Cusco to Puno – How to travel to Puno from Cuzco

admin — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:05:08 +0000

Puno is an interesting Peruvian city in the south east of Peru on the shores of Lake Titicaca. It’s a popular destination among travelers in Peru who want to visit the Lake Titicaca region and it’s also a common route to travelers who want to cross the border from Peru into Bolivia.

If you want to travel from Cusco to Puno there are several modes of transport you can take:

Fly to Puno from Cusco

It’s possible to fly directly from Cusco to Puno with LAN Airline. The flight takes about 50 minutes and should cost around $150-$200. It’s usually much cheaper to book your flight inside Peru than outside. Also note that the airport you need to fly to is actually Juliaca which is a short distance by car from Puno.

Train to Puno

The Peruvian rail network is currently not very extensive, however it is possible to take a direct train from Cusco to Puno. The rail network is currently controlled by Peru Rail and unfortunately for tourists this is surprisingly a very expensive way to travel. A roundtrip by rail between Cusco and Puno currently costs about $220 which is outrageous in my opinion. Rail travel is far cheaper in expensive western countries! Visit the scam merchants at http://www.perurail.com for more info.

Bus to Puno

The cheapest way to travel to Puno from Cusco is by bus. There’s usually several buses per day and take approximately 6 hours to travel between Cusco and Puno. It should cost about ??

Organised trips including visits to ruins.

There are a few interesting ruins between Cusco and Puno, such as the Racchi ruins which are worth a visit if you’re interested in the Inca history. If you take the train or the bus then it won’t be possible to visit these ruins. There are several fairly inexpensive tours you can take from Cusco to Puno that will allow you to visit these places of interest along the way. Shop around at the different tour agenices in Cusco to see what they can offer you.

Flights to Cusco, Peru

admin — Sun, 10 May 2009 22:05:11 +0000

If you’re travelling to Cusco from outside of Peru then you will almost certainly have to fly to Cusco from Lima, the capital of Peru. Virtually all international flights arrive at Lima on the west coast of Peru. Cusco is currently not an international airport so you have to get on a domestic flight from Lima.

I’ve found that quite often international flights (or at least the ones I’ve been on) have arrived at Lima quite late in the evening, so it might be necessary for you to spend a night in Lima before you fly to Cusco.

Another thing to be aware of is that flights between Lima and Cuzco are often cancelled due to strong winds.

There are several airlines that fly from Lima to Cuzco. Here is an overview:

LAN – LAN is probably the most popular and reliable airline flying to Cusco and has by far the most flights with currently around 15 flights per day in the busier periods. However LAN is not the cheapest with a return flight costing over $400 with taxes and everything. Visit www.lan.com

TACA – TACA is a popular South American airline has one flight per day between Lima and Cusco, with the flight from Lima leaving at 5.40am. However many of their prices do seem to be cheaper than LAN. Visit www.taca.com

Star Peru – Star Peru have 3 flights a day between Lima and Cusco and from my research they appear to be the cheapest option. It’s possible to get a return flight for less than $150 including taxes. www.starperu.com