La Paz & the Andes Trips & Tours

La Paz doesn't so much sit in the Andes as spill down them — Bolivia's seat of government drops from El Alto, at over 4,000 metres, down through a steep bowl of red-brick houses to the more sheltered streets below, all of it stitched together by Mi Teleférico, the world's highest and longest urban cable car network. Ride the Yellow Line at sunset and Mount Illimani glows pink on the horizon; wander instead through the Witches' Market and Aymara yatiris will sell you dried llama foetuses and herbal remedies for whatever ails you, no questions asked. Beyond the city, the Andes keep delivering: the eroded spires of the Valle de la Luna look faintly lunar, while the old Yungas Road — once notorious as one of the world's most dangerous — now draws cyclists chasing its plunge from icy mountain pass to steamy jungle valley in a single ride. Altitude aside, this is Bolivia at its rawest and most vertical.