Originally Posted by SanDiego1K
Please help me decide whether to take the bus or train from Puno (Lake Titicaca) to Cuzco. There is no plane service, btw. The train runs 3 days per week, on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. It is part of the Orient Express organization. There is an observation car, and lunch is included. It stops at La Raya for the view. It costs $119.
The bus leaves Cusco at 07:30am and stops at Andahualliyas to visit the "Andean Sistine Chapel", then the Viracocha temple at Rajchi. Then after a buffet lunch at Sicuani, there is a stop at "la Raya", the highest point of the journey at over 4300 metres above sea level, to take in the view of the snow-capped Andes mountain range. Then it descends to the Altiplano region and stops at Pukara, the capital city of this Pre-Inca culture. Then the coach arrives at Puno at 5:20pm. The cost of this bus is U$30per person.
Has anyone taken one or the other? What is more compelling - the comfort of the train or the stops that the bus makes?
Yes, Take the train and buy a seat, or maybe two, in the premium car. Admittedly it has been quite a few years since I did it. At the time the tickets were so inexpensive that it was worth it to buy two seats as they were bench type seats for two people each. As to the stops, I can not comment on the bus, but at one stop on the train they locked us in the train car on the basis that it was to dangerous to get out! Just reread your post and can say that the train was no Orient Express operation when we did it about 15 years ago and the tickets were more like $19 not $119.