Should we visit Bolivia or spend more time in Peru?

[unusuallaptop]

Hi all,

Doing some last minute revision to our trip to South America that's in September.

We are doing the coastal route from Lima down to Arequipa. We must be in Cusco by a certain date as we've booked the Inca Trail.

We either have time to do go and do a visit for 2 nights to the Colca Canyon from Arequipa, then go and do a home stay with some indigenous people on Lake Titicaca and have the odd day spare elsewhere.

Or, we could do things quickly and skip the Colca Canyon and do a day visit to Lake Titicaca en route to spending 3/4 nights in La Paz. Even could push it further and fit in a 2 night Salt Flats visit from the La Paz time. Again, a lot of travelling.

Any advice?

Hi OP,

We did Peru 2 years ago!

Personally, we found Colca Canyon a wee bit boring apart from the condors of course.

It really depends how long you have allowed elsewhere. We had 4 nights in Cusco and that was ideal. We had 2 nights at Lake Titicaca and 2 nights in Arequipa with just 1 night in Colca Canyon en route.
(Arequipa was lovely but very little English spoken outside of hotels.)

Be careful planning La Paz in case you experience altitude sickness as it is higher than Cusco although slightly lower than L. Titicaca. My DH really struggled in Cusco which was totally unexpected. Also the distances travelled in Peru were huge.

One of our favourite places was the little village of Aguas Calientes - the small town of Machu Picchu. We stayed 1 night here and loved it. Such an exciting vibe - fabulous in the evening. We also had 4 nights in total in Lima split between arrival and departure. Could easily have spent longer!

Hope this helps in some way unusuallaptop but unless you are going for 3 weeks or more, I would stick with Peru. (We we're away for 17 days in total and needed another holiday shortly afterwards 😂)

Do have a fantastic trip and let me know if you need further info.

Thank you so much for the reply!

I loved titicaca. We visited both the floating reed islands and an island of weavers and knitters (can’t remember the name right now). Both were amazing.

Taquile it was.

I love Bolivia, it’s just such a special place. Titicaca is beautiful and salt flats are mind blowing. You should definitely go!