Lake Titicaca Amantani Island Homestay tour is an immersive two-day tour to the prime islands on the world’s highest navigable lake, Lake Titicaca. This is one of the most preferred Lake Titicaca Tours.
The Lake is one of the largest water bodies in the world that straddles the border between Peru and Bolivia. It has a history of human settlement by the Uros people that dates back to pre-Columbian times.
Lake Titicaca is sacred to people in South America. They regard the lake as the birthplace of the Incas. Legends believe that the Inca God, Viracocha embarked on his journey to Cusco (the former capital of the Inca Empire) from Lake Titicaca where he established the Inca Empire.
We have designed this tour of Lake Titicaca to give you a cultural experience, especially during your homestay on Amantani island. You will be witnessing the traditional way of life of people here.
Each island on this lake has different traditions and customs which you will discover on this guided tour. People here are untouched by modernity and have maintained their age-old traditions and customs.
For instance, the communities on Uros Floating Islands speak Aymara, an indigenous language widely spoken in Bolivia. While those living on the island of Taquile and Amantani speak Quechua.
This two-day Lake Titicaca Amantani Island homestay tour begins with a visit to the iconic floating islands of Uros. These islands are just seven kilometers away from the city of Puno. Here you will get to see how the locals live a sustainable life using the limited resources found here.
We will then embark on a three hours boat ride with a pristine view of the Andes Mountains to Amantani Island. Here you will be staying with the local family.
On the second day of this Lake Titicaca Tour, we will be visiting Taquile Island. People living here are popular with handicrafts. You will be getting an insight into their traditions here.
We have dedicated English-speaking local tour guides for Lake Titicaca Amantani Island Homestay Tour. As locals, they have detailed knowledge about the traditions and culture here.
The highest point of this Amantani Island Homestay tour is at 4050 meters above sea level (13,287 ft.). We highly recommend that you are well acclimatized to avoid altitude sickness.
Please note, we request you to leave your heavy bags and suitcases at your hotel and just carry a small backpack.
Do take a moment to check out our reviews on Tripadvisor.
Read more about Taquile Island’s Textile and its art.
Puno Hotel Transfer
0800 AM
We will be picking you up from your hotel in Puno between 0800 and 0815. Please note we offer complimentary hotel transfers only to our guests who are staying in hotels within the historic center of Puno.
We will then drive you to the boat pier. We will have a short stop so you can purchase some snacks and water if desired. A local musician will welcome you aboard the boat with Andean Folkloric music.
The guide will then introduce himself and give you an overview of the day’s itinerary at Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world.
The iconic Uros floating islands will be our first stop. On the way from the mainland to the Uros Islands, you will see the totora plants, which are found exclusively on the lake. They are the primary source of food, and also serve as a maintenance system for the Uros to maintain the existence of the islands.
As we will be anchoring on the shores of the lake, local women dressed in traditional attire would welcome you to their homes. The island’s head would then give you a demonstration and explain how they built these islands using the limited resources found here.
They would then teach you a few words in their language, Aymara.
Once you have had your fill of these man-made islands, you will have the option of embarking on the traditional reed boat. Please note that this costs extra and is not included in the price paid for the tour.
If you choose to embark on the reed boat, locals would take you to the main island. If not, you can simply take our motorized boat to the main island.
You will have some free time to explore the main island which houses a restaurant.
After enjoying the floating islands of Uros, we will be embarking on our motor boat to visit Amantani island. You can also walk up to the deck on the upper level and take photos of the floating islands you pass by.
Locals will be extending a warm welcome to you as the boat would anchor onto the shores of Amantani Island. You will be escorted by the head of the family to their home, where you will spend the night in a private bedroom.
For lunch, they will be serving you an authentic Peruvian dish. After lunch, you will have time to relax or stroll through the cobblestone streets of this beautiful island. Our guide will meet you at the end of the day to take you uphill to the ancient Incan temples Pachamama and Pachatata.
These temples provide a spectacular view of Lake Titicaca. You can also see the sunset from these temples.
After this brief tour, your host family will serve dinner. After a delicious Peruvian dinner, which includes vegetarian options, you can join the folkloric music event dressed in local attire.
The host will help you dress in traditional clothing and take you to the hall where the event is held. The island’s young boys perform live Andean Folkloric Music, while visitors dance to the music.
After relishing a traditional breakfast, we will bid goodbye to the host family and meet at the boat pier at the mentioned time. We will board the ferry to Taquile Island.
We will be disembarking at the boat pier that sits at 12,959 ft (3,950 m). From here, we will start our gradual hike up the hill with staggering views of Andean Peaks. The main plaza of Taquile Island is located at 13,287 ft (4,050 m).
Taquile Island is a small mound on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. Locals here have established a steady trade in knit handicrafts. These are made by the men of their community.
Taquile is home to a Quechua community of 2,000 people. They are mostly farmers, fishermen, and most importantly, weavers. The island’s fine textiles are globally well-known. In fact, they are protected by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Contrary to the tragically outdated view that knitting and textile work is the work of women, the men of Taquile Island do most of the delicate thread work. The craftwork is divided into knitting and weaving. Women do the weaving while men do the knitting.
The tradition begins as young boys learn this when they turn 8. The most popular of these crafts is the chuyo hat, which many locals wear. You can also find women making yarn or other tasks related to the creation of these items.
Its 2,000 residents are aware of the appeal of the beautiful island and the traditional Spanish clothing. The villagers have created a unique model for their tourism industry, where they act as a community to manage both the tourists’ comings and goings as well as the attractions that they offer.
After basking in nature’s beauty and Andean culture on this full-day trip, we will be serving a traditional meal at a local restaurant overlooking the lake.
After lunch, we will be boarding the boat for your journey back to Puno. We will be arriving by 04:30 in the evening.
Our representative will be waiting for you at the port and drive you to your hotel in Puno.
This two-day Amantani Island homestay tour was a highlight of our Peru Travel. We visited Amantani, Uros, and Taquile islands after our trip to Machu Picchu. The guide’s knowledge of the traditions and customs of locals here was impressive. Everything was just perfect. The full-day tour of Taquile Island on the second day was totally worth it.
This was our honey moon trip and we were eagerly looking forward to this tour. We wrote many emails to Planet Odysseys from back home to ensure that everything was arranged well. All emails were promptly answered. The officials were very nice and friendly. There was a lady who picked us up from the bus terminal as we reached Puno from Bolivia and she was very accommodating.
The tour itself was organised well with no flaws at all. Highly recommend this company.
A value for money trip. I was very excited to spend anight with a local family ans getting to know their lifestyle. This trip was a perfect combination of cultural and nature experience.
The guide made a lot of difference, his knowledge and enthusiasm took this trip to a whole new level.
I am very happy with everything that was offered in this tour and it was worth the money paid
This was very cultural, family friendly, easy trip. We got to know a lot about the culture and traditions of the people living on Amantani and Taquile island. It was very impressive to see how well they have preserved their culture till date and how friendly and welcoming the people are.
The staff of the tour company did a tremendous work. We requested for an airport drop off after the tour and a representative of Planet Odysseys was waiting for us at the boat pier with our suitcases as we docked in.
Everything was well planned and well organised. Thank you for an authentic experience.
Yes, these were the two fntastic days i spent oin Peru. Lake Titicaca is out worldly and the crew of Planet Odysseys are fantastic. They went above and beyond in making this trip a memorable one.
