Diesel Nacional is on Avenida 20 de Octubre in Sopocachi, and it has the feel of a bar that has earned its reputation the correct way: by being consistently good rather than by being fashionable. The interior is warm and slightly industrial, the craft beer selection is small but rotates and includes some decent Bolivian micro-brewery output, and the kitchen turns out bar food that is better than it needs to be. It fills up on Thursday and Friday evenings with a mix of young paceños, expats, and travellers who have found out about it from other travellers.
The altitude note applies here more than most places: Sopocachi sits around 3,600 metres, and two or three beers will leave you more affected than you expect. Diesel Nacional is not a late-night place by the standards of most cities — things get going around nine, peak around eleven, and are largely done by one. There are louder and later options in the neighbourhood, but Diesel Nacional is where you go when you want to have a conversation and hear what the person next to you is saying.