Puno to Arequipa via Colca Canyon: 2 Days, One Night in Chivay
$114 Full Day
Overview
2:00 PM
Departure, for the light
15 min
Uphill from the car park
34 km
From Puno, 40 min
3,895 m
On the ridge
Sillustani is a peninsula of grass and rock that pushes into Lake Umayo, half an hour from Puno by road. On its ridge stand the chullpas. Round stone towers, some rough and some fitted as finely as anything in Cusco, each one a tomb for the noble dead of the Colla, the Aymara speaking people who held this side of the lake before the Inca arrived.
The towers are the strange part. Most stand wider at the top than at the base, an inverted cone, so that the rain runs off and the wall is harder to climb. Inside, the dead were placed in the foetal position with food, tools and sometimes their attendants, and the only opening faces east toward the sunrise. The Inca took the site over in the fifteenth century and kept building, which is why the finest masonry here is Inca and the oldest is not.
Two towers get the most attention. The Lagarto chullpa carries a carved lizard on its wall and is the best preserved. The unfinished one beside it still has the earth ramp the builders used to raise each course, which answers a question people have asked about Inca stonework for four hundred years.
Below all of it is the lake. Umayo is smaller and quieter than Titicaca, with a flat topped island in the middle where vicuña graze, and in the late afternoon the water goes the colour of the towers.
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Why we leave at two
We run this in the afternoon, and the reason is light.
At two the sun is still high enough to see by and low enough by four to rake across the stone. The morning tours leave the towers flat and the lake grey. Ours leaves at two so that you walk the ridge in the best hour of the day and see the lake at its colour.
Wondering whether Sillustani earns half a day? We answer that in our guide to the chullpas.
Tour Highlights
- ✓ Round, wider at the top, built as tombs. There is nothing like them in Cusco or the Sacred Valley.
- ✓ Rough Colla stonework beside fitted Inca courses, on the same ridge, sometimes on the same tower. You can read the takeover in the joints.
- ✓ One chullpa still carries the earth ramp used to build it. It is the clearest answer on the altiplano to the question of how these people lifted stone.
- ✓ We leave at two so that you are on the ridge when the sun drops and the lake turns copper. Morning visitors see the same stones and a flatter picture.
- ✓ The site ticket is included. The afternoon costs what the page says it costs.
- ✓ Back by six. Do the Uros islands in the morning and you have seen both of Puno's reasons to stop in one day.
What to Expect
Short, high, quiet, and better than the name suggests.
Expect a pickup at two and a drive of about forty minutes north west through open altiplano. Expect a stop at a family house in Atuncolla on the way, where guinea pigs run about the kitchen floor and a grandmother may show you how the roof is thatched. It is brief and it is not a shop.
Expect the towers to appear on the ridge before you reach the car park. Expect a walk uphill of fifteen to twenty minutes, on a path with steps, at nearly 3,900 metres. It is not hard but nobody should hurry it.
Expect an hour on the ridge. Your guide walks you from the rough early towers to the fitted Inca ones, explains what the shape was for and who was inside, and leaves you time at the end to stand and look at the lake.
Expect to be back in Puno around six, as the light goes.
Best Time to visit Sillustani
Green is the season we recommend Red is the wet season, when afternoon storms are common
May to September
Best
What to expect
Dry, clear, bright afternoons, cold by six
Our view
The season. The light on the towers and the lake is at its best.
April and October
What to expect
Shoulder. Some afternoon cloud
Our view
Usually fine. Cloud can flatten the lake but the towers are unaffected.
November to March
What to expect
Afternoon rain and storms are common
Our view
Runs all year. Bring a waterproof. A storm over Umayo is dramatic and a wet path is slow.
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What the dry season adds
Grey afternoons still give you the towers.
The site does not depend on light the way the islands or the mountains do. What the dry season adds is the lake going copper at four, which is the reason we leave when we do.
Choosing between them
Sillustani or the Islands
With a single afternoon in Puno, this is the choice most people face. The two are not alike. Green marks the better option on that row.
Sillustani
Uros half day
Uros and Taquile full day
What it is
Pre Inca and Inca burial towers
Reed islands with families on them
Reed islands, then a weaving island
Time
About 4 hours
About 4 hours
About 10 hours
When
2:00 PM
9:00, 12:00 or 3:00 PM
7:00 AM
Walking
15 to 20 min uphill
Almost none
40 min climb
Altitude
3,895 m
3,810 m
3,950 m
Water
Lake Umayo, from above
On Lake Titicaca
On Lake Titicaca
Best for
Stone, history and the light
A first afternoon at altitude
A whole day on the lake
In short. Choose Sillustani if you want stone and silence rather than reed and a demonstration. Choose the Uros half day if you want the water. With a full day, do the Uros boat at nine and Sillustani at two.
Tour Itinerary
1
Pickup in Puno
We collect you from hotels in the historic centre. The road leaves the lake and climbs onto open altiplano, past small farms and stone walled fields.
Altitude 3,827 m
2
A house in Atuncolla
3
The car park and the climb
4
On the ridge
5
Back to Puno
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Good to know
On the altitude.
Sillustani is only seventy metres above Puno, but the climb to the ridge is the first uphill walking most visitors do at this height. It is short. Go slowly, drink water and let the guide set the pace.
✓
Inclusions
- ✓ Hotel pickup and drop-off
- ✓ Pofessional English-speaking guide
- ✓ Entry ticket to Sillustani Archaeological Site
- ✓ Comfortable transportation
- ✓ Guided tour of the Sillustani ruins.
X
Not Included
- X Meals and beverages
- X Personal expenses
- X Tips or gratuities for guide and driver
- X Travel insurance
- X Any other services not mentioned in the inclusions
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About the exclusions
The ticket is in the price.
There is nothing to pay at the gate. Bring a few soles only if you want to buy something at the family house or tip the guide.
Departure Information
Available: Daily departures
Group Size: Up to 9 people
Start Time: 14:00 PM
Pickup: The Historic Center Puno
Frequently Asked Questions
Who built the Sillustani towers?
The Colla, an Aymara speaking people who held the northern side of Lake Titicaca before the Inca. The Inca conquered them in the fifteenth century and continued building on the same ridge, which is why the finest fitted stonework at the site is Inca.
Why are the towers wider at the top?
How high is Sillustani?
Is it worth going in the afternoon rather than the morning?
What is the Lagarto chullpa?
Can I combine Sillustani with the Uros islands?
Is the Sillustani tour difficult?
What is the altitude at Sillustani?
Is Sillustani worth visiting if I already visit Lake Titicaca?
Gallery
