Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS ROAD
Few highways have as intimidating a reputation as the original road linking La Paz with
Coroico in the North Yungas. A rough, narrow track chiselled out of near-vertical moun-
tainsides that descends more than 3500m over a distance of just 64km, it's still widely re-
ferred to as the
world's most dangerous road
, a title bestowed on it by the Inter-Americ-
an Development Bank. Statistically, the sobriquet is difficult to dispute: dozens of vehicles
went off the road each year, and with vertical drops of up to 1000m over the edge, annual
fatalities reached into the hundreds.
Following the route in its entirety from Unduavi, the first 40km are the most perilous and
spectacular of the entire route. At times the road is only 3m wide, looming over deep pre-
cipices. To make matters worse, the road is often swathed in
cloud
, and in places waterfalls
crash down onto its surface. About 86km from La Paz, the road reaches Yolosa.
Afteryearsofconstruction,however,anew
multi-million-dollar bypass
aroundthemost
perilous stretch opened in 2006, following a route that looms high over the old road on
the opposite side of the valley and which tunnels intermittently through the mountainside.
While some of the concrete and supporting rods have fallen prey to the elements, it's still a
huge improvement - at least space- and safety-wise - over the old route.
The 106km bypass has also slashed the journey time from La Paz to Coroico to about
three hours by bus (2hr 15min by car); the old road took about four and a half hours. From
Villa Fátima in La Paz, the road to the Yungas climbs northeast to
La Cumbre
, a 4800m
pass over the Cordillera Real. From here it descends to the hamlet of
Unduavi
, where the
road forks, one branch descending southeast towards
Chulumani
in the South Yungas, the
other heading down northeast towards Coroico and the Amazon lowlands.
The
nueva carretera
(new road) initially follows the original northeast fork before split-
ting off and climbing high above it, following a similar trajectory along the spine of the
mountains before descending to join the original road north of
Yolosa
, a hamlet set at about
1200m. Here, a newly cobbled side road climbs up to Coroico, 11km away, while the main
road continues 74km north to Caranavi and beyond to Rurrenabaque.
CYCLING DOWN
What the statistics don't tell you is that the old route - and to a certain extent the bypass
as well - is among the most beautiful roads in the world. Starting amid the icebound peaks
of the Cordillera Real, it plunges down through the clouds into the humid valleys of the
Yungas, winding along deep, narrow gorges clad with dense cloudforest.
So spectacular is the descent that travelling the old Yungas road by
mountain bike
is one
of Bolivia's most popular tourist attractions, an exhilarating 5-6hr ride that's easy to or-
ganize with tour companies in La Paz -
Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking
has one of the
