Spirit of the Water: Cusco – Puno
Cusco → Puno
The Spirit of the Water is the Belmond Andean Explorer's signature overnight journey from Cusco to Puno, tracing the ancient Inca road south through the high Andes before arriving beside the legendary shores of Lake Titicaca. Departing every Thursday from Wanchaq Station, this 2-day, 1-night adventure climbs through the Sacred Valley's southern reaches, pauses at a towering Inca temple, and crests the roof of the Americas at La Raya Pass before descending to the world's highest navigable lake as the stars appear over the altiplano.
Aboard South America's only luxury sleeper train, every moment is curated: a Pisco Sour in the open-air Observation Car as llamas graze against snow-capped peaks, a guided walk among the monumental adobe walls of Raqchi, afternoon tea as the golden light falls across La Raya's mountain panorama, and a gourmet dinner by chefs trained at Belmond's own Hotel Monasterio. The morning brings perhaps the journey's finest gift — a sunrise painted in crimson and gold across the still surface of Lake Titicaca.
With a maximum of 48 guests, the Andean Explorer offers an intimacy that mass travel cannot match. This is a journey through 5,000 years of Andean civilisation, set against some of the most breathtaking landscapes on Earth — made effortless by one of the world's great luxury trains.
- ✦Guided excursion to Raqchi — the monumental Inca Temple of Wiracocha
- ✦Panoramic stop at La Raya Pass, the highest point on the route at ~4,335 m
- ✦Gourmet Peruvian cuisine and all beverages included throughout
- ✦Overnight aboard the train docked beside Lake Titicaca
- ✦Sunrise over the world's highest navigable lake from your cabin or the deck
- ✦En-suite cabins with built-in oxygen systems for altitude comfort
- ✦Intimate journey — maximum 48 guests with staff outnumbering passengers
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Day 1 — Cusco: Departure & Journey South
Check-in opens at Monasterio, A Belmond Hotel between 9:15 and 10:15, where staff welcome passengers and arrange the short transfer to Wanchaq Station in central Cusco. The train departs at 11:00 AM amid the stirring sounds of local Andean musicians on the platform. As the locomotive pulls away, guests settle into their en-suite cabins — each with shower, washbasin, and built-in oxygen system to ease the altitude — or head straight to the Observation Car to watch Cusco's terracotta rooftops give way to open highland countryside.
Lunch is served from 12:30 in the elegant dining cars, where chefs craft seasonal Peruvian menus using fresh produce sourced along the route. The train traces the southern Sacred Valley, following the Vilcanota River upstream past patchwork quinoa fields and small Andean villages draped in colour.
At 2:00 PM the train alights at Tinta Station for a guided excursion to Raqchi (3,480 m / 11,417 ft), the great Inca sanctuary dedicated to the creator god Wiracocha. Guests walk among the site's extraordinary 15-metre-high adobe-and-stone central wall — the tallest surviving Inca structure — and explore more than 200 circular qullqa storehouses arranged across the terraced hillside. This was once a strategic node on the royal Inca road, and the scale of the complex speaks to its importance as both a religious centre and a supply depot for armies and pilgrims moving between Cusco and the altiplano.
Back aboard, the landscape opens as the train climbs steadily toward the Puno Region. Afternoon tea is served as the train approaches the high pass, with views of snowfields and ichu grasslands stretching to every horizon. At 5:20 PM the Andean Explorer pauses at the La Raya mountain range (approximately 4,335 m / 14,222 ft above sea level), the highest point on the entire route and the natural boundary between the Cusco and Puno regions. Guests step onto the platform for panoramic photographs of the surrounding peaks before reboarding.
As the train descends toward the altiplano, the Piano Bar Car comes alive at 7:00 PM with cocktails and canapés — the Pisco Sour is something of a ritual. Dinner is served from 7:30 PM, a candlelit affair in the dining cars as the train rolls through the darkening Andean plain. The Andean Explorer arrives at Lake Titicaca–Puno Dock at 11:30 PM, where it moors overnight beside the lake.
Day 2 — Lake Titicaca: Sunrise & Disembarkation
Passengers are invited to rise early for one of South America's great spectacles: dawn over Lake Titicaca. As the sun edges above the Bolivian altiplano on the far shore, the surface of the lake shifts from deep violet to gold and rose. At this altitude (3,812 m / 12,507 ft), the sky is crystalline and the silence total — a profoundly still moment after the journey's excitement.
Breakfast is served from 6:00 AM aboard the train, allowing guests to savour the lakeside setting with coffee and freshly prepared Peruvian dishes. The journey concludes at 8:30 AM with check-out at Lake Titicaca–Puno Station. From Puno, many guests extend their adventure with optional excursions to the Uros Floating Islands or the island of Taquile, both accessible by local boat from the port.
Destinations & Highlights
Cusco — Gateway of the Inca Empire
Cusco (3,400 m / 11,155 ft) was the imperial capital of Tawantinsuyu, the Inca Empire, and today it is the UNESCO-listed beating heart of Andean heritage. The city's Baroque churches rise on foundations of precisely fitted Inca stone, and the cobbled streets of the historic centre lead to Qorikancha — the great Temple of the Sun — and the markets of San Pedro, where traders still sell the same highland produce that fed an empire. The Sacred Valley spreads north of the city, and Machu Picchu lies a train journey away, but Cusco itself repays lingering.
Raqchi — Temple of the Creator God
Set 110 kilometres south of Cusco along the old Inca royal road, Raqchi is one of the most dramatic and least-visited major Inca sites in Peru. The centrepiece is the Temple of Wiracocha, dedicated to the Andean creator deity, with a central adobe and stone wall standing 15 metres high — the tallest known wall in Inca architecture. Flanking it are 11 round stone columns on each side that once supported a monumental roof stretching 25 metres wide and 92 metres long, possibly the largest single roofed structure in the empire. Surrounding the temple are more than 200 circular qullqa (storehouses) that provisioned travellers, pilgrims, and armies on the road between Cusco and Lake Titicaca. Construction began under Inca Wiracocha and was completed by Túpac Yupanqui in the late 15th century. The site also features ritual baths and a sacred spring, underlining Raqchi's spiritual as well as logistical importance.
La Raya Pass — The Roof of the Andes
La Raya (approximately 4,335 m / 14,222 ft) is the high mountain pass that marks the geographical and administrative boundary between the Cusco and Puno regions of Peru. Its station, built in 1886, is the highest point on the Cusco–Puno railway line. The surrounding landscape is archetypal altiplano: vast open moorland, ichu grass shimmering in the thin mountain light, and snow-dusted peaks receding in every direction. Herds of alpaca and the occasional vicuña graze seemingly indifferent to the altitude. For travellers aboard the Andean Explorer, La Raya is a platform stop — a brief, bracing encounter with the raw Andean sky before the train descends toward the Lake Titicaca basin.
Puno & Lake Titicaca — The Sacred Lake
Puno (3,827 m / 12,556 ft) is Peru's altiplano capital, known as the folklore capital of the country for its vibrant festivals and indigenous Aymara and Quechua traditions. But it is Lake Titicaca that draws the world: at 3,812 metres above sea level and covering 8,372 square kilometres straddling Peru and Bolivia, it is the highest navigable lake on Earth. Its deep blue waters have held sacred significance for over 3,000 years — Inca mythology places the birthplace of the sun god, Inti, and the first Inca, Manco Cápac, on its island shores. Today, the Uros people live as they have for centuries on approximately 70 hand-crafted floating islands of totora reed in the Bay of Puno, an extraordinary feat of indigenous engineering. Nearby Taquile Island is famous for its master textile weavers, whose work is recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.