Sopocachi is the neighbourhood where La Paz's educated middle class lives, works, and eats, and it's where most visitors with any sense end up spending their evenings. The streets slope steeply as they do everywhere in La Paz, but the grid is more legible than the city centre and the pavements are wide enough to walk comfortably. Plaza Avaroa is the focal point: a pleasant square with trees and benches, surrounded by cafés and small restaurants on all sides. From here, Avenida 20 de Octubre runs downhill through the best concentration of independent restaurants in the city.
The neighbourhood has no single landmark — its appeal is in texture rather than sights. Coffee shops that are actually serious about coffee, a couple of bookshops, wine bars stocked with Argentine and Chilean bottles, and enough restaurants to eat somewhere different every night for a week. It's also where Gustu is, and where Diesel Nacional draws its crowd on Thursday nights. If you're staying in the city for more than a couple of days, staying in Sopocachi rather than the tourist-oriented streets around Sagárnaga gives you immediate access to a more local version of the city.