Lake Titicaca

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View from a hill of Copacabana, Bolivia with Lake Titicaca in the background

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Overview

Everything – and everyone – that sits beside this impressive body of water, from the traditional Aymará villages to the glacier-capped peaks of the Cordillera Real, seems to fall into the background in contrast with the shimmering opal jewel set into the spare altiplano earth. It is not hard to see how Inca legends came to credit Lake Titicaca with the birth of their civilization.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

Cathedral

Lake Titicaca

The sparkling white mudéjar (Moorish–style) cathedral, with its domes and colorful azulejos (blue Portuguese-style ceramic tiles), dominates the town…

Sampaya

Lake Titicaca

This is a beautifully preserved village where the homes are built with flat stones joined in an earthen mortar. There is a stone church on the hilltop…

Chincana Ruins

Isla del Sol

Isla del Sol's most spectacular ruins lie near the island’s northern tip. Its main feature is the Palacio del Inca, a maze of stone walls and tiny…

Cha’lla

Isla del Sol

This agreeable little village stretches along a magnificent sandy beach that could be straight out of a holiday brochure for the Greek islands. The…

Marka Pampa

Isla del Sol

At low tide an innocuous-looking column of rock peeps just a few centimeters above Lake Titicaca’s surface, north of Isla del Sol. Most locals dismiss it…

Yumani

Isla del Sol

Yumani is the main village at the south end of the island. Most boats drop you at the village’s dock, about 200m downhill from the town proper. The small…

Horca del Inca

Lake Titicaca

This hillside gate (named 'the Incan Gallows' by the Spaniards) is a fascinating pre-Incan astronomical observatory, surrounded by pierced rocks that…