Lake Titicaca:

Overview: 

“The Mount of the Puma” Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is guar­an­teed to leave explor­ers breath­less – in more ways than one ! — with this serene and fabled lake not only sit­ting 3,812 meters above sea lev­el, mak­ing it offi­cial­ly the high­est lake in the world – but thanks to its extreme beau­ty, the enchant­i­ng panoram­ic vis­tas, its rich wildlife, the many charm­ing islands and unique expe­ri­ences that lye upon it, com­bined with its rich his­to­ry, mythol­o­gy, life sus­tain­ing waters and float­ing islands (Uros) Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is not only one of the most icon­ic lakes on the plan­et – but is also a true won­der of the world.  

Sit­ting and fed by the high Andean Moun­tain range, Lake Tit­i­ca­ca cuts through the bor­ders of Bolivia and Peru, and is made of two dis­tinct sec­tions (the Lago Pequeno which lies in Bolivia and Lago Grande which lies in Peru) which togeth­er com­bine to stretch for more than 191 km in length – with a sur­face are of more than 8, 372 km2  — mak­ing Lake Tit­i­ca­ca offi­cial­ly the biggest lake across the South Amer­i­can Con­ti­nent and the high­est nav­i­ga­ble lake on the plan­et.  

Along­side its many records, the calm waters and blue skies of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca also serve as not only the place of one of the world’s great­est fes­ti­vals in the Fies­ta de la Vir­gen de Can­de­lar­ia – as well as being the home of hun­dreds of dif­fer­ent endem­ic species of birds and fish. Yet the real mag­ic and enrich­ment of explor­ing Lake Tit­i­ca­ca comes from the fas­ci­nat­ing insight it pro­vides into Incan cul­ture, with the local Incan peo­ple still call­ing the many serene and beau­ti­ful islands, includ­ing the famed Aman­tani, and Isla del Sol, home and con­tin­u­ing and car­ry­ing on their thou­sands of year-old cul­ture across the Lake.  

 Mythology & History 

For the Incan peo­ple Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is believed to be the birth of all cre­ation – with it being on these very shores that the Incan God Vira­cocha cre­at­ing life. Yet upset with human­i­ty’s choic­es he then sought to flood and drown his cre­ation, only to have his plans thwart­ed by the God Vira­cocha – who used the waters of the lake to cre­ate the sun, moon, stars and life as we know it today.  

Still, while Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is heav­i­ly asso­ci­at­ed with the Incans, it was not until the 15th cen­tu­ry that the Incan peo­ple inhab­it­ed the lake, with evi­dence of human occu­pa­tion and set­tle­ment on the lake believed to date as far back as the 2nd mil­len­nia BC – where a series of var­i­ous tribes farmed, fed and flour­ished on the shores of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca which sus­tained life.  

The lake would under­go a seri­ous evo­lu­tion of infra­struc­ture in 200BC, when the tribes who lived there would be dis­placed by the emerg­ing Tiwanaku empire, who fash­ioned not only tools but stone hous­ing and a vil­lage upon the lake – which at its height con­sist­ed of pyra­mids, mon­u­ments, stat­ues and was believed to be home to more than 80,000 peo­ple – a far cry from the 1,200 peo­ple who call the lake home today.  

Yet as a result of a series of nat­ur­al dis­as­ters – includ­ing a sus­tained drought, the Tiwanaku peo­ple were forced to flee their vil­lage and it would not be until the dawn of the ear­ly cen­turies of AD that tribes and peo­ple would re-occu­py the lake mak­ing use of the stone vil­lage of the Tiwanaku Empire – which is still vis­i­ble at the lake today.  

Lake Tit­i­ca­ca as we know it tru­ly began to take shape in the 15th cen­tu­ry, when in an effort to expand their empire the Incas marched onto the Lake – quick­ly round­ing the local tibes – and claimed Lake Tit­i­ca­ca as their own – liv­ing peace­ful­ly and devel­op­ing the lake until the mid­dle 16th cen­tu­ry – when the Incas them­selves would be con­quered dur­ing the 1531 Span­ish inqui­si­tion.  

It was dur­ing this inqui­si­tion that the his­to­ry of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca took a bloody turn, with the Inca peo­ple sub­ject to harsh rule – and fol­low­ing the dis­cov­ery of gold and sil­ver at the depths of the lake – Tit­i­ca­ca would be the sight of bloody bat­tles and rebel­lions through the 16th cen­tu­ry. In fact, it was not until the estab­lish­ment of the town of Puno in 1668 that – influ­enced by Chris­tian­i­ty, rel­a­tive peace would come again to the lake and its pop­u­la­tion.  

The cur­rent home of Peru­vian folk­lore and fes­tiv­i­ty, Puno serves as a gate­way and entrance to Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, and today the tra­di­tions encoun­tered by the Span­ish in the 16th and 17th cen­tu­ry remain – includ­ing the grow­ing of crops, the cre­ation of clothes and the cul­tures and cus­toms. How­ev­er, the Inca peo­ple and life upon Lake Tit­i­ca­ca has also evolved with the times – with the 20th cen­tu­ry see­ing the expan­sion and devel­op­ment of arti­fi­cial islands and the upgrad­ing of reed boats – not to men­tion the inclu­sion of tech­nol­o­gy and tourism upon the islands.  

Exploring: 

It is this unique com­bi­na­tion of rich his­to­ry and cul­ture, as well as social moder­ni­ty that makes Lake Tit­i­ca­ca so spe­cial, and allows the local Inca peo­ple to strive and utilise tourism to strive for edu­ca­tion and a bet­ter qual­i­ty of life for their chil­dren, while still main­tain­ing and pre­serv­ing their ances­tral beliefs and cul­tures.  

For this rea­son, any vis­it to Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is tru­ly spe­cial – and there’s no bet­ter place to start your explo­ration than from the lake town  of Copaca­bana in Bolivia. It is from this charm­ing sea­side town – that lies on the shores of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca that explor­ers can board a fer­ry to reach one of the most icon­ic islands across the lake – the Isla del Sol.  

Offer­ing a chance to walk across a large sec­tion of the lake, the Isla del Sol encap­su­lates the mys­tique and leg­end of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca- with it being not upon this island where the Inca god Vira­cocha would cre­ate the stars, sun and moon. A deeply spe­cial place – and one that holds a dear and sacred spot in the hearts of Incas, explor­ing Isla del Sol will allow explor­ers to step back in his­to­ry and walk amongst the remains of holy and sacred Inca sites – includ­ing the fas­ci­nat­ing “Labyrinth” — a stone com­plex for priests, the Tiahua­nacu a spir­i­tu­al and polit­i­cal city dat­ing back to 900 AD and allow explor­ers to make the ascent to the top of Cer­ro Uma Qol­la – a look­out point – that rep­re­sents one of the great pho­to spots and views across the entire­ty of this won­der of the world.  

A fan­tas­tic intro­duc­tion to the won­der of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, Isla del sol is eas­i­ly explored on foot and accessed from Copaca­bana. Yet for those seek­ing a more authen­tic and deep­er explo­ration and under­stand­ing of the lake, we’d encour­age trav­ellers to head over to the live­ly town of Puno on the Peru­vian side of the lake, where the icon­ic float­ing Uros and island hop­ping await you – as well as one of the great­est fes­ti­vals in the world at the Fes­ti­val of the Vir­gin of Can­de­lar­ia.  

A great place to base your­self for explo­ration of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca – Puno is bustling with restau­rants, hotels and the best of Peru­vian cul­ture and it’s on the shores of the lake with­in Puno where the reli­gious pro­ces­sions, danc­ing com­pe­ti­tions, fire­work par­ties and street parades that hon­our the cities patron saint — the Vir­gin of Can­de­lar­ia. A tru­ly wild and car­ni­val fes­ti­val – that takes place at the start of Lent in Feb­ru­ary or March – being with­in Puno – or even with­in Lake Tit­i­ca­ca dur­ing the fes­ti­val – is a tru­ly mem­o­rable and wild expe­ri­ence, that rep­re­sents Lake Tit­i­ca­ca at its spir­i­tu­al and live­ly best.  

Along­side the great fes­ti­val – for those seek­ing to con­nect deep­er with Lake Titicaca’s fas­ci­nat­ing his­to­ry, you can also vis­it first­ly the tem­ple of fer­til­i­ty in the small town of Chu­cuito – a fas­ci­nat­ing stone tem­ple with explic­it images of male and female gen­i­tals, that the Inca’s believed blessed those strug­gling with fer­til­i­ty prob­lems. Sec­ond­ly explor­ers could also jour­ney to the com­plex of Pukara which stands as the first inhab­it­ed area of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca from 500 BC – it is at this site where explor­ers can look upon a series of fas­ci­nat­ing arti­facts from Incan life to under­stand fur­ther how ancient civil­i­sa­tion sur­vived and thrived upon Lake Tit­i­ca­ca. 

Puno also offers a gate­way to one of the great expe­ri­ences on Lake tit­i­ca – Island Hop­ping and explor­ing the Uros – a series of small float­ing islands. For those seek­ing to explore this undoubt­ed high­light of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca we’d advise first head­ing for the small com­mu­ni­ty and beau­ti­ful spot of Luquina – home to both Inca’s and some of the most stun­ning views out over the lake. 

One of our favourite spots across the lake Luquina tru­ly allows explor­ers to con­nect with tra­di­tion­al Inca life, with the peo­ple here liv­ing sim­ple, tech­nol­o­gy free life and spend­ing their days herd­ing sheep and farm­ing crops.  

A chance to under­stand the Inca peo­ple, it is also at Luquina where trav­ellers can take a jour­ney on the famous reed boats to vis­it oth­er islands – and for those who fan­cy it take a ride on a tra­di­tion­al kayak in the freez­ing cold waters of this incred­i­ble lake – for an immer­sive and unique way to con­nect with the lake.  

For those tak­ing on a reed boat, or island hop­ping from Luquina – we’d advise head­ing next to the col­or­ful island of Taquile – where you’ll find the local peo­ple dressed in an assort­ment of bright col­or­ful clothes – which all sym­bol­ise some­thing – includ­ing hat wear­ing man indi­cat­ing they are mar­ried. An offi­cial Unesco side, Taquile offers not just stun­ning locals – but stun­ning views with the views from the hill placed cen­tre square a fan­tas­tic place to grab some­thing to eat and mar­vel at the shim­mer­ing lake before you.  

For those look­ing for a great sou­venir from this won­der, we’d advise mak­ing time to pick up some bright cloth­ing or a rug from Taquile – before head­ing on to the next Uros – the inhab­it­ed lake Aman­tani. Con­sid­ered the most beau­ti­ful of all Lake Titicaca’s islands, Aman­tani is dis­con­nect­ed from the cen­tral tourisim hub of Puno and the oth­er major islands – retain­ing its charm, beau­ty and most impor­tant­ly his­to­ry – with it being upon Aman­tani while you’ll find the mighty tem­ples of Pachama­ma and Pachata­ta – which are both perched atop moun­tians and from which stun­ning views of the whole of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca can be enjoyed.  

A tru­ly spe­cial won­der of the world, filled with nat­ur­al beau­ty, fas­ci­nat­ing and liv­ing his­to­ry, and unique expe­ri­ences, Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is also a bird and ani­mal watch­ers dream – with the lake being a bio-diverse and eco-sys­tem par­adise, home to thou­sands of species of birds – includ­ing mul­ti­ple species of owls, par­rots, finch­es and teals – and mul­ti­ple endem­ic amphib­ians, includ­ing the sta­ple and mas­cot of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca – the Giant Tit­i­ca­ca frog.  

While the wildlife, Uros and high­lights of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca are explorable on a short or series of day trips from either Puno or Copaca­bana, for a tru­ly unique and authen­tic expe­ri­ence, we’d advise set­ting aside at least two days to explore the lake – which will allow  explor­ers to not only ful­ly explore and appre­ci­ate this incred­i­ble won­der of the world, but take on one of the most unique expe­ri­ences on the plan­et only avail­able at Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, an overnight home­s­tay with a local fam­i­ly in a tra­di­tion­al Inca hut.  

A fas­ci­nat­ing and enrich­ing expe­ri­ence – a home­s­tay on Lake Tit­i­ca­ca will see explor­ers help and assist Inca’s with dai­ly tasks and expe­ri­ence true Inca dai­ly life, before being pro­vid­ed with home cooked meals. If you’re lucky – and your host is tru­ly accom­mo­dat­ing, you may even be treat­ed to a tra­di­tion­al local dance and per­for­mance – where kit­ted out in tra­di­tion­al bright Inca cloth­ing you become ful­ly immersed in Inca cul­ture.  

A mem­o­rable expe­ri­ence – and one that will last a life­time, those under­tak­ing a home stay on the lake will be expect­ed to go with­out elec­tric­i­ty (so say good­bye to wifi !) and there’s a rnage of great options across the Uros for a home­s­tay, with those tru­ly pre­pared to expe­ri­ence basic Inca Life able to find and pre-book huts on Taquile, Luquina or Aman­tani – where you can enjoy not only the home­s­tay option, but the incred­i­ble beau­ty and his­to­ry upon these islands.  

For those who fan­cy the island overnight expe­ri­ence but not the idea of dis­con­nect­ing from the world, there’s also the option to stay in lux­u­ry overnight on Lake Tit­i­ca­ca – with islands of Suasi and Andean both pro­vid­ing pro­vide lux­u­ry resorts for overnight stays – where you can enjoy the beau­ty of the lake laid out before you – while enjoy­ing spa treat­ment, a cock­tail and a warm soft bed – for one of the best and most beau­ti­ful sleeps avail­able on the plan­et.  

A tru­ly immense and beau­ti­ful won­der, Lake Tit­i­ca­ca stands as not only the high­est lake on the plan­et – and the largest in South Amer­i­ca – but one of the most his­tor­i­cal­ly fas­ci­nat­ing, myth­i­cal, and stun­ning lakes on the plan­et. With an explo­ration of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca allow­ing explor­ers to not only con­nect with a rich belief sys­tem and sto­ried his­to­ry, but tru­ly immerse them­selves in the Inca way of life through Island explo­ration, archae­o­log­i­cal sites and the unique home­s­tay expe­ri­ence. Cou­ple this with the soft serene and shim­mer­ing waters and views, the diverse endem­ic wildlife and one of the great­est fes­ti­vals on the plan­et, and there’s no doubt that the mighty Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is a tru­ly spe­cial place and an undoubt­ed won­der of the world.  

Where:

The biggest lake in South Amer­i­ca – and the most acces­si­ble lake in the world, at a breth-tak­ing 3,812 metres Lake Tit­i­ca­ca serves not only as a source of life and the last home of the Inca’s – but as a nat­ur­al bor­der between two of South America’s most vibrant and fas­ci­nat­ing coun­tries; Bolivia and Peru.  

Such is the size of this incred­i­ble won­der, that Lake Tit­i­ca­ca stretch­es 3,200 square miles across both nations – yet it is from the charm­ing town of the Copaca­bana in Bolivia and from the live­ly and his­toric Puno on the Peru­vian side that the shores of the lake are reach­able and explored from.  

Sit­ting in the shad­ows of the won­der of the Andes moun­tains, which pro­vides a stun­ning back­drop that only serves to bring to life the full beau­ty of the lake, despite the high-alti­tude leg­end, his­to­ry and mythol­o­gy that con­tin­ues to sur­round Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, this stun­ning lake – that is undoubt­ed­ly one of the most serene, beau­ti­ful and unique in the world – is incred­i­ble easy and afford­able to get to.  

Getting There: 

Despite sit­ting against the back­drop of the Andes moun­tains, and being the world’s high­est nav­i­ga­ble lake at a mighty 3,812 metres – which is sure to leave trav­ellers breath­less at both the high alti­tude and the beau­ty of the won­der – Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is incred­i­bly easy to access, and there are a range of options to put you on the lakes shores to being your explo­ration.  

Amongst these options are the fact that there are two main cities from which explo­ration to the shores of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca can begin, the Copaca­bana in Bolivia and Puno in Peru, with both cities being accessed through three main trav­el routes: Plane, Bus and Train – once you’ve arrived with­in either Bolivia or Peru.  

Hav­ing decid­ed on which city you want to access the lake from, the first step on your trav­el jour­ney to lake Tit­i­ca­ca – regard­less of which of the three trav­el meth­ods you opt for – will be to either head to La Paz in Bolivia or Cus­co in Peru, with it being our rec­om­men­da­tion to head to Cus­co in Peru after mak­ing a top off at one of the true won­ders of the world Machu Pic­chu. 

Reaching Copacabana or Puno: 

So with your first port of call decid­ed on, for those trav­el­ling from out­side Bolivia or Peru you’ll need to get your­self a flight into west­ern cen­tral south Amer­i­ca and the two main cities with­in either coun­try. For those based in South Amer­i­ca this is often achieved either direct­ly or with a stop off in Colom­bia or Brazil depend­ing on your start loca­tion.  

For those based fur­ther afield – we’d advise not only com­bin­ing you trip with Machu Pic­chu – but also book­ing well in advance, as those trav­el­ling from North Amer­i­ca can expect a full day trip via Pana­ma or Colom­bia to reach La Paz or Cus­co, and those trav­el­ling from Europe, Africa, Asia and Aus­tralia like­ly in for a mul­ti-day trip with mul­ti­ple stops to reach the start­ing cities for jour­neys to Lake Tit­i­ca­ca.  

Still, despite the long jour­ney for those liv­ing out­side of South Amer­i­ca, the beau­ty of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is well worth it, so hav­ing got your­self to La Paz or Cus­co, and hav­ing tak­en some well earnt rest, you can now con­tin­ue your jour­ney on to Copaca­bana or Puno in one of three ways. 

By Plane: 

For those seek­ing the most direct and com­fort­able route – and with a healthy bud­get for their trav­els, then it is pos­si­ble to fly just 30 miles away from Puno – giv­ing you not only a chance to wit­ness the grand scale of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca from above on your approach but also the most direct approach into the lake.  

To fly in you’ll need to depart from across Peru (Lime or Cus­co) head­ing towards not Puno but to the Inca Man­co Cápac Inter­na­tion­al Air­port which is found in Peru­vian town of Juli­a­ca – and which lies just 30 miles from Puno, where explo­raiton of the lake can begin.  

To get from Inca Man­co Cápac Inter­na­tion­al Air­port to Puno and to cov­er the thir­ty miles to Puno, you again have three main options; taxi, bus or arrange for a pri­vate trans­port to Puno – with pri­vate trans­port being the most direct but expen­sive, taxi being expen­sive and a bus ride being the cheap­est – and in our view the best option.  

By Bus: 

For those on a bud­get and who are vis­it­ing Lake Tit­i­ca­ca after fur­ther explo­ration around Bolivia and Peru – then the best option and undoubt­ed­ly the most pop­u­lar and well-trav­elled route is to take a bus from across either Peru or Bolivia to reach the gate­way cities that lie on the shore of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca.  

A great option for those explor­ing Chichen itza or hav­ing trav­elled across Death Road in Bolivia, there are a range of bus com­pa­nies across both coun­tries that “claim” to pro­vide easy access to the shores of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, how­ev­er the most com­fort­able and reli­able runs across Peru known as “PeruHop” and you’ll find dai­ly depar­tures from Lima, Cus­co and Are­quipa – with the bus depar­tures being incred­i­bly bud­get friend­ly ($10 Usd) and see­ing trav­ellers trav­el in a lux­u­ry bus, with pow­er sock­ets, bath­rooms and even wifi.  

A trip that will take between 6 – 10 hours depend­ing on your depar­ture city – PeruHop ser­vices can be booked both online and with trav­el agen­cies across Peru. Yet best of all for those on a tight time and mon­ey bud­get, the bus­es run both dur­ing the day but at night – mean­ing that you can save both time and mon­ey while tak­ing an overnight bus from across Peru to the shores of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca and Puno arriv­ing in the ear­ly morn­ing.  

For those trav­el­ling by bus but head­ing to the Copaca­bana and the Boli­vian side of the lake, the most com­mon and pop­u­lar route is to depart from the high-alti­tude cap­i­tal of La Paz to reach the shores of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca. In com­par­i­son to Peru this jour­ney is sim­pler and straight­for­ward tak­ing around 4 hours and from which there is a direct bus ser­vice avail­able via both the trav­el agen­cies of Vicuña Trav­el and trans Tit­i­ca­ca.  

These bus­es, which lack the ameni­ties of those in Peru, but are much more bud­get friend­ly ($5 USD) will see explor­ers trav­el not just through the heart of the Boli­vian cap­i­tal but jour­ney upon a series of roads that run par­al­lel to Lake Tit­i­ca­ca for a scenic ride into Copaca­bana – just be sure to get a win­dow seat.  

Final­ly, for a scenic option and a great option for those who are seek­ing to explore fur­ther into Inca cul­ture, there is the Inka Express – a tourist bus that will take you not only from Cusu­co to Puno – but which stops off at a series of Inca sights on its jour­ney across Peru. A tru­ly fas­ci­nat­ing expere­ince, the Inka Express typ­i­cal­ly takes a full day to arrive in Puno – but gives explor­ers the chance to vis­it unique sights across Peru – includ­ing a series of Inca tem­ples and ruins before arriv­ing into Puno.  

A unique and fas­ci­nat­ing way to reach lake Tit­i­ca­ca, the Inka express bypass­es the high­ways to take scenic routes along Peru – and while being prici­er that the tra­di­tion­al bus (expect to pay $80usd) it’s a fan­tas­tic way to immerse your­self fur­ther into the beau­ty and histroy of the Inca peo­ple and Peru.  

By Train:

A less com­mon option for arriv­ing into Puno is to head into Puno’s main train sta­tion by train – which while not a great option for the bud­get con­scious trav­eller (expect to pay $250 Usd) for a tick­et – there is the option to hop onboard a Peru­vian rail train and the Andean explor­ers and take a 12 hour jour­ney across the coun­try from Cus­co to Lake Tit­i­ca­ca – where you will get a front row seat to the beau­ty of the Andean moun­tains and the best of the stun­ning scenery of Peru.  

 An option best suit­ed for those trav­el­ling dur­ing the day – so you don’t miss out on the scenery  — the Andean Explor­er only runs on Mon­days, Thurs­days and Sat­ur­days, and as well mak­ing sure the train fits with­in your sched­ule you’ll also need to make sure you book the Andean Explor­er well in advance, as due to a result of its immense beau­ty and the scenery it affords seats on the train book up well in advance.  

From the Copacabana & Puno to the Uros: 

Hav­ing got your­self to either the Copaca­bana or Puno, and spent time explor­ing either city to take in sweep­ing views over Lake Tit­i­ca­ca and explore the Incan ruins and archae­o­log­i­cal sites that lie in both cities, you can turn your focus to vis­it­ing the undoubt­ed high­lights of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, the float­ing islands, Uros and the tra­di­tion­al Inca peo­ple who dwell upon the lakes islands.  

To ven­ture and explore upon the lake the only prac­ti­cal way is to take a fer­ry out from either the Puno or Copaca­bana docks, through a tour or through arrang­ing trans­porta­tion through a hotel – with both meth­ods requir­ing you to take a boat and sail across the serene waters of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca to reach an island.  

For those trav­el­ling inde­pen­dent­ly do bear in mind that the first boat leaves the docks in both cities at 6am and the last fer­ry returns at 6pm in the evening, with the boats head­ing to both the Uros and the main islands of Amanan­ti and Taquile – allow­ing for inde­pen­dent trav­ellers to eas­i­ly ven­ture across the lake and explore this incred­i­ble won­der of the world.  

Best time to Visit: 

A tru­ly spe­cial and serene won­der of the world, Lake Titicaca’s unique mix of beau­ty, mythol­o­gy, cul­ture and life – com­bined with it being the biggest lake in South Amer­i­ca and the high­est nav­i­ga­ble lake in the world tru­ly makes it one of the most unique and spe­cial places on the plan­et.  

Along­side its beau­ty and ease of acces­si­bil­i­ty, Lake Tit­i­ca­ca also lends itself to explo­ration year around – as, despite it being perched 3,812 meters above sea lev­el, thanks to its loca­tion in the high Alti­plano region of the Andes, and its pres­ence below the equa­tor – there is a warm sub­trop­i­cal cli­mate across the lake – mak­ing for per­fect con­di­tions for explo­ration.  

With this warm cli­mate, Lake Tit­i­ca­ca see’s two dis­tinct sea­sons – the wet sea­sons, where fre­quent rain which helps sus­tain the lake is fre­quent and which take place between Decem­ber and Jan­u­ary and the dry sea­son – which takes place between Feb­ru­ary and Novem­ber – with the dry sea­son, which peaks in the sum­mer months of June and July see­ing bright sun­shine, clear blue skies and Lake Tit­i­ca­ca at its beau­ti­ful and sparkling best.  

For this rea­son, the best time to vis­it is undoubt­ed­ly with­in the dry months – where tem­per­a­tures will vary between 15°C — 28°C and drop to around 5°C at night – mean­ing that those plan­ning on a home­s­tay on the lake will need to come pre­pared with lay­ers.  

With the dry sea­son peak­ing – and the weath­er being at its most reli­able and warmer in the evenings dur­ing the sum­mer months of June, July and August – these months are the most pop­u­lar to vis­it Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, and you’ll find that dur­ing these months’ accom­mo­da­tion, tours and home­s­tays book up in advance. But for those tim­ing their hol­i­days around the sum­mer hol­i­days, vis­it­ing dur­ing these months – so long as you pre­pare well in advance is a fan­tas­tic time to enjoy the beau­ty of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca.  

For those on a tighter bud­get, or who don’t fan­cy vis­it­ing the lake dur­ing its peak tourism sea­son – then vis­it­ing dur­ing the months of April- May or Sep­tem­ber – Novem­ber can be absolute­ly ide­al to vis­it Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, where you’ll not only find prices reduced – but also the dry sea­son in full flow and the warm tem­per­a­tures and clear skies com­bin­ing to give you a tru­ly unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence at the lake.  

Along­side ensur­ing you time your vis­it to Lake Tit­i­ca­ca dur­ing the dry sea­son – for those seek­ing an extra spe­cial expe­ri­ence at this true won­der of the world – and who want to enjoy Lake Tit­i­ca­ca and Puno at its vibrant and colour­ful best, we’d advise tim­ing your vis­it with one of the great­est fes­ti­vals on the plan­et – the Fes­ti­val of the Vir­gin of Can­de­lar­ia.  

Tak­ing place for 10 days, 40 days before Eater Sun­day (like­ly in Feb­ru­ary or March). the Fes­ti­val of the Vir­gin of Can­de­lar­ia is cel­e­brat­ed on the shores of Puno to hon­our the patron saint of Puno – and see’s Puno come alive with a series of parades, car­ni­vals, pro­ces­sions, danc­ing, bright colours and free food and drink – mak­ing vis­it­ing Lake Tit­i­ca­ca dur­ing the 10 days of the Fes­ti­val of the Vir­gin of Can­de­lar­ia, not only an incred­i­ble chance to explore Lake Tit­i­ca­ca at its vibrant best, but to expe­ri­ence one of the world’s great­est fes­ti­vals.  

So – while we’d strong­ly advise explor­ers avoid vis­it­ing Lake Tit­i­ca­ca dur­ing the months of Decem­ber and Jan­u­ary – where the wet sea­son makes vis­it­ing less enjoy­able and the lake is not at its best. For those seek­ing low prices and min­i­mal crowds – then head­ing to Lake Tit­i­ca­ca dur­ing the months of April-May or Sep­tem­ber-Novem­ber are undoubt­ed­ly best, for those seek­ing warm weath­er and the Uros and Islands at their bustling best then the sum­mer months of June, July and August are best – and for our top pick and rec­om­men­da­tion for a tru­ly unique expe­ri­ence and to explore the lake at its vibrant best, tim­ing your vis­it dur­ing the Fes­ti­val of the Vir­gin of Can­de­lar­ia in the months of Feb­ru­ary to March is the best time to vis­it the stun­ning won­der of the world that is Lake Tit­i­ca­ca.  

How long to stay:

Stretch­ing for more than 191 km in length, and with a mam­moth sur­face area of more than more than 8, 372 km2 — there are parts of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca that remain both off lim­its to explor­ers and which are yet to be ful­ly explored.  

Yet despite its vast size, the serene soft deep blue waters, Inca Cul­ture, float­ing Uros and high­lights of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca are eas­i­ly accessed and explorable from the gate­way towns of Puno in Peru and the Copaca­bana in Bolivia ‑with both towns lying on the shores of this spec­tac­u­lar lake and mak­ing for a per­fect place to begin your explo­ration.  

From the shores of Puno or Copaca­bana you can find both guid­ed tours and the option to trav­el inde­pen­dent­ly to Lake Tit­i­ca­ca and its float­ing islands on day trips, two-day explo­rations and mul­ti-day trips. With day trips being ide­al for those on a lim­it­ed time frame and bud­get who still want to explore this stun­ning won­der of the world.  

Yet for those seek­ing to mar­vel at the nev­er-end­ing body of blue water that stretch­es to the hori­zon that is Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, as well as tru­ly immerse them­selves in the Incan cul­ture, our rec­om­men­da­tion for how long to stay would be two days, one night – with the one night spend in a home­s­tay with the local Incan peo­ple on one of the float­ing islands.  

Spend­ing two days and one night will not only give you the chance to take in incred­i­ble views across at least two of the islands – and take on some of the hikes avail­able on the islands for breath-tak­ing pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties – but enrich your­self in Inca cul­ture – vis­it­ing the colour­ful island of Taquile and its many ruins – before head­ing to Aman­tani Island – where a home-cooked meal and stay in a tra­di­tion­al Inca home awaits you – for one of the most unique and beau­ti­ful places to spend a night.  

Allow­ing you to ful­ly explore the won­der at your own pace and in detail – for those with more time there is also the option to stay longer – yet in con­sid­er­a­tion of bud­get, time con­straints and the amount of time need­ed to tru­ly enjoy this won­der – our rec­om­men­da­tion would be to spend 2 days and 1 night explor­ing Lake Tit­i­ca­ca from either gate­way town.  

How Long to Stay: 2 Days and 1 night. 

Top Tip:

A nat­ur­al par­adise, and a tru­ly beau­ti­ful shim­mer­ing won­der of the world – Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is blessed with not only serene deep blue waters, but is cloaked in deep mythol­o­gy, his­to­ry and cul­ture not found any­where else on the plan­et.  

Yet for all its beau­ty, a trip to the shores and explo­ration of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca comes with a series of poten­tial pit­falls, not least of which is the high alti­tude at which the won­der sits – with the peak of the lake sit­ting at 3,812 metres bring­ing with it a series of alti­tude sick­ness and con­cerns that trav­ellers must account for before set­ting out on their voy­age.  

Com­bine the high-alti­tude threat with the need for cul­tur­al sen­si­tiv­i­ty when vis­it­ing, explor­ing and stay­ing with­in Inca cul­ture, with the threat of not only a relent­less sun but also parts of the lake being inac­ces­si­ble due to an ongo­ing trib­al dis­pute – and it’s pos­si­ble for a dream explo­ration of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca to eas­i­ly go under.  

So, to help ensure that any explo­ration of this incred­i­ble lake is an enjoy­able, enrich­ing and spe­cial as pos­si­ble, we’ve round­ed out our top tips for vis­it­ing the true won­der of the world that is Lake Tit­i­ca­ca: 

Staying Healthy: 

Alti­tude: 

Undoubt­ed­ly part of the charm and won­der of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is its high-alti­tude place­ment – with this mighty nat­ur­al par­adise sit­ting 3,812 metres above sea lev­el com­bin­ing with the serene and beau­ty of the lake being sure to leave trav­ellers breath­less in more ways than one. 

Yet while the high-alti­tude adds to the adven­ture of an explo­ration of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, it also brings with it seri­ous threats to trav­ellers health – with the high ele­va­tion reduc­ing the amount of Oxy­gen – which can lead to alti­tude sick­ness. With alti­tude sick­ness hav­ing the abil­i­ty to reduce trav­ellers appetites, leave explor­ers short on breath and cause inca­pac­i­tat­ing headaches, account­ing for the high alti­tude and its risks is some­thing every trav­eller will need to con­sid­er before head­ing to Lake Tit­i­ca­ca.  

While symp­toms and reac­tions do vary, we’d advise not tak­ing on any stren­u­ous phys­i­cal exer­cise with­in the first 48 hours of arriv­ing with­in Copaca­bana or Puno, eat­ing light meals fre­quent­ly – rather than over­load­ing on one heavy meal, and com­ing pre­pared anti-alti­tude tablets. With com­ing pre­pared for the alti­tude being essen­tial to ensure you are able to explore Lake Tit­i­ca­ca while stay­ing healthy.  

Pro­tect­ing against the Sun: 

With clear blue skies and con­sis­tent bright and warm days for 10 months a year, so much of Lake Titicaca’s beau­ty is found from the bright sun that greets vis­i­tors on their explo­ration – with the sun­shine not only cre­at­ing per­fect con­di­tions for tru­ly beau­ti­ful sun­ris­es and sun­sets – but bring­ing the serene and soft waters of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca to life.  

Yet for all the beau­ty that the sun reflects – it also pos­es a strong risk to trav­ellers, espe­cial­ly for those vis­it­ing dur­ing the sum­mer months – with the sun across Lake Tit­i­ca­ca being both relent­less and strong, which com­bined with a lack of shad­ed area, puts explor­ers at extreme risk of sun­burn and dehy­dra­tion.  

To counter this, and the risk of heat­stroke, we’d advise sig­nif­i­cant­ly stock­ing up on sun­screen before head­ing to the lake, as well as com­ing pre­pared with plen­ty of water (account for the lake of water on home­s­tays), as well as a strong wide brimmed hat, sun­glass­es and strong UV pro­tect­ed clothes.  

Motion Sick­ness: 

Final­ly, when it comes to stay­ing well and healthy across the lake, explor­ers need to be pre­pared for the poten­tial­ly chop­py waters that can meet you when mak­ing your way both to the lake and on your way to or between the float­ing islands and Uros.  

A sea­son­al occur­rence, that can be incred­i­bly strong dur­ing the wet sea­son for those who do opt to vis­it dur­ing the months of Decem­ber and Jan­u­ary, for those who do suf­fer from sea sick­ness, we’d advise not only book­ing a prefer­able seat on the boats ahead of time, but com­ing with plen­ty of fisherman’s friends and sea sick­ness tablets, to help make sure your pas­sage across the waters of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is as smooth as pos­si­ble.  

To take: 

Hav­ing account­ed for the health risks and alti­tude across Lake Tit­i­ca­ca you can then turn your atten­tion to ensur­ing you have every­thing you need to make account not just for the relent­less sun, but the islands, home­s­tay and explo­ration of your jour­ney across the lake. With the below being our rec­om­men­da­tions to bring you with when explor­ing the won­der of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca: 

Sun­screen – Arguably the most impor­tant item to pack, the sun across Lake Tit­i­ca­ca can be relent­less, so be sure to take and apply plen­ty of Sun­screen dur­ing your stay.  

Water, Hat & Sun­glass­es – Along­side the sun­screen, be sure to boost your pro­tec­tion against the sun and pre­vent sun­burn and heat­stroke by bring­ing plen­ty of water, a good hat and some strong sun­glass­es.  

Sol­id Walk­ing Shoes – The best explo­ration of the islands of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca and the gate­way cities are done on foot, with the hikes across the islands tak­ing you not only through charm­ing cob­ble­stone path­ways, but to hill­top sum­mits where the best views await you. For this rea­son it’s essen­tial to come with a sol­id pair of walk­ing shoes.  

Clothes (Sun pro­tec­tion & Cold Nights) —  Along­side bring­ing the stan­dard warm weath­er clothes for explo­ration, we’d advise tak­ing some UV pro­tect­ing long loose shirts and trousers to help reen­force your pro­tec­tion against the sun. Along­side this, for those stay­ing overnight in a home­s­tay on the islands, do be aware that tem­per­a­tures across Lake Tit­i­ca­ca drop sig­nif­i­cant­ly dur­ing the evening – reach­ing as low as 0 degrees. So, for this rea­son we’d also advise bring­ing some warm clothes – includ­ing a thick jumper and trousers – to guard against the cold weath­er.  

Med­ica­tion: As well as account­ing for the harsh sun with plen­ty of sun­screen, we’d also advise bring­ing along med­ica­tion – includ­ing anti-alti­tude tablets, sea sick­ness pills, and med­i­cine to guard against a rough tum­my, headaches, and oth­er ill­ness­es. With pro­tect­ing your­self against ill­ness­es and ensur­ing you’re fit and healthy being essen­tial for get­ting the best out of your time on Lake Tit­i­ca­ca.  

Trav­el Essen­tials: Along­side account­ing for all the health and envi­ron­ment fac­tors of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, it’s also essen­tial that you come with the trav­el essen­tials to Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, includ­ing a well charged cam­era, pow­er bank, stur­dy ruck­sack, food sup­plies, trav­el adap­tor and plen­ty of cash. With the essen­tial being all the more impor­tant for those tak­ing on a home­s­tay – where access to mod­ern com­forts are removed.  

Book & plan in advance:  

Such is the beau­ty of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca – and the cul­tur­al and mythol­o­gy unique­ness that sur­rounds it, that this nat­ur­al par­adise is under­stand­ably an incred­i­bly pop­u­lar des­ti­na­tion – par­tic­u­lar­ly dur­ing the sum­mer months of June, July and August, and dur­ing the Fes­ti­val of the Vir­gin of Can­de­lar­ia in Feb­ru­ary / March.  

Because of this, and espe­cial­ly for those vis­it­ing dur­ing the peak peri­ods, we’d strong­ly advise plan­ning and book­ing well in advance, with prices not only ris­ing the close you get to these peri­ods, but accom­mo­da­tion becom­ing booked up well in advance.  

Addi­tion­al­ly, for those set on stay­ing overnight on a home­s­tay and trav­el­ing between the islands inde­pen­dent­ly– do be aware that boats run between the hours of 6am – 6pm from the Puno side and from 8am – 5pm from the Copaca­bana side, and we would again strong­ly advise to book home­s­tays in advance – as they again book up well in advance.   

Cultural Respect & where to visit: 

A tru­ly beau­ti­ful place, the mar­vel and enrich­ment of vis­it­ing Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is found in explor­ing the deep his­to­ry and mythol­o­gy of the Incan peo­ple, and observ­ing, learn­ing and inter­act­ing with the Incan peo­ple and ancient archae­ol­o­gy is a tru­ly spe­cial unique expe­ri­ence when vis­it­ing the lake.  

For this rea­son, it’s essen­tial that any­one vis­it­ing the shores and islands of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca treats the Inca peo­ple they meet – and the ruins and sacred sites – with com­plete respect, ensur­ing to not pho­tog­ra­phy Inca peo­ple with­out per­mis­sion, not step­ping and dis­re­spect­ing the archae­o­log­i­cal sites and recog­nis­ing that they are guests of the Incan peo­ple – with inci­dents of cul­tur­al dis­re­spect, which do sad­ly still occur, being heav­i­ly clamped pun­ished by local author­i­ties.  

Along­side ensur­ing that any vis­it and explo­ration of the islands is done so in a respect­ful man­ner, it’s also essen­tial that explor­ers recog­nise that only some parts of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca are acces­si­ble to non-Incan peo­ple. This is par­tic­u­lar­ly impor­tant for those head­ing to the Isla del Sol – where, due to an ongo­ing dis­pute between two indige­nous tribes, the north part of the island is strict­ly out of bounds for any explor­ers, with the area of Chal­la­pam­pa also being off lim­its and pos­ing a sig­nif­i­cant dan­ger to any­one who trav­els there.  

Make the most of it: 

Still while some sec­tions of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca may be out of bounds, for those trav­ellers who account for the alti­tude and sun, come pre­pared with the right gear and plan well in advance – Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is not only an alti­tude defy­ing enor­mous lake – but one of tru­ly immense beau­ty cloaked in ancient mythol­o­gy, his­to­ry and liv­ing cul­ture – mak­ing it one of the unique places on the plan­et.  

From this com­bi­na­tion, our final top tip would be to ensure that any­one trav­el­ling to Lake Tit­i­ca­ca tru­ly immers­es them­selves in this unique won­der, mak­ing sure to take time to explore and learn about local cul­tur­al, take part in a home­s­tay and take on the hikes and view­points where incred­i­ble views of the beau­ty of the lake await you. With it only being through immers­ing your­self in the cul­ture and beau­ty of this fas­ci­nat­ing nat­ur­al par­adise that explor­ers can tru­ly appre­ci­ate and under­stand this immense won­der of the world.  

Cost:  

A stun­ning nat­ur­al won­der, despite Lake Titicaca’s unique high alti­tude posi­tion, thanks to the gate­way towns of Puno in Peru and Copaca­bana in Bolivia, com­bined with a wide range of avail­able boat, day tours and shore access – Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is incred­i­ble acces­si­ble, which com­bined with the low cost of liv­ing in both coun­tries and high, the like­ly 2 day stay and with explo­ration of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca being nat­ur­al and large­ly free of cost, makes vis­it­ing this incred­i­ble won­der of the world incred­i­bly bud­get friend­ly.  

Get­ting there: In fact, the large major­i­ty of your expen­di­ture when vis­it­ing Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is like­ly to come from get­ting there and in your flights – with it being rec­om­mend­ed to book flights to either Lima or Cus­co for those head­ing to Puno on the Peru­vian side, or into the Boli­vian Cap­i­tal La Paz for those begin­ning their explo­ration of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca from Copaca­bana.  

While the prices will vary based on your start­ing loca­tion – and we’d strong­ly advise com­bin­ing a trip to Lake Tit­i­ca­ca with oth­er won­ders with­in the region (Machu Pic­chu espe­cial­ly) for those head­ing from across South Amer­i­ca and out­side of Peru or Bolivia to the cap­i­tals of Peru or Bolivia we’d advise set­ting around $400 Usd for your return flight tick­ets.  

For those based out­side of South Amer­i­ca, your flight tick­ets are like­ly to sig­nif­i­cant­ly increase and affect your bud­get, with those seek­ing return tick­ets from North Amer­i­ca advise to put around $600 — 800 Usd aside. Those head­ing from Europe advised to bud­get $900 — $1200 Usd, and those across MENA, Asia or Aus­trala­sia look­ing at least at hav­ing to spend $1200 — $1800 Usd on flights.  

Still this high cost of get­ting to the cap­i­tals of Peru or Bolivia is off­set by the cheap price it takes to get to the gate­way town of Puno or Copaca­bana. With those trav­el­ling from Cus­co or Lima able to pay as lit­tle as $7.50 for a bus to Puno – with prices increas­ing to $20 for the best bus seats. Sim­i­lar­ly, those trav­el­ling from La Paz to Copaca­bana can expect to pay as lit­tle as $3 if trav­el­ling by bus.  

For those with a lit­tle bit more of a bud­get and time, and who are inter­est­ed in explor­ing the his­to­ry and cul­ture of the Inca’s a lit­tle more, for those set­ting off from Cus­co, there is also the option to take the day long Inka Express which will take you on the scenic route and afford stops at a series of Inca Cul­tur­al her­itage sites – which can make for an edu­ca­tion­al and enrich­ing expe­ri­ence. For those inter­est­ed in the Inka Express be sure to book well in advance and set aside an extra $50 usd for your bus tick­et.  

While trav­el­ling from the cap­i­tals to the gate­way cities by bus is the most pop­u­lar and bud­get friend­ly option, there also exists the option to arrive in style and lux­u­ry – with Peru Rail offer­ing a day or even mul­ti-day option to arrive by train. A train trip that will set you back $200 Usd for the jour­ney (includ­ing Drinks and Food) and will see explor­ers get the chance to catch the best of the Peru­vian coun­try­side from the train win­dow before arriv­ing into Puno.  

Explor­ing: Hav­ing got your­self to Puno or the Copaca­bana – and tak­en time to explore the fas­ci­nat­ing gate­way towns and mar­velled at the stun­ning views of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca from the lake’s shore, the next part of your explo­ration you will need to account for the cost of get­ting to the Uros and float­ing islands – where stun­ning views of the lake, as well as the chance to immerse and edu­ca­tion your­self in Inca cul­ture await you.  

To reach and explore Lake Titicaca’s islands there are two options avail­able, through an organ­ised tour or through a self-explo­ration. For those who fan­cy the com­fort of a tour – a 1 day tour on Lake Tit­i­ca­ca which will see you explore the main islands of Amanan­ti and Taquile, have a home-cooked lunch and get free time on the Uros you should bud­get around $30 — $50  Usd for a shared tour, and $100 — $125 Usd for a pri­vate tour.   

Sim­i­lar­ly for those who want the thrill of a 2 day tour – which fea­tures more time to explore the islands and Incan cul­ture, as well as an overnight home­s­tay usu­al­ly on Taquile – you can expect to pay between $200 — $250 Usd for the tour, which will again include a home­cooked meal, a show and all of your fer­ry costs.    

While a tour rep­re­sents a great way to ensure you get to expe­ri­ence the full high­lights of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, it does see you stuck with a group, and with­out the full free­dom to explore at your own pace – as well a being a bit pricey. 

 So for those who are on a bud­get and want the free­dom to tru­ly explore the lake – we’d rec­om­mend a 2 day / 1 night self-explo­ration, which is both much more bud­get friend­ly and pro­vides the oppor­tu­ni­ty for greater explo­ration. To take this route, you will first need to bud­get for the fer­ry cost of get­ting to the island – which will be $7.50 one way ($15 return), and you can then bud­get $40 Usd for your food and one addi­tion­al expen­di­ture across the islands.  

Home­s­tay: For those who are then set on doing a home­s­tay – which is an expe­ri­ence we’d high­ly rec­om­mend, you can also bud­get between $25 — $50 a night for a home­s­tay on an Uros, which will come with a home-cooked meal – and if you’re lucky a show and enter­tain­ment, which rep­re­sent a great way to not only learn more about the Incan cul­ture, but a fan­tas­tic way and place to spend a night.  

A tru­ly unique and beau­ti­ful expe­ri­ence, as well as bud­get­ing for your method of trav­el, explo­ration method and expe­ri­ences, there are also a series of trav­el costs that will be incurred by all explor­ers to Lake Tit­i­ca­ca. These include the cost for at least 2 nights of a hotel in either Puno or Copaca­bana– which can range from $15 Usd for a bud­get option up to $150 Usd for those who fan­cy a lit­tle bit more lux­u­ry.  

Sim­i­lar­ly, we’d advise set­ting aside $5 Usd – whichev­er way you trav­el for a jour­ney in a reed boat, as well as bud­get­ing $50 Usd for food, an extra $20 for a taxi for those who are com­ing to Lake Tit­i­ca­ca with heavy lug­gage, $25 for trav­el insur­ance, and an extra $10 Usd for sou­venirs. 

While Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is incred­i­bly afford­able, com­pared to oth­er won­ders, for those on a very strict bud­get, there are a few extra steps you can take to fur­ther reduce the cost of your trav­el. The first of which would be to ensure you do a self-explo­ration – which can low­er your cost by at least $100 Usd and see you not miss out any of the Lake Tit­i­ca­ca expe­ri­ences.  

Fur­ther for those seek­ing to cut down their expens­es fur­ther, we would rec­om­mend mak­ing sure you book your flights well in advance and avoid tim­ing your adven­ture and trav­el dur­ing the peak sum­mer sea­son – where accom­mo­da­tion and tours will be much more expen­sive – with the wet sea­son (Decem­ber and Jan­u­ary) being the cheap­est time to trav­el.  

So, putting aside the cost of flights – which will vary based on your start­ing point – for our rec­om­men­da­tion for a 2 day / 1 night explo­ration of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca we would advise explor­ers who are on a strict bud­get to put aside $150 Usd – and for those who want a lit­tle more com­fort we would advise bud­get­ing no more than $350 Usd for your stay at this incred­i­ble won­der of the world.  

Top Sights & Best photo spots: 

The birth­place of the sun – Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is famed for its pic­turesque and mag­nif­i­cent scenery, with the icon­ic float­ing Uros and reed boats, the soft serene waters that stretch to the hori­zon, the fas­ci­nat­ing Inca his­to­ry and cul­ture – com­bined with one of the great­est sun­sets on the plan­et – com­bin­ing to make this nat­ur­al par­adise, and the world’s high­est nav­i­ga­ble lake, a true pho­tog­ra­phers dream.  

Steeped in rich, his­to­ry, cul­ture and mythol­o­gy – Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is one of the few remain­ing sights in the world where explor­ers can trav­el through and pho­to­graph the pre­served his­to­ry of the Tiwanaku, Col­la and Inca mon­u­ments, whilst immers­ing them­selves and cap­tur­ing the tra­di­tion­al Inca way of life – for a cul­tur­al­ly and edu­ca­tion­al enrich­ing pho­to­graph.  

Com­bine this oppor­tu­ni­ty to step back through time, with the many pho­to­genic float­ing Uros of the lake – which over panoram­ic views of the soft deep blue serene waters, that stretch to the hori­zon and the chance to pho­to­graph one of the great­est fes­ti­vals on the plan­et in the Vir­gen de Can­de­lar­ia, all backed by smil­ing colour­ful local and the mighty Andes Moun­tains.  

Yet giv­en the vast size of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca – which stretch­es across Bolivia and Peru in over 191 km in length – with a sur­face are of more than 8, 372 km2  — mak­ing sure you head to the right spots and Uro’s can be a chal­lenge, espe­cial­ly giv­en the like­ly lack of time that most trav­ellers set aside for their vis­it. So, to help ensure any­one head­ing to the stun­ning­ly beau­ti­ful and pho­to­genic par­adise of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca gets the absolute best out of their explo­ration and gets the oppor­tu­ni­ty to explore and pho­to­graph the high­lights of this nat­ur­al par­adise, we’ve round­ed out our top pho­tog­ra­phy tips for those vis­it­ing the worlds high­est nav­i­ga­ble lake:  

Copacabana 

A town that is over­shad­owed by its sis­ter beach in Brazil, the Boli­vian town of Copaca­bana serves not only as a gate­way to Lake Tit­i­ca­ca and its sparkling Uros – but as a charm­ing and pho­to­genic town in its alright – with its cob­bled streets, exquis­ite restau­rants, Inca ruins and 16th-cen­tu­ry cathe­dral all mak­ing for wor­thy pho­to spots on your explo­ration.  

Yet undoubt­ed­ly, while the unas­sum­ing Copaca­bana will serve as your entry point to Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, you’d be amiss if you didn’t spend half a day mak­ing the trek through cob­bled streets of the Copaca­bana to the peak of Cal­vary Hill – the Cer­ro El Cal­vario — from where you can look out not only the charm­ing town below you – but get wide-reach­ing panoram­ic views of the deep blue waters of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca stretch­ing into Peru and to the Hori­zon.  

A tru­ly incred­i­bly spot for cap­tur­ing the beau­ty of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca – for those stay­ing overnight in Copaca­bana before begin­ning their explo­ration of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca we’d high­ly rec­om­mend being at the Cal­vary Hill for Sun­set, where you can wit­ness the whole lake light up in a daz­zling warm dis­play for an extra spe­cial pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty.  

Tiahuanaco 

For those explor­ing Lake Tit­i­ca­ca from Copaca­bana, we’d also high­ly rec­om­mend a vis­it and pho­to­graph explo­ration of the ruins of Tiahua­na­co – where, backed by the warm waters of the lake behind you, trav­ellers can explore and pho­to­graph the remains of a series of stone built pyra­mids, tem­ples and social infra­struc­ture that date back as far as 500 AD.  

An incred­i­ble step back through his­to­ry, the undoubt­ed main high­lights at Tiahua­na­co are the 125 ton pyra­mid shaped struc­ture of Aka­pana and Puma­punku and the tem­ple of Kalasasaya – which all served both polit­i­cal and spir­i­tu­al pur­pos­es. A liv­ing muse­um, explor­ing and cap­tur­ing the remains of the great city of Tiahua­na­co is undoubt­ed­ly one of the high­lights of explor­ing the his­to­ry and cul­ture of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, and only adds to the mys­tique and spe­cial­ness of this great lake.  

Isla del Sol, Bolivia 

The island of myth­i­cal leg­end – with it being here that the Inca god Vira­cocha ascend­ed from the depths of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca to cre­ate the moon, sun, stars and uni­verse – the fables of the Isla del Sol are only matched by its immense beau­ty, with it being upon this float­ing Uro – which can be eas­i­ly accessed from the Boli­vian side – where you’ll find the best views and pho­to spots of the serene waters of the lake, and great shots of Inca life, reed boats and Incan cul­ture.  

One of the largest islands across Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, the Isla del Sol is an uro that is best explored on foot (after arrival) and which explor­ers can eas­i­ly cir­cum­nav­i­gate the whole of to get dif­fer­ent angles for their shots – the beau­ty of the lake and island are also com­ple­ment­ed by a series of sacred sites and mon­u­ments, which again make for great pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties. Chief among these are the “The Labyrinth” – a holy com­plex for priests which can be eas­i­ly accessed by the charm­ing and pic­turesque vil­lage of Chal­la­pam­pa.  

It is also from Chal­la­pam­pa – that you’ll find one of the most pho­tog­ra­phy spots across the whole of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca – the Cer­ro Uma Qol­la. Accessed through a steep hill climb – and off lim­its to cars, the sum­mit of Cer­ro Uma Qol­la offers per­fect views from a top this high alti­tude lake that look out over not just sur­round­ing islands, but allow you to cap­ture the best of this stun­ning won­der of the world.  

A tru­ly spe­cial spot, for those explor­ing Lake Tit­i­ca­ca and the Isla del Sol over the course of one day – we’d high­ly rec­om­mend being at the Cer­ro Uma Qol­la for sun­set, where the descend­ing sun lights up the serene waters of the lake in warm shades of yel­low, orange and red – cre­at­ing a tru­ly kalei­do­scop­ic and breath-tak­ing view and pho­to-oppor­tu­ni­ty of this spec­tac­u­lar lake.   

 Puno 

For those explor­ing Lake Tit­i­ca­ca from the Peru­vian side then Puno will be your main base and first port of call – with this live­ly town mak­ing for not only a per­fect place to begin your explo­ration, but like Bolivia’s Copaca­bana being pho­to­genic and wor­thy of explo­ration in its own right.  

Encom­pass­ing the best of Peru­vian cul­ture and life, Puno is blessed with a series of charm­ing cob­ble­stone streets and the bustling Calle Lima main street which leads to the heart of puno, the cities main plaza. It’s wihtin the main plaza where you’ll find the most pho­to­genic spots of Puno – inl­cud­ing the cathe­dral, the Car­los Drey­er Mue­se­um and fas­ci­nat­ing Boat Mue­se­um.  

While all are undoubt­ed­ly wor­thy of cap­tur­ing — the high­lights from our side are undoubt­ed­ly the carved scu­pl­tures and stat­ues that lie with­in the main square and with­in the mue­se­ums, which rep­re­sent a fas­ci­nat­ing insight into the Inca way of life and intro­duc­tion and expla­na­tion of the his­to­ry and leg­end of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca and the Inca way of life. 

Cutimbo: 

Hav­ing explored and pho­tographed the many his­tor­i­cal and cul­tur­al land­marks with­in Puno – before set­ting off to the Uros, we’d advise mak­ing time to dive fur­ther into the his­to­ry and leg­end of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, by explor­ing and cap­tur­ing two fan­tas­tic arche­o­log­i­cal sites found on the out­skirts of Puno; Cutim­bo and Pukara.  

Begin­ning with Cutim­bo, this fas­ci­nat­ing site is drenched in stun­ning his­to­ry – hav­ing been used first for the Col­la and then by the Inca’s as a spir­i­tu­al and sacred site that paid trib­ute to the gods and both cul­tures ances­tors. The homage – and pho­to­genic sites — at Cutim­bo are found in a series of tall bur­ial tow­ers that served as ancient tombs, with these tow­er­ing land­marks, that are well pre­served, fea­tur­ing ancient hiero­glyph­ics in the form of sacred ani­mals (snakes, pumas and mon­keys) carved into the side of the tombs – which make for great close-up pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties to cap­ture the details and beliefs of the Inca and Col­la peo­ple.  

Best cap­tured by sum­mit­ing to the top of a table-top moun­tain, through the Cutim­bo main road, for those seek­ing to not just vis­it Lake Tit­i­ca­ca but immerse them­selves in the his­to­ry and cul­ture of this stun­ning site, vis­it­ing Cutim­bo makes for a pho­to­genic and impor­tant stop on your jour­ney through Lake Tit­i­ca­ca.  

Pukara 

A fas­ci­nat­ing full day trip from Puno – the ancient archae­o­log­i­cal site of Pukara is believed to be the first­ly occu­pied site across the whole of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, with human inhab­i­tants first occu­py­ing this area as far back as 500 BC – mak­ing it one of the most his­tor­i­cal spots vis­itable and pho­tograph­able across the lake.  

A chance to step back through his­to­ry – a vis­it to Pukara offers a fas­ci­nat­ing insight into life with­in the first Andean Civil­i­sa­tion – as well as ini­tial Inca life, that con­tin­ues to this day. Tra­vers­ing the sights of Pukara will offer pho­tog­ra­phers and explor­ers the chance to exam­ine and pho­to­graph tools, pot­tery and ancient stone hous­ing from these civil­i­sa­tions and pon­der and cap­ture the evo­lu­tion and sim­i­lar­i­ties of life on the lake today.  

For those mak­ing a full-day trip out to Pukara we’d advise not only enrich­ing your under­stand­ing of the Andean way of life and his­to­ry at Lake Tit­i­ca­ca by vis­it­ing the archae­o­log­i­cal site – but also by spend­ing time at the Pukara Lith­ic Muse­um, a charm­ing lit­tle muse­um that offers fur­ther insight and his­to­ry into the mythol­o­gy and way of life for the first inhab­i­tants of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca.  

Templo de Inca Uyu 

Found in the small city of Chu­cuito whihc lies just south of Puno – the tem­ple of fer­til­i­ty tru­ly lives up to its name, with this tow­er­ing tem­ple found with­in a stone com­plex and blessed with a series of male repro­duc­tive organ carv­ings which – accord­ing to Incan beliefs – helped to bless women who were strug­gling with fer­til­i­ty.  

A once sacred place for the Incan females – both wish­ing for fer­til­i­ty and a safe birth, hav­ing tak­en time to enjoy and mar­vel at the explic­it carv­ings (and pro­vid­ed obser­va­tions) you can take time to appre­ci­ate the his­to­ry and beliefs that the tem­ple of fer­til­i­ty held – and still holds for the Incan peo­ple. With a pho­tog­ra­phy tour and explo­ration around this tem­ple pro­vid­ing some of the most unique – if explic­it ! — pho­tos across the whole of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca.   

Sillustani 

Con­tin­u­ing the explo­ration and pho­tog­ra­phy tour of the his­to­ry, mythol­o­gy and arche­ol­o­gy of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca and the Inca peo­ple – your next stop will be to trav­el to the grand and charm­ing Lake Umayo to vis­it the main and grand finale of the archae­o­log­i­cal sites on Lake Tit­i­ca­ca – the pre-inca Ceme­try of Sil­lus­tani – home to the icon­ic and mys­te­ri­ous chull­pa tow­ers.  

These grand tow­ers – which are both cir­cu­lar and square in nature serve as tombs for the for­mer nobles of the res­i­dents of the tribes that lived on lake Tit­i­ca­ca  — and the fact that they are sitll stand­ing – under­line both the archae­o­log­i­cal feat of the Chull­pas, but also the impor­tance of those who lie beneath.  

A culu­tral­ly and his­tor­i­cal­ly impor­tant site – the Chull­pas are wor­thy of explo­raiton in thi­er own right, but what makes this ancient grave­yard so spec­tac­u­lar is it’s hill­top loca­tion – which giv­en Lake Umayo is an island in itslef – affords spec­tac­u­lar views not only of Sil­lus­tani but out over the soft waters of the lake and into the hori­zon – for a tru­ly spec­tac­u­lar pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty.  

Luquina (great for sunrise)  

Hav­ing stepped back in time through the archae­o­log­i­cal sites on Lake Tit­i­ca­ca – and explored and pho­tographed the way of life that has sus­tained the Inca Cul­ture, the next pho­to­graph­ic jour­ney and explo­ration will take you to meet and pho­to­graph a small com­mu­ni­ty still liv­ing a tra­di­tion­al life – at the charm­ing penin­su­la of Luquina – that lies on the edge of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca.  

Luquina also affords some of the best sun­rise pho­tog­ra­phy spots across the whole of the lake – thanks to its posi­tion fac­ing east – with the shores of the pop­u­lar playa Chur­ro beach being not only a great place to kayak – but being one of out top picks to lay upon and watch the sun ris­ing over the beau­ti­ful water of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca for a tru­ly incred­i­bly pho­to.  

An incred­i­ble town – that will undoubt­ed­ly enrich explor­ers — the pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties avail­able at Luquina don’t stop at the waters edge, with Luquina being one of the last fronts of tra­di­tion­al life, and home to farm­ers who will spend their days liv­ing a sim­ple life sur­viv­ing on their har­vest and resid­ing in small stone-built hous­es absent mod­ern essen­tials – and who, if you ask nice­ly and come with a tip, are hap­py to pose for pho­tos.  

Island Hopping Tour 

Hav­ing delved into the rich his­to­ry of the Inca peo­ple and Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, it’s time to explore the Uros and islands, to adven­ture upon reed boats, stay upon a float­ing island, immerse your­self with the colour­ful res­i­dents – and soak in the full beau­ty of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca.  

While Island explo­ration can be done in a day trip from Puno or Copaca­bana we’d high­ly rec­om­mend set­ting aside at least two days to explore the best of the Uros in Aman­tani and Suasi and mak­ing time to explore the charm­ing island of Taquile, with it being upon these islands where you can not only expe­ri­ence the tra­di­tion­al reed boat and home­s­tays, but mar­vel at one of the great­est sun­sets on the plan­et and snap pho­to that will tru­ly last a life­time.  

Amantani Island, Peru  

Start­ing with the most serene – and in our view most beau­ti­ful and pho­to­genic of the Uros, the charm­ing Uros of Aman­tani feels tru­ly authen­tic and remote – and rep­re­sents for explor­ers the real expe­ri­ence of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca and tra­di­tion­al life.  

Home to around 3,000 local Inca – who like those on Luquina fol­low a sim­ple life of farm­ing, har­vest­ing and rais­ing live­stock – Aman­tani first­ly offers fan­tas­tic pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties of the “real Incas” and a unique insight into a way of life that has been large­ly unal­tered over gen­er­a­tions.  

Along­side the incred­i­ble chance to pho­to­graph remote island life, Aman­tani tru­ly lives up to its rep­u­ta­tion as the most scenic spot across Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, with the views across this Uro offer­ing stun­ning pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties of the serene and deep blue waters of the lake which stretch to the cloud free hori­zon – for a shot that is tru­ly mag­i­cal.  

While snap­ping the beau­ty of this won­der from the shores of the island is undoubt­ed­ly a great spot for pho­tog­ra­phy – for those seek­ing an extra spe­cial shot, we’d encour­age you to jour­ney along the cob­bled path­ways on Aman­tani towards the moun­tain top tem­ples of Pachama­ma and Pachata­ta – which stand as trib­ute to Incan gods.  

It is from atop these ele­vat­ed tem­ples where you’ll dis­cov­er the best views across the whole of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca and be able to mar­vel and pho­to­graph the full beau­ty of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca laid out before you – with the views at sun­set from atop these tem­ples – where the descend­ing sun reflects off the lake in a daz­zling dis­play of yel­low, orange and red – for a fit­ting finale to any explo­ration of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca and a tru­ly mes­meris­ing pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty.  

Taquile Island 

Mov­ing from the Uros to an Island – Taquile Island sits as one of the most mod­ern islands across the lake and is the cen­tre for island explo­ration for explor­ers, with the reed boats, colour­ful cloth­ing and stun­ning views from this island being true icons of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca.  

Reached by a mul­ti-hour boat jour­ney across the lake for those arriv­ing from Puno – which itself affords great pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties – vis­i­tors will arrive on the banks of Taquile and then need to make the hike up a hill to the main plaza – where a daz­zling pho­to­genic dis­play of colour­ful cloth­ing and Inca peo­ple will be there to greet you.  

Tak­ing time to inter­act – and with per­mis­sion – pho­to­graph the colour­ful clothes of the locals, we’d then advise head­ing to the tex­tile fac­to­ry and mar­ket found at the far south side of the main plaza – where along­side pick­ing up some colour­ful clothes, you can have the unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to explore and pho­to­graph the pro­duc­tion of these clothes – and be sure to ask about the unique sym­bol­ism and mean­ing behind each cloth­ing item.  

Hav­ing dived fur­ther into the Inca cul­ture, we’d then advise turn­ing your explo­ration and pho­to­graph atten­tion to the beau­ty of the lake around you – all of which is eas­i­ly seen and viewed from the edges of the ele­vat­ed main plaza – with it being from the main plaza where you can sit down, enjoy some food, and stare out the full beau­ty of the glo­ri­ous lake Tit­i­ca­ca before you – for anoth­er tru­ly spe­cial pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty.  

Suasi & Andean Island 

For those seek­ing stun­ning views enjoyed in full bliss and relax­ation – and with a healthy bud­get to enjoy – we’d advise head­ing to either Suasi or Andean Island where you’ll find lux­u­ry abun­dant, with both islands boast­ing world class resorts fea­tur­ing spa’s, sauna’s and beach­side views out over the glo­ri­ous waters of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca.  

Both per­fect­ly posi­tioned so that you get stun­ning sun­set views – both islands, while lack­ing in cul­tur­al expe­ri­ences, are absolute­ly ide­al for pho­tog­ra­phers who want to take their time posi­tion their camera’s for the per­fect shot – with the unin­ter­rupt­ed beach­es, and absence of tourists – com­bined with the fan­tas­tic posit­ing with­in the lake com­bin­ing for fan­tas­tic pho­to set­tings.  

While snap­ping and explor­ing in lux­u­ry at these pri­vate islands is a fan­tas­tic way to grab mem­o­rable and unique pho­tos, for those seek­ing out a spe­cial pho­to spot and view­point on these islands and stay­ing at Suasi should take the long hike up to the top of Itapil­lu­ni Hill – where from an ele­vat­ed view you can look out view the best of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca and mar­vel at the full beau­ty of the soft and deep blue waters of the lake stretch­ing to the hori­zon – for one of the most incred­i­ble views of this stun­ning won­der of the world.  

Festival of the Virgin of Candelaria 

A two week cel­e­bra­tion pay­ing homage and trib­ute to Lake Titicaca’s patron saint – the Vir­gin of Can­de­lar­ia – the fes­ti­val of the Can­de­lar­ia is not only Lake Titicaca’s most enthralling, live­ly and colour­ful cel­e­bra­tion – but is in its own right one of the most unique expe­ri­ences and pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties on the stun­ning lake.  

Tru­ly brin­ing Lake Tit­i­ca­ca to lake the fes­ti­val of the Can­de­lar­ia is cel­e­brat­ed for 10 days – with the main day being on the 2nd of Feb­ru­ary, and you can expect both Puno and the Copaca­bana to be awash with bull runs, cer­e­monies, street danc­ing, fes­ti­vals, free food and beer – mak­ing for a tru­ly unique expe­ri­ence and a chance to pho­to­graph one of the world’s most, crazy and unique fes­ti­vals against the back­drop of the serene blue waters of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca.  

Offi­cial­ly mark­ing the end of Christ­mas, the fes­ti­val of the Can­de­lar­ia is also a deeply reli­gious time for many atten­dees, and you can expect mass­es and bless­ings to occur through­out the towns – so do be care­ful to ensure you are respect­ful in your enjoy­ment and pho­tog­ra­phy. Yet for those who are lucky enough to time their explo­ration of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca with the fes­ti­val of the Can­de­lar­ia – you can expect a tru­ly vibrant and colour­ful fes­ti­val – and one of the most unique expe­ri­ences and pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ties on the plan­et.  

For more on the fes­ti­val of the Can­de­lar­ia – see here.  

Homestay on Lake Titicaca 

Final­ly for those seek­ing a tru­ly unique expe­ri­ence and pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty – we’d high­ly encour­age you to make use of the home­s­tay option avail­able across Lake Tit­i­ca­ca – for a fas­ci­nat­ing insight into the life of Inca’s and a chance to enjoy tru­ly unique and spe­cial mem­o­ries on this incred­i­ble won­der of the world.  

The true high­light of any mul­ti-day vis­it on the lake, a home­s­tay option will see trav­ellers dis­con­nect­ed from mod­ern com­forts – such as run­ning water and wifi – and spend the night in basic accom­mo­da­tion inside a tra­di­tion­al Inca straw hut as you are host­ed and cared for by a local Incan fam­i­ly – on a true adven­ture.  

Best enjoyed on the islands of Taquile or Aman­tani – trav­ellers can expect to be dressed up in colour­ful cloth­ing, enjoy a home-cooked meal and dance – and then head with the local fam­i­ly to the sum­mit of either the main plaza (Taquile) or to the moun­tain­top tem­ples of Pachama­ma and Pachata­ta for glo­ri­ous sun­set views and pho­tog­ra­phy.  

Along­side this, as you get more com­fort­able with your hosts, you can also expe­ri­ence – and pho­to­graph – local Incan cul­ture and peo­ple in free flow, and for those able to stay up late and get up ear­ly – com­bine your home­s­tay with a chance to stargaze (and pho­to­graph) some of the clear­est night-time views on the plan­et – and enjoy a daz­zling sun­rise the fol­low­ing morn­ing.  

Offer­ing a unique expe­ri­ence – and the true best expe­ri­ences and pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca (Inca Cul­ture, Sun­rise, Sun­set and star gaz­ing) – stay­ing with a local Inca fam­i­ly to enjoy Lake Tit­i­ca­ca is an unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence and one that will afford not only incred­i­ble views and pho­to­graph oppor­tu­ni­ties of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca, but that will tru­ly under­line and leave explor­ers in no doubt why this incred­i­ble lake is an unde­ni­able won­der of the world.