Things to Do in La Paz: Mi Teleferico, Witches' Market, Cholets and Tiwanaku

La Paz offers an extraordinary contrast between sixteen-century Spanish and Mestizo Baroque stonework in the central canyon, deeply rooted Aymara spiritual and market life, and twenty-first-century engineering suspended on cables 400 metres overhead. Because steep gradients make walking uphill demanding at 3,650 metres, the smartest approach is to ride a cable car or taxi to the highest point of each district and walk gently downhill. You can map out all of these highlights across three structured days in our 3-day La Paz itinerary.

Essential Sights in the Canyon and on the Altiplano Rim

1. Soar across the sky on Mi Teleferico: Ride the Red, Silver, and Yellow lines of the world's longest urban cable car network for sweeping views from the snowfields of Illimani down into the brick canyon.
2. Explore San Francisco Basilica and the Witches' Market: Climb onto the stone bell-tower vaults of the 1784 Basilica of San Francisco, then follow cobbled Calle Linares into El Mercado de las Brujas, where Aymara chifreras and yatiris prepare offerings to Pachamama.
3. Walk Plaza Murillo and Calle Jaen: See the 1853 Palacio Quemado, the 1835 Cathedral Basilica, and the counter-clockwise clock on the Congress building before visiting the four colonial museums on sixteenth-century Calle Jaen and the mask collections of MUSEF.
4. Tour Freddy Mamani's Neo-Andean cholets in El Alto: Step inside the geometric, Tiwanaku-inspired multi-storey ballrooms and browse the vast Thursday and Sunday Feria 16 de Julio.

Canyon Badlands, 5,395-Metre Peaks and Ancient Megaliths

Ten kilometres south of downtown below Zona Sur, wooden catwalks wind between the eroded clay chimneys and sandstone spires of Valle de la Luna, named after a 1969 visit by Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong. Once acclimatised, venture onto the surrounding Altiplano to stand at 5,395 metres atop Mount Chacaltaya, inspect the carved volcanic andesite Gate of the Sun and precision H-blocks at UNESCO-listed Tiwanaku and Puma Punku, or cross the Strait of Tiquina to Copacabana and Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca.