Cholet Tour - Andean Architecture And Culture - El Alto

We had a great time - Max was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic and his English was excellent! Going inside a cholet was very social and hearing about local beliefs and cultures.

It was a really interesting tour, that gave a glimpse of a side of Bolivian culture I wouldn't seen at all otherwise. I nice way of exploring deeper into El Alto as well

Great tour - our guide Max was very knowledgable and passionate about the El Alto area and the beliefs and customs surrounding the Cholets. He showed us lots of different Cholets and we got to see inside one too. He also took us to see the Shamen who play an important part in the indigenous community. He also spoke excellent English and explained everything clearly and with humour

Review Max took us on a tour of El Alto’s cholets. As an El Alto resident himself, he was both enthusiastic and knowledgeable. He explained the how the buildings reflected aspects of indigenous Aymara culture. We were able to go inside one of the buildings, which was great. It also helped that Max had great English skills and a good sense of humour - a highly recommended tour.

Our tour guide Jose was super knowledgeable, very friendly and fun to hang out with. The tour itself was incredibly informative and really gave a great overview of the cholets and their cultural significance. Highly recommended.

I totally enjoyed the Architectural and Cultural tour of El Alto. My tour guide, Remberto was very knowledgeable and personable. He described many interesting Chalets house, local culture and introduced me to the wonderful local food too. I highly recommend this tour.

José was a very good guide. He told me a lot about the history of Cholets and then whe visited very nice examples of this architecture. José is an architect and he really knows a lot about it!

The tour itself was great. Our guide was on time, spoke excellent English, and was local to El Alto. We learned a lot about the cholets and also about Bolivia. We took a lot of mini taxis/buses to get around which was fun. My only negative is that the company lists 9 am in several spots (including where the meeting location is) and 10 am in another. As a result, I was an hour early.

My wife and I had a great time on this tour with our guide Jose. First, we got to use the public transit cable cars (Mi Teleférico) to get an amazing view of La Paz from above. We learned about the local culture and customs in El Alto and, of course, the cholets! The architecture is so unique and interesting and Jose was even able to take us inside one of the event spaces, which was amazing. Highly recommend this tour, particularly with Jose.

Amara (I believe that is her name) knows the area well and taught my friend and I alot about the El Alto cholets. It was also neat to experience the shared taxis and the purple cable car system.

I can highly recommend doing the Cholets tour with Red Cap. Our guide, Rem, was knowledgeable and had a good sense of humour. The tour takes you through parts of El Alto that might not be so easy to visit on your own.

Denise from Red Cap was an amazing guide! Charismatic, so much knowledge, a very interesting tour! Totally recommend.

We are so glad we booked this tour. Denise was a fantastic guide and we learned so much that we would not have otherwise learned visiting El Alto on our own. The history of cholets and the different types that can be seen around El Alto was fascinating to learn about. The tour covered a lot of area - it was a good experience to ride the cable car and it was even more interesting to use the local public transport to get around to see some cholets. Denise is well organised and is very knowledgeable.

My family of 5 (2 adults, 3 kids ages 10, 13, 15) had a great tour with Denise. She was fabulous! Full of enthusiasm and fun facts and very organized. It’s easy to see that she loves her job, and we all enjoyed our time with her. The cholets were very interesting, and we were amazed by the various designs. Going inside one was fantastic! We loved this tour and our time with Denise and we recommend it 100%!

We‘ve booked the cholets tour and it was a really great expierience. Our guide Matt was very friendly and interesting person, we’ve enjoyed visiting el Alto with him. Thank you for the organisation.

Very knowledgeable and expressive tour guide Denise. Loved taking the cable cars to El Alto to see the cholets. Worth the money and time, about 3 hours.

The guide was very knowledgeable and gave us great insights into the local culture. A bit of extra "fun" was taking the somewhat informal mini-bus/van system between sites. We only had 3 people plus the guide, so we took some taxis as well. All transit costs plus a delicious treat were included. We were very happy we took this tour as there's no way we could have re-created it without our guide's knowledge - very much worth it.

We had a brilliant tour with our friendly and knowledgeable guide REM. We enjoyed visiting the El Alto area of the city and learning so much about local culture and traditions. REM was an excellent guide, very patiently answering all our questions. He took us to parts of the city we would not have explored on our own

Denise is amazing guide. She has a lot knowledge about the topic. We had great time. The architecture is quite unique If you are interested

My wife and I did the cholets tour with Denise on 13 January 2025. Denise explained the history and key features of cholets very well, and we appreciated the opportunity to be able to see a variety of them around El Alto. Going inside one was also a really special experience, and it helped us to better visualise the type of events that may be held inside them. Through this tour, we felt that we got a unique glimpse into the fascinating culture of the Aymaras who live in El Alto.

An interesting insight into El Alto, local culture and cholets. I had visited the Sunday market but I wouldn’t have been able to find my way around without a guide and wouldn’t have understood the definition and purpose of a cholet.

Guide was super knowledgeable about Cholets and other areas of Andean culture. Our group had a wonderful time and got to get up close to plenty of remarkable Cholets!

I wanted to visit El Alto with a local guide and learn about the traditions and culture behind the cholets. I also wanted to ride the Teleférico. Max was a great guide and good company.

It was very interesting to learn about the Cholets, the architecture and traditions and beliefs of the indigenous. Experiencing the public transport was great and I am glad I got to see El Alto with a guide. Rembert was a great guide! The tour took place even though I was only 1 participant.

A great tour. Was interesting to learn about he cholet architecture and use and wonderful to see inside a cholet. Would recommend this tour for anyone interested in architecture

Great tour! Fantastic views, a lot of information and you see a cholet from inside. Cris is a very friendly and experienced guide, it was fun talking to him (he even speaks German). Thanks again!

I love how authentic el alto is so really wanted to do a tour there. Max was our guide and he was sooo great. It was so cool seeing local places, taking the cable car, and bus and seeing the cholets. Max was super knowledgeable and friendly and we loved our tour with him. Highly recommend if you want to see an interesting area.

What a great trip! Every part of it, riding the cable cars, seeing the cholets; and observing El Alto, and its vast Sunday market from cable car were amazing. Our guide Chris gave a very good cultural explanation of El Alto. He made the tour informative and fun. His fluency in English was a great help. Highly recommend the tour.

Excellent experience with Cristian! A nice tour to discover andine architecture. Very professional guide

Fantastic tour given by Amara! I learned so much about Aymaran culture and was great to walk around El Alto seeing all the different Cholets. I highly recommend this tour as its so unlike other tours and highly unique to Bolivia.

We had a very good guide who showed some beautiful cholets and explained us about the local uses in El Alto. He aldo recommended us some restaurants. The tour was quite expensive.

This tour was amazing! If you appreciate unique architecture and seeing new modern twists woven into the traditional older style then this tour is for you! Fascinating stylish mansions are just beautiful and my guide Ren is the man! He was very knowledgeable and took great care of me on the tour. Definitely recommend!

An excellent insight into the life and landscape of El Alto. We visited different areas and saw a range of amazing Cholets reflecting the lives and businesses of their owners from Chinese style mansions to Transformer palaces. Without our excellent guide we would never have appreciated the richness of life in El Alto.

Fabulous tour to see some cholets and mansions in the El Alto area. Great to walk and take public transportation through unfamiliar neighborhoods with a knowledgeable local guide. We weren't able to see inside any of the cholets, but managed to include a brief stop at the El Alto Condominio Wiphala, a cluster of several highrises painted by Roberto Mamani Mamani. Spectacular.

very interesting combo of teleferico rides and exploring the EL Alto neighborhoods. The cholets were only on attraction; the markets, the people, the juxtaposition of wealth and poverty being another dimension explored. My only negative is that 4 hours may be too long, 3 hours would be enough, and that I would have liked to know in advance that we would take shared vans/cabs so I can bring and wear a mask. Kudos to guide Cristian very nice and knowledgeable.

Cholitas wrestling was an interesting experience and well worth seeing. Disappointed ‘vip seating’ meant scramble in as fast as you can to find a spot and then don’t move else you’ll lose it, also disappointed when I booked it displayed my hotel as a pick up point but actually wasn’t of which I only found out as I contacted to confirm pick up time. Overall it just didn’t feel well organised

Highly recommend this tour. I'd been too scared to venture to El Alto before but admired the architecture when passing through on buses and so seeing this tour option was great, as was my guide Max. He clearly has a passion for sharing his culture, but also a curiosity and inquisitiveness to keep learning and finding out more about cholet designs. There wasn't a question he couldn't answer and I learnt so much more than just seeing some fascinating buildings, I learnt about the history, the culture, the meaning behind them, they aren't just impressive facades! He also made me feel super comfortable and safe, and helped me get accustomed to jumping on local buses. If you want to learn more about the history and culture and customs of the Aymara people, rather than a basic history lesson of Bolivia and the city, do it, you won't regret it. I'm so glad this tour exists and I was able to go on it, thank you Max and Red Cap for putting this on and helping me to learn, honour, respect and share in the wonderful history of the Aymara people (and see some cool buildings along the way!).

We found out about Cholets through the Red Cap Walking Tours website. The Cholets are an intriguing phenomenon - a bizarre combination of local tradition and futurism. There are themed buildings designed to look like Chinese pagodas, buildings disguised as Transformer robots, buildings whose interiors evoke the ballroom on the Titanic. It’s all there. You need to be up for a bit of urban gaudiness. If you are, you’ll love it. Our guide did a great job of moving us from building to building at a smooth pace. Recommended.

This was an excellent, entertaining and informative tour. Our tour guide Max was very passionate about the subject of the cholets and offered many very interesting insights into the cultural background and context behind the design of this particular kind of architecture. This isn't your average architecture tour - rather Max talked about many different aspects of the cities of El Alto and La Paz, the indigenous cultures of Bolivia, and their various lifestyles and social issues. We learnt so much. Thanks Max, we had an amazing time.

Daniel was an amazing, knowledgeable, and fun tour guide! We had a fantastic time taking the cable car and the minibuses around El Alto, learning about the cholets and the people who built them. We also loved learning about how Aymaran culture permeates the fabric of everyday life and rituals in El Alto. We would definitely do this tour again, and highly recommend it for anyone interested in indigenous cultures, architecture, city life, and spending time with a local to the area.

Our tour guide R. didn't seem knowledgable about indigenous/aymara culture. We did not have enough time to enjoy and truly take in the amazing colors, architecture, etc. of El Alto. Our tour was primarily walking quickly from site to site or just hopping on and off buses. Honestly, I was disappointed. I think it depends on the tour guide you get that makes or breaks the tour.

I'm so glad I did this tour. It was incredible to be able to go in a cholet and the guide really talked a lot about indigenous/Aymara culture.

Great tour. It is amazing to know the Cholets - and the history behind them. Also, it is a plus to have the opportunity to take the cable car and the mini buses, which gives a taste of the local way of life in La Paz and El Alto. The "witcher's market" in El Alto is more interesting than the one in La Paz A special review to our guide, Daniel, who is kind and helpful.

Cristian was a fantastic guide. I had an absolutely amazing time on this tour. Cristian knows so much not only about the Cholets but also about Bolivia and was happy to share his knowledge with me. The Cholets are a unique architectural experience and I am so glad I did this tour!

Great trip, friendly, knowledgeably engaging, enthusiastic, never patronising...as if you went out with a friend. Travelling with local transport felt like experiencing real life and was a great way to get around.

This was a fantastic experience! The guide was very knowledgeable and made this a fun day. My only suggestion is to add the time and fitness level to the description of the tour. There is a lot of walking involved at 4,100 metres above sea level, and the tour lasts just under 4 hours. We had no idea of either expectation and it was the first thing we had to ask.

Daniel was one of the best tour guides we've ever had. Can't recommend this tour enough. If you're interested in architecture, it's obviously one for you. But honestly, this tour gave us a real taste of the indigenous culture and how it works in a modern setting. Bonus, you'll learn the busses and cable cars with an expert. Once you're shown how, it all makes sense (mainly!) Daniel's impressive and broad knowledge seals the deal. We ended up asking him detailed questions about the local and national economy, politics, international relations and he knew so much it was disappointing when we had to say goodbye. So yeah, would give 6 stars if we could. 😁

I did the Cholet architecture tour in El Alto with Christian - who was an excellent & thoughtful guide. What an amazing way to explore El Alto city through its unique history & buildings. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the combination of colours & aesthetic quite like it. As a plus - travelling via cable car, collectivo, taxi and by foot allowed me to see large markets and areas of El Alto I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. Strongly recommend for anyone with any sort of interest in design, architecture or the evolving contemporary Andean identity.

Cristian the guide is great! Extremely friendly and interesting and made a big effort to take us in to a cholet. As an architect and sold as an architecture tour I felt it was lacking in more detailed information specialised on architecture and was more of just walking around. For example talking to the architect to understand where and why the style started, sharing some floor plans of the buildings, explaining the construction system and process and used materials...