Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco)
La Paz Department, Bolivia
A pre-Inka ceremonial capital on the Bolivian altiplano that Aymara communities still use to welcome the Andean new year each June solstice, ticketed and cash-only on the ground.
Tiwanaku was the ceremonial and political center of a polity that dominated the southern Lake Titicaca basin for half a millennium before collapsing around the year 1000, centuries before the Inka. The Kalasasaya platform, the sunken Semi-Subterranean Temple, the Gate of the Sun and the enormous dressed-stone blocks of Pumapunku sit at nearly 3,850 meters on the altiplano, and the site has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 2000. Bolivia''s own heritage site presents it as the spiritual and political center of Tiwanaku culture.
Aymara communities keep the site in living use. Willkakuti, the Aymara Andean new year, falls on the June 21 solstice and draws tens of thousands to Tiwanaku for rituals at first light, and reporting has followed the gatherings for years, with the Aymara year count standing at 5,533 in June 2026. Outside the solstice the site is a day trip from La Paz: minibuses make the 70km run, and the official FAQ sets foreign entry at 100 bolivianos, cash only.
Visiting
The official site carries the ticket FAQ (100 Bs foreign visitors, 15 Bs nationals, cash only at the site) and transport notes; the site is 70km from La Paz, and the solstice is the one day the place is crowded beyond capacity.
Photo: The Kalasasaya stairway, [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Escalera_del_Templo_de_Kalasasaya_-_Tiwanaku.jpg), CC BY-SA 4.0, AquilaTh.
Associated traditions & practices
Visitor stories