Visit La Paz, Bolivia

High up in the Andes, the earth suddenly falls away to reveal a huge, bowl-shaped canyon, with a city spread across its floor and clinging to the steep sides.

La Paz will quite literally take your breath away with its glorious location, overlooked by the snow-capped peak of Mount Illimani. It is a bustling and friendly place that is fascinating to wander around.

Aymara women dressed in voluminous skirts and bowler hats, with children swaddled in multi-coloured blankets tied on their backs, fill the cobbled streets with their market stalls; your purchases here could be anything from local handicrafts to coca leaves to mysterious potions from the Witches’ Market.

Adventures around La Paz

Chacaltaya is a ramshackle lodge that proudly claims to be the world’s highest ski-’resort’. Perched on a clifftop at 5,600 metres, the breathtaking views include that of the regal Huayna Potosí. Skiing is not recommended here, but mounting a bicycle and descending over 3,000 metres in 55 kilometres into the subtropics certainly is.

This is just one of the several exhilarating downhill bike journeys that can be done from La Paz.

Another, that starts at the windy La Cumbre pass, ends several thrilling hours later in the warm, somnolent town of Coroico. Your journey (which can also be done by car) takes you through magnificent scenery: jagged mountains and frozen streams give way to the citrus groves and coffee plantations of the Yungas subtropical region.