Bolivia: Cycling the worlds most dangerous road

The first natural thought you may have when considering cycling down death road in Bolivia is likely to be: ‘will I die?’

This is normal. It’s in the name after all.

Death road, or as the locals call it: Camino del la muerte is a terrifying concept. It was voted the most dangerous road in the world, and, prior to a few years ago had a huge amounts of accidents per year. But we’re not just talking about fender benders. We’re talking about people plummeting to their deaths off the side of a single track road, which is open to two-way traffic, with no barriers. In 2006 it was estimated 300 people died on the road each year.

Thankfully – Death Road is a hell of a lot safer now. But, it can still be dangerous.

If you’re chasing an adrenaline rush – then we couldn’t recommend it more. Check out the video here for a taster of what you can expect, and read on for info about how to book your own Death Road adventure!

You can book the tour from La Paz from a number of tour groups; its key here to shop around, visit the bike agencies, talk to the them and test out their bikes before riding. We booked our tour with Ride On Bolivia. And we couldn’t recommend them more.

The guys were super attentive, fairly priced (not the cheapest, not the most expensive) and the tour guys were so knowledgeable – one of the guides who came with us was a champion downhill mountain bike rider. We genuinely saw him doing flips down the side of the road.

Once your decision has been made with the chosen tour company, you’ll head off early the next day, where you’ll be dropped off at a central point. It’s here that you’ll be given a safety briefing, assigned a bike and watch a blessing by the guides and campesinos who pray that you will all be safe that day (yes, seriously!).

With this sorted, you’ll start your journey on a tarmac road to test out your brakes. This isn’t Death Road, but it serves as a nice taster with sheer drops to one side and incredible scenery nearby. This road is still open to the public, so expect to see Lorries and big trucks overtaking.

After this part of the journey is completed – you will then be taken on a short drive to the start of the official Camino del la muerte. On arrival we were greeted by rich greens, gravel dirt tracks and cloud and mist surrounding the sides of the road. Perfect conditions to add to the mystery and danger of what we were about to do!

Death road takes you along 68 kilometers of gravel and dirt track road, and down 3000 metres in altitude altogether. You basically ride from a high altitude zone, all the way down to a subtropical rainforest.

The ride itself was incredible. It was such a rush of adrenaline riding down those single track roads, dodging potholes, being soaked by waterfalls above and glimpsing sheer drops to the side of us.

On the way down, our guide stopped us before each dangerous corner where he gave us a briefing. The dangerous corners are named after the nationality of a person who died there – French corner, Jewish corner, British corner etc. just to add to the fear a little.

Thankfully, accidents on Camino del la Muerte have plummeted now that the Bolivian government built a newer, wider road elsewhere, and it means you’ll likely only share the road with a very small amount of locals going to the village at the bottom, and a load of other adrenaline chasing cyclists.

But this shouldn’t take the gloss off what was a thrilling ride down the worlds most dangerous road.

After navigating the twists and turns of Death Road, you’ll finish right at the bottom and be greeted by a friendly campesino hawking beer.

We couldn’t recommend it enough.