Self-Guided Walking Tour in Uyuni

Your Uyuni Walking Tour, Stop by Stop

1. 1

   Plaza Aniceto Arce

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   Start in the middle of town, at the square everyone in Uyuni passes through. It is small, low-key, and ringed by tour agencies and pizza joints, but it is the social heart of the place. Look for the clock tower and, near it, the relief carving that pairs an Andean condor with a steam locomotive. That image is the whole town in one picture: the high Andes and the railway that built it. There is no entry fee and nothing to line up for. Give it ten minutes, sit on a bench, let your lungs adjust to the altitude, and use the agencies around the edge to confirm your salt flat plans if you have not booked yet. When you are ready, head one block southwest toward the church spire you can already see from here.

   Location

   Plaza Aniceto Arce on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Parroquia Inmaculada Concepción

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   The church sits right by the plaza, so this is a short hop rather than a real walk. It is the main Catholic parish in town and the principal religious building you will see in Uyuni, plain on the outside in the way altiplano churches usually are. This is an active parish, not a museum, so opening times are narrow. Interior hours run Monday to Saturday 14:30 to 18:00 and Sunday 15:00 to 17:30, and entry is free. If you are walking past in the morning, expect the doors to be shut, and do not plan your whole day around getting inside. Five minutes is plenty either way. From the church, walk southeast through the grid toward the railway station. The museum you want is tucked behind it.

   Location

   Parroquia Inmaculada Concepción on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Museo del Ferrocarril y Arqueológico

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   This one hides. The museum sits behind the train station, and you have to walk all the way around to the street at the back to find the door, so do not give up when the station blocks your view. Inside, it is small, and it does two jobs: it tells the story of the rail boom that created Uyuni, and it covers the altiplano cultures around it through an archaeology and anthropology collection. Think of it as the prologue to the train cemetery you are about to reach. Entry is about USD 5, roughly Bs 35 per person. The honest catch: hours are supposedly Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 12:00 and 14:30 to 18:30, but the place does not reliably stick to them, so treat an open door as luck. If it is shut, skip it without guilt and keep moving. From here, pick up the rail tracks running southwest out of town and follow them.

   Location

   Museo del Ferrocarril y Arqueológico on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Uyuni Railway Scrap Yard (Cementerio de los Trenes)

   

   This is the reason the walk is worth doing. Follow the tracks southwest and the town thins out into salt-crusted flat ground, and then they appear: dozens of rusted steam locomotives and rail cars, abandoned in the open where the salt plain begins. It is said to be the largest railway graveyard in the world. The metal is corroded orange, covered in graffiti, and you can climb on most of it. The wind out here is constant and cold, and there is no shade, no fence, no ticket booth. Entry is free and the site is open 24/7. This sits about 2.5km from the plaza, and it is the one big-name sight near Uyuni you can reach on foot instead of by jeep. Give it a solid 45 minutes to wander and shoot. When you are done, retrace the tracks back into town, or flag a passing taxi if the altitude has worn you out.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Uyuni Railway Scrap Yard (Cementerio de los Trenes) on Google Maps ↗

How Long Does This Walking Tour Really Take?

Plan on roughly two to two and a half hours at altitude pace, which is slower than you think. The plaza and church together take fifteen minutes. The museum, if open, swallows another twenty to thirty. The real time sink is the walk out to the train cemetery and back, plus the 45 minutes you will want once you are standing among the locomotives.

The natural break is right at the start, on a bench in Plaza Aniceto Arce, where you can sit, acclimatize, and grab coffee or a slice from one of the pizza places ringing the square before you commit to the long stretch along the tracks. There is nothing to eat or drink out at the train cemetery, so fuel up on the plaza first. If the altitude hits hard on the walk back, the cemetery is close enough to town that a short taxi ride solves it.

Full Route, Shorter Walk or Two-Day Version?

The full route is short, so most people do the whole thing, but the long stretch out to the cemetery is where altitude decides for you. Here are three ways to walk it depending on how your lungs and your schedule are holding up.

Is This Uyuni Walking Tour Right for You?

This is a flat, short, self-guided walk whose only real difficulty is the thin air. It suits some travellers perfectly and frustrates others, so here is who it's for and how to bend it.

Tickets & Skip-the-Line in Uyuni

Tips for Walking in Uyuni

• Timing: do this walk in the morning before your salt flat jeep tour, or on your departure day. Start the cemetery stretch early when the light is low and the wind is calmest.
• Terrain and shoes: flat the whole way, but it is dusty grid streets in town and salt-crusted open ground at the cemetery. Closed shoes, not sandals. The salt gets into everything.
• Restrooms: there is nothing out at the train cemetery, no booth, no toilet. Use a cafe on Plaza Aniceto Arce before you head out along the tracks.
• Food and drink: grab coffee or a pizza slice at one of the agencies and pizza joints around Plaza Aniceto Arce. Carry a full water bottle, because at 3,650 metres dehydration sneaks up fast and the cemetery has no shade or shop.
• Photo: at the train cemetery, climb onto one of the rusted locomotives and shoot down the line of wrecks toward the open salt plain. Early morning gives you the warmest light on the orange metal.

Why Walk This Route?

Most people treat Uyuni as a parking lot. They land, find their 4x4 jeep tour to the salt flat, and never look at the town itself. That is a mistake, and it is also why this walk exists. Uyuni is a railway town on the high altiplano, sitting at about 3,650 metres above sea level, and almost everything here grew out of the train tracks. This route follows that story on foot, from the central square out to the rusted locomotives at the edge of the salt plain. It is the one famous sight near town you can actually reach by walking, no jeep required.

The whole loop runs about 4.5km, mostly flat, mostly along straight grid streets and then a rail line. The altitude is the real challenge, not the terrain. You will feel breathless faster than you expect, so go slow and drink water. I would do this on your arrival day before the salt flat tour, or on the day you fly out, when you have a few empty hours and the cold morning light is good for photos.

Why walk it instead of just wandering? Because the four stops tell one connected story in the right order. You start where the town socializes, pass its church, learn why the railway mattered at a small museum, and end at the place where those same trains came to die. Wander randomly and Uyuni looks like a dusty grid of half-finished buildings. Walk it in sequence and it makes sense.

Common Questions