Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni is noted by Lucinda Hahn of The New York Times as a top destination for 2024. Marvel at the world’s largest salt flat, while concerns about potential environmental impact from mining activities loom over its surreal beauty and wildlife.

Like all the best places, Salar de Uyuni, 12,000 feet high in the Andes, can be demanding. Getting there means a rough overland journey, nights in dusty hotels, and the threat of altitude sickness, but when you walk on the world’s largest salt flat, your crunching footsteps are often the only sound on this blanched, 4,000 square miles of salt crust, left behind when prehistoric lakes evaporated.