Explore Bolivia in South America

Description and Basic Information

Bolivia with its capital La Paz is located in South America (Central South America, southwest of Brazil). It covers some 1,098,581 square kilometres (slightly less than three times the size of Montana) with 9,247,000 citizens. Spanish, Quechua and Aymara are the languages used by people in Bolivia (consider regional differences). Peru, Chile, Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina are bordering countries.

Please consult medical advice prior to entering this country, since in August 2010 a suspicious plague was detected.

Bolivia is a beautiful, geographically diverse, multiethnic, and democratic country in the heart of South America. Sometimes referred to as the Tibet of the Americas, Bolivia is one of the most "remote" countries in the western hemisphere. Bolivia's climate varies drastically with altitude and from one climatic zone to another. It ranges from humid and tropical to cold and semiarid. Bolivia, named after independence fighter Simon Bolivar, broke away from Spanish rule in 1825. Transportation strikes (bloqueos) are a common occurrence in Bolivia, so try to keep tuned to local news. Strikes often affect local taxis as well as long-distance buses; airlines are generally unaffected. Bolivia has 37 official languages -of which Spanish (often called Castellano), Quechua, and Aymara are the main ones. The others are In rural areas, many people do not speak Spanish. Bolivia's traditional alcoholic drink is chicha, a whitish, sour brew made from fermented corn and drunk from a hemispherical bowl fashioned from a hollowed gourd. Offering a favorable exchange for Western tourists, lodging can be found at very reasonable prices throughout the country, from hostels to luxury hotels.

Pictures from La Paz (Capital)

Photos provided by Panoramio are under the copyright of their owners.

About Bolivia

The terrain offers rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), hills, lowland plains of the Amazon Basin. The average density of population is about 8 per km². The climate in can be described as varying with altitude with humid and tropical to cold and semiarid. Possible natural disasters include flooding in the northeast (March-April).

To reach someone in Bolivia dial +591 prior to a number. There are 810,200 installed telephones. And there are 7,148,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks operate on frequencies of 1900 Mhz. Websites typically end with the top level domain ".bo". If you want to bring electric appliances (e.g. battery charger), keep in mind the local 220/230V - 50Hz.

The country consists of 9 regions/states which are listed below.

Regions/States of Bolivia

Tourism Information

Official Tourism Office

Ministerio de Comercio Exterior, Inversion y Turismo
Palacio de las Comunicaciones, Piso 16
A. Mcal. Santa Cruz
Bolivia

Phone: +591 2 2367463
Fax: +591 2 2374630

Unesco World Heritage Properties

Bolivia has 1 more world heritage locations. To see all of them, visit the Bolivia Unesco Heritage location overview.

City of Potosí

In the 16th century, this area was regarded as the world’s largest industrial complex. The extraction of silver ore relied on a series of hydraulic mills. The site consists of the industrial...

Fuerte de Samaipata

The archaeological site of Samaipata consists of two parts: the hill with its many carvings, believed to have been the ceremonial centre of the old town (14th–16th centuries), and the area to...

Historic City of Sucre

Sucre, the first capital of Bolivia, was founded by the Spanish in the first half of the 16th century. Its many well-preserved 16th-century religious buildings, such as San Lázaro, San...

Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos

Between 1696 and 1760, six ensembles of reducciones (settlements of Christianized Indians) inspired by the ‘ideal cities’ of the 16th-century philosophers were founded by the Jesuits in...

Noel Kempff Mercado National Park

The National Park is one of the largest (1,523,000 ha) and most intact parks in the Amazon Basin. With an altitudinal range of 200 m to nearly 1,000 m, it is the site of a rich mosaic of habitat...

Demographic Information

Age Distribution in Bolivia

Each pair of bars represents a single age group (male/female). Each group is spanning 5 years. E.g. 0 to 5 years, 5 to 10 etc. and group "0 to 5" being at the left end and "100 +" at the right end of the chart.

Natural Population Growth

Population, Migration and Growth: The population in Bolivia is growing at an rate of 1.72% (or by 171,096 citizens). Each year 10,047 people leave this country (or 1.00 per thousand citizens) - making it an emmigration country. This leads to an absolute natural increase rate of the population of 1.82%. Or an total increase of 181,142 citizens.

Based on content from wikitravel.org. The original article can be found here based on the work of these users.
Geographic information is based on the data provided by geonames.org, CIA factsbook and Unesco.