Palacio Quemado · The presidential palace is still called the burned palace, after rebels set it on fire during an uprising in 1875; Bolivia has had more coups and attempted coups than almost any country.
- Museo de Etnografía y Folklore · A colonial mansion holding masks of the Andean dances — devils, condors, bears — and a room of textiles showing the weaving of dozens of peoples over two thousand years.
- Calle Jaén · A cobbled colonial street of painted houses and small museums, kept almost as it was, said to be haunted by a ghost woman who leads men astray.
- San Francisco · A church of the 1750s–1780s whose stone facade is carved in the mestizo baroque with Andean faces, birds and fruits; a staircase leads to its roof for a view over the city.
- Witches’ Market · Stalls of herbs, charms and potions, and dried llama foetuses, which are buried under the foundations of new buildings as an offering to Pachamama, Mother Earth, for the luck and safety of the house.
Up to El Alto
La Paz is linked to El Alto, the Aymara city on the high plain above it, by Mi Teleférico, a network of cable cars opened from 2014 that is the largest urban cable car system in the world. Half a day; El Alto is best on Thursday or Sunday.
- Cementerio General · A city of tombs stacked in walls several storeys high, now painted with large murals. On the Day of the Ñatitas in November, families bring decorated skulls of their ancestors to be blessed.
- Teleférico Red Line · The first line, which climbs some four hundred metres in about ten minutes from the old railway station to El Alto, replacing a bus journey of an hour through traffic.
- El Alto · A city of about a million mostly Aymara people at over four thousand metres, home of the Thursday and Sunday market of 16 de Julio, the cholets — colourful neo-Andean mansions designed by the architect Freddy Mamani — and the wrestling of the cholitas, women fighters in pollera skirts.
- Mirador Killi Killi · A viewpoint on a hill in the city where the whole bowl of La Paz spreads below, the red-brick houses climbing the canyon walls up to El Alto, with the snow peak of Illimani behind.
- Museo de la Coca · A small museum of the coca leaf, chewed in the Andes for thousands of years against cold, hunger and altitude and still legal in Bolivia, and of how it became cocaine.
- Calle Sagárnaga · The steep street of alpaca sweaters, ponchos and bags climbing above San Francisco, and the base for tour agencies to Uyuni and the Death Road.
Moon, glacier and the Death Road
Around La Paz the landscape falls from snow peaks to jungle. Each stop is a separate day or half day; for the Death Road, choose a reputable bike operator.
- Zona Sur · The southern district, several hundred metres lower and warmer than the centre, where the well-off live — in La Paz, unusually, the rich live at the bottom and the poor at the top.
- Valle de la Luna · A small valley of clay and sandstone eroded into spires and canyons, said to have been named by Neil Armstrong, who thought it looked like the Moon when he visited.
- Chacaltaya · A mountain of about five thousand four hundred metres that once had the highest ski slope in the world, on a glacier that melted away completely by 2009 — one of the clearest signs of climate change in the Andes.
- Tiwanaku · The capital of a civilisation that flourished near Lake Titicaca from about 500 to 1000 AD, long before the Incas, with the Gate of the Sun carved from a single block of stone. A World Heritage site since 2000.
- Coroico · The town at the bottom of the North Yungas road, once called the most dangerous road in the world, which cyclists ride down from about four thousand seven hundred metres to the jungle. Nearby live Afro-Bolivian communities, descendants of slaves brought to the silver mines.
- El Alto Airport · One of the highest international airports in the world, at about four thousand metres; arriving passengers are often offered oxygen, and planes need extra-long runways to take off.
Getting to La Paz and getting around
- El Alto Airport · At about 4,000 metres, above the city
- Bus terminal · Buses to Copacabana, Uyuni and Sucre
- Teleférico Red Line · Cable cars up to El Alto
Cheap eats in La Paz
La Paz eats on the street: salteñas, juicy baked pastries full of a sweet-spicy meat stew, eaten mid-morning and gone by noon; api, a hot purple corn drink, with buñuelos at dawn; anticuchos, grilled beef heart skewers at night; and the sandwich de chola, roast pork with pickles. A salteña costs about a dollar.
- Mercado Rodríguez · Morning salteñas
- El Alto · Market food at 16 de Julio
- Calle Sagárnaga · Coca tea and cafés
Museums in La Paz
La Paz’s museums tell of Andean dance, coca and the Tiwanaku civilisation.
- Museo de Etnografía y Folklore · Masks and textiles
- Museo de la Coca · The coca leaf
- Tiwanaku · The site museums
Nature and day trips near La Paz
Snow peaks, a moon valley and the fall from the Andes to the jungle.
- Chacaltaya · The vanished glacier
- Valle de la Luna · Clay spires
- Coroico · The Yungas
Things to do in La Paz with kids
With children: riding the cable cars, a moon landscape and cholita wrestling.
- Teleférico Red Line · The cable cars
- Valle de la Luna · The moon valley
- El Alto · Cholita wrestling
Holy places in La Paz
Catholic churches beside a living Andean faith of offerings to Mother Earth.
- San Francisco · The carved church
- Witches’ Market · Offerings to Pachamama
- Cementerio General · The skulls of Ñatitas
Nightlife in La Paz
La Paz’s nights are peñas with folk music, bars around Sopocachi and the lit bowl of the city seen from above.
- Mirador Killi Killi · The city lights
- Calle Jaén · Peñas nearby
Frequently asked questions about La Paz
What is there to see in La Paz?
The top sights in La Paz are Plaza Murillo, Cathedral of La Paz and Palacio Quemado. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in La Paz?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of La Paz without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in La Paz?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in La Paz, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The highest seat of government.
How do you get to La Paz and get around?
The main ways are El Alto Airport, Bus terminal and Teleférico Red Line. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in La Paz, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in La Paz that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in La Paz for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.