3-dagars tur till Salt Flats och Lagoons

Our guide Jess and driver Jose were awesome. Great experience, beautiful scenery.

What can I say about this experience. One of the most memorable and beautiful things that I have done. The lake, the lagoons, the volcanoes, the animals, the surreal landscapes.. Most important our guide Axel and our driver Emanuel. They really made our excursion something extraordinary. Very knowledgeable, friendly, authentic, open to flexibility and always attentive to our needs and questions. I was able to dive into the Andean / Bolivian culture and i was feeling that i ride with good friends.. Gracias mis amigos und buena suerte por todo!!! Lefteris el Griego :)

I booked with this company as they offered seemingly good condition, turns out things were different. All companies basically run the same tour and stay in mostly the same places over night, so it might happen that you get scrambled into another group. Anyway, now to the real problem. It starts with the issue that our english speaking guide was well on cocaine and the later it got in the day, the more drunk he became. Baseline his knowledge is good and he explains many things, but being drugged up on the job is simply crazy. Since he and the two drivers were always together during breaks, we can only assume what they did. Now day 1 all in all went well, but day 2 is where the issue became most apparent. The Toyota Landcruisers are in poor condition to start with. No space in the back, backpacks tied to the roof. The vehicles didn't have functioning seatbelts in the back, can't say anything about the front, since I wasn't sitting there. The vehicles also have NO airbags which is an enormous safety concern. Continuing and coming to the biggest issue. The driver took a corner recklessly with way too much speed, lost control of the vehicle and umtimately we ended up offroad, tumbling three times. Mind you, no airbags, no working seatbelts and no means of really being protected. I hit my head, others got cut. The driver somehow got out, didn't check on us, didn't give us a first aid kit, just abandoned us. Now, he did get help, but first aid is first aid and must be done! They brought us to a "hospital" in the village. We didn't pay there, some got patched up, some pretty much ignored. They also checked on the driver who got hurt in the crash and at a later point in time they showed us his document. They told us he had zero alcohol in his body, but this wasn't written on the paper by the nurse, but by the guide! With his pen and his handwriting identifiable... Many times we tried to talk to him, but it proved difficult as now he was on coke and adrenalin, because his driver could have killed six tourists. We were constantly interrupted, had conplaints and on the third day were brushed off as "sensitive". The owner of the company also kept interrupting us on the phone. This was all obviously a huge problem. End of the day they refunded us the tour in cash and offered me 2500Bolivian Pesos as settlement with coverage of my first hospital visit in Chile. I accepted this offer simply because I have no faith in the police/justice system of Bolivia, but if this had happened in the US, safe to say, I'd never have to work another day in my life. They wanted me to sign a paper that stated I can't leave a negative review, but I never received this letter. I didn however at some point received a letter for my insurance, claiming that we went off road because of a tire blowout (it never blew out). We got a police report at some point, in this report it was stated that the driver was too fast, the supposed blowout was never mentioned. This entire experience and the wrap up of the accident proved that the owner will lie as much as he can to safe his own ass. Do NOT book with this office, look for a company with good cars and reputable guides.

THEY ALMOST KILLED US! DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY!!! The drivers drive too quickly, the cars are old, have no airbags, no one has first aid training and there is no safety kit. Our driver lost control on a straight road after driving too quickly, lost control, fishtailed and went off road at a 45 degree angle going around 55/60kmh (he was going 80+kmh before the fishtailing) and the car rolled multiple times. Fortunately non of us got serious injuries. We were taken to a local medical centre but it was clear no one had any idea how to handle the situation. The driver didn’t check if we were okay and hailed down a passerby within 2 mins of getting out of the wreck, granted to get help but his reaction to the situation was terrible. No one called the police at the time of the accident, the owners had the wreck removed the same night so the police could not issue do a fair investigation or issue fault. We were given a copy of the drivers medical report but we’re 99.9% sure the main tour guide fraudulently wrote that the driver had no alcohol in his system. We’re sure of this because the clinic we were all treated at could not have access to a breathalyser or have the ability to take bloods. It was also scribbled on his medical report with a different pen and different handwriting. The main tour guide was taking cocaine and got drunk at different points of the trip. I cannot speak for the drivers, I never personally saw them drunk or high but if you read other reviews people have said it happens. It was incredibly suspicious the main tour guide made a big show of the driver having no alcohol in his system as it was 10am and I don’t think anyone did suspect he was drunk. It’s a bit of a Barbara Streisand effect there. There are so many operators that do the same tour, do yourself a favour and book with one that has newer Land Cruisers and places more value on safety.

We took the 2 nights 3 day English group (shared) tour and it was great. Our guide was Carlos who was knowledgable, charismatic and opinionated in a good way. A very patriotic man who clearly loves his country and enjoys showing it to people. We had 6 tourists in our car (including us) and the driver, and there was another car with more tourists and our guide. Contrary to other reviews on this site, explanation wasn't minimal. Carlos really gave us a lot of information and history in English and it wasn't just some wrote script, he clearly enjoyed what he was doing and lots of us began filming his introductions to new places as they were that good. The only warning I would give is... If you have a food allergy, it's not enough to tell them by email and then tell them again in person. You need to remind before each meal. part of that is that things are a bit hectic. We arrived at hotels where rooms that should have been available weren't. In all cases they fixed it by putting people in hotels very near by, often nicer ones than we were expecting. But that means sometimes you've got people cooking for you who have nothing to do with the tour company. Now I know that it's the tour company's job to coordinate everything and pass on all information but it at times didn't happen. What did happen is if you let the guide know that you paid for X or that you have a food allergy, or whatever, they dealt with it. So... my advice is, just be prepared for this and be on top of it. Be nice and they'll deal with it. That being said, we saw great things and had a great guide, which was what we were paying for. In fact I would say it was more than what we were paying for. Carlos' narratives are now a part of the background of Bolivia for us, a part of the scenery and fabric of an incredibly beautiful country.

On balance we had a good trip, parts were fantastic, but when things went wrong it was quiet bad. The communication leading up to the trip was pretty good, so I can't complain about that. The locations we went to were fantastic and well worth the effort. Our guide was pretty good and had a lot of information. We were expecting the accomodation to be sparse but the first night was much better than expected. Second was OK, but very, very basic. What was bad was - when we arrived at the airport we were 4 people with luggage, and there were others on our flight for our tour as well. They sent 1 standard sedan to pick us all up. Clearly this was not going to work and cabs were hard to finds. - there were only 2 4wd's for the whole group meaning we were really crammed in, and those unlucky enough to be in the back row were extremely cramped. There was barely room and had to sit side saddle. - when we got to the second nights accomodation it really seemed like they had no idea we were coming, and some of our group ending up getting punted to a place down the road - at dinner we found out that where we were planning on crossing the border was closed the next day. Seems like they had no idea on how to handle this and it took hours for any sort of communication on it. -ended up we had to get up very early the next day and drive hours out of way and had another person crammed into the already uncomfortably crowded 4wd. So much so that one person spent the trip sitting either on her partners lap or on the center console between the driver and front passenger hunched over and facing the wrong way. -once we got to the alternate border crossing they then charged us another 100 for the extra transport to San Pedro de Atacama -once arriving at San Pedro with no warning they kicked us all out on the edge of town to find our own way to hotels, some of which weren't close.

Hiden fees that they didn't mentioned at the web site. Horrible organization. The woman at the reception desk could't explain us why they did't give any information about extra fees before tour. She tried to find it at their web site- she couldn't

Tour crew tried their max. to please all of us and show the best of all. Guide with name Peter was outstanding.

The views were spectacular, highly recommend you to visit. The accommodations were good, above our expectations considering they’re in the middle of nowhere. However, the communication with the tour operator was not good. Very slow to respond to emails, and after confirming airport pickup multiple times, we were met by no one when we arrived. Our guide was very funny and eccentric, but super drunk every morning. The last day he was “too tired” to come with us back to Uyuni and stayed at the last hotel to sleep it off. The cars were full, 7 people in each one, which would have been ok if there was working air conditioning and the driver didn’t blast tunes all day long. It seems like all tour operators are very similar, so be prepared for amazing views but have some patience with the rest!

3 days out on the Salt Flats and surrounding national parks and lagoons. Unforgettable! You'll never see scenery like it anywhere else in the world. It's a really special place. And Red Planet Expeditions were very helpful and accommodating the whole time. Quick responses to emails, very good English speaking guys, great food. Big highlight being the hot springs at night on the 2nd day - really unique experience that most other tours don't have the luxury of. Highly recommended to do the 3-day tour too, if you can, you get to see so many unique landscapes!