Hotels We Like

Lake in the sky

I always liked the name Lake Titicaca. It's like Timbuktu and Teotihuacan. It trips a little cheekily off your tongue and sounds positively magical. The lake, which straddles the Peru-Bolivia border, is said to be the birthplace of the Incas, and is located at 12,500 feet above sea level (shouldn't it be a cloud?). It's also vast – 3,200 square miles – and on average 107m deep. Until now, travel to Lake Titicaca has been pretty limited. However, in May of this year, the Inkaterra Titilaka opened.

Created by pioneers in Peruvian nature travel Inkaterra, the hotel is remote but utterly luxurious. Located on the western Peruvian coast of Lake Titicaca, between small Quechua and Aymara hamlets, it's on its own private peninsula – which means great lake views, particularly at sunrise and sunset.

Activities on offer include mountain biking, trekking, birdwatching, horseback riding, and visits to the archeological Chullpas de Sillustani and the floating Taquile, Amantani and Uros islands. If you stay at the hotel, you can make full use of the outdoor pool, the wraparound terraces, and fireside dinners (anyone for alpaca?).

Suites feature heated floors, banquettes overlooking the lake, fully equipped mini-bars, iPods, plasma TVs, ecological bathroom kits, and something you'll probably only need at 12,500ft – oxygen tanks. RM

Images: Titilaka Inkaterra; (lake, third from top) Vico Ricab

2008 May 31 one response. share this

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