If you have the time, I heartily recommend taking the tour from Tupiza. Tupiza itself is a lovely town to spend a few days, plus the tour from the Tupiza end takes in the gorgeous surrounding landscape while the tours from Uyuni don't come that far south. It also makes more sense to see the Salar on the last day. It's such an amazing sight that getting it over with on the first day from Uyuni would be a shame.

Tours from Tupiza are significantly more expensive than from Uyuni; I've heard as little as $70 per person for the 4-day tour from Uyuni, while $150 is standard from Tupiza, down to $115 for 6 people in the car. The quality definitely reflects this, however. A standard complaint about Uyuni tours is about the bad food, while the three main agencies in Tupiza have all received praise instead. And while I joke about our car in this journal, it was actually in pretty good shape.

We used Tupiza Tours and were able to book in advance over email. Beatriz Torres also booked us into the attached hotel, Hotel Mitru and arranged other activities for us while we were in Tupiza. Beatriz is very helpful, and answered all my questions about getting to Tupiza from various parts of the country with a great deal of patience.

Currently there are only 2 other options in town, El Grano de Oro and Valle Hermoso. I've heard mostly good about Valle Hermoso, more mixed reviews about El Grano de Oro, and never one bad thing about Tupiza Tours.

Everything you need to eat and drink is provided with Tupiza Tours, not just meals but plenty of water, soda, fruit and snacks. This may not be the case with other agencies, especially cheaper ones from Uyuni.

Be aware that the accommodations on this tour are extremely basic—tour agents will warn you of this when you book, but take it to heart! It's only 3 nights and the daytime activities are more than worth it...but nights will be spent on beds hard as rock, with shared shower-less bathrooms.

A sleeping bag is an absolute necessity during the winter. June to August should be the coldest, but even in mid-September we were absolutely freezing day and night. Most tour companies should have bags available for rent.

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