Altai Oasis

Top choice in Bolivia


This really does feel like an oasis, with a lush garden, hammocks and a pretty balcony cafe. The riverside retreat offers grassy campsites, comfortable rooms and romantically rustic cabañas (cabins), intricately and fancifully painted. The English-speaking owner can offer great local tips.

To get here, follow the track past the soccer field to the river, climb back up to the road and turn left before reaching Cafe Illampu.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Bolivia attractions

1. Las Cuevas del Rio San Cristobal

0.35 MILES

A short 3km round-trip hike down the road past Altai Oasis takes you to these small caves by the river where rural farmers used to sleep before market…

2. Plaza General Enrique Peñaranda

0.41 MILES

The main square, Plaza General Enrique Peñaranda, is Sorata’s showcase. With the town’s best view of the nevados (snow-capped mountain peaks), it’s graced…

3. Church

0.42 MILES

This large cream-colored church towers above the plaza.

4. Casa Günther

0.43 MILES

It’s worth taking a look at Casa Günther, a rambling, historic mansion in the northeast corner of the plaza that now houses the Residencial Sorata. It was…

5. Puente Colgante

0.87 MILES

A nice walk below town on Camino del Río leads to a hanging bridge over Río San Cristobal with gorgeous views down the valley.

6. Mirador Wila Kollu

0.97 MILES

This vertigo-inducing lookout 3035m above Sorata is, quite literally, breathtaking. To reach it, walk (or hire a taxi, B$80) up the road to Laripata. Just…

7. Gruta de San Pedro

3.59 MILES

A popular excursion, San Pedro Cave, known in the Aymará language as Chussek Uta (House of Owls), is approximately 500m deep, with an enclosed lagoon that…

8. Iskanwaya

17.98 MILES

The major but near-forgotten ruins of Iskanwaya, on the western slopes of the Cordillera Real, sit in a cactus-filled canyon, perched 250m above the Río…