Belmond Andean Explorer

In May 2017, a train pulled out of Cusco that South America had never had before: a luxury sleeper, a rolling hotel with en-suite cabins, two dining cars, a bar, a spa and an open observation deck — the first of its kind on the continent. It is the Belmond Andean Explorer, and it crosses some of the highest inhabited country on earth in a style that borders on the absurd, and is all the better for it.

The route is the draw. From Cusco, the old Inca capital at 3,400 metres, the train climbs south across the altiplano — the vast high plain of the southern Andes — to Puno on the shore of Lake Titicaca, and, on the longer trip, on to Arequipa beneath its volcanoes. One night aboard, or two.

What makes it unlike the great sleeper trains of Europe or Africa is the altitude. This is not luxury through pleasant countryside; it is luxury at the edge of where people can comfortably breathe. The line crosses the La Raya pass at 4,319 metres — there is a station sign that tells you so — and climbs to around 4,800 metres out on the open plain. At those heights the comfort stops being indulgence and starts being sensible: warm cabins, oxygen if you need it, and somewhere soft to lie down while your body deals with the thin air.

And the country it crosses is extraordinary. The altiplano is a landscape of huge skies, golden grass, grazing alpaca, distant snow peaks and adobe villages, running for hours with almost nothing in it. Titicaca, at 3,800 metres, is the highest navigable lake in the world, and the train delivers you to its shore at dusk. Arequipa, at the far end, is a white-stone colonial city sitting under a ring of volcanoes.

A note on what you'll see in the pictures, because we'd rather be straight: good photographs of the actual cream-liveried Andean Explorer sleeper are genuinely hard to come by, so some of the images here show PeruRail trains on the same southern line — the route the Explorer follows — rather than the luxury train itself. The journey is the same; the carriages in a few of the shots are its humbler cousins.

It is expensive, and it is a bucket-list train — the kind of thing you do once, for a landmark birthday or a long-saved trip. But there is nowhere else that crosses this much of the high Andes with a bed, a bar and a window, and that is worth a great deal.

It begins in Cusco, already at 3,400 metres — so the journey starts with a warning: you should have spent a day or two here acclimatising before you board, because the train only goes up from here.

Out of Cusco the line climbs south, and Peru opens out. The tight green valleys around the old capital give way to the altiplano — the high plain — and the change is total. Suddenly there is space in every direction: golden ichu grass, herds of alpaca and llama, mud-brick villages, women in bowler hats and bright skirts, and a sky so big and so close it feels like weather is happening at eye level.

The high point of this stretch is La Raya, at 4,319 metres, the watershed where the rivers stop draining towards Cusco and start draining towards Titicaca. There is a little station, a sign announcing the altitude, and usually a cluster of stalls selling alpaca knitwear. The train pauses. You get out, briefly, into air that has half the oxygen you're used to, and you feel it.

Then down — gently — onto the Titicaca basin, and by evening the train reaches Puno, on the shore of the great lake. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world, an inland sea at 3,800 metres, shared with Bolivia, dotted with the reed islands of the Uros people. The one-night trip ends here; the two-night trip stops over, and there is time to go out onto the water before the train moves on.

For those going the whole way, the second leg crosses more altiplano — higher still, up towards 4,800 metres in places — and then begins the long descent to Arequipa. And Arequipa is a fine place to end: Peru's second city, built almost entirely of white volcanic sillar stone, sitting in the shadow of the perfect cone of El Misti and two other volcanoes. Some itineraries add an excursion towards the Colca Canyon, one of the deepest in the world and a place to watch condors ride the morning thermals.

Onboard, the rhythm is the rhythm of every great sleeper train, adjusted for the height. You dress for dinner. You drink in the bar car, cautiously, because alcohol hits hard at altitude. And above all you spend the daylight hours on the open observation deck at the back — cold, wind-scoured, thin-aired, and the best seat on the train — watching the roof of the Andes unspool behind you.

It is, in the end, a short journey made enormous by where it goes. A night or two, a few hundred kilometres, and the highest, strangest, most luminous country a train can take you through.

This is a scheduled luxury departure, not a turn-up-and-go service — it runs on set dates through the season (a few departures a month), rather than daily. Book it as the centrepiece of a trip, not a way of getting from A to B.

Good to know:

• Acclimatise before you board. Cusco is at 3,400 m and the train climbs from there — spend two or three days in the region first. This is not optional advice at these heights.
• It runs on scheduled dates, not daily. Departures are limited; check the Belmond/PeruRail calendar well ahead and build your itinerary around the date.
• Choose your length honestly. One night gets you Cusco to Titicaca; two nights adds Arequipa and the descent. If you've come this far, the longer trip is the fuller experience.
• The dry season is the season — May to September brings clear, cold, bright days; the wetter months can bring cloud and disruption to the high line.
• Days are warm, nights freezing — the altiplano swings from strong sun to hard frost; pack for both, with serious sun protection.

Season and cadence as of 2026; exact dates vary. Confirm the dated departure calendar with the operator — see the Tickets section below.

The Belmond Andean Explorer is an all-inclusive luxury product, booked through Belmond or PeruRail and priced accordingly — a special-occasion train, not everyday transport. There are two itineraries: one night across the altiplano from Cusco to Puno on Lake Titicaca, or two nights on the full crossing of the southern highlands ending under the volcanoes of Arequipa. Cabins are double, twin or bunk, all en-suite, and the fare covers meals, drinks and everything on board.

Fares change, so Belmond holds the live price; expect a figure in keeping with the world's high-end sleepers. Book months ahead — departures are limited and the good cabins go early. And sort the altitude, not just the ticket: a good booking includes time to acclimatise in Cusco first, rather than stepping off a plane and onto this train.

The Andean Explorer strings together the great sights of southern Peru, and both ends deserve proper time on either side of the train. The one thing to plan around is altitude: Cusco is at about 3,400 m and Puno higher still, so build in a couple of easy days before you start climbing, and take the first of them very gently.

The obvious addition at the Cusco end is the Sacred Valley — Pisac, Ollantaytambo, the salt pans at Maras — which is spectacular in its own right and, lying lower than Cusco, a kinder place to spend your first nights. From there, Machu Picchu is not on this line at all but is reached by its own famous train; almost everyone riding the Andean Explorer does both, and the two trips fit together naturally.

At the far end, Arequipa is the easiest place in the whole itinerary to breathe — a real city rather than a stop, and several hundred metres lower than anywhere else on the route. It is also the jumping-off point for the Colca Canyon, which is better done as an overnight than as a day trip if you want to be at the condor viewpoint early.

On the train, your cabin is your bed — one or two nights of it — and it is the whole point: en-suite, warm, and comfortable in a way that matters when you're sleeping above 3,800 metres. The choice is between double, twin and bunk cabins; pick by who you're travelling with, and book early for the larger ones.

The more important sleeping decision, though, is what you do before you board.

• Cusco (3,400 m) is where you acclimatise, and you must. Arriving off a flight and straight onto a train that climbs to 4,800 metres is asking for trouble. Spend at least two nights in Cusco — or, gentler still, in the Sacred Valley (Urubamba, Ollantaytambo), which sits several hundred metres lower and is the kinder place to land. Cusco has hotels at every level, from restored colonial mansions to backpacker hostels.
• Puno, on the overnight itinerary, is handled by the trip — but if you're extending, its lakeside hotels let you get out onto Titicaca properly.
• Arequipa, at the far end, is a lovely place to stay on rather than dash through: the old centre has beautiful hotels in sillar-stone courtyards, and at 2,300 metres it's a relief to lungs that have spent days up high.

Two practical notes. First, altitude beats luxury: the finest suite in Cusco is still at 3,400 metres, so go slowly, drink water, skip the alcohol the first night, and consider the coca tea everyone offers you. Second, plan the trip around acclimatisation — Sacred Valley first, then Cusco, then the train — rather than treating the height as something to power through. Do it in the right order and the Andes are a joy; do it wrong and you'll spend the best train in South America with a splitting headache.