Casa Gastón : Bolivia’s New Luxury Hotel Comes With a Private Salt Flat View
There are few hotel settings quite like the edge of Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni. The world’s largest salt flat stretches towards the horizon in an expanse of white, framed by the volcanic landscape of the Andes and the imposing silhouette of Tunupa Volcano. Now, a new 10-room hotel is giving travellers a reason to stay longer and experience it beyond the usual day trip.
Casa Gastón sits in Jirira, a small Andean village on the northern edge of the Salar de Uyuni, at an altitude of 3,742 metres. Its remote position is central to the experience. Rather than simply offering an excursion to the salt flats, Casa Gastón places the landscape directly outside the guest rooms, making it possible to experience the Salar at sunrise, sunset, beneath the moon and under the stars.
A Luxury Hotel Built Around Art
Casa Gastón is not a standard conventional luxury hotel. It is also a museum and an artistic project conceived by the late Bolivian artist Gastón Ugalde, whose work explored Bolivia’s landscapes, history and cultural identity. Ugalde, who died in 2023, designed the property before his death, with his family and collaborators bringing his vision to completion. Often known as the “Andean Warhol”, he had a longstanding relationship with the Uyuni landscape, and that connection is embedded throughout the hotel.
Casa Gastón describes the property as a living sculpture, with architecture, art and landscape treated as part of the same experience. Dedicated art pavilions showcase Ugalde’s work alongside site-specific pieces, while the interiors incorporate his work into the communal spaces.
Even the architecture has a connection to the surrounding landscape. The exterior uses fossilised coral sourced from a nearby quarry, giving the building a distinctly tactile quality that feels rooted in its extraordinary setting rather than imposed upon it. There are plans for an artist-in-residence programme too, bringing artists into this remote corner of Bolivia and creating opportunities to engage with the surrounding community.
Ten Rooms With the Salt Flats Right Outside
Casa Gastón feature just 10 guest rooms, each designed to make the extraordinary landscape feel like part of the stay rather than something viewed from a distance. Inside, each has a king-size bed, two rain showers and a hand-sculpted natural stone bathtub carved from a single block. The tubs have an especially strong connection to the hotel’s artistic story, having been made by artisans who previously worked on Gastón Ugalde’s sculptures. Large windows bring the salt desert directly into view, while an upper-level private terrace provides another vantage point over the extraordinary landscape.
The terrace is where the room really comes into its own, with a private fire pit and mineral bath, as well as space for open-air dining. There is something particularly appealing about being able to finish a day exploring the Salar by stepping into your own outdoor bath with Tunupa Volcano and the vast salt desert beyond.
Practical touches are thoughtfully considered for the altitude and remoteness, too. Oxygen assistance, turndown service, room service and a dedicated concierge are included. At 3,742 metres above sea level, the oxygen provision is more than a nice extra, particularly for guests still acclimatising to the altitude.
A Culinary Journey Through Bolivia
The food is given equal attention. Marsia Taha, the Bolivian chef named Latin America’s Best Female Chef in 2024, leads the culinary experience, bringing together ingredients, techniques and traditions from across the country. Her approach reflects Bolivia’s remarkable biodiversity, with the menus built around local ingredients and the country’s varied culinary heritage. It is an important part of the experience because Casa Gastón is not designed as an international luxury bubble dropped into the desert. The idea is to understand the destination through its food as well as its landscape.
The food is intentionally light, an important consideration at 3,742 metres above sea level, with dishes designed to make acclimatisation a little easier while still delivering plenty of character. The drinks programme keeps the focus firmly on Bolivia, with a selection of the country’s artisanal wines alongside Singani, its distinctive grape spirit, both carrying designations of origin. Rather than treating the culinary experience as an accompaniment to the hotel, Casa Gastón uses it as another way into the country, bringing Bolivia’s biodiversity, food traditions and sense of place to the table.
Experiencing Bolivia Beyond the Uyuni Salt Flat
The point of staying rather than simply passing through becomes clear once Casa Gastón’s activity programme unfolds. Sunrise walks onto the Salar de Uyuni begin early, as the first light transforms the salt into a shifting expanse of colour, while sunset excursions return to the flats with cocktails or wine as the landscape turns pink, gold and orange. For something more active, a guided excursion to Tunupa Volcano climbs through the Andean landscape towards pre-Columbian sites and dramatic viewpoints above the Salar, with the more challenging route reaching close to 4,900 metres. A visit to Kachi Island, known for its towering ancient cacti and unusual geological formations, offers panoramic views across the salt flats, while cycling provides another way to appreciate their extraordinary scale.
There is a more intimate side to the experiences, too. At the nearby quinoa fields and llama herds of Jirira, guests can meet local farming families, learn about traditional quinoa cultivation and spend time with llama herders, with conversations extending to the effects of climate change and desertification on these longstanding ways of life. After dark, stargazing sessions with a telescope take advantage of the property’s high-altitude setting and lack of light pollution, bringing the southern hemisphere’s constellations into view above the Salar.
Why Casa Gastón Is Worth the Journey
Casa Gastón is around 100 kilometres from Uyuni International Airport, with the journey taking approximately one and a half hours by car. Flights connect Uyuni with La Paz, making it possible to incorporate the hotel into a wider Bolivian itinerary. The journey is part of the appeal. This is not a hotel designed to make Bolivia feel familiar. It does the opposite, placing guests firmly within one of the country’s most extraordinary landscapes while providing the comfort and privacy needed to appreciate it properly.
That may ultimately be Casa Gastón’s greatest USP. The Salar de Uyuni is no longer simply something to visit. Here, it becomes something to wake up beside, explore at sunrise, return to at sunset and watch transform beneath the night sky. With Gastón Ugalde’s art woven into the property, a distinctly Bolivian culinary programme and experiences that extend well beyond the salt flats themselves, Casa Gastón offers a more immersive way to experience Bolivia’s most surreal landscape.
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