Cusco to Puno (including 1 night homestay) - possible in 2 days/2nights?
 

Hi - we are finalizing some details of our upcoming trip and due to some travel considerations (length of time for bus transportation) which I had not accounted for, we are losing a couple of days. I am wondering if it is possible to leave Cusco (on August 31) , arrive in Puno and immediately head to a tour of the island for an overnight homestay? We wish to minimize our time in Puno to avoid cutting a day in Arequipa.
Our current itinerary (there is more before and after this) includes:

Aug 31 - leave Cusco for Puno/Lake Titicaca, overnight in Puno
Sept 1 - Tour Lake Titicaca, overnight on island (Uros or Taquille)
Sept 2 - arrive back in Puno, overnight in Puno
Sept 3 - travel to Colca Canyon and Arequippa.

We would like to avoid spending 2 nights in Puno (on either side of the island homestay), and add a day to Arequippa. From the tours I've reasearched online, they either arrive from Cusco to Puno too late to head directly to a homestay on an island, or the tour leaves Puno to Colca Canyon too early to accomodate coming back directly from an island, instead of spending the night in Puno. I haven't yet looked into private tours to see if this was an option. The reason for this request is that one of our "Arequippa nights" is now earmarked for overnight in Colca Canyon (which we want to do) and another was taken away due to no daytime buses going from Arequppa to Paracas (our stop after Arequippa). Arequippa was supposed to be our resting spot during this three week trip to Peru. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Jenn

I'm pretty sure unless you take an overnight bus on Aug. 30, you won't be able to make it on an overnight stay on Lake Titicaca on Aug. 31. It takes a few hours to get out to the islands and they want to be there before dark.

If you can find a tour which leaves in the late afternoon, you could take a non-tourist bus from Cusco to Puno (takes about 7 hours vs. the full day tourist one).

If it were me, and I do realise that evey one has different objectives, I would forego the overnight stay on one of the islands and just do a day trip on the lake an d just stay in Puno the one night. We got the late afternoon bus to Arequipa which made a nice trip with some spectacular scenery. However, this was nothing compared to the views on the Inka Express trip from Cusco which was probably the most amazing bus trip I have ever taken ( and there have been quite a few!). There is a lost to see on the way to Puno and I would not dream of foregoing this for a stay on the island.

we just arrived from a 2 week family trip to Peru. We took a bus from Cusco at 9:00 in the morning and arrived at Puno at 4:00 - only one 15 minute stop along the way. The scenery is amazing and the bus was very comfortable. We slept in Puno and left the next morning for the 3 islands Amantani, Taquile and Uros. In my opinion Uros should be avoided and Amantani would be the first on my list because of the authencity. This was definitely the highlight of our trip. We did the homestay at both Taquile and Amantani.

Hi would unlike to visit ica-Peru close to paracas

I too highly recommend the Inka Express bus journey from Cusco to Puno, an absolutely amazing trip across the Andes with fabulous scenery, this was one of the highlights of our Peru trip. We slept the night at Puno and went to the islands the next morning, though I found Uros and Taquile are rather touristy.

I don't know if you can count on service to the islands when you arrive in Puno, but I would write to Allways Travel and ask for their advice. They might be able to arrange to meet your bus if you can find one that arrives before dark.

Although you can find night busse Cusco to Puno, they are less safe and you also miss out on the scenery, which would be a shame (except for the part that passes through Juliaca!)

I am not sure how it works to do a full day from Puno to Arequipa with a stop in Colca Canyon that is more than an hour or two, you probably won't see enough to make it worthwhile. Maybe you can take the early 4-M to Chivay, hire a taxi to take you sightseeing in Chivay for a few hours (you may see condors in the afternoon). Then see what it would cost for a late transfer back to Arequipa (I think expensive).

Are there some other days before 8/31 that you could give up?

Hi jenn I suggest to stay in Ica instead of paracas there are more things to do in Ica than paracas plus u can go to paracas from ica I can recommend you a good gust house that offers guide include so you can know where to go what to and it's free if you stay with him anything else u wanna. Know a out ica just ask have a nice day.

There is a great little hotel in a safe neighborhood in Ica, the Hotel Villa Jazmin. Some of the rooms have A/C which can be nice if they are having a hot spell (Ica is a desert).

I found them on booking.com and got an excellent deal that way.

They are popular with tour groups so book ahead. The manager Mozes speaks perfect English and was very helpful but not pushy with tours and advice. They are #1 on TA, even ranking above some of the posher hotels such as Los Dunas (which isn't far away). Only downside is that you pretty much need to take a taxi everywhere.

Is it just my imagination or is luis31 a tout for a guest house?

Take a look at his profile page! I think he may well be touting for his guesthouse but it is difficult to say for certain as I couldn't really understand much of what he has posted there.

Thank you so much for the advice and suggestions...
mlbg - I have reached out to Allways travel, and am awaiting their response. I have found many of the tour companies I have contacted seem to prefer to deal will full package tours, so I am hopeful we can find one that will might be a little flexible.
We have our accomodations fixed, with the exception of an overnight in Colca Canyon, and one hotel I have been looking at provides bus tour from Puno, overnight in Colca Canyon, and delivery to our Paracas hotel. My main goal was to try and eliminate an "extra" night in Puno, but I don't want to sacrifice the bus travel from Cusco to Puno - Crellston and Geetika - we won't miss this!
Ladouca - I now remember finding a tour for Amantani island that was more "sustainable" than the somewhat touristy tours of Uros and Taquille. I think we will attempt to book an Amantani homestay, and be happy to spend the extra night in Puno in order to accomodate the other travel days. Sometimes the best part of the journey is simply how you get there, eh?

crellston..eww! Maybe something else?

How are you getting to Colcannon Canyon and Arequipa?

My husband and I will take the bus from Cuzco on September 25 to Puno. We would like to see the Canyon maybe spend a night and then onto Arequipa. We depart for the USA on October 1. I'm working on the last half of our trip. We will have toured the SV and Machu Pichu and 1 day in Lima ...I'm thinking we should add one more day to visit Lima before we depart...a few days in Arequipa..the canyon..just not sure how to piece this part altogether .

Suggestions?
Pepnjak

Pepnjak - we arranged the Colca Canyon transportation from the hotel we booked in Colca Canyon. We are taking the bus from Puno to Colca Canyon, staying overnight with tour, then taking the bus from Colca Canyon to Arequippa. We are staying at Killawasi Lodge, and easily made the arrangements with them.
I hope you guys enjoy your trip! For specific itinerary help you might be more successful starting a separate post, but it sounds like you have a good handle of where you are planning to go. Would love to read your trip report when you return!
Have fun!