Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca
4.5
About
This icy high-altitude lake is the legendary birthplace of the Inca civilization, and is also believed to hold precious Inca treasure. When Jacques Cousteau explored the lake for treasure, he discovered instead a large, colorful deep-water frog.
Duration: More than 3 hours
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4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles1,558 reviews
Excellent
1,153
Very good
324
Average
64
Poor
8
Terrible
9

pingnan h
Boise, ID76 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2023 • Solo
Wonderful experience to know Lake Titicaca during my 2 day 1 night tour. Jose is a great tour guide with detail information during our trip. I would return to visit Lake Titicaca in the future again ❤️
Written September 11, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Goal100Countries
Cheltenham, UK599 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2019 • Friends
Lake Titicaca is a simply stunning area of South America that spans across the Peruvian- Bolivian border. It is incredibly large and has a small tide that forms beaches in Peru and Bolivia. The largest cities on its banks are Puno in Peru and Copacabana in Bolivia. The views are beautiful no matter where you are however. There are many beautiful islands also such as Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna.
Written March 6, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Johann&Sandra
8,264 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2011 • Couples
Experiencing Lake Titicaca from the Bolivian side is a bit different than from the Peru side. Copacabana is backpacker-land, full of hostels, restaurants and bars, a resort-style atmosphere for backpacking tourists. There is a marina where all the boats go to Isla del Sol for day trips. Puno, meanwhile, is a city first, a tourist hub second, and it is really dirty and unattractive. It is much larger than Copacabana. On one hand, Copacabana is nicer to stay in, while on the other hand, Puno has the Uros Floating Islands (a few now have made their way to the Bolivia side for the tourists) which are a must-see. Isla del Sol is similar to Taquile island on the Peru side, so no need to visit both.

Lake Titicaca is more than a beautiful lake in the middle of the desert, and it's more interesting than just the novelty of being the world's highest navigable lake. It is a smorgasbord of different traditional cultures living together, from the Quechua to Aymara, to the floating islands to the local people of Taquile, from the city of Puno to the small villages that dot the lake. Depending on where you stay, you will see everything from traditional fishermen in their rowboats placing their nets at night and retrieving them in the morning to local villagers gathering reeds on their donkeys to build their floating islands and homes.

We stayed at Titilaka, about 1 hour outside of Puno, and this allowed us, I believe to fully absorb the amazing diversity of the lake and it's people. We went sailing on a sailboat on the lake, took a full day trip to Uros and Taquile (the non-touristy portions of both, a much more rewarding experience), dined atop Taquile Island, looking at the snow-capped peaks of the Cordillera Real, without another tourist in sight. We awoke every morning to the sunrise over the lake, and watched the local farmers taking their cattle and alpacas to the lake to drink, or their donkeys to gather reeds for their homes. We would recommend to stay outside the towns if possible for a more authentic experience - there is nothing in the towns really to interest tourists except facilities, the "Real" Lake Titicaca is found outside of the towns.

You can visit the pre-inca Tombs at Sillustani, take bike rides through the local small villages, take boat rides on the lake or kayak through the reeds. All the while life is going on around you in the simple way it has for generations. The local people are dressed in brilliant colors and each culture has its own language, dress and way of living. If you take the time to take it all in, it's fascinating. And of course the lake is so beautiful. Staying at Titilaka allowed us to experience it to its fullest, and in a very non-touristy way. I think the mass tourism from Puno and Copacabana would have been a very different experience.

We also took the boat trip to Isla del Sol from Copacabana - we did a trip to the south side of the lake on a private boat, which was great because we ate at a very small and atmospheric hotel (5 rooms or something) right next to a ruins site with great views. We had an authentic lunch that was different than anything else we encountered. We walked the trail up to the main tourist area, which wasn't very interesting really, and walked down (instead of up) the 200 steps. I think it might be interesting to stay on Isla del Sol, but as a day trip do the private trip - the mass tourism on the hydrofoil didn't seem very rewarding. There is not much to see on Isla de Luna, so don't fret if you don't have time to visit it.

TIP: After our stay at Titilaka and visits to Taquile and Uros, we later visited Copacabana and went to Isla del Sol. The feeling was a bit of "been there, done that", and in hindsight we would have skipped it and headed for La Paz. It was still a nice day, but not a must-do after we already had spent three days at Titilaka.
Written October 7, 2011
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Kayla F
Encinitas, CA4 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2014 • Friends
This company is deadly!!!! Someone needs to make sure that there is a safer company than this in Copacabana. The absolute scariest experience of my life was on this bus.

In Copacabana, we ended up leaving 45 minutes late to fill up all the seats, which was not that big of a deal. After a while on the bus, the bus assistant said we had to pay 2 Bolivianos to cross on the ferry. No one told us we had to pay extra, or even that there was a ferry involved. When we got to the ferry crossing, the assistant said that we had to wait for the storm to die down to cross. Apparently, heavy winds made the waves too big. For two hours we sat on the bus waiting for the waves to die down and there was word that we may not be able to get on the ferry until 4 in the morning! Meanwhile, our bus driver went to the bar and ordered drinks. One of our bus passengers also saw him buy a bottle of Jose Cuervo and drink it *all by himself* within a half hour. Then the ferry was up and running (the ferry was a bunch of pieces of wood nailed together) and we get on, it's all rocky but we make it over. Then our driver took a pee, and started talking to someone and was kissing their hand. He was swaying a little. This guy was wasted. I approached him and said in my best Spanish, "are you okay to drive? You drank a lot." He said "nothing's going to happen." Then he paused, looked at me and said, "I'll give you 100 Bolivianos to drive this bus." *Are you kidding me?* Even if it was a joke, this was purely unprofessional and scared me. Maybe I should drive the bus instead, I thought. Despite every cell in my body telling me to not ride with this jerk, I did, and so did everyone else. And for the next two hours, we swerved our way to La Paz. I was so scared that I cried and wrote a good-bye message to my family in my journal. We did finally make it. When I got off the bus, the driver put a thumb's up an inch from my face and wouldn't remove it until I got off the bus. This driver was so rude and should be fired for putting so many people at risk. Apparently, just as a whole, the entire company is corrupt and there should be an alternative, safer bus company in Copacabana.
Written July 13, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Tanialeec
Melbourne, Australia58 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Went with Titicaca Bolivia Tours for boat ride to Sun Island from Copacobana at 1.30pm. Paid 25 Bolivian for the return trip to the island via their boat. Tourist agent said this was just the boat ride and the tour was not included but you were free to walk around the small island from arrival at 3pm and then get the boat back at 4.40pm. Once on the boat a very rude pushy man told us that unless we paid an extra 25 each Bolivian we could only walk to the top of the hill and would have to be back on the boat by 4pm which would mean you would not be able to get off the boat to see the inca ruins (the main reason for going). We explained we did not want to go in the big group tour and wanted to do it on our own. He said we had to have a tour guide or would have to be back on the boat by 4pm. We said we would hire our own guide there and he told us this would cost 200 Bolivian and kept hounding us to pay him the extra money saying we couldn't see the inca ruins otherwise. He asked for our ticket and wrote 4pm on it and said we could only get the boat back then unless we had a private guide.

While we were paying the entry fee on the boardwalk he approached us again and said we better hurry up and do our walk to be back on the boat at 4pm. I couldn't believe how rude and pushy he was!

On arrival at the island we spoke to another guide who told us you did not need a guide to see the ruins you could just follow the well marked paths yourself. The rude pushy guide from our boat had us so worried that they wouldn't let us get the boat back at 4.40pn that we hired our own personal English speaking guide for 80 Bolivian (not 200 as he had told us) and toured the island on our own. It was a much nicer experience because we got to the ruins before the big groups and had some time there virtually on our own.
The pushy guide from our boat must have stayed on the island as he wasn't even on our boat on the way back and they didn't even look on our ticket to see what time he had written.

The guide aside the boat was really old and run down. Most boats are but Titicaca Bolivia boat was worse than the others we saw. We were supposed to be back by 5.30 but didn't get back till after 6pm so didn't have time to get dinner before our bus to Puno at 6.30pm. All the other boats were whizzing past our slow boat.

All in all a really bad experience. Definitely put a big dampener on our day!

Do yourself a favour and find another company!
Written May 2, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Peter W
Northcote, Australia21 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2017 • Family
We spent a full day touring Lake Titicaca, Bolivia, in early October 2017. Our guide, Carola, was professional, informative, knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. After being picked up from our accommodation in La Paz, we spent a bit more than an hour driving to the Inca Utama Hotel on the shore of Lake Titicaca. At the hotel, we had breakfast, visited a small museum and met local raft builders (the Limachi Brothers) who built the RA II, Tigris & Abora II. We took a hydrofoil through the lake’s most narrow strait, Strait of Tiquina (only 750 metres wide) to Copacabana. We had a very interesting walk through Copacabana’s streets flanked by hostels, bars and restaurants. We visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana – a magnificent 16th-century Spanish colonial shrine. We returned to the hydrofoil to get to the Sun Island where we tasted the water from the Fountain of Youth, climbed the Inca Grand Stairs and had a great lunch at the Uma Kollu archaeological Restaurant. The sweeping views from the restaurant were spectacular – the majestic lake in the foreground and the snow-capped Andes in the background. After lunch, we stopped at the Moon Island and visited the Sun Virgins Temple (Iñak Uyu). The tour was booked through Amazonadventures.com and run by Crillon Tours s.a..
Written October 23, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Joel M
La Paz, Bolivia17 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2014 • Business
Lake Titicaca is one of the famous destinations in South America the best place you can visit is Bolivian site specially Sun Island and we have many tours there hiking and more you can visit this website www.discoverandes.com
Written May 1, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

CAROLPERSON
Boston, MA80 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2012 • Couples
While Puno may attract the most tourists, the bolivian side of the lake is less developed, prettier and cleaner. It is far less touristy than Puno or specifically the Uros islands which is a tourist trap. Everywhere you travel around the lake you will try great fish. Copacabana is a very cute little town, bohemian atmosphere to it, many outside bars to drink a beer or a coffee and just sit there and enjoy the view of the lake.
Written May 15, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Warren P
Montreal, Canada588 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2017 • Solo
You are not going to enjoy Lake Titicaca and the islands unless you can hike the trails and they indeed go up hill and down pretty quickly. Remember that the top of Isla del Sol is almost twice the height above sea level as is Machu Picchu. Also it gets cold and wet on the Island of the Sun
Written February 1, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

DoktorShiruango
Cologne, Germany19 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2012 • Solo
I don't always apreciate warm water, but this time I'd gladly heat up the lake! You can't posibly swim there, it's to freezing cold. No chance of surviving if you take an extended swim!
Written August 13, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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