Bolivia Hop Bus is the best way to travel from Cusco to La Paz via two of the most scenic destinations in South America. The tour costs about 60 USD. The bus starts Cusco around 10 pm and reaches La Paz next day at around 10 pm. The total distance from Cusco to La Paz is around 650 km. The bus passes through Lake Titicaca which is the highest lake in the world.
Part 1 – Cusco to Puno
I arrived at bus station at around 8.30 pm. The weather was very cold. The bus station main gate was closed and the station was only used as a departure point for this route. After waiting for 10/15 minutes and I met some other travelers from different parts of the world. They opened the main door of the bus at around 9.30 pm. We checked in our baggage and took our seat. The bus is a very comfortable double decker bus. We started at around 10.30 pm from Cusco. Bolivia Hop bus service provides great opportunity for travelers traveling to Puno and Copacabana. If you have more days, I will strongly recommend you to spend extra days at Puno and Copacabana.
We arrived at Puno early morning. Our bus stopped for breakfast. The breakfast is included in the ticket price. The tour of floating reed islands located on Lake Titicaca is optional and I paid around USD 10 for the tour. Our bus stopped near the main harbor of Puno. Puno is a small town located near the shore of Lake Titicaca. Puno has great tourist infrastructure and you can easily spend a day at this location. We had the first glimpse of the lake near the harbor. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. It is situated near the border of Peru and Bolivia. We started our guided boat trip from the pier and we reached floating island after 20 minutes of boat ride.
Uros floating island is situated near Puno. People of Uros preserved the lifestyle of living in the floating island for more than 100 of years. We stopped at one floating home and went inside. Our guide explained about the process of making floating homes. The homes are made from Totora reed forms which grows in the lake and it is used as the base of house. People living in the Uros island all have their own boat and they eat fish and bird eggs.
We met the local people living in the island and they also invited us to go inside their home. You can also purchase handicraft items made from Totora reeds. Recently the infrastructure around the island has improved significantly. Tourists can spend a night at homestays located around the island or they can book their stay at a lodge. At the end of the tour we took a ride on the boat made from the reed. The boat ride was spectacular and the place had a unique feeling. We finished our boat ride and said goodbye to the beautiful people of Uros. We returned to the pier at around 820 am.
Part 2 – Puno To Copacabana
At around 8.30 am we started our bus ride to Copacabana. The bus ride took about 3 hours. The view was stunning but it became repetitive after sometime so I decided to catch up with some nice sleep. We reached at a small town located near the Peru & Bolivia border. The town was full of currency exchange shops. I exchanged the leftover Peruvian sol with the Bolivian Peso. We did our exit at the Peruvian immigration department. After a short walk we reached the Bolivia immigration. All the people of the bus queue up for the immigration process and it takes about 1 hour. Most foreign passport holders require VISA to visit Bolivia. I strongly recommend to get your VISA beforehand because it takes a lot of time to get the visa on arrival. I saw some people getting VISA on arrival and I saw running them here and there for documents Xerox and photocopies. Bolivia VISA can be obtained from the Bolivia embassy in Cusco and Lima. I obtained my Bolivia VISA from Cusco and it took me just 1 hour. After everyone get their passport stamped we started our journey to Copacabana. We got into different bus after we cleared our immigration. The ride to Copacabana took us about 15 minutes.
Copacabana is small town located on the shore of Lake Copacabana. It is a popular tourist destination among locals during the summer months. Puno is much more developed in terms of tourist infrastructure compared to Copacabana. I had a nice lunch at the café located near the pier. Food prices are cheaper in Bolivia compared to Peru.
I already pre booked optional tour of Isla Del Sol island from Copacabana. The cost of the tour was around 10 USD. We started at around 2pm for the tour. The boat ride to the island takes about 45 minutes. Isla Del Sol island is situated at the southern side of the Lake Titicaca. I took my seat at the top deck of the boat. It was little bit windy but the views are stunning and it was a great place to take some nice photographs. We arrived at the pier of Isla Del Sol at around 2.45 pm.
There are only paved road and hiking trail around the island. Our guide gave each of us a map and asked us to follow the trail from one side of the island to other. We had to reach another pier at the other side of the island by following the route. The island is home to many indigenous people. The island is considered as the birthplace of Inca dynasty because Inca people used to live here in the year 1500 AD. There are lot of Inca ruins spread around the island. If you want to explore the Inca ruins, then you have to follow the rocky trails around the island. Yumani region is located at the south side of the island and it is most developed part of the island. There are proper hotels and restaurants situated in this area for tourists.
I saw some black Lamas around the island. The view of Lake Titicaca was stunning from the island. I could see the snowcapped mountains of the Andez on the other side of the lake. You will find lot of street vendors selling small handicraft items around the island. I took some nice picture of black lama on the background of beautiful lake. The people of the island use donkeys to carry their daily stuff from the port to their homes. I completed the hike and reached the other side of the island. You have to spend at least a day at the island in order to explore all the famous tourist locations. Our boat was waiting for us at Yumani pier. There is lot of home stays and houses in this town. Most people stay at Yumani during their visit to Isla Del Sol. We reached at the pier at about 4 pm and our boat was waiting for us. The weather started to become windier and it started raining. The return boat ride was very rough because of the bad weather.
We returned back from the tour at around 530 pm. If you don’t want to visit Isla Del Sol island, then you can hike up El Calvario hill located near the town center for beautiful views of Copacabana and surrounding area.
Part 3 – Copacabana to La Paz
We started our journey to La Paz at around 6 pm. The journey from Copacabana to La Paz takes about 4 hours. We were travelling though hilly terrain and the view of the Lake Titicaca was spectacular from the bus. After around 1.5 hours ride our bus stopped at a pier. We had to cross strait of Tiquina which is around 1 km in length. We got down from our buses and had to wait for our boat for the crossing. Out boat finally arrived and it was a very small boat for all us.
We all went inside the boat and the boat was completely overloaded. The boat was full of our bus passengers and it was moving very slowly. All of us were screaming because it felt the boat was completely overcrowded. We finally reached the other side of the pier. A 5-minute boat ride felt like an hour long and we all jumped immediately off the boat. We waited for around 30 minutes for our bus to arrive. I tried some local salted fried fish and burgers from the shop. We got into our bus for the final leg of the journey from to La Paz. The ride was very comfortable. We reached La Paz at around 9 pm. Our bus started moving very slowly because of the notorious traffic of La Paz.
I will strongly recommend to check the website of Bolivia hop for their drop off locations. They only do drop off if you are staying at a specific region of La Paz. La Paz is not a safe city to roam around at night. Our guide dropped me at my hostel at around 10 pm. Overall the trip from Cusco to La Paz was fantastic. Bolivia hop also provide different types of day tours and trips along other routes please check out their website for detailed information.
Bolivia Hop
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