Travel by train in Peru. A luxury journey from Cuzco to Puno

Last Updated on 7 July, 2021 by Veronica

I seem to be in a movie, traveling on a luxury train with my laptop, sitting by the window, enjoying the scenery, and taking advantage of writing a few lines.

On the one hand, I want to write, and on the other, to look out the window and contemplate the majestic mountains that accompany me along the way. All upholstered in green and crowned with white clouds at its tops.

A Luxury Journey from Cusco to Puno by train

I love traveling by train; it seems to be one of the most romantic ways to travel, and much better if you do it on a train like this.

I travel on a PeruRail train from Cuzco to Puno. It’s about 10.30 hours of travel, it seems like a lot, but it really isn’t.

Here what matters is the journey; enjoy the experience of traveling by train through southern Peru, seeing stunning landscapes, typical villages.

You also see the reality of some others, many llamas (or perhaps alpacas?) make you get up from the seat to go and take a photo in the wagon with panoramic views.

Before starting the journey to Puno by train

When you arrive at the front desk to check-in, you are greeted very kindly with a smile. They then make you go into a waiting room where you’re invited for something hot like a coke matte or a latte.

When you are ready to board, they accompany you to your seat; they tell you more or less what the trip will be like, what is included in the ticket, they tell you the menu of the day, they put the suitcase or backpack in place and part at the indicated time.

At this point you can see that they are part of a British company, they are very punctual!

This time, there is only one passenger car, a bar car, and a viewing car. In addition, there is the kitchen car, the employee car, and the locomotive.

Luxury train trip to Puno

I can tell you about the passenger car, it is beautiful, comfortable, elegant, and serves you like kings. Most of them travel as a couple or family, except for a Japanese who travel alone and me.

I haven’t tried the other ways to go to Puno, but this one’s fantastic. Along the way, you can see spectacular landscapes.

You are always accompanied by the mountains, which are so green and covered with vegetation that you want to contemplate them continuously in this rainy season.

You see many animals, like llamas and different varieties of birds, we have seen up flamingos! and they all ran out to the lookout car to take pictures!

Travel to Puno by train from Cuzco

Making the journey to Puno by train is to get to Puno and enjoy the trip. Therefore, what matters is the way, not the destination.

Along the way, in addition to spectacular landscapes, we also cross towns and markets. So, this way you can see another part of Peru, which would be very difficult to see if not.

On a couple of occasions, the train passed between the village market, and it looked like the awnings would touch the train!

To make the trip more enjoyable, we had a show of traditional music and dances, in the morning and the afternoon after lunch. And also a kind of pass of models, where they presented different garments made of baby alpaca, very soft wool, made with the first shear of the alpaca, made more or less when he is about eight months old.

And no one suffered from altitude sickness during the journey.

Traditional music and entertainment on the train to Puno

The music was excellent; some songs were better known as The Guantanamera, or for me, the “carnavalito” that I hadn’t listened to for centuries and brought back memories of when I went to school.

In addition, we were invited to a very tasty “chilcano,” a drink made with pisco, ginger ale, and lime, very typical of Peru.

During the tour, we pass the hot springs of San Pedro that can reach 60 degrees Celsius! The local population widely uses them as healing waters.

They tell me that there are small volcanoes that grow every year, and the most curious thing is that you can see the Andes with the snowy peaks in the background.

We ate wonderfully; they were all typical dishes. However, they gave you a choice if you wanted a vegetarian, which looks like it’s fashionable in South America. this is my dessert photo, yummy!

After eating, so that we do not fall asleep with the rattle of the train, we had a class to learn how to prepare pisco sour, the typical drink of Peru.

And then more traditional music and dances, in this case, came from the Puno region.

About five o’clock in the afternoon, we had tea with some snacks. The tea was made completely natural and delicious.

And when I wanted to realize we were already arriving in Puno and to finish this beautiful train tour, Lake Titicaca gives me this spectacular sunset. (Even if the photo doesn’t do you justice…)

This train journey was able to be made thanks to a collaboration with Perurail. Therefore, my opinion about the train trip to Puno is totally sincere, and I recommend it because I found it a nice experience that I would repeat.

Prepare your trip to Perú

• 12 days Peru Itinerary
• Things to do in Cuzco
• Machu Picchu by your own
• How to prevent altitude sickness
• Recommendations to travel to Peru
• Best Travel Insurance for your trips