9 Best Things to Do in La Paz
9 Best Things to Do in La Paz, Bolivia
Perched on the Andean altiplano at roughly 3,640m, La Paz packs a genuinely unusual mix of transit, market culture, and Andean history into a compact bowl-shaped city. Here’s what to prioritize.
1. Ride Mi Teleférico
The world’s largest urban cable-car network is both how locals commute and the best sightseeing you’ll do all trip. Buy a fare card before you go, since turnstiles don’t accept cash. The Yellow Line gives the widest panorama; the Red Line is the single most dramatic stretch, framing Illimani as you cross between El Alto and the city below.
2. Explore the Witches’ Market
Calle Linares is home to a living Aymara institution, not a novelty stop: stalls sell dried llama fetuses (from natural miscarriages, not slaughter) as Pachamama offerings, herbal remedies, and amulets. Ask before photographing vendors or the yatiris who work here.
3. Wander Plaza Murillo
The historic heart of the city holds the Cathedral, the Palacio Quemado, and the National Congress’s oddity: the Reloj del Sur, a clock that runs backwards as a symbol of southern-hemisphere identity.
4. Walk Calle Jaén
The best-preserved colonial street in La Paz clusters several small museums, including the Musical Instruments Museum, in a handful of blocks.
5. Step inside Iglesia de San Francisco
Rebuilt between 1743 and 1772, its carved mestizo-baroque facade is one of the city’s finest examples of colonial-Andean fusion, and the plaza outside is the city’s social heart.
6. Browse Mercado Rodríguez and Calle Sagárnaga
One is a working produce market with cholita-run stalls; the other is the go-to street for artisan goods and souvenirs.
7. Visit El Alto’s Feria 16 de Julio
One of South America’s largest open-air markets, held both Thursday and Sunday in El Alto (about 4,150m). Go for the scale as much as the shopping.
8. Watch cholita wrestling
Aymara women wrestle in traditional dress in a sport that grew out of domestic-violence-survivor support circles. It’s genuine empowerment, not a novelty spectacle, and it’s held in El Alto.
9. Take in Killi Killi and Jach’a Apacheta viewpoints
Killi Killi is an easy, close-in overlook of the whole city bowl. Jach’a Apacheta, at roughly 4,099m, is a still-active Andean ceremonial site as well as a viewpoint, so visit respectfully.
Pace yourself: acclimatize for at least a day before tackling the higher-altitude stops, and use registered radio taxis rather than street-hailed cabs to get between them.
Read more: pair this with our La Paz day trips guide for what to do once you’ve covered the city.