How to Motorcycle the Death Road in Bolivia

Bolivia’s infamous Death Road is a must for motorcycle travellers in South America. This guide explains everything you need to know about riding it.

This motorcycle guide is based on our ride through Bolivia during our round the world trip. The guides on this website are constantly updated to keep them up-to-date.

Bolivia’s Death Road Motorcycle Guide

By Andy Davidson

Mad or Nomad: Round the World Motorcycle Traveller

What is Bolivia’s Death Road?

The Death Road is a 64-kilometre route connecting La Paz to the Yungas region. It’s well known for being an extremely dangerous road with sheer cliff drops, narrow paths, frequent landslides and unpredictable weather. The route starts at high altitude and descends 3,500 metres into rainforest with beautiful scenery along the way. Couple that danger with the stunning backdrops and it’s made the route a bucket list challenge for motorcycle travellers.

However, in 2006, a new and far safer asphalted road was constructed to connect the Yungas region and that drastically reduced nearly all traffic on this route. It has been left intact and is now a tourist attraction for adventurous riders and cyclists.

What’s the history behind it?

The Death Road was built in the 1930s by Paraguayan prisoners captured during the Chaco War (1932–1935). Many of those prisoners died during the road’s construction.

The war between Bolivia and Paraguay was fought over control of the Gran Chaco region. After Bolivia’s defeat, its leaders realised they needed far better access to its Amazon territories, so they set about carving the road into the mountainside of the Yungas region using prisoner labour. It was originally intended for military purposes, but was later used by the local population.

Where is it and what’s the route?

The route starts about an hour and a half from La Paz. On our map below we’ve pinned the start and end points. We recommend riding it in this direction as the start is at higher altitude and the entire ride will be downhill and easier.

How to ride it and how long does it take?

We highly recommend riding it downhill – it’ll be a far easier and nicer ride. You can always take the fully tarmacked route 3 back to La Paz after.

You can easily ride from La Paz to the end of the route and then back again along route 3 in one day. The Death Road section itself shouldn’t take longer than 2 hours with loads of stops of photos and breaks.

However, that’s provided there are no landslides and it’s not busy.

We also recommend only riding this road after 3pm. The route has become very popular with mountain bikers these days, who are dropped off in big groups at the top and picked up at the bottom. It can get seriously busy en route. It’s estimated around 25,000 cyclists visit it annually and at least 18 cyclists have died on it since 1998.

We started after 3pm and only saw one or two cars on the whole ride and zero cyclists.

Important note: The Death Road is the only road in Bolivia where you should ride on the left.

When to ride it?

The best time of year for optimal weather is during the dry season from June to August. But the route is more likely to be packed with tourists.

We personally rode the route in February and had perfect weather with blue skies, warm temps and it was completely empty. A month later and friends reported a huge landslide, which made it impassable.

Wet and cold months like January usually mean landslides and fog – but you can expect those all the way through to May. It’s the luck of the draw. You’ll have to make a judgement call when you’re there and look at riding it whenever you arrive on your trip.

How difficult and dangerous is it?

The road is gravel with rocky sections and waterfalls passing over the road which make a specific section slippery. The pathway is narrow and there are some extremely steep cliff edges. It can experience landslides, fog, poor visibility, big rocks in the road and slippery mud which can send your wheels sideways.

It’s estimated around 100 people died on the road each year before the new safer route 3 route was constructed. Today, people still have accidents and die on the route, so it is still a dangerous road.

How difficult you’ll find it will completely depend on your skill level and how confident you are riding off-road along steep edges.

Personally, I don’t think it’s any more difficult than a normal day’s off-road ride in Peru. There are some steep drops and rocky sections, so you do need to keep concentration up – especially if it’s busy. If you’re experienced off-road and ride within your limits and take it easy you should be fine.

Does it cost?

When you finish the death road there is a toll booth to buy an official ticket. Expect to pay a few USD. During high season you may also find a booth en route.

At the end of the ride, you might encounter a man there trying to sell you another ticket which you “must have” for the town or local tax or some other made up reason. He’s just trying his luck. The only fee is payable at the official booth with a barrier. If in doubt, buy your official ticket at the booth and compare it with the ticket he’s trying to sell – you’ll notice he has the same ticket book.

Where do I stay?

For the start of the route you can stay in La Paz. At the end of the route there is a town called Coroico. But be warned, it’s a very touristy town and the accommodation options are very expensive and basic for what they are. We recommend checking and booking where you want to stay in advance before arriving on booking.com.

Top tips

The best tip we can give is to start late in the day – after 3pm to avoid the hordes of downhill cyclists.
There’s nothing along the way, so pack plenty of water and snacks.
Book your accommodation in advance.
Take your time, don’t rush the route. It’s easy and tempting to ride fast, but even easier to get caught out.
We recommend downloading the free app Maps.Me and downloading the Bolivia map. You can see the entire route on there even if you’re offline.