How do I get from Santiago to Puno?

Or from La Paz instead of Santiago, or how do I get from Santiago to La Paz? I thought it would be easier to do this than go to Lima then sort of go back on myself.

What about the train (heard about this) or bus or plane?

Thanks

[ Edit: Edited on 25-Feb-2009, at 07:29 by boulderman ]

Santiago to Puno. Here's what I did, may help you think about your trip.

I was tired of Chile by the time I got up from Puerto Mott, so I got on a bus and ground through the Atacamba desert in a day, ended up in San Pedro de Atacamba (4 years ago we had to bring our own drinking water, not sure what it's like now) where I booked a 4-tour of the Salar de Uyuni. What? you ask, that's Bolivia! That's right.

When you get to the town at the end of the 1-way tour (can't recall name, but all Salar tours end in the same town) you can get a bus straight to LaPaz, then straight to Lake Titicaca (Copacabana or Puno if you like). You can continue on to Lima or the Nazca lines from Puno.

The route mentioned by findemundo definately would be my favorite as well.
San Pedro de Atacam is worth a couple of days and there are great tours as well.

Don't know which train you mean, but I remember something of an expensive chartered tourist train between puno and cuzco. But not recommended because of the price alone.
If you have time, you can also go from San pedro over the Andes to Salta in Argentina. Great area! There are buses from Salta to the border and on by train or bus to Uyuni (the town findemundo forgot about). Still, I am biased of course, but stopping Tupiza in southern Bolivia and doing the southwest bolivia tour (including salt falts of uyuni) with tupiza tours would be a highlight of your trip!

Yeah the expensive Puno to Cusco train was what I had heard about. Interested in Andes/flat flats