14 Day Guided Amazonia Motorcycle Tour in Bolivia

Overview

Be prepared for mud, sand, dust, and lots of river crossings. Many “asphalt” roads consist of stringing together potholes. To avoid them, precise, tiring slalom driving becomes a real challenge. The highest riding peak will be at 4,650 meters.

Highlights

• Starts and ends in Samaipata
• Follow the scenic and yet challenging curves the Rio Mizque valley
• Ride the typical longboats in the Amazon area and view various wildlife
• Traverse the famous “Death Road”, once deadly but is now with magnificent views
• Airport transfers and a support vehicle with spare parts and mechanic provided
• Visit the archeological Inca site of “El Fuerte”, a UNESCO World Heritage
• Swim together with the amazing pink, Sweetwater dolphins
• 13 nights accommodation

Itinerary

1. Day 1: Airport pickup at Viru-Viru, Santa Cruz

   - Altitude: 400 meters You will be picked up at the airport of Santa Cruz, Bolivia from where you will drive to the small town of Samaipata (120 kilometers, three hours). There, you will check into a comfortable hotel and spend the rest of the day relaxing and discovering. If your flight arrives late, you need to spend the night in Santa Cruz. In that case, the following day is considered as day one.

2. Day 2: Samaipata

   - Altitude: 1,650 meters You will with the briefing where you learn more about safety riding, the route, the local traffic rules, and about each other. To get used to your bike, you will go for a ride to the archeological site of “El Fuerte”. Classified World Heritage by UNESCO, it is an old Inca town build around the, much older, largest stone sculpture in the Americas. For some people, it is an ancient Alien landing field!

3. Day 3: Samaipata - Totora (265 kilometers / 165 miles)

   - Altitude: 2,800 meters - Terrain: 40% off-road You will start easy on decent, but sometimes missing asphalt, trailing scenic mountain road. After a simple lunch, you follow the curves of the Rio Mizque valley. The scenery becomes one of rough and colorful mountains and the road becomes challenging. Suddenly it changes for an 80 kilometers (roman!) stone road that will let you feel like Ben Hur. At the end of the afternoon, you will enter Totora, a small colonial village, laid out as a labyrinth of alleyways and bridges, where time stands still since 100 years. A paradise for photographers.

4. Day 4: Totora - Cochabamba (145 kilometers / 91 miles)

   - Altitude: 2,500 meters - Terrain: 0% off-road The road to Cochabamba is all high-quality asphalt that curves though picturesque valleys filled with farms and fields. You will have lunch on the shores of a large lake where the menu is fresh fish or fresh fish, you choose. The ride into Cochabamba is chaotic, a good practice for the traffic horrors of El Alto tomorrow. Your hotel is close to the main plaza, where you can have the best known “café cortado." For dinner, you will enjoy the best-known “Pique Macho”, a traditional dish.

5. Day 5: Cochabamba - La Paz (375 kilometers / 234 miles)

   - Altitude: 3,700 meters - Terrain: 5% off-road Leaving the valley of Cochabamba, you will quickly start to climb to 4,400 meters. Through desolate, but beautiful, mountain scenery, you will reach the altiplano (high planes). By the new build motorway, you will cross the Altiplano desert and quickly reach La Paz, the de-facto capital of Bolivia. If all goes according to plan, you will stop at the La Paz viewpoint and be on time to witness the changing of the guards at the presidential palace. If possible, you will visit the witches market where you could buy anything ranging from magic potions

6. Day 6: La Paz - Death Road - Caranavi (165 kilometers / 103 miles)

   - Altitude: Caranavi (980 meters); Death Road (4,650 to 1,750 meters) - Terrain: 30% off-road Leaving the crowded streets of La Paz behind you, you climb the “cumbre de Coroico” to a 4,650-meter altitude. Today, you will have to traverse the famous “Death Road”, which was once officially the most dangerous road in the world. Plummeting down into the tropical Yungas region, the views are magnificent and if you keep your speed down, you have a very good chance to arrive safely in Coroico. If you survive this, you get a chance to prove your bravery on a 500-meter zip line, maybe in spider positio

7. Day 7: Caranavi - Rurrenabaque (250 kilometers / 156 miles)

   - Altitude: 200 meters - Terrain: 30% off-road The narrow mountain road slowly levels out as you reach the edge of the Amazon basin. You continue to your destination, Rurrenabaque the jungle/pampa trekking capital of Bolivia on the shore of Rio Beni. Although it is a native Amazonian town, there seem to be more gringos tourists than Indians on its dusty streets.

8. Day 8: Rurrenabaque - Amazonia (by a local tour operator) via Santa Rosa de Yucuma (105 kilometers / 66 miles by bus and boat)

   - Altitude: 170 meters The road to Santa Rosa is rough, dusty, and hot, but just before it all becomes too much, you will have a relaxing touristic lunch. In the afternoon, you will change to the typical longboats to reach your pampa lodge on the shores of the Yacumo River. Once installed, you will start exploring this amazing natural hub, filled to the brim with wild animals such as crocodiles, capybaras, Sweetwater dolphins, turtles, various sorts of monkeys, and literally thousands of birds. After dinner try your luck with piranha fishing and at night we do some extremely exciting crocodile

9. Day 9: Amazonia (by a local tour operator) - Rurrenabaque

   In the morning, go on a sunrise walk to view one of the (in)famous 12-meter killer Anacondas. This will be followed by for many people, the highlight - swimming together with the amazing pink, Sweetwater dolphins. After lunch, you will leave this little paradise, returning via the same way to Rurrenabaque.

10. Day 10: Trinidad - San Javier (415 kilometers / 258 miles)

    - Altitude: 540 meters - Terrain: 0% off-road Today, you will enjoy asphalt again and… fewer potholes… At the end of this rather long day, you will reach San Javier, the first of the Jesuit Missions towns of the Chiquitania region. After dinner, you will walk for a photo shoot around the humongous wooden cathedral from the year 1752.

11. Day 11: To San Ramon (370 kilometers, 230 miles)

    Altitude: 500 meters Terrain: 0% off-road Today we leave Trinidad early in the morning, to enjoy the morning freshness. Nevertheless, the heat chases us and we are happy to have a coffee break after one and a half hour ride. The road we follow is almost straight. When the first curves appear, we realize that we can also take curves with a Suzuki DR650! At the end of this rather long day we reach San Ramon, a first destination of the Jesuit Missions towns of the Chiquitania region.

12. Day 12. Samaipata (100 kilometers, 62 miles)

    - Altitude: 1,650 meters - Terrain: 0% off-road Following a winding mountain road, with amazing memories and experiences from the adventures you head back to Samaipata. The hotel´s pool awaits you …

13. Day 13: To Santa Cruz

    Late in the morning, you will set off for Santa Cruz where you can relax, hang around the plaza, and do some souvenir shopping. In the evening, you will have a farewell dinner.

14. Day 14: Departure

    Always a sad moment when one says goodbye. But who knows? You would not be the first to come back for more.

Ride Details

Terrain

30% dirt-road

Bike

rental bike (Suzuki DR 650 SE 2018-2024)

Mileage

2,385 kilometers / 1,482 miles

Daily rides

95 - 415 kilometers / 59 - 258 miles

Riding gear

not included: helmet, boots, pants, jacket, and gloves

Meals

all meals

Accommodation

During this tour, you will stay in various hotels along the route. Most will be nice and comfortable, some will be less nice. Bolivia Motorcycle Adventures always tries to maintain a standard of clean rooms with private bathrooms that have hot showers, but please understand that this is Bolivia and sometimes there just is no good option.

Food

During this tour, you will be served daily meals according to the itinerary. All meals are included, and generally, it will be nice and tasty, but again, this is Bolivia and sometimes there just is no good restaurant in the area.

Getting There

This tour will take you to explore exciting destination highlights of Bolivia, and more excitingly, the Amazon rainforest or Amazonia. [+](https://www.tripaneer.com/bolivia-motorcycle-adventures/16-day-amazonia-motorcycle-tour-in-bolivia# "Zoom in") [−](https://www.tripaneer.com/bolivia-motorcycle-adventures/16-day-amazonia-motorcycle-tour-in-bolivia# "Zoom out") [+](https://www.tripaneer.com/boli