Key takeaways
- La Paz holds the government; Sucre holds the supreme court and the title.
- Listed for its colonial architecture, and painted white by ordinance.
- Lower and milder than La Paz, which is why it is the usual place to acclimatise.
- A compact centre, and widely regarded as the easiest city in Bolivia for a visitor.
Is Sucre safe
It has a reputation among travellers as the most relaxed city in Bolivia, and the reputation is generally earned. It is small, it is prosperous by regional standards, it has a large student population, and the centre is calm.
That does not mean nothing happens. The ordinary precautions of any Latin American city apply: watch your bag in crowded places, use registered taxis at night, do not walk alone through empty streets after dark, and be sensible about displaying valuables.
Compared with La Paz or Santa Cruz it is markedly easier going, and a great many visitors use it as the place to slow down for a few days.
One structural reason for the difference is that Sucre is not on the main commercial arteries. It is not a border town, not a mining centre and not the seat of government, and a city that nothing much passes through tends to be a calmer one. That is also why it has stayed as architecturally intact as it has.
The capital question
Sucre is the constitutional capital of Bolivia. La Paz is the seat of government. Both statements are true and the arrangement confuses almost everybody.
The split dates from the civil conflict of the late nineteenth century, after which the executive and legislature moved to La Paz while the supreme court and the formal title of capital remained in Sucre. It is a live political subject rather than a historical footnote.
For a visitor the practical consequence is that Sucre is a governmental and judicial city without being a capital in the day-to-day sense, which is much of why it is as calm as it is.
The white city
The historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed for its colonial and republican architecture, and the buildings are white by municipal requirement rather than by accident.
The effect under the hard highland light is striking and it is the reason the city photographs the way it does. Churches, courtyards, balconies and a great many doorways worth stopping at.
It is compact. Almost everything a visitor wants is within walking distance of the main square, which at altitude is a genuine advantage.
White colonial facades under hard highland light
Getting there
By air from La Paz or Santa Cruz to the airport outside the city, which is the usual approach and the fastest. By road from Potosi in a few hours, or overnight from La Paz, which is a long journey through spectacular country.
Flying in has a specific advantage worth mentioning: arriving at 2,810 metres from Santa Cruz at 400 metres is a gentler introduction to altitude than arriving in La Paz at 3,600.
Within the city, walking. Taxis are inexpensive and plentiful for anything further out.
How long to stay
Three or four days suits most people, and it is also about what the altitude wants. Two days to arrive and adjust, a day for this trek, and a day for the city itself and whatever else appeals.
People stay longer. Sucre is one of the places on the South American circuit where travellers routinely intend three nights and leave after ten, usually having enrolled in a Spanish course.
It is a good place to do very little at a time when doing very little is exactly what your body wants.
If you are moving on to higher country afterwards, the order matters. Sucre to Potosi to Uyuni is a sequence that steps upward gently and gives a body time at each level. Doing it the other way round, arriving at 3,600 metres or higher first and coming down to Sucre to recover, works far less well.
What else there is to do
Cal Orcko, the enormous dinosaur wall in a cement quarry on the edge of the city, which this trek does not visit and which is worth a separate half day.
The textile museum, which covers the Jalqa weaving you may see in the crater and the neighbouring Tarabuco tradition, and which is the best preparation for this trek there is.
The Sunday market at Tarabuco, a couple of hours away. The cemetery, the churches, the rooftop views, and the ordinary business of sitting in a square at 2,810 metres watching a small city work.
And simply walking the streets counts as an activity here in a way it does not everywhere. The centre is small enough to cover on foot in an afternoon, the doorways and courtyards repay looking into, and there is a rooftop or a bell tower on most blocks worth the climb for the view across the white roofs.
Living at altitude for a few days
The city has hills in it and you will notice them. Walk slowly, drink more water than you would at home, and give the first evening to doing nothing.
Coca tea is offered everywhere and is the local answer. Whether it helps is debated; it is pleasant, it is legal in Bolivia, and it is not a substitute for time.
By the third day most people have stopped noticing, which is precisely when this trek is the right thing to do.
