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Typically Titicaca

Route: Puno - Uros - Taquile - Puno

A Peru trip wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Lake Titicaca. At 3820m above sea level, it’s the world’s highest navigable lake.

The best way to see Titicaca is by boat, a welcome change after all those long bus rides! After a night in Puno you’ll head out onto the lake by boat, returning to Puno for another night, before travelling on to your next destination. The first stop on the Lake Titicaca tour boat trip is the Uros Islands or Islas Flotantes, entirely built of floating reed. You’ll then sail on to Taquile Island, inhabited by native Indians. Here, you’ll go on a walk across the terraced fields and stop for lunch at a local restaurant (try the fish, fresh from the lake). In the afternoon, you’ll head back to Puno and, as the sun sets across Titicaca, the captain will navigate you through the floating reed field into Puno harbour.

After this Lake Titicaca tour, you can try a homestay on Amantani with our Titicaca Islands tour, or travel on to Bolivia with one of our Bolivia tours.

Duration	3 days / 2 nights	Accommodation	Breakfast included (browse our photos here). Comfort level 3 (see accommodation)
Price	£75 per person - based on 2 people sharing £83 per person - comfort stay accommodation	Includes	Transport, accommodation, excursion with English-speaking guide, 1x lunch
Transport	Return transfer hotel - harbour, fast ferry Puno - Uros Taquile-Puno	Excludes	Other meals, excursions or entrance fees

Day 1 Puno - arrival

Your Lake Titicaca tour begins as you step off the bus in Puno. Driving into the city, you’ll already have passed the immense lake, 175km long and 45 km wide. The fresh atmosphere is immediately apparent. Puno is a popular university town with lots of festivals, markets, restaurants and bars but it’s also incredibly cosy. Instead of cars, you’ll mainly see horse carts and rickshaws that would look more at home in Asia than in an high-altitude Peruvian student town. On the Plaza de Armas, street performers do tricks with their dogs, cheered on by a large crowd and the local football team. They’re always top of the league; their opponents get out of breath too quickly at this altitude!

If you're feeling the altitude, then a rickshaw is a comfortable and cheap way to get from the bus terminal to your hotel and you'll immediately get a feel of the atmosphere in the town centre. The tourist centre of Puno is little more than one main street that leads from the church to the Plaza de Armas, lined with souvenir shops, restaurants and bars. If you haven't purchased the obligatory Peruvian woolly hat so far on your Peru trip, this is the place to do so. You can certainly do with one when you head out onto the chilly Lake Titicaca tour tomorrow.

In Puno you'll be staying in a small hotel in a peaceful district about 10 minutes' walk from the shopping street and just a few blocks from the Plaza de Armas. The hotel has been lovingly decorated by the Peruvian owner. Rooms have a private bathroom, phone and TV and a basic breakfast is served on the top floor of the hotel overlooking Lake Titicaca.

Day 2 Puno, Lake Titicaca tour

On the second morning of this Peru trip, you’ll be picked up at your hotel for the short drive to the busy harbour of Puno where your Lake Titicaca tour begins. Around 8am you’ll board the boat with your fellow passengers and sail out onto the wide open lake. You’ll need to wear a life jacket – well, at least until you’re out of sight of the harbour… The boat goes quite fast so it can get quite chilly in the wind, even though it’s nice and sunny so, bring a hat and gloves if you have them.

According to local legend Lake Titicaca was the location of the lost city of Atlantis, the birthplace of our civilization and, as you sail across the lake, the mountains and sky reflecting in the deep blue water make you understand why.

After about an hour of your Lake Titicaca tour, the boat will moor at the floating reed islands of Uros. The islands are very popular with day trippers but, thanks to their location and layout, the islands have managed to maintain their unique atmosphere. As you set foot on the reed, you’ll notice the buoyancy under your feet. It’s a really weird feeling walking across the floating floor of the island. A local island family will show you around and explain how the islands were built and their way of life.

The Indian population are very photogenic and commercial. You're likely to be offered a short tour on their traditional reed boats to some of the other islands. We tried it and weren't completely convinced, but we'll leave it up to you to decide. Alternatively, you can just lie back in the sun and doze off to the gentle rocking of the reed and the faint murmur of people in the background.

An hour later the boat will set off to the island of Taquile. It’s another 2 hours’ sailing, so you might want to bring a couple of snacks. On Taquile it’s quite a long climb up to the village square, so it’s best to have a quick bite to eat beforehand.

You’ll arrive at the village on Taquile around lunch time. As you tuck in to your lunch of fresh fish from the lake, your guide will fill you in on the ‘rules’ on Taquile. The original character of the island must be maintained as much as possible and it’s forbidden to build hotels here. Tourism seems to have had very little effect on the Taquilans and their traditional dress. Despite the many visitors, they’re incredibly friendly and welcoming - a great part of your Lake Titicaca tour!

You can’t help but notice it’s mainly men hanging round on the village square, dressed in white blouses with a coloured sash and knitting woolly hats. The shape and colour of the hat tells you whether someone’s married, single or a prominent person in the village. It certainly makes it a lot easier for the ladies to pick their partner. In order to marry, the men must demonstrate to their prospective in-laws that they can knit a hat as proof that they can provide for their family.

At around 2pm you’ll continue your Peru trip and follow the long flight of steps back down to the jetty where you’ll board the boat and sail back to Puno, another 3 hours’ sailing. The sun’s already beginning to set as you sail into Puno, so once you’re back on land you can round off the day with a traditional dinner of pollo a la plancha. You can find small chicken restaurants on every street corner here and, for a couple of dollars you can eat and drink to your heart's content, on this last night of your Lake Titicaca tour. Contrary to what you might expect from a student town, the nightlife in Puno is pretty quiet, but after a day on the water you’ll probably be feeling pretty tired anyway.

Day 3 Puno - departure

After your Lake Titicaca tour comes to an end, you can unravel more of the mysteries of the Lake, on route to Bolivia, on our Puno to La Paz Isla del Sol tour, or stay in Peru and travel on to Cuzco and the Machu Picchu holidays at Machu Picchu.

For Cuzco we can suggest the comfortable express bus, which takes about 6 hours. The more expensive tourist bus actually takes longer because it makes several stops on the way where people will try to sell you local souvenirs. There’s also a train connection on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, though it’s often cancelled if there aren’t enough tourist reservations. It also takes 4 hours longer than the express bus. If you’re travelling from Puno to Bolivia, there’s a direct bus connection to La Paz (8 hour journey), though we can recommend stopping off for a night in the former Bolivian harbour and hippie town of Copacabana.

Lake Titicaca tour - Express bus to La Paz

Lake Titicaca tour - Accommodation (Click to enlarge)

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