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This is the lesser known Copacabana – not the bustling suburb in Brazil but a tiny little town on the shores of Lake Titicaca, nestled between Peru and Bolivia’s capital La Paz. It’s a part of Bolivia that doesn’t quite fit with the land-locked; poor, grimy, busy, superstitious image of the rest of the country. Instead, it makes you feel like you are at a seaside resort (admittedly a budget one). The blue of the lake can be seen from most of the town, the houses seem bright and cheery and you can take a ferry from here to La Isla del Sol – ‘The Island of the Sun’ which definitely sounds like a place I want to be!
GENERAL INFO
Getting there and away:Copacabana is one of the stops on Bolivia Hop – a perfect combo of a tour group, a hop on hop off bus and an intercity bus! See my post here raving about Peru Hop as to why this is a winning combo.
Accommodation:The best place to stay is La Cupula – It’s very pricey for Bolivia but worth the splurge. You can book La Cupula on booking.com. La Cupula also has pet Alpacas which is definitely reason enough to stay here.
Food:The restaurant at La Cupula is pretty good. Also we had a basic edible meal at a little hut down by the water.
Getting around:You can walk from one end of the town to the other in about 20 minutes so theres no need for any other forms of transport. If you want to head over to La Isla del Sol you will need to take a ferry. You can organise this through Peru hop or your hotel.
Top Tip:There is not a whole lot to do in Copacabana except unwind and relax. Stop here to take some time to recharge. There are some easy hikes, lots of fresh air, quiet to read and sunbathe. If you head over to La Isla del Sol there is even less to do.
SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES
Copacabana has a charming little cathedral that houses a black madonna (the patron of Bolivia). Its an interesting walk through town to visit.
The is a great little hike up Cerro El Calvario. Its only about a 30 minute walk to reach the top and its very steep but you have great views over Lake Titicaca from here. Its a popular walk with locals too so the track is quite busy.
Feeding the Alpacas at La Cupula is one of the best things to do here! Get a bag of food from reception but watch out as these Alpacas are very greedy. They provide tons of entertainment.
The main thing to do in Copacabana is to take a boat to La Isla del Sol. Its about a 1 hour boat trip to the island and there is a fee to visit the island (You can take the Bolivia Hop boat at 2pm and the island fee is included. This boat leaves from the White Anchor). From the Sun Temple where the boat lands, you can take a leisurely one hour walk to the small island town of Yumani to get back on the boat at around 4pm. Alternatively you can choose to spend the night on one of the accomodation providers on the island. Check booking.com for options.
This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to book a stay or purchase an item I may earn a commission at no cost to you.
Water steriliser
I am all for helping the environment (except when it comes to reducing my plane travel – as I live in New Zealand there isn’t really any other option to get anywhere – don’t judge me) and I used to always be disgusted at the number of plastic bottles we went through on a trip to countries without safe drinking water. With a water steriliser there is no longer any wastage and we can get clean water anywhere, anytime which is so crucial with kids – you don’t want to be wandering around trying to find a shop because you have run out of water or be worried about your child wasting or spilling what you do have. As a family you go through so much water too and while you sterilise you can teach your kids about why it’s important! We have the Classic Steripen and have never had any issues with it.
I also suggest taking a reusable water bottle as you will need it to sterilise your water in and drink from. The Nalgene water bottle is a great size and fit seamlessly with the Classic Steripen.
Camera
It’s such a pain lugging around a digital camera. BELIEVE ME I KNOW. But even with some of the best camera phones there is just no beating a good camera with a great lens. You need to take both your phone and camera if you want good holiday snaps – the convenience of the phone is fantastic but a camera will get you those shots that you can edit perfectly and blow up and hang on your wall to remember all the good stuff! A tripod for either one or both is a great idea too but be aware that there are many places around the world that won’t let you take a tripod ie. the Taj Mahal.
Travel wallet
A trip can involve a lot of documents and organised chaos whether you are travelling alone, with friends or a partner or as a family. Now that I have kids I have 4 passports and tickets and other documents to carry around. I always use a family travel wallet to keep all of these things accessible and organised along with our itinerary. Amazon has some great options.
Travel shoes
Great walking shoes for travel is something I never leave for a trip without investing in. The key requirements here are comfortable, hard-wearing, lightweight, breathable and machine washable. The Allbirds brand meet most of these and are my favourite brand to travel with but I don’t find them particularly hard-wearing (see the photo below where my allbirds are absolutely falling apart). Amazon also has various shoes fit for purpose.
Go Pro
A Go Pro is a great idea to take to capture all those moments when you would prefer to keep your phone and camera safe and away from the situation. I don’t always recommend having one but if you have kids or are doing lots of physical activities its a good idea to take one and if you are doing anything underwater then its NECESSARY. The best place we took our Go Pro was the Galapagos Islands and we would have been so disappointed had we not brought one here.
Silk sheet
I always travel with a silk sheet – they are sooo small and take up absolutely no room in your luggage but allow you to have a blanket on you for emergencies. I have used mine for sleeping on trains, buses and at the airport when my flight has been cancelled + also every time I have slept in a hammock (which is quite a few times actually) or my hostel bedding hasn’t been warm enough (or even if the hostel has just felt a bit yuck as in this case its nice to have your own bedding next to your skin). A silk sheet super useful in warm climates as you are always in shorts or very light clothing but the air-conditioning or the wind makes you cold and suddenly you need that extra bit of a layer to cover up.
Backpack
I love looking stylish and always prefer to carry a handbag but sometimes you just need a backpack to be hands free and carry all your stuff for the day. My go to is Macpac.
Sarong
This seems like a strange item to carry unless you are doing a solely beach holiday but I always carry a sarong with me everywhere when I travel. Its great for covering up your legs or shoulders in temples or staying out of the sun, keeping warm if the wind picks up and drying off if you paddle in some water or mopping away some sweat. It’s also an emergency skirt if you get mud all over you and its so lightweight and easy to pop into your handbag or a daypack. If you are travelling with kids it can be used for all these things for your children – also particularly as an emergency towel or blanket as children always need these.
Packing Cells
Really for the same reason as above – to keep you organised. Packing Cells can help to seperate out different items so you can locate them easily (ie. all the togs/items for swimming) and stops you from needing to fully re-pack your bag every time you move hotels. Its a great idea to have a different colour per member of the family if you have kids as you are usually sharing bags with them.
Maps.me
Maps.me is an app rather than ‘gear’ but it is an essential travel item I must mention. Maps.me is a travellers DREAM. You can download maps of an entire region and save pins with your accomodation, attractions, restaurants, views, banks etc. anything you want to remember! Then, not only do you have these with any key details saved to your phone – Maps.me gives your location in real time without needing an internet connection – it even has most hiking trails accurately marked. I have been lost in a maze of alleyways in India and yet able to easily find my way back to my hotel with maps.me and on badly signposted hikes in Colombia where I can check I am on the right path using maps.me and I never feel the need to get roaming on my phone while overseas because I have this app. I also love that I can just check what area we are in and see if I had any good restaurants etc. pinned nearby to save walking around for ages aimlessly looking for somewhere to eat.
I hope you have found some of these tips useful! Please let me know if there is anything you travel with all the time that I haven’t included on this list so I can learn something new too!
This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to book a stay or purchase an item I may earn a commission at no cost to you.
Travel with children is a whole different ball game. Even if you are a seasoned traveller with all the right tools and tricks you need to re-learn everything to travel with children. Packing is one of those areas in which you need a whole new arsenal of weapons just to get through the trip.
We recently went to Vietnam for 3 weeks (our first major trip with 2 children – a 3 year old and a 3 month old. Read all about it in my post here) but we have also done some short and long trips within New Zealand (some road trips some via aeroplane); and we also went to Europe when our eldest was 18 months old so we have had our fair share of failures and successes here.
My absolute top tip is to travel with as little luggage as possible. You aren’t exactly going to be able to stick to a carry-on with small children BUT you tend to be a lot more forgetful and rushed so the less you have with you the better. If not, you will end up losing things along the way. You can always wash clothes (especially children’s clothes) on the road so don’t bring too much of this sort of thing. Toys and books are necessary but you always need much less than you think you do!
So without further ado here are the things you need to take:
Water steriliser
I am all for helping the environment (except when it comes to reducing my plane travel as I live in New Zealand there isn’t really any other option to get anywhere) and I used to always be disgusted at the number of plastic bottles we went through on a trip to countries without safe drinking water. With a water steriliser there is no longer any wastage and we can get clean water anywhere, anytime which is so crucial with kids – you don’t want to be wandering around trying to find a shop because you have run out of water or be worried about your child wasting or spilling what you do have. As a family you go through so much water too and while you sterilise you can teach your kids about why its important! We have the Classic Steripen and have never had any issues with it.
I also suggest taking a reusable water bottle as you will need it to sterilise your water in and drink from. The Nalgene water bottle is a great size and fit seamlessly with the Classic Steripen.
Travel Car Seat
There are travel car seats on the market for older kids that take up much less space if you are moving around a lot and don’t want to lug carseats around. We took the Bubble Bum Booster Seat for our toddler. These are so useful because they are easier to transport so if you need to jump in a taxi you can. However, you can’t find this sort of thing for infants in a capsule so if you have a small baby and you can afford it – take the best travel capsule on the market: the Doona infant car seat. This thing is AMAZING and saves you having to take a travel stroller also. It also means you can just hop in a taxi anytime you like as you won’t have to lug your carseat around afterwards you can just convert it to a stroller for these occasions!
Family Travel wallet
There is normally one adult in a partnership doing all the organising and now that you have kids you have 4 passports and tickets and other documents to carry around. I always use a family travel wallet to keep all of these things accessible and organised along with our itinerary. Amazon has some great options.
Packing Cells
Really for the same reason as above – to keep you organised. Packing Cells can help to seperate out different items so you can locate them easily (ie. all the togs/items for swimming) and stops you from needing to fully re-pack your bag every time you move hotels. Its a great idea to have a different colour per member of the family if you have kids as you are usually sharing bags with them.
Go Pro
I find when I travel with my children I tend to do a lot more activities where a camera would get damaged and a lot more play in water. A Go Pro is a great idea to take to capture all those moments when you would prefer to keep your phone safe and away from the situation.
Sarong
This seems like a strange item to carry unless you are doing a solely beach holiday but I always carry a sarong with me everywhere when I travel. Its great for covering up your legs or shoulders in temples or staying out of the sun, keeping warm if the wind picks up and drying off if you paddle in some water or mopping away some sweat. It’s also an emergency skirt if you get mud all over you and its so lightweight and easy to pop into your handbag or a daypack. If you are travelling with kids it can be used for all these things for your children – also particularly as an emergency towel or blanket as children always need these.
Travel Toys
You are going to need toys if you are travelling with kids but you don’t want to lug your whole toy box around with you. Mostly new toys with a few old favorites is the best mix of things to take. Make sure almost everything is very small and ideally multi-use ie. stackable cups, a favorite soft toy, little toy cars. The absolute BEST toys for travel I have found are the Melissa and Doug magic painting andMelissa and Doug reusable sticker books.
Tablet
My kids don’t really use a tablet at home but while we are travelling you are gonna bet I get that baby out whenever it can calm them down and keep them happy. Plane trips and restaurants are the key locations where a tablet = bliss. Make sure you research some age-appropriate games and download them before you go. For a young child this could be as simple as a game where you pop bubbles as they float across the screen (yes this game exists).
Travel cot
If your kids need a cot to sleep then you can either stay completely in hotels that will provide one or you can take your own. I would try to avoid taking your own if you are heading on holiday via aeroplane as they are still very bulky. If you have a very young baby I swear by the Koo-di Pop-Up Travel Bassinette. It can be used for sleep in a hotel room but is also handy to have for at the airport, beach, park etc. so baby can have a safe space to lie down.
Child appropriate gear for activities
The best thing I took with me to Vietnam was life jackets for my 2 young children. We were doing a LOT of water based activities and some places provide children’s lifejackets but these were ill-fitting and weren’t going to fit my 3 month old baby! Taking along one that fit really well for my toddler meant she actually wanted to wear it and we always had piece of mind that she wouldn’t slip out. Also for babies you can get special jackets that fit snuggly and tighten under the bum so that they are held in place too. We used a baby lifejacket when we took her on a kayak, rowboat and a speedboat and felt so much more comfortable (what a daredevil baby she is!).
If you are anything at all like me, you look at one picture of a beautiful island or exotic wilderness and want to jump on a plane right away. This isn’t usually possible unless your a billionaire with no job – there’s only so much leave I can take from work and only so many times my savings can cover my mortgage while I am gone!
With 195 countries in this world and countless destinations within them, deciding where to travel is much much harder than ever before. I see daily images of places I would rather be – but which place would I most rather be at?
Lounging next to the infinity pool on the 57th floor of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore
I find there are a few key things to keep in mind – looking at your current priorities makes this decision easy!
1. Cost
Most people, when deciding to travel, only consider whether they can afford a trip or not. Instead, consider your finances – if you have any spare income at all you can afford a trip, its just about prioritising. My husband and I try to do one overseas trip a year but some years we have more spare cash than other years, so we chose a trip based on what we can afford.
For example: In 2015, we got married (which is SUPER expensive however strictly you keep it to just the basics!). This meant that our overseas trip for the year would be our honeymoon but we couldn’t afford a luxury trip to the Maldives (my ideal honeymoon destination) because we had just paid for a wedding. Instead, we spent a week or so in beautiful New Caledonia which is much closer to home for us (we live in New Zealand) and less known for its luxury resorts. If we went to the Maldives, we would have spent way more on flights and would have had to skip staying in one of those beautiful over the water resorts (which is really the purpose of going to the Maldives isn’t it?) Now we can save that for another time – maybe our 20 year anniversary!
Here I am frolicking in the water in Noumea, New Caledonia
A holiday by the beach is what most people look for for a honeymoon – and we got to have this in a less luxurious way by choosing New Caledonia. If the style of holiday you can have is a lot more flexible, think about heading to a country where the cost of living is cheap – your money goes a lot further in many Southeast Asian, South American and African countries than it does in say most parts of Europe and the USA.
This brings me to the next thing to think about before you decide on where to go on holiday:
2. Decide what type of holiday you would like to have
What are you into? If you are like me – you like to experience almost everything so this makes the decision much more difficult. However, I still think about what I would most like to do by thinking about what I would like the holiday to achieve: Have I been stressed at work lately – I think I need a relaxing holiday in this case. Do I need to update my wardrobe – how about a trip focused on shopping? Have I been really disappointed with every restaurant I have eaten at lately? Let’s go somewhere with amazing food! Have I been feeling bored with my daily routine? Time to have an adventure.
You can always combine these things: How about heading to Italy for amazing food AND shopping? Or to Mexico for beaches AND adventure?
I’ll admit it – I went to Carnival in Rio De Janiero, Brazil just to have the best party of my life!
Part of deciding what holiday to have includes when you can go: for example, I would avoid going anywhere in the rainy season (especially if they have monsoons). If your headed to the beach, pick summer in the country you are at – you won’t mind if it gets to 40 degrees because you will be swimming constantly. If you are sightseeing or heading to a city, pick a time that will be cooler as you don’t want to be walking around all day sightseeing in sweltering heat.
3. How long can you go for?
This should play a significant role in how you decide where to go. The distance you are planning to travel should be based on the length of time you have available for your trip – for me, getting to Europe means about 2-3 days spent travelling. For that reason, if I have a week’s holiday I am not going to go to Europe. I might pop over to Australia or one of the Pacific Islands, possibly somewhere in Southeast Asia where I can take one flight and not have to transfer. If I have three weeks or more, I am more likely to venture further afield.
In a week or two’s holiday, I wouldn’t try to fit in more than one country – If I have more than two weeks, I may try to see parts of two countries: such as make the trip over from Spain into Morocco. If you have months (lucky you!) It’s best to base yourself in one part of the world so you can experience more of those places that are difficult to get to on their own. For example, I spent six months in Central America which was a good amount of time. I would discourage purchasing one of those ‘Round the World’ flights advertised by travel agents as you end up only going to those places that the airline flies to all the time. These are easy to see on a stopover or a much shorter trip.
To get to Havana, Cuba I had to fly via Mexico – as I was already in Mexico it was easy and so so worth it!
There is one final thing that I would recommend when choosing where to travel, it is the one most often overlooked but really important when choosing where to go.
4. What stage of your life are you in?
Where you are at in your life should play a big role in making travel plans – especially if like me you want to fit so much into your life. For me, I try to organise things so that I don’t miss out later on. I did 6 months of travelling when I was young and carefree and nothing was holding me back -do it while you can as your life won’t be that way for ever! Now, I have a husband and a mortgage and a career – my wanderings need to be more carefully structured and fit into my 4 weeks holiday a year.
Another thing to think about is children. If you want to have children they will severely limit your ability to travel – its not impossible of course! But you will have less funds available and more people to pay for on your trips! You also need to decide more carefully where you will travel – not only once you have children in your life but beforehand too. For example, if you travel to South America the risk of Zika virus means, you need to wait 6 weeks (women) or 6 months (men) before you conceive a child! Best do this a while before you want to have a child then! Or at least don’t take your partner along ladies!
To show how these factors have shaped my decisions, here’s an example. I would love so much to visit Disneyland in the USA. However, I plan to have children so why not wait until I can take them? They would love Disneyland even more than I would and its the perfect trip to take children on. I also really wanted to visit India but India is a terrible place to take young children because they touch everything and put it in their mouths and India is SO DIRTY! So, I went there in Jan/Feb this year while I still had the chance!
Exploring the intricate carvings at the City Palace in Jaipur, India
Think of these 4 things next time you are considering a holiday and the decision should be easy – or at least easier than it was before! If worst comes to worst just throw a dart at a world map and see where it lands!
Let me know in the comments how you choose where to travel or where you have decided to go next after using my guide. I love hearing about all the exciting places you are going and it might help me decide where to travel next!
THE ONLY ERIKA IN THE VILLAGE 