Death Road, Bolivia🚲

The main activity to do in La Paz, is the Death Road mountain bike tour. This activity has been high on my South America bucket list and after two attempts and a few stressful days of Bolivian protests, we were finally able to do this! This blog will include my honest review of the tour and truthfully explain why it is called Death Road, so you know ahead of time the dangers and what to expect if you decide to do it.

What is Death Road

Death Road is a whole day activity where you cycle down Bolivias most dangerous road. It was previously known as North Yungas Road and is 64km of notoriously dangerous, unpaved gravel road connecting La Paz to the Amazon region. The roads drop from 4,700m to 1,200m elevation with sheer, unguarded edges of 600m and more, into the jungle below. However, the Bolivian government recently built a much safer, more modern road to replace it, and since then there is hardly any traffic on Death Road, it is mainly used for this tourist activity.

Death Road sadly got its notorious name because of the dangerous conditions the road is in and from a lot of fatal accidents that have happened over the years. So, if you are not confident with cycling, heights or gravelly roads, this activity is definitely not for you! If you know me, you know I’m not the most confident on two wheel apparatuses, since my accidents in South East Asia. Cycling on a gravel road for me was pretty daunting, and if I wasn’t 100% confident in my ability to not get hurt, then I wouldn‘t have done this activity. This isn’t me trying to scare you, it is just my honest opinion. I can definitely see why it is called Death Road and how dangerous it is. Some roads have the biggest drops I have ever seen and if you are not careful or cycling safely, it could end really badly. However, if you are not big headed about it or riding carelessly, you will honestly be fine and have a great time!

Tour we did

We did the tour with Ride On, and we found them through our hostel, Wake Up. You can book the tour through the hostel, directly with them or on Tripadviser here. When choosing your tour company, make sure you have properly researched it because it 100% matters. The danger of the activity is high and you want to be going with a good company who has proper safety measures. We have been told about companies who don’t offer proper fully covered helmets, overalls or are just not sensible. I 100% recommend the company we went with, the guides we had were so energetic, lovely and made us feel safe throughout the tour. Our friend was a bit nervous and chose to go slower than the rest of the group and the guide was there every step of the way! If you are nervous, you have to tell your guides about it otherwise they won’t know to help or guide you, this is a MUST!

When you are booking your tour you can decide if you want a full suspension bike or just the front wheel. We went for full suspension for both the comfort and the safety, this cost 520 BOB for the both of us, but it is cheaper if you only go half suspension. This price included transfers, all equipment, clothes, food (breakfast, snack and dinner) and photos from throughout the day.

Bring anything you need in a small bag, and you can leave it in the van. This van will be following the group for the first part of Death Road. It used to be able to follow us the entire way, but since the route had a few land slides, it can’t do that anymore. Once you start section two of Death Road, the van will go to the end, where it will be waiting for the group to finish. Our full day itinerary will be explained below!

Ride On

On a side note, the owner of the company Ride On was an absolute godsend. Our tour originally got cancelled because of the Bolivian protests, and we ended up getting stuck in La Paz for an extra three days. We were pretty stressed over what to do and if we were able to leave Bolivia, as a couple of friends previously got stuck and had to get an emergency flight out, which was our last resort because of how expensive it was.

The owner of the company was the one who warned us about the protests and guided us on what decisions to make. After a few cancelled buses and back and forth decisions on what to do, I can honestly say that without her help we probably would have been a lot more stressed. She even offered us one free and one discounted room at her boutique hotel because we were nearly stranded. Definitely check out the hotel Anami, the rooms are gorgeous, they have a really nice cafe attached to it and it was perfect for us after a stressful few days.

This is why I can 100% recommend her company, she is juggling three businesses and has a family of her own, but made sure all of us and other tourists, were okay and not too worried about the protests.

Day Itinerary

We got picked up at around 7am before driving to their warehouse to get our helmets fitted. We then had a quick pit stop to buy anything we needed; snacks is a good idea if you tend to get hungry, or if you need to use the bathroom. We then drove another forty five minutes to the starting point of Death Road (pictured below).

At this starting point, we got ready with the equipment provided. All of us were given a thin long sleeve top, jacket, trousers and gloves! For extra protection we were offered knee and elbow pads, which you can choose to wear, but I would recommend doing so. We were told the first hour is pretty cold, so make sure to start with a few layers. I had a sports top, thermal, their long sleeve top, my waterproof, then their jacket.

We were also given breakfast here, which is a mixture of banana cake, Bolivian styled cheesy bread, some fruit and then coffee or tea. Once we finished breakfast we were assigned our bikes and given a few minutes for a test run. We then started Death Road!

The first hour is cycling to the main part of Death Road. This is all downhill and on a main tarmac road. This is probably the easiest part of the tour as the roads are a lot smoother. Just be aware of drivers as they will try to pass you and it can be a bit overwhelming. We then stopped at the viewpoint (below) for a quick photo op and to see how everyone is feeling! These different stop points are to make sure the group sticks together and check that everyone is feeling confident. The third stop point is where you go on a short slip road, which is only gravel and gives you the idea of what to expect for the rest of Death Road. After this short ride, we then have to load the bikes back onto the van and drive to the second start point of Death Road. You have to pay 50 BOB for the park fees, which is additional cost on top of the tour.

Once at the second point of Death Road, this is where we have our lunch and take off any layers we don’t want to wear, as it only gets hotter throughout the day. Lunch for us was delicious fresh sandwiches (ham, cheese, avocado & tomato), and some fizzy drinks to give us energy. This is the only food we got given during the whole ride, so bring snacks if you think you will need it! You are allowed a small bag on you if you want or you can ask one of the guides to carry a couple things as they have a small backpack with water bottles for all of us.

After lunch we started the second and main part of Death Road. The roads the entire rest of the way are gravelly as pictured below (to give you a rough idea). Please take this into account and cycle safely, especially if it is raining or have previously rained as it can make the road very slippery.

We rode for about two hours, stopping a few times in between, before getting to the famous viewpoint where you can get the iconic photos on the ledge. We took turns getting our photos and the views were pretty cool, sadly, when we got there it was cloudy (typical!!) but as the day went by, the weather cleared up and we had bright blue skies.

As we continued, we got to the most dangerous part of the tour. If you use to watch Top Gear and have watched the episode where they drive along Death Road, this is the part where Clarkson gets stuck. Since the episode, the road has now eroded and is only big enough to cycle down. The waterfalls over it also causes the road to become very slippery so you have to be really careful. From the top, the angle the road presents it self makes it look a lot thinner than it actually is. I was pretty nervous of cycling it and my friend decided to walk it instead. However, as I started going down, the path is a lot wider than you actually think and I felt very safe cycling down along it.

When we got to the hut as pictured below, this is about half way. We were allowed to rest for about fifteen minutes before continuing on our way. The next big stop is where you get the opportunity to do a zip line over the jungle for an additional 80 BOB. Ned decided to do this and although he said it was pretty fun, with cool views, he definitely didn’t think it was the safest!

After the zip line it was probably another forty minutes till the end. The last section is the most brutal though, it is very hard on your hands and knees and it seems never ending. I would recommend needing a full suspension bike solely for this last part, because it is that harsh on your body! That coupled with the roads being muddy can cause you to slip a lot easier, so you have to be paying attention. You don’t want to fall off your bike that close to the end of the tour!

Once at the end of Death Road, we packed the equipment away before heading to a nearby hotel for a buffet dinner, which also had a huge pool that we could relax in. The food at the hotel was alright and pretty standard and if the weather was better we definitely would have made more use of the pool, but as per, as soon as we finished the tour, it started pouring with rain. After about an hour chilling there, we started the three hour journey back to La Paz, getting us in at around 10pm. A very long day but completely worth it!

Overall

Overall, Death Road is a definite must in my opinion! I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie and the whole day was really fun for me. Even though we had a couple people fall off their bikes, I personally didn’t find it that bad or too dangerous. As mentioned before, it is all about how you cycle and if you are being safe with how you ride. If you want to do it but are a bit nervous, I would recommend the company we went with as they are very attentive and will 100% look out for you! Big up the team at Ride On, Derek and Juan were the best!