When looking for tours, most required you to make your way to Valle de la Luna so we decided to just head there and rent quad bikes there. Valle de la Luna is in Mallasa, and we were told we would need to take 2 buses to get there from the Witches Market area where we were staying. So instead, we decided to take a taxi there for 40 BOB1 which was interestingly cheaper than an Uber2. The drive there took about 30 minutes and we got to Mallasa at around 10.30 AM. We asked the driver where we could rent quad bikes and he dropped us off near there. We found 2 places and they both quoted the same price of 200 BOB for a 2-hour 30-minute guided tour. There is also a 1-hour option and a 5-hour option and they show you on a map what routes you’d be able to complete. You need to have a valid driver’s license plus your passport to be able to rent the quad bikes. One of the staff travels with you to take you to the different stops on the route. Before setting out, your given some time to ride laps around the block to get used to the quad bike. They show you the controls and it’s similar to a motorbike if you’ve ever ridden one. If you haven’t, it’s pretty simple to pick up. Also, the quad bikes are semi-automatic so you put the gears up and down, but don’t have to worry about clutch control to prevent stalling the bike.
The 2-hour 30-minute Route
On this route, there were 4 destinations. To get to the first one, it’s about a 5-10 minute ride to a control point where an official checks your license. The guide takes your license and talks to the police officer to tell him he’s taking you on a tour. Once past that checkpoint, we ride for another 10 minutes on paved roads to the first stop which is a viewpoint. From here, you get a view of the small surrounding villages and the landscape with the outskirts of La Paz in the distance. We stop here for about 5 minutes and then continue for another 20 minutes to the next destination. In this leg we move off the paved road to dirt roads so it gets quite dusty. The second destination is a plain with mountains that have interesting moon-like formations in the background.
We then ride another 5 minutes towards the mountains. This is when the quad biking gets a little thrilling as there some steep climbs and winding roads to climb the mountain. Once we reach the mountain, you get a great view of the plain and the mountain landscape in the background. You can also climb to the top of the mountain for some great pictures of the other side. From the top, you get to see rolling hills with these moon-like rock formations. We spent about 15-20 minutes here before continuing to the final stop. It takes about 15 minutes to reach this last stop going through steep climbs and winding roads, passing by a town. This final viewpoint was one of my favorites. It has a narrow path stretching out of the mountain and makes for great pictures. The landscape is of surrounding towns and mountain landscape with La Paz in the distance. We spent about 15 minutes here before riding 30 minutes back to Mallasa to return the quad bikes. Once back at the town, we asked how to get back to La Paz and they showed us where the bus stops. We waited for about 15 minutes for the bus which took us to the Universidad area dropping us off at Las Torres Mall. The bus ride took about 30 minutes and cost 2 BOB each.
