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Salar de Uyuni features in this Unreal Places episode · real footage, no AI imagery

Bolivia · Andean altiplano

Salar de Uyuni

The largest salt flat on Earth turns into a mirror.

Why it looks like this

  • The largest salt flat on Earth, at about 3,650 m in the Andes.
  • In the rainy season a thin layer of water turns it into a mirror and the horizon disappears.
  • In the dry months it cracks into giant white hexagons instead.

How to actually go

  • Go with a licensed 4x4 tour from Uyuni; multi-day trips continue to the coloured lagoons of the south.
  • Bring sunglasses, sun cream and warm layers: it is bright by day and freezing at night.
  • Altitude is real: give yourself a day or two higher up first if you can.

Best time: January to March for the mirror; May to October for the hexagon salt and clear skies.

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