La Paz is one of South America's most affordable cities for travellers willing to embrace its rhythms — a vertical, chaotic, gloriously surreal capital that sprawls across a canyon at 3,640 metres above sea level and offers more value per Boliviano than almost anywhere else on the continent. The currency is the Boliviano (BOB), the prices have remained remarkably stable for years, and the gap between budget and mid-range is narrower than in neighbouring Peru or Chile. A backpacker can comfortably live on BOB 150-220 (USD 22-32) per day including a hostel bed, three meals, public transport, and a couple of attractions. This guide covers every lever you can pull to stretch a budget through Bolivia's most extraordinary city — from the witches' market stalls of Calle Linares to the cable cars that double as the cheapest sightseeing on earth, with a heavy emphasis on managing the altitude that catches almost every first-time visitor by surprise.
Getting There on a Budget
La Paz's altitude makes a slow, overland approach not just cheaper but medically sensible. Flying directly into El Alto airport at 4,061 metres from sea-level destinations is one of the most aggressive altitude jumps available to travellers and routinely puts people in bed for two or three days with severe soroche (altitude sickness). Arriving overland gives your body time to acclimatise.
From Cusco, Peru, the cheapest route is the Bolivia Hop or Peru Hop bus service via Copacabana and Lake Titicaca, costing USD 50-65 (BOB 350-450) for the full Cusco-La Paz journey including overnight stops. Direct Peruvian buses (Cruz del Sur, Tepsa) run Cusco to Puno (BOB 70-100, 7 hours), then a local bus from Puno to Copacabana (BOB 25-30, 4 hours including border), then Copacabana to La Paz (BOB 25-35, 4 hours including a quick boat crossing at the Tiquina Strait). Total cost of the local-bus DIY version: roughly BOB 130-170 (USD 19-25), versus the BOB 350-450 of the tourist-class direct service.
From Uyuni, after the famous salt flats tour, overnight buses to La Paz cost BOB 70-120 (USD 10-17) depending on operator and seat class. Trans Omar and Todo Turismo are the most reliable; the journey takes 10-12 hours on partly unpaved roads. Daytime buses also exist and offer better safety and scenery if you have flexibility.
From Buenos Aires or Santiago, the cheapest air connections route through Santa Cruz on Boliviana de Aviación (BoA), with onward flights to La Paz costing BOB 350-500 (USD 50-72). Direct international flights to El Alto are typically more expensive — between USD 250 and USD 500 from neighbouring South American capitals.
The El Alto airport (LPB) connection to central La Paz costs BOB 4 on the public Línea Roja and Línea Plateada teleférico cable cars (the cheapest airport transfer of any capital city in the world), or BOB 25-35 on the Cosmos shuttle bus, or BOB 70-90 by metered taxi. The teleférico is genuinely faster than driving during rush hour and the views descending into the canyon are extraordinary.
Budget Accommodation
La Paz has one of the best-value backpacker accommodation scenes in South America, with dormitory beds starting at BOB 50-70 (USD 7-10) and clean private doubles available from BOB 150 (USD 22). The bulk of budget options cluster in Sopocachi, the Witches' Market area, and around Plaza Murillo.
Wild Rover Hostel (Calle Comercio 1476, BOB 70-90 dorm, BOB 220-280 private) is the loud, social, perpetually drunk Irish-owned party hostel with a covered courtyard bar that runs nightly events, a famous breakfast included in the rate, and a location 10 minutes' walk from Plaza Murillo. Not the place for early nights or quiet contemplation, but the social engine for solo travellers wanting to find drinking partners and tour buddies fast.
Loki La Paz (Calle Loayza 420, BOB 65-85 dorm, BOB 200-260 private) is the other major party hostel in the city, occupying a former presidential palace with a rooftop bar offering panoramic canyon views. The wild-night reputation is well-earned but the building itself — high ceilings, tiled floors, ornate balconies — is genuinely impressive. Discounted Death Road and Salar de Uyuni tours are constantly being pitched in the lobby.
Adventure Brew Hostel (Avenida Montes 533, BOB 75-110 dorm, BOB 220-300 private) is the calmer, slightly older-skewing alternative — still social, with an in-house craft brewery (the brewery itself is a real working operation, not a marketing prop), but oriented toward early-morning trekking and tour departures rather than 4am dance floors. Free pancake breakfast and free pisco sour on arrival.
Hostal Naira (Calle Sagárnaga 161, BOB 180-260 private double) sits in the heart of the Witches' Market on the city's most atmospheric tourist street. A simple family-run guesthouse with private rooms, hot showers, and a position that puts the cathedral, the markets, and a dozen tour agencies all within five minutes' walk. Better suited to couples or older travellers who want privacy without paying mid-range prices.
Eating Cheaply Like a Local
La Paz might be the cheapest capital in South America for eating well. The combination of a local agricultural economy, low labour costs, and a culture that treats lunch as the day's main meal means a substantial three-course almuerzo (set lunch) can cost as little as BOB 15-25 — under USD 4. Eating like a local Paceño rather than like a Western tourist is the single largest saving available in the city.
The almuerzo is the universal lunchtime institution: a soup, a main course of meat or chicken with rice and vegetables, and sometimes a dessert or fruit, served at small comedores (canteens) throughout the city between roughly noon and 2pm. Look for handwritten chalkboards announcing "Almuerzo BOB 18" or similar in Sopocachi, San Pedro, and the Mercado Lanza area. The food is hearty rather than refined but consistently filling and freshly prepared.
Salteñas are La Paz's signature breakfast and morning snack — football-shaped baked pastries filled with stewed beef or chicken, peas, potato, hard-boiled egg, and a slightly sweet, slightly spicy juice that you must learn to bite into without dribbling onto your shirt. Salteñas Paceña (multiple locations including Calle Loayza) and Salteñas El Hornero (Avenida 6 de Agosto) are reliable. Two salteñas plus a coffee costs BOB 12-18 and constitutes a complete breakfast.
The Mercado Lanza (between Plaza Pérez Velasco and Calle Figueroa) is the city's central food market, occupying multiple floors above a chaotic main thoroughfare. The upper floor food stalls sell soups (chairo, peanut soup, quinoa soup) for BOB 8-15, mains for BOB 15-25, and fresh juices for BOB 5-8. The atmosphere is genuinely local — vendors negotiating with regulars, indigenous Aymara women in bowler hats serving plates piled high with potatoes, llama meat, and stewed vegetables. Hygiene varies by stall; pick stalls with high turnover and visible cooking.
The Mercado Rodríguez in San Pedro is the larger morning produce market and the place to buy fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, and cheese for self-catering. Tropical fruit imported from the Bolivian lowlands costs a fraction of Peruvian prices — pineapples for BOB 8-12, mangoes for BOB 3-5 each, papayas for BOB 10-15. Stock up here for hostel kitchen meals.
Anticuchos (grilled beef heart skewers) are a popular evening street food in El Prado area and around Plaza San Francisco — BOB 10-15 for a generous skewer with potato, served with peanut and aji sauces. Look for the smoke and the queues; the busiest stalls are invariably the safest.
For a slightly more upscale Bolivian dinner that still falls in budget range, Café del Mundo (Sopocachi) and Restaurant Vienna (Calle Federico Zuazo 1905) serve traditional Bolivian dishes — pique macho, silpancho, charque kan — for BOB 35-65 per main course, considerably cheaper than equivalent restaurants in Peru.
Free & Low-Cost Attractions
La Paz delivers an unusually high ratio of memorable experiences to money spent. The city's best sights — its markets, its viewpoints, its layered indigenous culture — cost nothing or close to nothing.
The Mercado de las Brujas (Witches' Market, free to wander) on Calle Linares and Calle Sagárnaga is one of the most photographed and most genuinely strange markets in the Americas. Stalls sell dried llama foetuses (offerings to Pachamama, the earth goddess, traditionally buried under the foundations of new buildings), medicinal herbs, amulets, coca leaves, and an entire pharmacopoeia of Aymara folk medicine. Free to wander, fascinating regardless of whether you buy anything; coca leaves cost BOB 5-10 for a useful bag.
The Mi Teleférico cable car system (BOB 3-5 per single line ride) is simultaneously La Paz's public transport network and its single best low-cost sightseeing experience. The 10 colour-coded lines climb in and out of the canyon connecting the city centre with El Alto on the rim above; the views from the highest sections are extraordinary. A round trip on the Línea Roja or Línea Amarilla costs BOB 10-15 and provides better aerial views than any expensive sightseeing flight in South America.
The Plaza Murillo (free) is the political heart of Bolivia and the place to watch the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace, observe the upside-down clock on the Congress building (rotated in 2014 as a "Clock of the South" reflecting that the southern hemisphere should not be subordinate to northern conventions), and feed the resident pigeons.
The Iglesia de San Francisco (free entry to the church, BOB 25 for the museum and tower climb) on Plaza San Francisco is the city's most important colonial-era church with a façade combining Spanish baroque and indigenous mestizo carvings. The bell tower offers excellent views over the lower city for the small museum entry fee.
The Valle de la Luna (BOB 15 entry) is a 75-minute walking trail through eroded sandstone canyons in the Mallasa neighbourhood at the southern end of the city — accessible by Línea Verde teleférico and a short minibus connection (total transport BOB 8-12 each way). The lunar landscape is geologically remarkable and the round trip from the city centre takes 3-4 hours.
The Coca Museum (Calle Linares, BOB 15) is a small but unexpectedly thorough museum on the cultural, medicinal, and political history of the coca leaf in Andean civilization. Self-guided tour with English-language information, easily worth the 90 minutes it takes to read everything.
El Alto's Cholita wrestling shows (BOB 50-70 entry, every Sunday afternoon) feature indigenous Aymara women in traditional polleras and bowler hats performing professional-style wrestling matches. Camp, theatrical, simultaneously a tourist spectacle and a genuine local entertainment tradition. Travel via teleférico for total cost of BOB 60-80 for an afternoon's entertainment.
Getting Around on a Budget
La Paz's transport options are uniquely well-suited to budget travellers — the cable car network, the chaotic minibus system, and the trufi shared taxis combine to cover the entire city and El Alto for BOB 2-5 per journey. A daily transport budget of BOB 15-25 is more than sufficient.
The Mi Teleférico cable car system is the world's largest urban cable car network and the spine of public transport across La Paz and El Alto. Single-line journeys cost BOB 3 (BOB 5 to El Alto-bound lines), and the integrated transfer ticket (BOB 5) covers up to two line changes. The system runs roughly 6am-11pm. Buy a Mi Teleférico card at any station for BOB 15 (BOB 5 deposit + BOB 10 credit) for slightly faster turnstile access.
Micros are the older minibuses operating along fixed routes, calling out their destinations through the side window in a nearly indecipherable Spanish shout. Fares are BOB 2-3 within the city centre and BOB 4-5 to El Alto. The system is impossible to use without local knowledge or asking other passengers, but for short central journeys ask the conductor "¿Va a [destination]?" and they will wave you in or shake their head.
Trufis are shared taxis running fixed routes — slightly faster than micros, slightly more expensive at BOB 3-4 per journey, and easier to identify because the destinations are painted on the windscreen. Look for the colour-coded route stickers on the bonnet.
Radio taxis (the proper licensed ones with company names like Radio Taxi La Paz on the door, identified by a roof sign and a number) cost BOB 15-25 for short central journeys and BOB 30-50 across the city. Use Cabify or Uber for predictable fares — typically BOB 10-20 for cross-centre trips and significantly safer at night than hailing on the street.
Money-Saving Tips
1. Withdraw cash at Banco Nacional, BISA, or BCP ATMs in larger amounts. Most Bolivian ATMs charge BOB 22-35 per withdrawal regardless of amount, plus your home bank's foreign transaction fees. Withdrawing BOB 1,500-2,000 at a time minimises the per-transaction cost. The daily ATM limit at most banks is BOB 2,000-3,000.
2. Negotiate Salar de Uyuni and Death Road tours from your hostel. The standard 3-day Salar de Uyuni tour is offered everywhere from BOB 800-1,400; the same operators (Red Planet, Quechua Connection, Esmeralda) charge BOB 950-1,100 booked through your hostel desk versus BOB 1,200-1,400 booked through the visible tourist agencies on Sagárnaga. Always ask three different sources before committing.
3. Drink bottled water but buy the 5-litre bottles. Single 500ml bottles cost BOB 5-8 at convenience stores; the 5-litre garrafones cost BOB 15-20 at supermarkets and last 2-3 days. Refill smaller bottles for outings. Tap water in La Paz is not safe to drink directly even for short stays.
4. Buy coca leaves at the Witches' Market not at tourist pharmacies. A useful bag of coca leaves costs BOB 5-10 from market stalls versus BOB 25-40 in pharmacies marketed for foreigners. Coca leaves chewed with a small alkaline activator (a piece of llijta, which the vendor will provide) are far more effective for altitude symptoms than expensive imported altitude tablets.
5. Avoid the Sagárnaga tourist restaurants. The pedestrian street running up from Plaza San Francisco is lined with tourist-priced restaurants charging BOB 60-100 for the same dishes that cost BOB 25-40 in Sopocachi or San Pedro neighbourhood comedores two blocks away. The view of the market is not worth a 100% premium.
6. Use Bolivianos exclusively. Some tourist-facing businesses quote in dollars at unfavourable exchange rates (typically 6.5 BOB to the dollar versus the official 6.86-6.96). Always pay in Bolivianos. Casas de cambio on Calle Camacho offer the best rates — better than airport currency exchange or hotel desks.
7. Skip the expensive Death Road operators in favour of mid-tier ones. The premium operators (Gravity, Vertigo) charge BOB 700-900 for the Death Road bike descent; reputable mid-tier operators (Barracuda, Madness) charge BOB 350-500 for an essentially identical experience with the same bikes and similar guide ratios. The marketing premium is real; the safety difference is debatable. Read recent reviews carefully and verify the bikes are full-suspension.
