Salar de Uyuni and Atacama Desert

Trip Overview

Located at 3,656 meters (11,995 ft) above sea level, Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat. Thousands of years ago, the area now occupied by the salt flat was home to a giant prehistoric lake. As it slowly dried up, the lake left behind two smaller lakes and the vast salt flats that we know today.  

It’s no exaggeration to say that Salar de Uyuni is one of the most spectacular natural attraction in the world. The flats are like a giant mirror, covering an expanse of more than 10,000 square kilometers (3,900 sq mi). From a distance it looks like a vast sheet of ice, but as you reach the flats you’ll see the strange hexagonal formations that cover the surface, formed by salt crystallization from the evaporating water.  

As well as the otherworldly landscapes, visitors to Uyuni will see buildings made from blocks of salt, a train cemetery, strange cacti-covered “islands” and some of the clearest night skies imaginable, stretching from one horizon to the other.