Spirit of the Andes: Puno – Cusco
Puno → Cusco
The Spirit of the Andes is an intimate, one-night overnight journey aboard the Belmond Andean Explorer — South America's first luxury sleeper train — connecting the mystical shores of Lake Titicaca at Puno with the ancient Inca capital of Cusco. Departing on Monday afternoons, the train climbs through the vast Altiplano at elevations above 3,800 metres, cresting the Continental Divide at the legendary La Raya Pass (4,335 m) before descending through highland valleys toward Cusco, arriving at dawn.
Along the way, guests are treated to refined Andean cuisine prepared by chefs trained at Belmond's celebrated Monasterio hotel in Cusco, cocktails in the observation car as the sun sinks behind snow-capped peaks, and a guided excursion to Raqchi — the tallest standing Inca monument in existence. Whether you gaze at llama and vicuña herds grazing the ichu grasslands from the open-air observation deck, or retreat to your elegantly appointed private cabin for the night, this journey offers an extraordinarily immersive passage through one of the world's most spectacular highland landscapes.
Accommodating a maximum of 48 guests across 24 cabins, the Andean Explorer is deliberately intimate, ensuring attentive, personalised service throughout the journey. All meals, onboard beverages, and included excursions are part of the experience — so from the moment you board at Puno's station until you alight at Cusco's Wanchaq Station at first light, every detail is taken care of.
- ✦La Raya Pass at 4,335 m — the highest point on the Cusco–Puno railway
- ✦Guided excursion to Raqchi's Temple of Wiracocha — the tallest Inca structure ever discovered
- ✦Refined Andean cuisine from Belmond Monasterio-trained chefs, all meals included
- ✦Cocktails and sunset in the Piano Bar and open observation car
- ✦Overnight in a private en-suite cabin crossing the Peruvian Altiplano
- ✦Panoramic views of snow-capped peaks, llamas, alpacas and vicuñas
- ✦Arrive at Cusco's Wanchaq Station refreshed and ready to explore the Inca capital
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Day 1 — Puno (Departure) & the Altiplano
Boarding takes place in the afternoon at Puno Station, gateway to Lake Titicaca at 3,827 metres above sea level. Guests are welcomed aboard and settled into their private cabins — twin, double, or bunk configurations, each with en-suite shower, built-in oxygen availability for altitude comfort, and generous windows framing the Andean world outside.
Shortly after departure, lunch is served in one of the two elegant dining cars, featuring modern Peruvian cuisine built around highland staples — quinoa, native potatoes, alpaca, and lake trout — paired with Andean wines and pisco-based cocktails. As the train leaves the Titicaca basin behind and climbs into the open Altiplano, the landscape unfolds in sweeping panoramas of golden ichu grass, distant glaciated peaks, and herds of llamas and alpacas grazing undisturbed.
In the late afternoon the train pauses at La Raya Pass (4,335 m), the highest point on the Cusco–Puno railway line and the watershed of the Peruvian Andes — rivers to the north drain to the Amazon, those to the south to Lake Titicaca. Guests step outside onto the platform for photographs against a backdrop of snow-covered ridges and vast, windswept puna moorland. The air is thin and bracing, the silence remarkable.
As the train descends from La Raya into the warmer Vilcanota valley, the Piano Bar Car comes alive with canapés and expertly crafted cocktails. Fellow travellers share the day's impressions over pisco sours while the Andean dusk turns the mountains shades of rose and gold. A multi-course dinner of refined Andean cuisine follows, with attentive bilingual staff on hand throughout. The train overnights at Cusipata Station, arriving around 20:00–21:00, where guests retire to their cabins for the night.
Day 2 — Cusipata to Cusco (via Raqchi)
The train departs Cusipata early in the morning, around 05:30, gliding through mist-draped highland valleys as the Vilcanota River winds alongside. Breakfast is served from approximately 06:00 as daylight fills the dining car with soft Andean light.
The journey's final highlight is a guided excursion to Raqchi (Raqch'i), an extraordinary Inca archaeological complex 110 km south-east of Cusco at 3,480 metres elevation. Here stands the Temple of Wiracocha, the tallest Inca structure ever discovered — its central adobe wall rises some 14 metres and once supported what is believed to have been the largest single gable roof in the entire Inca Empire. Constructed in stages from the reign of Inca Wiracocha through to Túpac Yupanqui (c. 1471–1493), the complex includes 220 circular qullqa storehouses, ceremonial pools, and barracks, all set against a backdrop of the Vilcanota valley. A bilingual guide explains the mythology of Wiracocha — the creator deity who, legend holds, called fire from the sky on this very spot.
After the excursion, brunch is served onboard as the train makes its final approach to Cusco. The Andean Explorer arrives at Cusco Wanchaq Station at approximately 07:30, delivering guests refreshed and inspired into the heart of the ancient Inca capital.
Destinations & Highlights
Puno & Lake Titicaca
Puno, perched at 3,827 metres on the western shore of Lake Titicaca, is the folkloric capital of Peru — a city of exuberant festivals, ancient reed-boat traditions, and extraordinary highland culture. Lake Titicaca itself is the world's highest commercially navigable lake (3,812 m) and, in Andean cosmology, the birthplace of the Inca civilisation — the spot where Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo emerged from the waters to found the empire. The lake's roughly 120 Uros Floating Islands, constructed entirely from totora reeds, have been inhabited for centuries, and the weavers of Taquile Island produce textiles so refined they are recognised by UNESCO. For the train journey, Puno is the point of departure — but a pre-trip day on the lake adds immeasurably to the experience.
La Raya Pass (Abra La Raya)
At 4,335 metres above sea level, the La Raya Pass is the Continental Divide of southern Peru and the highest point on the historic Cusco–Puno railway, which was completed in 1886. Here the Andes stretch in every direction — golden ichu grasslands, frozen volcanic summits, and the absolute silence of the puna. Herds of wild vicuña, the smallest of the South American camelids and ancestor of the alpaca, roam freely at this altitude. For passengers on the Andean Explorer, the platform stop at La Raya is one of the journey's defining moments: standing at over 4,300 metres with the thin Andean air and panoramic Andean skyline is an experience that stays long after the journey ends.
Raqchi — Temple of Wiracocha
Located in the San Pedro district of Canchis Province, Raqchi is arguably the most architecturally impressive Inca site outside of Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley. The Temple of Wiracocha — dedicated to the supreme Inca creator deity — features a central wall approximately 18–20 metres tall, originally flanked on each side by 11 massive stone columns that held up the world's largest Inca roof. The complex served simultaneously as a sacred shrine, an administrative hub, and a military garrison controlling the royal Inca road (Qhapaq Ñan) south from Cusco. Its 220 circular qullqa storehouses once held vast quantities of freeze-dried food and textiles for the Inca state. The nearby ceremonial spring and ritual bath pools hint at the site's deeper religious functions. Visiting Raqchi as the morning light falls across its ancient stones — just hours before arriving in Cusco — gives travellers a vivid sense of the Inca world they are entering.
Cusco — The Ancient Inca Capital
Cusco (also spelled Cuzco) sits at 3,399 metres in a broad Andean valley and served as the capital — the navel of the world (Qosqo in Quechua) — of the Inca Empire from around 1200 CE until the Spanish conquest in 1533. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage City where Inca stone foundations underpin Spanish colonial churches and grand baroque facades line the Plaza de Armas. The Qorikancha (Temple of the Sun), once plated in gold sheet and housing the mummies of Inca royalty, now forms the foundation of the Convent of Santo Domingo. The fortress of Sacsayhuamán, whose cyclopean walls of precisely fitted limestone blocks — some weighing over 100 tonnes — overlook the city from the north, remains one of the greatest feats of human construction anywhere on earth. Cusco is also the gateway to the Sacred Valley and to Machu Picchu, the Inca citadel declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.