Basics - The Rough Guide to Bolivia - page 33

AIRPORT TAXES
Passengers departing Bolivia on international flights must pay a Bs175 ($25) airport tax
in cash bolivianos or dollars, payable at a separate kiosk after checking in. If you can't pay
you won't be allowed to board your plane. The departure tax on domestic flights is about
Bs15, payable in bolivianos.
Flights from the UK and Ireland
There are no direct flights from Britain or Ireland to Bolivia. The most direct routes go
via Madrid, Miami , Buenos Aires or São Paulo , each of which is connected by daily
flights from London; British Airways ( britishairways.com ) flies to each of these destin-
ations, and there are numerous other options for both Miami and Madrid; a return journey
costs from around £1000. The most convenient services are the twice-weekly Aerosur (
www.aerosur.com ) flights between Madrid and Santa Cruz, from where there are connec-
tions throughout Bolivia. However, this route is notorious for delays and poor service. The
most convenient routings from Ireland all entail flying through London. Another option is
Air Europa ( aireuropa.com ), which has flights from London via Madrid to Buenos Aires
and Lima, from where you can take a connecting flight.
Flights from Australia and New Zealand
The fastest way to reach South America from Australasia is to fly with either Qantas (
qantas.com ) or Aerolineas Argentina ( aerolineas.com ) from Sydney or Auckland to
Buenos Aires , in Argentina, from where there are onward services to La Paz and Santa Cruz
on Aerosur. The journey costs around Aus$2000 return. It is also possible to fly to Santi-
ago in Chile via Tahiti and Easter Island with Qantas and LAN ( lan.com ), but this route
is significantly longer and involves lengthy stopovers. Alternatively, you can fly via the US
from both Australia and New Zealand with an airline like Qantas or Air New Zealand ( air-
newzealand.com ) .
Travelling overland from neighbouring countries
You can enter Bolivia by land on regular bus services from all five of the countries with
which it shares a border - Peru , Brazil , Chile , Argentina and Paraguay - which makes the
country easy to include in a wider South American trip.
Crossing the Peruvian border
The most widely used route - and also the easiest - is from Puno in Peru on the west shore
of Lago Titicaca, via the Kasani border crossing near Copacabana or Desaguadero , south of
the lake; both crossings are an easy bus ride (around 4hr) away from La Paz.