Travel Cheap: Lake Titicaca

Are you ready for your next budget excursion?

Lake Titicaca has crystal clear water, tons of delicious trout, and seriously the best name of all the lakes out there. It’s a great place to visit, especially for the budget traveler. Situated smack dab in the middle of Peru and Bolivia, you can choose to visit this lake on whichever border best suits your needs. Seeing as you’re reading a budget travel article, you’ll most likely want to visit on the Bolivian side.

Lake Titicaca has it all. Have you got what it takes to get there?

Not only does Bolivia give you much more bang for your buck (1 USD = 7 BOB at time of publication, while 1 USD = 3.3 PEN), but the experience of Lake Titicaca is just more organic when visiting from the south. While the Peruvian side is chocked full of expensive restaurants, “floating islands”, and guided tours, the quieter Bolivian side offers free wild camping and relaxing sun-soaked days.

There's not much which can bother you surrounded by this stunning beauty.

Of course, Copacabana does offer a bit of the Bolivian party scene if you’re into that. So how can you pay a visit to the highest navigable lake in the known world, and how can you do it on the cheap? Read on to discover just how much you’ll need to spend your weekend (or week, or heck, month) out here on the water.

Getting to Copacabana On Lake Titicaca

The good news is, you can get to Lake Titicaca from anywhere. Even if you’re in Peru, getting to the Bolivian side should be no sweat when you use the bus system. From Cusco, you can easily get to the lake access town of Puno via bus for around $20. Expect this ride to be around 7 hours. From Arequipa the cost and distance are nearly the same. From Puno, you can take the 3 hour ride to Copacabana for around $6.

Don't forget your swimsuit. This water is cold, but totally worth it!

If you’re in Bolivia, you’ll need to get to La Paz. From there the service gets a bit more complicated. Expect to pay around $3 for your ticket to Copacabana, and expect a four to five-hour bus ride, depending on the service you use. The best services depart from the La Paz cemetery; if you choose to use the bus station you’ll pay two or three times as much. Keep in mind that there are no buses departing in the evening, so get there as early as you can.

Copacabana Tips, Freebies, and Information

Once you arrive in Copacabana, you’re ready to Do That Thing. What exactly is That Thing? Whatever you want it to be, of course. Wild camping, campfire cooking, swimming in paradise at an altitude of 3,800 meters—it’s all possible. But you need to get through Copacabana first, and there are some pretty cool (and free) sights to see here as well.

Don't be afraid to take a stroll through Copacabana proper to see the sights, hit the market for supplies and take in the warm mountain air.

It isn’t a visit to Copa if you don’t make the trek up to Cerra Calvario, the hilltop meditation station for all the devout Catholics of the region. That’s a lot of Catholics, and it’s highly likely you’ll meet some on your way up—but don’t worry, they’re very kind. The top offers a stunning view of the city and the surrounding lake, as well as a gigantic cross and lots of informational kiosks which can tell you a lot about the place. It’s a great place to bring a book (or a bottle, if that’s more your thing) and relax for an afternoon.

You won't be sad you made the trek up Cerra Calvario. The view alone is worth the hike.

Be sure to check out the touristy waterfront strip and the Moorish-looking Basilica in the center of the town. Copacabana is a cute city with a lot of soul. If you want to spend a night here, ask the promoters working the restaurants where they sleep—you can find a place for around $2 per night if you aren’t worried about Wi-Fi or pillowtop mattresses.

Stocking Up and Heading Out

If you’re looking to spend some real time getting to know the nature surrounding this awesome sky-high lake, you’ll probably want to camp out there. The good news is, Lake Titicaca is completely surrounded by great spots to camp. The bad news is that none of them are super easy to get too—but that’s not a problem for you, the bold budget adventurer.

It does mean that you’ll have to bring extra supplies to hike around with. Be careful to do just that—I accidentally spent 2 weeks camping out and exploring the area, and I was really hungry at the end of it. Luckily, supplies are cheap at the open market in Copacabana.

Barszcz is better at 4,000 meters.

Head here for staples like noodles, rice, beans, and pretty much whatever else you fancy.
During the tourist season there may be shops selling fuel around the city, but you might not find any. It’s not the end of the world if you can’t, because it’s more than possible to build fires out here and cook over them. Just be sure to do it responsibly.

Camping Out on the Lake

Accessing the lake couldn’t be easier. Take the road to Sampaya from Copacabana, and from here you’ll see all sorts of trails. You may find a beach hidden away, or you might bypass that to go directly to the peninsula Capilla Yampupata. Go ahead and spend a night out on the Peninsula, and don’t let anybody tell you it’s their private property. It isn’t.

You can find a ton of cool campsites along the water as you go. Spend a few days here and a few days there, and before you know it you’ll be in the actual Pueblo Sampaya. This thriving metropolis boasts a single shop (closed most of the day) and many smiling Bolivians.

Extra points if you can find this awesome white sandy beach.

Extra extra points if you can get a site with a view of Isla del Sol.

From here you can camp on the water with a view of Isla del Sol, which you would totally go to, if you could afford it. Since you can’t, you’ll have to take your jollies where you can get them. In this case it’s camping out on a stunningly beautiful lake, watching the sun set over the water. Not so bad.

Cooking, campfires, and the gorgeous sunset.

A word of warning about storms at night on the lake. They happen, because of the extreme altitude and odd combination of surrounding mountains. They happen a lot. It’s highly unlikely you’ll be in any serious trouble from a storm, and you might even find yourself enjoying the power of nature. But this will only be true if you’re nice and dry, so make sure you waterproof yourself as much as possible.

I'm not kidding, the storms up here are wild.

Trip Highlights and Things to Know Before You Go

Ready to go? Just a few more things. You can drink the water out of the lake, but you should definitely use a filter before drinking or using it to cook. Camping is generally accepted by locals, but be prepared for people to come and talk to you. This isn’t Mount Everest. People live here. And you should be nice to them, because chances are they’ll be nice to you. They’ll probably try to sell you some trucha (trout), in which case definitely take them up on it. You’ll never eat a more delicious fish than one caught out of Lake Titicaca.

You definitely want a piece of the stunning beauty around Lake Titicaca.

Take Away

What: Hiking, Camping, Swimming, Mountains, Gorgeous Scenery
Where: Near Copacabana, Bolivia
Budget Cost: $30 (Food, Transport, 1 Night Lodging in Copacabana)
Bougie Cost: $40 (High-Quality Food, Transport, Lodging)
Bring: Food, Tent, Good Shoes, LifeStraw, Happy Face
Trip Length: 4-7 Nights
Travel Rating: 5 Stars

Thanks for reading my post, guys! I hope you all get your butts out to Lake Titicaca. As always, all these pictures are mine.