PERU TOURIST INFORMATION
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PERU TOURIST INFORMATION |
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Home > Puno Tourist Information > Places of Interest > Puno and nearby attractions
Puno
Puno is the best base in Peru for visiting Lake Titicaca, being the largest city on the lake’s shores. It has excellent services, with good hotels and restaurants, and there are many agencies offering tours of the different attractions in the area. However, Puno in itself is a rather unpleasant city, and if it were not for the nearby attractions, it would be best avoided.
The one main reason for visiting Puno, apart from the lake, is to enjoy the incredible Virgen de la Candelaria festival held in the city during the first two weeks of February. This is one of the largest, and liveliest, festivals in all of the Andes, with people dancing in the streets, wearing the most wonderful masks. This is the highlight of the year for many Puneños, and if they are named godfather of their district, they will save all year to ensure that they have enough food and drink to offer everybody. If you are in Peru when the festival is on, a trip to Puno is strongly recommended.
There is not much worth seeing in Puno itself, although there are a couple of items of interest if you have some free time in the city. The Plaza de Armas and the Cathedral are of minor interest, as is the Balcón del Conde de Lemos, a colonial wooden balcony. Opposite the balcony is the Museo Municipal Carlos Dreyer (**), at Conde de Lemos 289, which has an interesting collection of ceramics and a few stone monoliths. There is a $0.70 entrance charge to the museum. It is possible to walk up the hill behind the museum to the Manco Capac monument, offering good views of the town and the lake. However, this can be dangerous, so do not go around sundown.
The Yavari (**) is an old steam ship that used to work on the lake. It is currently under restoration, and it is hoped that it will start offering services again when it is fully restored. Meanwhile, it is a museum that can be visited. The ship was built in England in 1862 and was transported to Arica, then part of Peru. From Arica, the ship was taken piece by piece by mule to Lake Titicaca, where it was assembled. The ship finally took to the waters of Lake Titicaca in 1871. Due to sailing in fresh rather than salt water, the ship has not suffered rust damage, and so when it is relaunched it will be one of the oldest steam ships in the world still in operation. In April 2002, the ship was moved to its new berth next to the Posada del Inca Hotel, halfway towards Isla Esteves. The ship is open from 8am to 5pm (free entry). It is also possible to visit from 5pm to 11pm, when the ship is illuminated.
Apart from Lake Titicaca, there are a number of excursions that can be made from Puno, including traditional highland towns and some wonderful archaeological sites.
Apart from visiting the islands, the main excursion in the Lake Titicaca area is to the ruins of Sillustani, 30 minutes from Puno. These are chullpas, or funerary towers, and the earliest at the site date from the Colla civilisation around 600AD, although many of the towers are from the Inca period. There are over 60 towers at Sillustani, although the style of the chullpa varies according to the person who was being buried. The tall towers were built in the Inca period and have very fine stonework and were used for the burials of rulers. The smaller towers were used for less important people, and there are also common tombs which are completely subterranean. Sillustani is wonderfully located on the shores of Lake Ayumara, and the chullpas are very beautiful against the skies of the altiplano.
There is no public transport to Sillustani, so either a taxi must be hired or you must go on a tour. A return taxi from Puno will cost around $20, including the driver waiting for you. Tours from Puno are cheap, costing around $4 per person, including the $1 entrance fee to the site and a guide. It does not really matter which agency you go with as most tours are pooled from different agencies. All tours to Sillustani are in the afternoon, so it can get very crowded around this time. If you want to avoid the crowds, go in the morning when you will have the site largely to yourself.
An interesting trip from Puno is to the towns on the south-eastern shore of Lake Titicaca. There is plenty of transport along the road, and it is easy to catch combis or minibuses in all the towns. The road from Puno follows the lake for the first few kilometres, and you can see many totora reeds growing in the waters, and in the dry season there are bundles of reeds drying in the sun.
The first town passed is Chucuito, a small town with beautiful views of the lake. The most interesting attraction in the town is the Inca Temple of Fertility (**), a small temple with dozens of metre-high phalluses ‘planted’ in the earth. This temple has been reconstructed in recent years, and the positioning of the phalluses is not original. Most of the phalluses had been taken by locals and the temple was buried and abandoned. However, several years ago there was an effort to put the temple back, and most of the phalluses were returned to their original location (although not all – there is a phallus-fountain in Tío Juan’s restaurant). There is also an interesting colonial church in Chucuito, and an Inca sundial.
There are a couple of places to stay in Chucuito, including the decent Taypikala Hotel. The Taypikala Hotel also has a restaurant ($$-$$$), with good food. The Restaurant Tio Juan ($) is basic, but has very good trout.
The next town is Acora, 15km from Chucuito, where there are some pre-Inca chullpas. Ilave, 55km from Puno, is the largest town on the road, with almost 20,000 people. The town is inland from the lake and is rather ugly and uninteresting.
80km from Puno is the large colonial town of Juli, with a population of 10,000 and good views of the lake. The town is famous for its four colonial churches, which were used to evangelise the indigenous population that the Spanish brought here to work in a now abandoned mine. All four churches were begun by the Jesuits, although when the Dominicans arrives, the Jesuits were expelled from the area, and the churches were completed by the Dominicans. The oldest church in the town is the Iglesia de la Asunción, completed in 1557. This adobe church is now a museum (entrance charge $1) with a good collection of Cusqueña school paintings, including works by Diego de la Puente and Bitti. There is a fine baroque pulpit covered in gold leaf. The Iglesia de San Pedro was completed in 1560, although it was largely rebuilt in the 20th century, and is the only stone church in Juli. The church has some beautiful stone carvings on the ceiling, which dates from the 20th century, and a lovely font of Huamanga marble. The adobe Iglesia de San Juan de Letrán dates from 1570, and is now a museum ($1 entrance fee) of Cusqueña school paintings. The church contains some beautiful baroque carved stone columns and windows. The Iglesia de Santa Cruz, from the same period, is close to visitors.
There are a couple of places to eat and stay in Juli, including the basic Hostal Municipal on Jr. Ilave. Combis to Puno leave from Jr. Ilave, one block from the Plaza.
Pomata, 110km from Puno, contains a fine colonial church with some wonderful frescoes. Zepita, just before Desaguadero, contains a wonderful colonial church.
There are three routes from Peru into Bolivia, the most common of which are via Yunguyo and Desaguadero. The border at both points is open from 8am to 5pm (from 7am to 4pm in Bolivia, because of time differences) and crossing formalities are straightforward. Make sure you get exit stamps when leaving Peru and entry stamps when entering Bolivia – it is quite easy to wander across the border without anyone stopping you, especially at Desaguadero! There are basic hotels at both Yunguyo and Desaguadero, although it is best to avoid staying in either place. Copacabana, the other side of the border from Yunguyo, is far more pleasant. It is possible to get buses direct from Puno to La Paz, although it is cheaper, but more hassle, if you do everything yourself. Even with direct buses you often have to change vehicles at the border, although this is not too much of a problem.
The most direct route from Puno to La Paz is via Desaguadero, a particularly unpleasant place. The name Desaguadero sounds remarkably like the Spanish word for sewage, and the name is incredibly appropriate. This is the best route if you want to visit the interesting ruins of Tihuanaco in Bolivia.
The more pleasant crossing by far is via Yunguyo. Yunguyo itself is not very inviting, but the town of Copacabana, on the Bolivian side, is possibly the most attractive town on Lake Titicaca, and is also the starting point for tours to the Islands of the Sun and the Moon.
It is also possible to cross into Bolivia along the north-eastern shore of the Lake. There are buses from Juliaca to Huancané, and from there transport is available to Moho, close to the Bolivian border. There are controls on both the Peruvian and Bolivian side of the border, and the crossing should be straightforward. However, as this route is less common, check what the current situation is before attempting it.
There used to be a catamaran service from Puno to Copacabana, which was used to cross the border. However, this has now been discontinued.
Information used with the kind permission of
www.llamatravel.com -
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Llama Travel Ltd (UK).
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