The hook
Bolivia's elegant white colonial capital, a city of whitewashed mansions and a mild climate, paired with nearby Potosí, once one of the richest cities on Earth, built on a mountain of silver that funded an empire and consumed countless lives.
01Why it's worth it
Sucre, Bolivia's constitutional capital, is the country's loveliest city: a graceful, UNESCO-listed colonial town of whitewashed churches, mansions, and courtyards, set at a comfortable altitude that gives it a mild, spring-like climate, with a relaxed university-town atmosphere, good food, and a proud history as the place where Bolivian independence was declared. A few hours away lies Potosí, a place of staggering history. In colonial times, the silver dug from its mountain, the Cerro Rico ("rich hill") that looms over the town, made Potosí one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world, and the phrase "vale un Potosí" (worth a Potosí) meant untold riches; the silver bankrolled the Spanish empire. But it came at a horrific human cost, as huge numbers of indigenous and enslaved African labourers died in the mines, and miners still work the depleted mountain in brutal conditions today. You can tour the working mines, a sobering, claustrophobic, and ethically complicated experience. Together, beautiful Sucre and haunting Potosí offer colonial elegance and one of history's most consequential and tragic stories.
02How to experience it
Enjoy Sucre's white colonial streets, museums, markets, and mild climate as a relaxed base. In Potosí, tour the colonial mint and, if you choose, the Cerro Rico mines, approaching a mine tour with awareness of the miners' hardship and the ethical questions it raises. Both sit high, so mind the altitude.