Bolivia Mirror Lake: Uyuni Salt Flats – Biggest Mirror In The World
The Uyuni salt flats, aka the iconic Bolivia mirror lake, is one of the most beautiful and incredible places on earth you can visit.
During the rainy season, the Bolivia salt flats are a seemingly endless and gigantic mirror where reality and fantasy become blurred. In fact, the reflective salt flats in Bolivia are the largest mirror in the world.
In our post, Uyuni Salt Flats – The Largest Mirror In The World we want to share our extraordinary experience of visiting Salar de Uyuni along with some amazing salt flat reflection photos and useful information about the Salar.
Mirror Lake Bolivia
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Uyuni Salt Flats – The Biggest Mirror In The World
We traveled to the Salar de Uyuni during the rainy season in January to see the famous salt flats reflection and it was a trip of a lifetime.
Interesting Facts About The World’s Biggest Mirror
Largest Salt Flat
The world’s largest mirror is called Salar de Uyuni and is the world’s largest salt flat. The reflective salt flats in Bolivia cover 10,000 square kilometers (3,900 sq mi) in area and can be seen all the way up from space.
As a comparison, the Uyuni salt flats are about 100 times larger than the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in the United States.
Largest Mirror In The World
Since Salar de Uyuni is by far the world’s largest salt flat, when the rainy season comes along, the Salar turns into the world’s largest mirror.
South America Salt Flats
Located in the Southern part of Bolivia the Uyuni salt flats border the Andes and closeby Chile.
The Salar de Uyuni lies at an elevation of 3,656 meters (11,995 ft) above sea level.
Bolivia’s salt flat formed tens of thousands of years ago as a result of several prehistoric lakes.
Source Of Salt And Lithium
The playa is covered by a few meters of salt crust, which serves as a source of salt and lithium that is harvested and exported into the world.
Is Seeing The Salar de Uyuni Reflection Worth It?
The rain during the wet season turns the world’s biggest salt flat into the biggest mirror in the world. When you stand in the middle of it, the cloud reflecting salt flat gives you the feeling you are above the clouds.
It’s kind of a weird feeling, the insane cloud reflection makes you think you are in some kind of empty space as there are just clouds and reflections as far as you can see.
We have been wanting to visit the Bolivia salt flats and see this Salar de Uyuni mirror effect for the longest time. After visiting and seeing the Bolivia mirror lake with our own eyes, we can say Uyuni is a place on earth you should definitely see in your life if you have the chance.
Long story short, the Bolivian salt flats and the iconic salt flat mirror effect are truly incredible and absolutely worth seeing!
So, is traveling to Bolivia to see the Salar de Uyuni mirror effect worth it? Definitely yes!
How To Get To Salar de Uyuni In Bolivia?
You can get to the Bolivia salt desert, more specifically to the town of Uyuni, by bus, train, and plane from around Bolivia. There are also guided tours from Chile, Peru and Argentina to visit the Uyuni salt flats.
A popular option is visiting Salar de Uyuni from Chile, which we will cover in more detail.
Visiting Salar de Uyuni From Chile
If you are coming from Chile, there are 4×4 jeep tours leaving from San Pedro de Atacama that bring you to the salt flats in Bolivia. This is what we did.
We will go into great detail on the off-road Uyuni tour in our post San Pedro de Atacama to Salar de Uyun Off-Road Tour. In our post, we cover everything you need to know about visiting the Uyuni salt flats from Chile.
Visiting The Uyuni Salt Flats From Argentinia
When you are coming from Argentina, the best starting point for visiting the Uyuni salt flats is by taking a tour from Tupiza in Bolivia.
Tupiza is about 100km from the Argentinian border. Similar to the tours from San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, the Uyuni tours from Tupiza are multiday tours and you will visit the Bolivia salt desert at the end of the tour.
Read More
Salar de Uyuni Salt Flats Guide & Tours
Best Time To Visit The Mirror Lake In Bolivia
The Salar de Uyuni is amazing all year round. However, depending on the season you are visiting Uyuni, you will have different experiences and will be able to take different photos of the world’s largest salt flat.
Visiting The Bolivia Mirror Lake Between December And March
In our opinion, the best time to visit the Uyuni salt flats is during the rainy season. During the wet season, the salt flat in Bolivia turns into a mirror.
A small layer of water collects on the surface of the salt and creates the famous Uyuni mirror effect.
Salt Flat Mirror Effect
Therefore, if you want to experience this incredible sky mirror in Bolivia, you will need to visit Uyuni between the months of November and March.
Sunrise At The Bolivia Salt Flat Mirror
However, since the chance of rain is really high, you may have bad luck seeing the sunrise in the morning.
This has happened to us actually. It was really disappointing because even better than the salt flats mirror effect during the day are the amazing sunrise reflections in the morning.
Visiting The Uyuni Salt Flats Between April And October
The months between April and October are considered the dry season. When visiting the world’s biggest mirror in Bolivia during this time you will most likely not get any reflection photos.
There might be a slight chance the see the cloud reflections on the salt flat, but you will have to look really hard to find an area of the Salar that remains still underwater.
On the bright side, the chances of a cloudless and beautiful sunrise are much much higher.
Tours To See The Bolivia Mirror Lake
Speaking of Uyuni tours, there are a ton of different tours to see the salt flats. From San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, from La Paz in Bolivia, and directly from Uyuni as well as from Argentina.
Visiting Salar de Uyuni
While we took a jeep tour to Salar de Uyuni from Chile, there are a ton of tours from the town of Uyuni directly.
You can take sunrise tours in the early morning, stargazing tours at night, drive to the cactus island Isla Incahuasi in the middle of the Bolivian salt flats, rent a bike and explore the Salar on your own. You can even get married in the Bolivian salt desert.
Visiting Salar de Uyuni From Chile
We wrote a blog post with lots of details and photos about our Salar de Uyuni tour from the Atacama desert in Chile.
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Salar de Uyuni Salt Flats Tour: Atacama To Uyuni 4 Day Tour
Find multi-day tours starting from San Pedro de Atacama to Uyuni here. Or if you are in Bolivia already, check tours from Uyuni directly.
BOLIVIA SALT FLAT TOURS FROM UYUNI
SALT FLAT TOURS TO UYUNI FROM SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA
Where To Stay In Uyuni
Uyuni is the main town and access point to the salt flats in Bolivia. There are many basic hostels and cheap hotels to stay in Uyuni, but the absolute highlights are the salt hotels in Uyuni. These hotels are bordering the salt flat or are even located on it, have amazing views and are made out of salt, and are a super unique experience.
We compiled a list of these awesome salt hotels in Uyuni below. Really, check them out for your stay in Uyuni, they are amazing! We are having a lot of FOMO that we didn’t have the chance to stay longer.
AMAZING SALT HOTELS IN UYUNI
Hotel Palacio de Sal
Luxury hotel made out of salt and indoor pool with views of the salt flat
* * *
Hotel de Sal Cristal Samaña
Luxury hotel made out of salt
* * *
Hotel de Sal Luna Salada
4-star hotel made out of salt with amazing views of the salt flat
* * *
Hotel Jardines de Uyuni
4 star boutique hotel
Uyuni Salt Flats – Biggest Mirror In The World
We hope you liked our Uyuni reflection photos and found this guide about the largest mirror in the world helpful and got inspired to visit the mirror lake in Bolivia yourself one day.
Have fun in Bolivia! The Salar de Uyuni salt flats will blow your mind!
Read More
Salar de Uyuni Salt Flats Tour: Atacama To Uyuni 4 Day Tour
Follow our adventures on Instagram! @piscoandbier
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San Pedro de Atacama Uyuni Tour Guide
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ATACAMA DESERT
Best Things To Do In San Pedro de Atacama & Atacama Desert Tours
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