3 Best Sights in La Paz, Bolivia

This museum, founded by local musician Ernesto Cavour, is the most complete collection of musical instruments in the nation; if you think it's all charangos and quenas, you haven't seen half of what Bolivian music has to offer. Seven rooms feature over 2,000 percussion, string, and wind instruments used in the various regions of Bolivia. There is a special section where children can play ancient instruments made from such materials as wood, bone, turtle shells, and toucan beaks. On Saturdays after closing there is a concert (Bs. 20) led by Cavour and two invited artists.

Not to be missed, the excellent National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore, popularly known simply as MUSEF, provides the most complete review of Bolivia's varied and colorful cultures from the pre-Columbian era to the present. Highlights include the collections of pottery, traditional masks, and textiles that span 3,000 years of history and are well presented in this attractive and modern space.

The 18th-century palace that houses this museum is almost worth the visit alone, with three floors overlooking a central stone patio and a lovely alabaster fountain. The well-curated collection is heavy in religious oil paintings and includes works by Melchor Pérez Holguín, considered to be the master of Andean colonial art. There are also some excellent contemporary works by artists such as Marina Núñez del Prado, a leading figure in Latin American sculpture.