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Feeling salty
Want to see an alien world?
Has your Doctor told you to cut out salt? You can snicker the next time you hear it because today’s destination is all about the joy of salt.
- Cris
Palacio de Sal
The lobby is made almost entirely of salt.
Perched on the eastern edge of the Salar de Uyuni—the world's largest salt flat—stands a weird building that breaks all of the traditional definitions of luxury. Hotel Palacio de Sal is constructed almost entirely out of one million blocks of compressed salt (sodium chloride, to be precise). You feel the impact at the moment you check in. The structural pillars, the communal tables, the bar counters, and even the bed frames are sculpted entirely from locally sourced mineral salt.
I love hanging out in salt rooms when I get to the spa. Several of them gently suggested I might enjoy other areas as well (hint: move along). The air in those rooms is so pure and clean that I see no reason to leave except that I get hungry. An entire resort made of salt? Oh yes, this is on my bucket list.
The walls are made of salt. Rain melts salt.
Schedule your visit to occur 2 months prior to the rainy season.
Escaping the ordinary requires a willingness to adapt to the realities of a high-altitude desert environment. People who have stayed in this literal salt palace describe a stunning natural theater and a few specific structural quirks. One quirk is that the rainy season often causes parts of the hotel to collapse. On the bright side, you won’t find outdated buildings here.
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Each guest room features a domed ceiling made of salt.
The primary design of the resort revolves around its 42 guest rooms, engineered to resemble domed igloos made of solid salt blocks. People comment on how quiet it is; the dense mineral walls absorb sound, creating a remarkably quiet, almost vacuum-like stillness at night.
Everywhere you look, you see flat white desert salt lands. It’s beautiful
Room temperature is the third thing you notice because it’s heavily dictated by the intense Bolivian sun. Guests say that the rooms trap day-time heat effectively but warn that daytime temperatures inside the un-air conditioned rooms can climb swiftly. The sun breaks early over the blinding white flats, rapidly warming the space and prompting several guests to request portable fans from the front desk to circulate the dry desert air. HHmmm…ok…I like temps around 85 so this might be ok during the day but definitely not at night.
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This is a luxury resort. You don’t need to worry about suffering
just because you are in a salt desert.
At nearly 12,000 feet above sea level, the luxury experience here operates differently than a standard resort. Guests love the architectural layout of the public zones. The main lobby, the billiard room, and the dramatic indoor swimming pool area enclosed by salt pillars are shown in a LOT of instagram pictures.
If the hotel sauna is unavailable for a few hours (they have to rebuild the salt wall),
you can enjoy a good soak in your room.
Unusual destinations can include unusual details such as the high altitude and remote location mean that water pressure can occasionally fluctuate, resulting in smaller shower streams or delays in hot water delivery. The striking indoor pool and holistic concept spa get really high praise when fully operational, providing a relaxing oasis after multi-day rugged jeep tours across the flats. However, some people have noted that the saunas and steam rooms require specific operational windows and may not always run continuously throughout the morning. In other words, be adaptable.
Passion fruit cheesecake isn’t only for breakfast.
You could probably ask for some at lunch as well.
The resort restaurant, El Mesón, specializes in regional dishes, offering traditional Bolivian delicacies including locally sourced llama meat, lamb, and a surprisingly robust selection of high-altitude Bolivian wines. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to mix high altitudes with alcohol (I KNOW it’s not but that’s another story) so maybe take a few bottles home with you to enjoy where the air is thicker. The complimentary morning buffet features fresh-squeezed regional juices, local fruits, and made-to-order tortillas designed to fuel long days of exploration. That sounds fantastic.
A driver will guide you over the salt flats to experience the pure joy of a world that should not be possible. It will change your perspective on what is possible in your own life.
You come here for the unparalleled, privileged access to a landscape that transitions from a blinding white desert into a massive, surreal mirror during the rainy season. It is a destination where minor structural compromises are traded for the rare opportunity to sleep inside a building carved entirely out of the earth beneath it. If you tend to complain about minor details, skip it. If you love to experience something new- add this to your list.
Even with the warnings about room temperature, this place is on m bucket list. I promise to take a photo and swear that I did not lick the walls (gross) and so my salt intake was low 😃
See you next Wednesday.
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