From the Bolivian Amazon to the Yungas, the tropical rainforest area of Samaipata, through the semi-desert valleys and red canyons of the Mizque River. We cross the thousand valleys of the Andes Cordillera with passes over 4,600 meters, colonial cities and mining villages. We discover the magnificent and evocative landscapes of the Altiplano, the boundless plains, the Salar de Uyuni, the volcanoes, ending in style in the humid forest of the Yungas of La Paz on the cliffs of the Death Road.
Day 1: Thursday, November 6th - ITALY – SANTA CRUZ DE LA SIERRA
Departure with Iberia flight from Milan Malpensa. (not included)
Day 2: Friday, November 7th - ARRIVAL IN SANTA CRUZ - SAMAIPATA (-/-/D)
Ready to go in a 4x4, we head towards the first spurs of the Andes mountain range, climbing from the 400 meters of the Santa Cruz plain up to 1600 meters of Samaipata. The road crosses the green hills between La Guardia, El Torno and finally La Angostura, where we enter the Rio Piray valley, climbing more and more immersed in the lush vegetation of the Andean elbow, with the red sandstone mountains in the shape of a panettone typical of the Amazonian sierra.
A few kilometers from the town of Samaipata, we climb the hill of El Fuerte, from which there is a spectacular view of the transition zone between the first heights of the Andes and the wide Amazonian plain further east. From the two observation towers you can see the ruins from above, the gigantic sculpted monolith and the constructions of the square, the houses of the priests and the market. The El Fuerte complex was occupied from 2000 BC by various ethnic groups such as the Chané and Chiriguano, originating from the forest, and it was only in 1470 that the most famous inhabitants, the Incas, arrived. When the Spanish arrived and occupied the site in 1600, it had already been abandoned. During dinner, there will be a short informative briefing on the road conditions and the program for the following day.
Overnight stay in a hotel.
Day 3: Saturday, November 8th - SAMAIPATA – AIQUILE (B/-/D)
Breakfast at the hotel. Samaipata is a small town of 10,000 inhabitants founded by the Spanish colonizers, the name derives from Quechua and means "rest on the heights". In fact, it owes its name to the settlement of the ancient ceremonial center - known as Fuerte - not far away, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1998. We visit the square with the colonial church that houses the main altar in carved wood covered in 17th century gold leaf, a true jewel of colonial art. The very calm and relaxed atmosphere that you breathe in the town, away from the chaos of the city and with a temperate climate, together with the proximity to the Inca Fort and the Amboró National Park have made this hilly paradise an unmissable destination for many globetrotters, many of whom have settled here. We enter the first mountain ranges of the Andean elbow, as this area is called due to the sharp curve that the Andean cordillera makes to head south towards Argentina. After a couple of passes at about 3000 meters, we cross the Saipina pass, leaving behind the green and humid area of the Sierra replaced by the dry forest of thorny trees and cacti that covers the mesothermal areas of the cordillera, entering the valleys chosen by Ernesto "Che" Guevara for the guerrilla warfare against the dictatorship of General Barrientos. Between Saipina and Aiquile we visit a family-run farm where "chancaca" is produced, loaves of raw sugar extracted from sugar cane with traditional methods. We cross the canyon area of Peña Colorada, in the Ara Frente Roja conservation area, on a beautiful paved road in a continuous up and down in the desert, among rock formations and cacti, climbing higher and higher in an infinity of curves and hairpin bends.
Overnight stay in a hotel.
Day 4: Sunday, November 9th - AIQUILE – SUCRE - MARAGUA (B/-/D)
Breakfast at the hotel. Following a beautiful paved road, we reach Sucre in the morning. In 1991, UNESCO recognized Sucre as a World Heritage Site. The city attracts thousands of tourists every year thanks to the still well-preserved colonial buildings and the streets of the historic center, where you can still breathe the life of the times of Spanish domination with the wooden balconies/verandas where the ladies of the aristocracy looked out, the tiled roofs, the strictly white houses. After a short visit to the historic center, we continue climbing the Cordillera de Los Frailes about an hour from Sucre, making a pass at 3,800 meters we descend into the valley of the Rio Cachimayu following a winding dirt road to reach the crater of Maragua, where we will spend the night in the homonymous village inside the crater.
Overnight stay in a hostel.
Day 5: Monday, November 10th - MARAGUA - POTOSÍ (B/-/D)
After breakfast, we leave Maragua behind and descend to the Pilcomayo River, which divides the regions of Chuquisaca and Potosí, we stop to admire the beautiful recently restored suspension bridge. Potosí, famous for the mountain called Cerro Rico, a gigantic silver mine, is located at an altitude of 4,090 meters and is among the highest cities in the world.
The city was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1987, in recognition of the extraordinary quantity of industrial monuments (such as the aqueducts and artificial lakes that supplied water to the silver mines) and architectural ones such as the Casa de la Moneda, the mint of the Spanish crown, where silver was worked, the church of San Lorenzo and in general the historic center of the city, in colonial style. After the visit to the Casa de la Moneda, the afternoon will be free to explore the historic center.
Overnight stay in a hotel.
Day 6: Tuesday, November 11th - POTOSÍ – UYUNI – SALINAS GARZÍ MENDOZA(B/-/-)
Breakfast at the hotel. We continue climbing towards the Altiplano, we will have a drastic change of landscape, which becomes semi-desert, and we begin to see the first llamas and vicuñas. We are in one of the main mining areas of Bolivia, where the particular geological formations have brought to the surface over the millennia silver, tin, wolfram, manganese and gold. The latest arrival is lithium, which is abundant in the salt flats that we will see in the distance from the viewpoint shortly before arriving in Uyuni. A dazzling expanse of salt of about 10,000 km2 which estimates give deep about 250 meters. The Salar, in addition to being a recent tourist attraction, was in the past a caravan route to carry minerals on the back of llamas to the ports of the Pacific, and now it is exploited for the extraction of lithium. We find a sandy and tortuous track, surrounded by fields of Quinoa, a pseudo-cereal plant very nutritious known since before the Incas populated these areas, which manages to grow in these areas of extreme climate on land of salty sand and very little rainfall. We cross the city of Uyuni to continue north and finally enter the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world. A true sea, with islands of land very far from the shore, and to the north a magnificent guardian, the Tunupa volcano. We cross it to the island of Incahuasi, from the Quechua "house of the Inca", where with a short trek we reach the panoramic point from which you have a 360 degree view of the salt lake. We continue to the town of Salinas, where we will spend the night in a lodge.
Day 7: Wednesday, November 12th - SALINAS – ORURO – EL ALTO (B/-/D)
Breakfast at the hotel. The journey continues in the vastness of the Altiplano, with Lake Poopó accompanying us for several kilometers. We make a stop in Challapata, both for maintenance of the motorcycles and the 4x4 after the treatment of salt and sandy tracks and to refresh ourselves. We arrive in Oruro in the afternoon, the name of the city derives from the Uros or Uru, a population famous for the processing of ceramics from which also derives the name of Lake Uru Uru. The most important festival is the carnival where women and men in sumptuous costumes enact allegorical representations where good must defeat evil. During these events, traditional dances are danced, including the Diablada. We continue on an asphalted road to El Alto, a satellite metropolis of La Paz with over 1.5 million inhabitants. After settling in the hotel, we visit La Paz from above using the various cable car lines that fly over the city.
Overnight stay in a hotel.
Day 8: Thursday, November 13th - LA PAZ – DEATH ROAD - COROICO (B/-/D)
After breakfast, we cross La Paz, which we will see for now only in passing and reach the La Cumbre pass at 4,600 meters, from where we descend to 1,700 meters of altitude on an asphalted road in the Yungas area, the humid region of tropical forest. We descend into the Yungas following the asphalted road, safer than the Death Road which we will instead travel uphill. We visit the shelter for wild animals that are rescued from poachers, where we can familiarize ourselves with howler monkeys, capuchins, spiders. There are also anteaters, tapirs, coatis, as well as various varieties of macaws.
Overnight stay in a hotel.
Day 9: Friday, November 14th COROICO – DEATH ROAD – LA PAZ (B/-/D)
Breakfast at the hotel. We return to La Paz along the road that until a few years ago was the only connection between this region and the city, and which has earned the name Camino de la Muerte or Death Road due to its danger and the number of fatal accidents. Today it is mainly used by tourists, trucks no longer circulate and fortunately there are very few vehicles. Overnight at the hotel.
Day 10: Saturday, November 15th LA PAZ – flight to ITALY (B/-/-)
Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to the airport for the return flight to Italy operated by Iberia via Madrid.
Day 11: Sunday, November 16th arr. ITALY
Arrival in Italy scheduled for the afternoon.
Participation Fees – minimum 8 participants
Rider: €4,470.00
Passenger in 4x4 jeep: €3,270.00
Single supplement: €860.00
Intercontinental flight: - upon request
Medical/luggage insurance: €85.00
Cancellation insurance supplement: €270.00
Fees Include
8 nights in hotels, hostels, guesthouses, and mountain huts in the most remote areas, in double rooms
All breakfasts
All dinners
Arrival and departure transfers to and from the airport with a local assistant
Motorcycle tour leader from Italy
Rental of Honda Dominator 650 motorcycle
Local Italian-speaking guide
Fuel for motorcycles and pick-up truck
Support vehicles following the group for luggage transport (max. 30 kg per person)
Driver/Mechanic following the group
Entrance fees to parks and protected areas
Gadgets, luggage tags, and various informational materials
Insurance for medical assistance, repatriation, and luggage damage
Fees Do NOT Include
Intercontinental flights to and from Italy
Airport taxes to be included in the ticket
Meals not mentioned, drinks, tips, personal extras, excess baggage
Optional excursions and anything not mentioned under "the fee includes"
