Larry Memmott's Blog

The valley of the moon is one of the closest and easiest trips out of La Paz. In fact, these days it is hardly even out of La Paz, as the south zone of the city (Zona Sur) continues to creep down the valley. The formation is of heavily compressed dirt and clay, which has weathered into formations reminiscent of sandstone formations in the U.S. Southwest.

It’s pretty easy to get to Valle de la luna. Basically, you just have to keep going down the valley from La Paz until you get there. However, in case it would be helpful, here is a map and .gdb file for use in your gps (and here and here are two links for using them).

(click image to enlarge)

As easy as it is to get there, Valle de la luna is also a lot of fun. It’s not big, but there are a couple of short hikes you can take through the strange formations, and though you could easily walk the whole thing in an hour, you could also stroll though it for a good two or three hours, without getting bored. As you can tell from the photos, we did the walk at mid-day, but to really see it well, I would suggest getting there in the morning or going a bit later in the afternoon when the light is better. We will definitely be going back sometime.