The Uros are one of the oldest peoples of Lake Titicaca. They live on floating islands of totora reed in the Bay of Puno, a short boat ride from the city, and their ancestors were on this water long before the Inca.
That is usually where the story stops. The reality underneath it is more interesting than the postcard version.
We take visitors out into the bay from Puno most days of the year. This page is what we have learned from doing that.
Who are the Uros people?
The Uros, also called the Uru, are an Indigenous people of the Titicaca basin. Their ancestors fished and hunted birds in the reed beds of the lake and along the Desaguadero River long before Cusco was built.
The islands began as a defence rather than a curiosity. Living offshore meant that more powerful neighbours, first the Aymara kingdoms around the lake and later the Inca, could not simply walk up to the door. If a threat came, the anchors could be cut and the island moved. Under the Inca the Uru still paid tribute, and many were forced into labour.
In 1986 a major storm wrecked many of the islands, and families rebuilt them closer to the shore, nearer Puno. That is where most of them are today.
How many Uros are there? Counts vary, because islands are built, split between families and abandoned. A 2011 estimate put about 1,200 people on some 60 islands, and the Uros Chulluni community spoke of around 100 islands in 2018.
What language do the Uros speak?
Almost everyone in the bay speaks Aymara day to day, and Spanish with visitors. The Uros of Puno gave up their own Uru language centuries ago, through trade and marriage with their Aymara neighbours on the shore.
The Uru language family survives in Bolivia. Its last living member, Chipaya, is still spoken by about 1,800 people in the village of Chipaya, in Oruro. The Uru-Chipaya, the Uru-Murato of Lake Poopó and the Uru of Irohito on the Desaguadero River are the other Uru groups today.
That loss is the clearest measure of the pressure this culture has been under. It is also why people are careful about what remains.
The islands in brief
Everything starts with totora, the reed that grows in the shallows all round the bay. The base of an island is blocks of matted totora root cut from the lakebed and lashed together. Layers of cut reed go over the top, each laid across the last, and eucalyptus poles hold the island in place.
The underside rots continuously in the cold water, so new reed goes on top every week or two. An island is never finished. Houses are reed too, with thick roofs against the cold nights, and the pale base of a fresh stem is peeled and eaten.
We take the construction apart properly, including whether the islands count as real, in how the Uros islands are built. The reed boats have their own post: the totora boats.
What daily life looks like
Fishing still feeds the islands and the boats go out early. Birds and eggs from the reed beds matter too.
Weaving is largely the women’s work. Textiles and reed models are a serious share of household income, not a sideline for visitors.
Children go to school, some on the water and some on the mainland by boat. There is a school building out in the bay.
Solar panels sit on most roofs now. Power is limited and spent carefully, mostly on light and charging phones.
What tourism actually does here
Tourism is now the main income for most families in the bay. That is the single most important fact about the islands today.
It cuts both ways. The money is real and it has lifted living standards. It has also rebuilt the day around a boat timetable.
Some islands receive visitors constantly. Others see almost none. Which island your boat ties up at decides who gets paid.
Some operators make that choice themselves and tie up at the same island every trip. It is worth asking before you hand over any money.
Ask anyone, ourselves included, which islands they use and how often that changes. The answer tells you where your fare lands.
We do not choose which island you visit. The community does, and it decides by its own rota.
A different community takes the day’s visitors each day. The families are assigned that morning rather than booked ahead.
You will hear which one as the boat enters the Uros zone, because that is when we are told ourselves.
That is the whole point of the arrangement. Visits move around the islands instead of settling on the same few families.
Our boat carries up to 25 people, and a typical group is about that.
More on how this works across the lake is in our guide to community based tourism on Lake Titicaca.
Problems faced by the Uros people
The lake itself is the biggest problem. Water levels swing further than they once did, and the reed beds answer for it.
A poor year for totora is a poor year for everything. Totora is the floor, the house and the boat.
Pollution arrives from the shore. The bay closest to Puno takes the runoff of a growing city.
Then there is the dependence itself. An income built on visitors is an income that can stop without warning.
Families have already lived through that. Many now split earnings between fishing, crafts and hosting rather than leaning on one.
Visiting the islands from Puno
Boats leave from the harbour in Puno. The Uros bay is close inshore, so the crossing is short.
Uros is the first stop on most of our Lake Titicaca tours. The page lists all eight with prices. It shows what a longer day or a night on the lake adds.
How long you give it changes the trip completely. These are the four shapes it usually takes.
- Uros floating islands, half day. The bay and the islands, back in Puno by early afternoon.
- Uros and Taquile, full day. Adds the crossing to Taquile and lunch on the island.
- Uros, Amantani and Taquile, two days. Includes the homestay night on Amantani.
- Uros and Sillustani, full day. Adds the chullpa towers at Sillustani, which stand above a second lake.
Taquile is a farming island with a textile tradition of its own, and it is nothing like the reed bay. Our post on a day on Taquile explains why.
The two day version is the one people remember, because of the night on Amantani. Our Amantani homestay guide sets out what that evening is actually like.
What to ask before you book
- How many islands the boat stops at, and how long it stays at each one.
- Whether you meet a family or watch a demonstration. Those are not the same thing.
- How big the group is. Twelve people on a reed island feels nothing like forty.
- Whether the community fee is included, and which community receives it.
Message us for our answers to all four. Someone in the Puno office replies, not a contact form.
Before you go, our note on Aymara etiquette is worth five minutes. Small courtesies change how the visit goes.
More on the lake
- How the Uros islands are built, and whether they count as real.
- Choosing a Uros tour from Puno, if you are comparing options.
- The Aymara people, the Uros’ neighbours on the shore, whose language they now speak.
- The Puno and Lake Titicaca guide, for the town and the wider area.
- Getting to Lake Titicaca from Cusco, step by step.
- What the name Titicaca actually means, and why nobody quite agrees.
- How to pick a reliable guide on the lake, in more detail than the list above.
The lake is treated as sacred, not scenic, by the people who live on it. Our piece on the spiritual significance of Lake Titicaca goes into what that means in practice.
The reeds are only one part of the lake’s ecology. Our guide to the flora and fauna of Lake Titicaca covers the birds, the frogs and the totora itself.
Frequently asked questions
Do the Uros people still live on the floating islands?
Yes. Families live on the reed islands in the Bay of Puno, where they fish, weave and host visitors. Children go to school on the water or on the mainland by boat.
Are the Uros floating islands real?
Yes. They are built and lived on, and they need new reed every week or two to stay afloat. Much of island life is now organised around visitors, which is a different question from whether the islands are real. We go into both in how the Uros islands are built.
What language do the Uros speak?
Aymara at home and Spanish with visitors. Their own Uru language was lost centuries ago; its last living relative, Chipaya, is spoken in Bolivia.
Are the Uros and the Aymara the same people?
No. The Uros are a separate and older people of the lake. Over centuries of trade and marriage they took on the language of their Aymara neighbours.
How many Uros islands are there?
Somewhere between about 60 and 100, depending on who is counting and when. The number changes as families build new islands and abandon old ones.
How do I visit the Uros islands?
Boats leave from the port in Puno and the crossing is short. A half-day visit is enough to see the islands; a full day adds Taquile, and two days add a homestay night on Amantani. All our options are on the Lake Titicaca tours page.
Sources
- Uru people, Wikipedia: origins, the Inca period, the language shift, the 1986 storm and the 2011 population estimate
- Chipaya language, Wikipedia: speakers and the Uru–Chipaya family
- BBC Mundo, via Andina (May 2018): the Uros Chulluni islands
Written by Sreeram Hariharan, founder of Planet Odysseys, a tour operator based in Cusco and Puno. Updated October 2026.