Free Walking Tour Copacabana: Shrine, Hill and Inca Stones

Your Copacabana Walking Tour, From Basilica to Pachataka

1. 1

   Plaza 2 de Febrero

   Plaza 2 de Febrero is Copacabana's main square, an open public space with no gates, no tickets and no closing time. The basilica stands directly in front of it, and that is the real reason you start here: from the square you take in the full size of the church before you walk into it.

   Use these few minutes for orientation. Everything that follows on this walk grows from this point: the shrine that made the town a pilgrimage place, the hill the pilgrims climb, the older stones beyond it. The first leg is the shortest of the day, just 170 m and about 2 minutes to the basilica's entrance.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Plaza 2 de Febrero on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Copacabana

   

   The white basilica in its Moorish style is why most people come to Copacabana. A first church stood here from 1550. The one you see was raised in the early 1600s by the architect Francisco Jiménez de Siguenza, completed with its atrium and the small corner chapels, the posas, around 1640, and enlarged in 1651, when the main chapel became the present nave and the sacristy and towers were in place. The pilgrims had simply outgrown the older building.

   Inside, everything turns on one figure: the Virgen de la Candelaria, known as the Virgen Morena and crowned Queen of Bolivia. She was carved around 1580 by Francisco Tito Yupanqui, an indigenous artist and grandson of the Inca Túpac Yupanqui. Altars and retables were reworked as the building grew, and the Franciscans built the present Camarín de la Virgen, the chamber that holds her, between 1910 and 1913. Repairs and repainting went on until 1971.

   Now look for something easy to miss. Attached to the nave is the Capilla Abierta, the open chapel or Chapel of the Indians, where Mass was held outdoors for crowds too large for any church and for indigenous worshippers used to ceremonies under the open sky. Historians José de Mesa and Teresa Gisbert considered it the most remarkable part of the whole complex. Today its arches are walled up and modern buildings crowd it, but you can still make it out from its west side.

   Entry to the basilica is free. The attached museum and camarín keep more limited hours and ask a small donation or modest fee. If the Virgin is your reason for coming, it is worth it. From the basilica it is 1220 m and about 24 minutes to Cerro Calvario, the hill where the pilgrimage continues.

   Hours

   Mon–Fri 07:00–18:00, Sat–Sun 07:00–19:00 (museum: weekends 08:30–12:00 and 14:30–18:00)

   Price

   Free (basílica); small voluntary donation or modest fee for the attached museum/camarín

   Website

   facebook.com ↗

   Location

   Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Copacabana on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Cerro Calvario

   

   Cerro Calvario rises to 4011 m on the western edge of the Copacabana peninsula. To the north and west it drops straight down to Lake Titicaca at roughly 3810 m; the town lies to the southeast. The south face is rough and rocky, the north side gentler, with some fields lower down. Up top there is little vegetation, so nothing stands between you and the lake.

   This hill was holy long before the basilica. Under the Qulla it was already a pilgrimage site, a place to venerate the mythical cat's head, Titicaca, with fertility rites that included human and animal sacrifice. The Inca folded that cult into their sun worship and made the lake the most important centre of their faith. Christianity then laid its own symbols over all of it: Marian devotion replaced the cat's head, and its focus is the golden statue of Mary on the summit.

   Watch what people carry up. Pilgrims bring small symbolic objects, houses, cars and the like, mostly plastic and sold right here, to have them blessed in the hope they will become real. The main way up is a Way of the Cross from the east; another path comes up from the south. On Good Friday long processions climb with candles and statues of saints, and older rites survive alongside them, fortune-telling and the ritual use of coca leaves among them.

   The hill is open around the clock and free. Take your time at the top before you head on: Horca del Inca is 1570 m and about 32 minutes away, the longest leg of the walk.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Cerro Calvario on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Horca del Inca (Pachataka)

   

   Horca del Inca, also called Pachat'aqa or Pachataka, looks simple at first: two natural stone pillars with a lintel across them. The Spanish name means the Inca's gallows, and the shape explains it. Look closely, though, and you see the work of human hands. The pillars were cut to carry the lintel, and the bedrock at their base was carved into a footing for a stone wall, of which only a few blocks remain.

   Stand behind the gate and look through it to the west: the frame opens onto the wide blue of Lake Titicaca, while to the east natural rock formations close off the view. In the 1960s Hermann Trimborn searched for links between the gate and marks in the rock that might have tracked the rising sun. He found that sunrise was seen here earlier than at the lower site of Intinkala, and suggested the two places may have signalled to each other.

   The full answer came in 1978, when Oswaldo Rivera Sundt documented that a hole in a rock to the northeast throws a sharply defined point of light onto the centre of the lintel on the morning of the June solstice. At sunrise on the September equinox, the rock instead casts a shadow on the lintel while the upright pillars are lit. Find that rock with the hole before you leave; it turns the stones into an instrument.

   Who built it is still open. The art historian Jessica Joyce Christie thinks it was probably made as a solstice marker, but she doubts the common claim that it is an Inca site, noting that Trimborn found few or no Inca pottery shards here. There is an entry fee, and it is worth paying if the sky-watching story appeals to you. From here it is 590 m and about 8 minutes back into town to the Museo del Poncho.

   Hours

   Daily 08:00–17:30

   Price

   10 BOB (foreigners) / 5 BOB (domestic)

   Location

   Horca del Inca (Pachataka) on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Museo del Poncho

   The walk ends among the town streets on Calle 1 de Mayo, at the Museo del Poncho, a private museum of traditional Bolivian weaving. After a shrine and two hills, this is the quiet stop, and the only one where the subject is the region's work rather than its faith or its distant past.

   Inside, ponchos from several regions of Bolivia hang side by side, so the differences between them are laid out in cloth. Compare patterns and colours from one region to the next; that is the point of the collection. A fair-trade textile shop is attached if something catches your eye.

   The museum charges entry and is not open every day. If the door is open, go in, especially if you like handcraft. If it is closed, the walk has still worked. Square, shrine, hill, stone clock, cloth: here the circle of stories closes, with the town around you.

   Hours

   Wed–Sun 10:00–17:00, Mon–Tue closed

   Price

   Bs 15

   Website

   museodelponcho.org ↗

   Location

   Museo del Poncho on Google Maps ↗

Shorter Ways to Walk Copacabana

The full route works best in one go, but it splits naturally into a faith half and a stone-and-cloth half.

Shrine and hill

Stops: 1, 2, 3

For a free morning focused on the pilgrimage: the square, the basilica and the climb to the Virgin on Cerro Calvario. About 26 minutes of walking, no entry fees, only a voluntary donation if you see the basilica's museum on a weekend.

Inca stones and weaving

Stops: 3, 4, 5

For readers who care more about the ancient sky watchers and Bolivian textiles: start on Cerro Calvario, cross to Horca del Inca and finish at the Museo del Poncho. About 40 minutes of walking between the three, with entry fees at Horca del Inca and the museum. Pick a day when the museum is open.

How Long Does the Copacabana Tour Take, Climb Included?

The pure walking time is 1 h 6 min, and more than half of it sits in the two long legs: 24 minutes from the basilica up to Cerro Calvario and 32 minutes across to Horca del Inca. The first and last legs are short town walks.

With a proper look inside the basilica, time on the summit, a visit to Horca del Inca and the Museo del Poncho, plan about three and a half hours. Start at 09:00 and you leave the square around 09:10, reach the basilica at 09:12, the hill around 10:06, Horca del Inca around 11:18 and the Museo del Poncho around 11:56, finishing about 12:35.

The shrine and hill variant takes about an hour and three quarters with visits; the stones and weaving variant about two and a half hours.

Before You Set Off in Copacabana

• Start and finish: The recommended start is Plaza 2 de Febrero, with the basilica right in front of it. You can join at any stop, though. The walk ends in town at the Museo del Poncho on Calle 1 de Mayo, not back at the square.
• Best day: Most of the route works any day. The Museo del Poncho and the basilica's museum are not open every day, so plan around them if you want to see inside.
• Time of day: Start in the morning, so there is time for all the visits.
• Costs: The square, the basilica and Cerro Calvario are free. Horca del Inca and the Museo del Poncho charge entry, and the basilica's museum asks a small donation or modest fee.

Common Questions About Walking Copacabana