I have just completed a private 3d/2n tour with Salty Desert. Whilst this is obviously more expensive (5700 bolivianos) than a shared car (1250 bolivianos) I believe it was great value for money. There were two of us and you could obviously split the cost among more people, but going private allowed us to take photos and enjoy the stops at our own pace. Since we are tall, the most important thing for us was legroom. 6 people crammed into a 4x4, especially the back seats, for three days would be excruciating. For what worked out as an extra £60 per day per person, I was happy to pay this. I'd say sharing up to 4 people would be fine, further reducing cost. Remember, you spend 10 hours driving around.
Our driver Grober, was excellent. His English is good and my Spanish is ok, so we got along fine. He was a very safe driver (which is important when you're spending 3 days in a car) and was enthusiastic about explaining what we were looking at. Thanks to him, we have excellent photos from the salt flats that we can treasure forever.
A great tip, suggested by Grober on the third day is to swap the order of the itinerary. Most tours get up early, go to the geysers and then all swarm to the hotsprings. The springs are tiny and become far too overcrowded. Instead, got to the geysers, then the green lagoon and then the hotsprings. As a result, there was only 10 people in the hotsprings and we were the only people at the green lagoon. Stunning!
Accomodation on night 1 was in a salt hotel. The accomodation was very clean and we got a shower on the night. Not sure why they weren't also available in the morning though. Night 2 was inside the national park at a tiny village geared up for tourism. Electricity was shut off a at 9pm and back on in the bathroom at half 4 in the morning. Whilst this may sound bad, remember, you are in the middle of nowhere and reliant on solar power and generators. As a result, you get magnificent night sky's as all lights go out. Bring lots of layers though as it is extremely cold.
Communication from Salty Desert was very quick by WhatsApp and very informative. We booked late and were greatful for quick communication.
Overall, I'd say that the tours are marketed as a Salt Flat tour. In reality, the tour is so much more. The scenery from days two and three were even better. I'd highly recommend the 3d/2n and wouldn't hesitate to recommend Salty Desert.
