The things to do in La Paz do not reward the standard checklist sprint, because at 3,640 meters your first day is a negotiation with your own lungs. So this list of things to do in La Paz Bolivia is ordered the way we actually schedule it for travelers: gentle wins on day one, the city proper on day two, and the big engines, Death Road, Tiwanaku, Chacaltaya, once you have acclimatized. Twelve picks, honestly graded.
The short version: ride the teleferico at sunset, give the Witches Market and Jaen street your first stroll, save cholita wrestling for an El Alto evening, and do not attempt Chacaltaya or the Death Road before day three. The altitude math behind that pacing is in our La Paz elevation guide.
In This Guide
The 12 La Paz Attractions at a Glance
| # | What | Effort | Best day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mi Teleferico network | None, you sit | 1 |
| 2 | Witches Market and Sagarnaga | Low | 1 |
| 3 | Calle Jaen museums | Low | 1 |
| 4 | Plaza Murillo and the backwards clock | Low | 1 |
| 5 | Mercado Lanza and a salteña education | Low | 1-2 |
| 6 | Valle de la Luna | Low-medium | 2 |
| 7 | El Alto feria and the rim viewpoints | Medium | 2 |
| 8 | Cholita wrestling | Low, evening | 2 |
| 9 | Killi Killi viewpoint | Medium | 2-3 |
| 10 | Death Road bike descent | High | 3+ |
| 11 | Tiwanaku ruins | Medium | 3+ |
| 12 | Chacaltaya at 5,395 m | High altitude | 3+ |
What to Do in La Paz on Day One: Gentle Wins
1. Mi Teleferico. The best first afternoon in Bolivia costs about three bolivianos a line: the largest urban cable-car network on earth, built as public transport and doubling as the greatest city viewpoint in the Americas. Ride the red line to the El Alto rim for sunset when the whole bowl lights up, then the yellow toward Sopocachi. You sit, the city performs, your lungs thank you.
2. The Witches Market. On Sagarnaga and Linares, herb stalls, coca leaf, sweets for Pachamama and, yes, dried llama offerings, sit two blocks from colonial churches. Go with curiosity rather than a camera-first attitude, buy the coca tea, and let a vendor explain what is actually for sale, most of it is everyday Aymara household ritual, not spectacle.
3. Calle Jaen. The best-preserved colonial lane in the city holds five small museums, of which the Museo de Metales Preciosos and the Murillo house are the keepers, all doable in ninety unhurried minutes.
4. Plaza Murillo. Government square, pigeon chaos, the cathedral, and on the congress facade the famous clock that runs backwards. Read our facts about Bolivia first and the square doubles as a history lesson.
5. Mercado Lanza and the salteña. Bolivia is eaten mid-morning: the salteña, a juicy baked empanada with a technique to it. Order two, hold them upright, and accept the local grading of your first attempt.
Two more first-day stops sit right on this circuit: the mestizo-baroque Basilica de San Francisco, whose rooftop tour earns its small fee, and the tiny Coca Museum just off Linares, which explains in twenty minutes what half the market stalls outside are actually selling. And once the mid-morning hunger hits, our guide to eating in La Paz maps where that first saltena should happen, zone by zone.
Day-one bonus with zero planning: the donation-based walking tours leave from Plaza San Pedro and the Sagarnaga slope twice daily, and two hours with a paceno guide will organize everything else on this list. Watch for the zebra traffic guides on the way, the municipal program that turned crosswalks into street theater.
Things to Do in La Paz, Day Two: The City Properly
6. Valle de la Luna. Twenty minutes below the center, an eroded maze of clay spires best in late light, pairs naturally with lunch in Zona Sur, which also happens to sit 400 useful meters lower.
7. El Alto and the feria. Thursday and Sunday mornings, the rim city hosts one of the largest open markets on the continent: engine blocks to bowler hats across dozens of blocks. Go early, go light, ideally go accompanied, and descend by cable car with the city map finally making sense.
8. Cholita wrestling. El Alto evenings, Aymara women in full pollera flying off the ropes in shows the cholitas themselves run and profit from. It is camp, sport and cultural statement at once, and the crowd is half the show.
9. Killi Killi. The classic in-city viewpoint, a taxi ride up from the center, with the full amphitheater of La Paz and Illimani behind it. Cheaper than a postcard and better.
Round out day two with the Cementerio General, whose stacked, painted burial niches read like a folk-art museum of paceno life, and if your dates land in late May or June, drop everything for Gran Poder: the UNESCO-listed festival that takes over the city with tens of thousands of costumed dancers. After dark, Sopocachi is the neighborhood that stays awake, with pena folklore shows and a compact bar strip around Plaza Avaroa.
While you are up on the rim, look at the buildings too: the cholets of El Alto, the neon neo-Andean party mansions of architect Freddy Mamani, are the most distinctive architecture Bolivia has produced this century, and several open for tours and events.
Day Three and Beyond: The Big Day Trips
10. The Death Road. The 64-kilometer descent from La Cumbre into the Yungas is the most famous day trip in Bolivia and it deserves its own briefing: history, honest risk math and the operator checklist live in our Death Road Bolivia guide. Ride it acclimatized, never on day one.
11. Tiwanaku. Ninety minutes toward the lake, the UNESCO-listed capital of an empire that predates the Inca by centuries: the Gate of the Sun, the sunken temple with its stone faces, the Akapana pyramid. It underwhelms the unprepared and rewards the guided, take context with you.
12. Chacaltaya. A road reaches 5,300 meters at a ghost ski station, and a twenty-minute walk gains the 5,395-meter summit: glacier views, Titicaca on clear days, and the cheapest 5,000er on the continent. Only acclimatized, only slowly. From here the route logic continues south, and the Bolivia itinerary takes over the sequencing toward the salar.
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The other classic day trips from La Paz run in every direction: Lake Titicaca at Copacabana and Isla del Sol sits about three and a half hours away and honestly deserves an overnight rather than a rushed loop, which is exactly how our Bolivia itinerary routes it, while the Muela del Diablo monolith gives hikers a half-day climb with the whole city bowl below. Stack the long ones from day three onward; your lungs set the schedule here.
The adrenaline shelf runs deeper than the famous ride: Urban Rush rappels you face-first off a downtown high-rise for about $25, a via ferrata and zipline circuit hangs over the Yungas, and acclimatized hikers day-trip to Pico Austria at 5,300 meters or the turquoise Charquini glacier lakes. Serious summit ambitions belong to Huayna Potosi, the famous almost-achievable 6,000er, done with proper mountain operators over two to three days.
The San Pedro Prison Non-Tour
You will hear about it in every hostel: the inmate-run prison in the middle of the city that once ran informal tours. We name it only to close it: the tours do not legally exist, approaches offering them are a documented scam-and-worse pattern, and the square outside is worth exactly one glance from a distance.
The famous book is a better visit than the gate. This is the one entry on every what to do in La Paz list that belongs on the do-not list, as covered in Is Bolivia Safe.
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Where to Base Yourself
Three bases cover every style. For quick access to the things to do in La Paz Bolivia rates highest, the center around Sagarnaga puts the markets and Jaen at your door: convenient, loud, full altitude.
Sopocachi trades ten minutes for the best cafes and restaurants and a calmer night. Zona Sur, Calacoto and San Miguel, sits 400 meters lower, which is the entire point: the best sleep in La Paz for altitude-sensitive travelers, connected to everything by the green cable-car line.
For a first visit we book Sopocachi for the fit and Zona Sur for anyone worried about the elevation; the full country context sits in the Bolivia travel guide.
Common Questions, Answered
Is La Paz worth visiting?
Yes: two to three days minimum. The cable-car network, the markets and the day-trip trio of Death Road, Tiwanaku and Chacaltaya make it the natural anchor of any Bolivia route, provided you pace the altitude.
How many days do you need in La Paz?
Two for the city itself, three or four if you add the Death Road, Tiwanaku or Chacaltaya. Day one should always be gentle: the city sits at 3,640 meters and punishes sprinting.
Is La Paz safe for tourists?
By day yes, with market-level pickpocket caution. Use radio taxis or apps at night, skip the San Pedro prison approaches entirely, and visit El Alto in the morning, ideally accompanied.
How much does the La Paz cable car cost?
About 3 bolivianos per line, well under a dollar. The network runs as public transport, so you can cross most of the city, and climb to the El Alto rim, for the price of a coffee.
What is the altitude of La Paz?
About 3,640 meters or 11,942 feet at the center, with El Alto at 4,150 m and Zona Sur at 3,250 m. Expect mild symptoms for 24 to 48 hours and schedule gentle activities first.
When is cholita wrestling in La Paz?
The flagship shows run Sunday afternoons in El Alto, with additional Thursday events in high season. Most travelers book the simple packages with transport included, since the venues sit up on the rim.
The Bottom Line on La Paz
La Paz is the rare city where the list of things to do in La Paz and the acclimatization plan are the same document.
Wondering what to do in La Paz first? Sit in a cable car on day one, walk the markets on day two, earn the big trips on day three, and the highest capital on earth will treat you kindly. When you want the whole sequence booked with the right drivers and the right margins, that is us.
