Destinations › Bolivia › Copacabana
Copacabana
- Bolivia: A Local's Guide to a Country You Have to See to Believe · Juan Flores, our Bolivian friend, on the salt flats, La Paz, Sucre, Lake Titicaca and Santa Cruz — with the hotels and tours we'd book.
Where should I stay?
Where we'd stay in Copacabana
From our Bolivia guide, with advice from our Bolivian friend Juan Flores.
- La Cúpula (Charming, wonderful views):
- Las Olas (Interesting, lake views):
- Hotel Rosario Lago Titicaca (More conventional hotel):
Where should I eat?
- Restaurante La Cúpula · Cerro Calvario slope · International / vegetarian: Hotel restaurant on the hillside with lake views and a menu with good vegetarian options and local trout.
- Mercado Municipal de Copacabana · Centro · Bolivian market food: Local market where you can have a cheap breakfast of api (hot purple corn drink) with buñuelos or pasteles, plus set lunches.
What should I do?
- Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Copacabana · Centro: Moorish-style 17th-century basilica housing the revered Virgen de Copacabana, Bolivia's patron saint.
- Cerro Calvario · Copacabana (north edge): Steep climb past Stations of the Cross to a summit with wide views over the bay and Lake Titicaca, popular at sunset.
- Isla del Sol · Lago Titicaca: Sacred Inca island reached by boat from Copacabana, with terraced hillsides, Inca ruins and walking trails around Yumani in the south.
- Isla de la Luna · Lago Titicaca: Small, quiet island with the ruins of Iñak Uyu, an Inca temple linked to the Virgins of the Sun, often combined with Isla del Sol.
- Horca del Inca · Cerro Kesanani (south-east of town): Pre-Inca stone structure on a rocky hill believed to have been an astronomical observatory, with good views of town.
- Bendición de movilidades · In front of the Basílica: Daily ritual, busiest on weekends, where priests and yatiris bless flower-decked cars and buses with holy water and beer.
- Walk from Copacabana to Yampupata · Yampupata Peninsula: Roughly 17 km lakeside hike through Aymara villages to Yampupata, from where small boats cross to Isla del Sol.