
Excursion: The Uyuni Salt Lake and its Surroundings
It might sound difficult to organize a vegan three day trip with an organized tour office. But it isn’t.
Some general info first: There is also the option to start in San Pedro de Atacama and end in Uyuni and vise versa. And the Option to do a four day trip starting in Tupiza and ending in Uyuni. This might be interesting if you coming from Argentina, as Tupiza is near the border. You can’t do it from Uyuni to Tupiza tough, as there are not many people interested in it. After the rain season which ends with March, there are no four day trips from Uyuni.
Costs starting at different locations:
San Pedro – Uyuni about 150$
Uyuni – Uyuni about 131$
Uyuni – San Pedro about 140$
Tupiza – Uyuni (4 days) about 175$
Private Tours are around 800$
I asked at my hostel for advice and they told me, if I don’t want to eat salad every day, I should book with a moderate to expensive company.
They also told me which companies I should avoid in any case:
- Olivos Tours
- Wara del Altiplano
- Lipez Explorations
- Sandra Travel
- Tumpa Tours
In the end I had 3 companies in the closer selection. They all offered the same tour, with the promise of organising vegan food to a different price.
- Red Planet Tours for 200$
- Salt Expeditions for 117$
- Cordillera Travellers for 131$
I chose Cordillera Travellers because they showed me the menu for each day and we actively talked about what I can eat and what I can’t. For example they could tell me if the bread contains lard or vegetable oil.
However, if you don’t speak Spanish, Red Planet Tours could be your choice, as they offer English tours regularly make an international impression.
Also it is important that you make sure what you eat and what you don’t eat. Not everybody knows the term vegan. I said for example that everything that comes from an animal I don’t eat and everything that comes from plants I eat.
There might come the time on the tour where the driver/guide/cook asks you because he is not sure and you have to be able to explain.
The Tour:
All companies do more or less the same tour. On the first day you are going to see the train cemetery and the salt lake of Uyuni, where you have lunch in the salt hotel. For the night you go to an other salt hotel in San Juan.
On the second day you drive to the viewpoint of a volcano, then you continue to several lakes with flamingos, at one of them you are going to have lunch. After crossing the Silala desert you visit the stone tree and enter the national park to visit the coloured lake. Nearby you are going to stay for the night.
On the third day you get up early to see the sunrise at the geysers and have a bath at the hot springs. Then you are crossing the Dali desert to visit the green lake. After that you might continue to San Pedro or you are returning to Uyuni visiting the rock valley on the road.
Meals:
As the meals did not contain legumes I bought some on my own. The only problem is, there are no canned legumes in Uyuni. But I found roasted beans and roasted corn (not pop corn). Even tough corn is no legume it’s a tasty snack for the road. But in San Pedro you can get canned legumes and I would get some nonetheless.

day 1:
lunch: quinoa with cooked cold veggies, ketchup and banana as a dessert.
dinner: veggie soup and salad with avocado (the others had french fries and chicken).

day 2:
breakfast: bread with strawberry jam and tea.
lunch: pasta with cooked cold veggies, avocado, ketchup and apples and bananas as a dessert.
dinner: veggie soup and pasta with tomato mushroom sauce and half a peach as a dessert.
day 3:
breakfast: I left out, I don’t eat at five in the morning.
lunch: rice and mixed salad with olives.
I also took some crackers with me and they were helpful as the cookies at tea time where not vegan.