Parinacota and Pomerape

Where to stay near Sajama National Park: the 3 areas to know in 2026

Photo : Thaki Voyage

Let us start with what this page cannot do: we have no room to open for you here. Around the oldest protected park in Bolivia, created in 1939, no address is bookable from home, and the few houses that take in travellers belong to the villages. What the page can do is say what the choice of village changes, because at this altitude that choice weighs more than anywhere else.

The heights of the park run from 4,200 to 6,600 metres, and the Nevado Sajama peaks at 6,542, the highest summit in the country. Our member gives the key to the stay: « I highly recommend that you have a local guide accompany you ». Three villages share the nights: Sajama at the foot of the cone, Tomarapi on the other side, and Curahuara de Carangas 65.4 kilometres away, with its church.

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The two ways to stay near Sajama National Park

The two villages of the park look at the same volcano from two faces, and the only thing that really separates them is what lies around.

What changes In the village of Sajama In Tomarapi
To the park marker 24.7 kilometres, 39 minutes 6.2 kilometres, 16 minutes
The Tambo Quemado border 23.1 kilometres, 26 minutes Through the village of Sajama
The Chilean park of Lauca 68.2 kilometres, 63 minutes Further still
The thermal springs and the geysers In the park, around the village South of the cone
Bookable rooms None, on our side None, on our side
The altitude of the night Above 4,200 metres Above 4,200 metres
The road from La Paz 277.6 kilometres, 4 hours 29 minutes Eighteen kilometres more
For whom Anyone walking and crossing the border Anyone who wants the north face and nobody

How long to the entrance, area by area?

These distances are ROAD distances, counted from the village of Sajama, the one most visitors reach first; the note on each line gives the marker the park listing carries, inside the massif. The departure cities are far off: Oruro 213.2 kilometres away, La Paz 277.6.

From Time How
The village of Sajama, at the foot of the cone on site at the foot of the cone
The listing marker is 24.7 kilometres and thirty-nine minutes away.
Tomarapi, on the other side of the volcano 18.9 km, 24 min around the north of the cone
The listing marker is only 6.2 kilometres and sixteen minutes away.
Curahuara de Carangas, and its church 65.4 km, 70 min Patacamaya road
Patacamaya is 179 kilometres from the village, and La Paz 277.6.

At a glance: our picks by traveller type

Pick the profile that fits you and go straight to the recommended area.

Walk below the cone at first light The village of the park sits at the foot of the volcano. Be as close as possible to the park marker 6.2 kilometres and sixteen minutes, the shortest on these pages. Cross into Chile within the day Tambo Quemado is twenty-six minutes away. Break the drive from La Paz The municipal seat sits on the Patacamaya road. See the Sistine Chapel of the Andes The church of the municipal seat carries that nickname.

Map of the areas near Sajama National Park

See how the areas sit relative to one another before choosing your base. Click a name to jump to its description.

1

The village of Sajama, at the foot of the cone 23.1 kilometres from the Tambo Quemado border post

Anyone setting off at dawn to walk below the volcano

This is the village of the park, set at the foot of the cone, and the starting point for the walks, the thermal springs and the geysers of the Wallaqueri area. The Tambo Quemado border is 23.1 kilometres and twenty-six minutes away, and the Chilean park of Lauca 68.2 kilometres: anyone sleeping here can cross from one park to the other in a day. We have no bookable address to offer you: the houses that take guests are the ones belonging to the village.

To really enjoy your visit, I highly recommend that you have a local guide accompany you

Other things to do in this area

Lauca National Park

Lauca National Park

+2 recs

Pros

  • The foot of the cone, and the walks that leave from it
  • The thermal springs and the geysers of the park
  • Twenty-six minutes from the Chilean border

Cons

  • No room bookable from home
  • A night above 4,200 metres, from the very first one
2

Tomarapi, on the other side of the volcano 18.9 kilometres from the village of Sajama, 24 minutes

Anyone who wants the north face and the silence

Eighteen kilometres and twenty-four minutes separate the two villages, and they are two faces of the same volcano: Tomarapi looks at the cone from the north, and no village lies closer to the marker the park listing carries: 6.2 kilometres and sixteen minutes. The village is tiny and the welcome is run by the community. Here too, we have nothing to open for you: the night is settled on the spot.

Pros

  • The north face of the cone, sixteen minutes from the park marker
  • A tiny village, so nobody
  • Twenty-four minutes from the village of Sajama

Cons

  • No room bookable from home
  • Nothing but the village and the volcano
3

Curahuara de Carangas, and its church 65.4 kilometres from the village of Sajama, 70 minutes

Anyone arriving by road who wants to break the trip

The seat of the municipality the village of Sajama belongs to, 65.4 kilometres and seventy minutes from it, on the road that comes from Patacamaya. Its church, which people call the Sistine Chapel of the Andes, is the reason to stop here. Coming from La Paz, Patacamaya is 179 kilometres from the village of Sajama, and the whole trip takes 4 hours 29 minutes: breaking it here makes sense.

Pros

  • The church called the Sistine Chapel of the Andes
  • The seat of the municipality, on the Patacamaya road
  • Seventy minutes from the village of Sajama

Cons

  • No room bookable from home
  • Seventy minutes of road before the volcano

Our tips for booking the right place

  • What this page cannot do, and why it says so: None of the addresses in the villages of the park is bookable from home: we therefore have no button to offer you, and we would rather write it than let you search. The only listings that answer to the word Sajama are hotels in La Paz, 277.6 kilometres and 4 hours 29 minutes of road away. What you will find on site, in the village of Sajama as in Tomarapi, are houses that take in travellers, run by the villages themselves. This page therefore serves another purpose: choosing the village, and knowing what the altitude imposes.
  • Four thousand two hundred metres from the first night: The heights of the park run from 4,200 to 6,600 metres, and the two villages stand at the bottom of that range: the night is therefore spent higher than the highest summit of the Austrian Alps. For anyone arriving from La Paz, already at altitude, the step up is small; for anyone arriving from Arica or Iquique, at sea level, it is brutal and is paid for on the first night. That is why Curahuara de Carangas, 65.4 kilometres away, is worth knowing: breaking the drive there avoids stacking the road and the altitude on the same day.
  • The local guide, and what our member says about it: « To really enjoy your visit, I highly recommend that you have a local guide accompany you », writes Bill, and no other sentence on this page is as concrete. The park has neither signposted trails nor a reception centre: what it has are thermal springs, geysers in the Wallaqueri area, polychrome chullpas, rock paintings and pucaras, and none of these places is found on your own. Our member lists what the visit turned up: « llamas, their cousins the alpacas and vicuñas, picturesque villages, warm locals, grandiose landscapes, and distant horizons ».
  • Two parks, one border, twenty-six minutes: The Tambo Quemado post is 23.1 kilometres and twenty-six minutes from the village of Sajama, and on the other side begins the Chilean national park of Lauca, 68.2 kilometres and sixty-three minutes away. Both protect the same altiplano, and Lake Chungará sits just beyond the border. Sleeping in the village of Sajama is therefore the only way to see both in the same day: from Tomarapi, you first have to cover the eighteen kilometres back to the village.
  • The oldest park in the country, and what it protects: Created on 2 August 1939, the Sajama is the first protected area in Bolivia, and our member knows it: « the oldest natural park in Bolivia ». It covers 200,000 hectares across the municipalities of Curahuara de Carangas and Turco, in the north-west of the Oruro department, and it is run by the national protected areas service. What it protects comes down to the altitude: queñua forests, among the highest in the world, high-altitude wetlands, vicuñas, suris and Andean cats. The Nevado Sajama, for its part, peaks at 6,542 metres.
Where not to stay near Sajama National Park
  • Looking for a bookable room in the villages of the park: there is none on our side.
  • Stacking the drive up from sea level and a night at 4,200 metres: the altitude is paid for the same evening.
  • Counting on signposted trails: the park has none, and our member recommends a local guide.
  • Planning the Chilean park of Lauca from Tomarapi: you first have to cover the 18.9 kilometres back to the village of Sajama.

FAQ: where to stay near Sajama National Park

Can you book a room near the park?
Not from home, and that is the first fact to know: no bookable address has been found around the park, neither in the village of Sajama, nor in Tomarapi, nor in Curahuara de Carangas. The listings that carry the name Sajama are hotels in La Paz, 277.6 kilometres away. What exists on site are houses run by the villages. We therefore have no button to offer you on this page, and none of our areas displays one.
Which village should we choose, Sajama or Tomarapi?
Both stand inside the park and look at the same volcano, but not from the same side. The village of Sajama is at the foot of the cone, at the start of the walks, the thermal springs and the geysers, and twenty-six minutes from the Tambo Quemado border, so from the Chilean park of Lauca. Tomarapi looks at the north face, stands 6.2 kilometres from the marker the park listing carries, and is the quieter of the two. Eighteen kilometres and twenty-four minutes separate them.
At what altitude do you sleep?
Above 4,200 metres in both villages: the heights of the park run from 4,200 to 6,600 metres, and the Nevado Sajama peaks at 6,542. For anyone arriving from La Paz, the step up in altitude is small; for anyone coming from Arica or Iquique, at sea level, it is paid for on the first night. Breaking the drive at Curahuara de Carangas, 65.4 kilometres away, avoids stacking the road and the altitude on the same day.
Do you need a guide?
Our member recommends one without hedging: « to really enjoy your visit, I highly recommend that you have a local guide accompany you ». The park has no signposted trail, and what it contains is not found on your own: the thermal springs, the geysers of the Wallaqueri area, the polychrome chullpas, the rock paintings and the pucaras. The villages of the park are also the ones that provide the guides.
How do you get there?
By road, and it is a long one: 179 kilometres and 172 minutes from Patacamaya, which is itself 99.1 kilometres and 99 minutes from La Paz, so 277.6 kilometres and 4 hours 29 minutes in all. From Oruro, count 213.2 kilometres and 3 hours 41 minutes. Curahuara de Carangas, 65.4 kilometres from the village of Sajama, is the last municipal seat before the park and the only possible stop on that route.
What is there to see in the park?
Our member gives the list, and it is accurate: « llamas, their cousins the alpacas and vicuñas, picturesque villages, warm locals, grandiose landscapes, and distant horizons ». The protected areas service adds what the altitude makes unique: queñua forests among the highest in the world, high-altitude wetlands, suris, Andean cats, and on the cultural side polychrome chullpas, rock paintings and pucaras. The church of Curahuara de Carangas, called the Sistine Chapel of the Andes, completes the picture.

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