This part of the world is high on the tourist radar for the Bolivian Salt flats (Salar de Uyuni) – they really are stunning, unique to just about anything I’ve seen anywhere in the world and fun to play around in. Crucially, they are also big enough so that you can avoid other tourists and so stand around with a nice feeling of magical awe in the middle of them (see the individual travel entry The Bolivian Salt Flats in Rainy Season for tips).
But . . . the real wow factor comes when you combine the salt flats with a 4WD trip between Uyuni (the Salt Flats, in Bolivia) and San Pedro in the Atacama desert (in Chile). Right up front – this is a long drive, the altitude sickness can be real and definitely don’t expect luxury, but seeing the AltiPlano – the Andes’ High Plateau (typically 3,800m / 12,400ft and second tallest after the Himalayas) of volcanoes, lakes and jaw-dropping vistas – is such an otherworldly experience that it comfortably falls into the top Wow-factor category. An unmissable adventure.
Views of the Andes Altiplano on the route from San Pedro de Atacama to the Salt Flats of Uyuni