Huacachina and Paracas often get lumped together because they are both located south of Lima and are close to each other. That being said, they are wildly different and provide separate value to travelers. Because of their proximity to one another, we recommend exploring both locations. However, the time spent in each destination may vary based on your interests and the time you have available to you.
Huacachina (Outside of Ica)
Huacachina is an oasis just outside of the city of Ica. And we mean oasis in the literal term; it is a water source in the middle of a desert. This desert is full of enormous dunes, making Huacachina a great place for desert adventure activities. Today, the water in the oasis is no longer naturally maintained but it is still a gem inside a huge desert. Because it is such a unique environment, it has turned into a tourism hub, attracting both international and national visitors. The town feels like it is completely manufactured around tourism.
Huacachina is also close to some unique archaeological sites, including the Nazca Lines and Palpa drawings from ancient cultures in the area, which predate the Incans. If you are looking to expand your knowledge of the ancient and mysterious cultures of Peru, visiting Huacachina is a great place to start.
Paracas
Paracas is a beach town on the Pacific coast of Peru. It is known for its expansive beaches and unique wildlife. It has a set of islands that is known as the “poor man’s Galapagos” because of its similar animals and look of the famous islands. Paracas is a destination where people from Lima go to decompress and get out of the big city, making it a uniquely relaxing destination.
Visiting Huacachina and Paracas as a Day Trip
While it is recommended to spend a weekend visiting these two destinations, time may not always be on your side. If that is the case, you can visit both Huacachina and Paracas with a curated and guided group trip. A good way to find a tour group that does this is to search “One Day Paracas and Huacachina Tour from Lima”. Peru Hop and Peru Bucket List have day tours available. In addition, Viator includes a few companies that provide this tour.
What You Miss Out on with a Day Trip
A day trip is a pre-organized experience so it takes the planning and research out of your hands, which can be nice on a vacation. However, for this particular destination, a day trip will skip the Nazca Lines and other archaeological sites around Huacachina, the nature reserve in Paracas, and sometimes a pisco tasting at a distillery (days 2 + 3 on our guide below). You can also do a pisco tasting in Lima at a bar if you are unable to visit the distillery. You can read more about what to do in Lima here.
What to Look for in a Day Trip to Huacachina and Paracas
Tour operators typically provide similar itineraries and experiences but these are the things that you do not want to miss out on with this experience:
- A boat tour to the Ballestas Islands (from Paracas)
- A two-hour dune buggy ride and sandboarding experience (from Huacachina)
Transportation to Huacachina and Paracas
We wrote an article about transportation to Huacachina and Paracas here to better break down your options. It will help you determine if you want to visit the region with a tour group or independently.
Day 1: Getting to Huacachina and Riding the Dunes
Getting to Ica and Huacachina
For your first day, you will spend your morning getting to Huacachina. Huacachina is about 4.5 hours away from Lima, so the travel will take up much of your day. You can read more about transportation to Huacachina here. If you are not taking a travel service, such as Peru Hop, you will want to take an early bus. Most bus services end in Ica, the main town near Huacachina, and it is very easy to take a taxi from Ica to Huacachina.
Reserving Your Nazca Lines Tour
Before heading to the oasis, you will want to find a tour agency to set up your tour to the Nazca Lines in Ica. There are tour agencies in Huacachina as well but, Huacachina caters to international tourists and they often increase the price of the tour significantly, even doubling the price. Reserving the tour in Ica will get you the same tour at a much better price. The tour agents are located around the main square of Ica called Plaza de Armas (which is only 3 blocks from the main bus station.) To get to the Plaza de Armas, you may be bothered by people selling taxi rides, products, etc. If you walk with confidence towards the square, you will be able to get past them quickly.
All the tour agents provide similar tours at a similar price. Talk to a few of them, understand what they are providing, and reserve a tour that fits with what you are searching for in the region. One of the most popular ones, and the one that we mention in the itinerary, is a tour of the Nazca Lines. You can read below about the different options to visit the Nazca Lines.
If you are interested in the pisco-making process, you can also do a tour that goes to a few distilleries in the region. The tour will require an additional day in Huacachina but you can also visit a distillery on your own, as seen in this itinerary. Make sure you bring cash in a variety of bill sizes to reserve your tours. Some agencies may take credit cards but many will only take cash.
From Ica, you will want to take a taxi to your accommodations in Huacachina. We recommend asking the tour agent to call you a taxi to ensure that you are taking a legitimate one.
Reserving and Experiencing the Dune Buggy Ride
You will want to get to Huacachina by 3 PM to get set up with a dune buggy tour. Find a tour that leaves around 4 PM and lasts two hours so you can enjoy a sunset over the beautiful desert dunes. The buggy ride is a must-do in Huacachina and is often a highlight of the destination.
The ride is a thrill ride using the desert landscape and dunes as the surface of this natural rollercoaster. The drivers of the buggies know how to drift and navigate the dunes. As the drivers whip you through the desert, you get to take in this beautiful and unique landscape. Eventually, you stop at a viewpoint to take photos of the dunes and photos with the buggies. Your second stop will be at the top of the dune where you will be given boards to ride down three hills. To keep yourself safe, you ride down the hills on your stomach, trying to go as far as possible. The final stop will be at a viewpoint where you watch the sun fall below the horizon. Ultimately, the driver takes you back to Huacachina where you can end your evening at your hotel.
Day 2: Exploring the Ancient Civilizations and Wonders around Huacachina (and Other Things to Do)
This day will be dedicated to visiting and understanding the ancient civilizations that occupied the Ica and Paracas areas of Peru. The main event of the tour will be visiting the Nazca Lines, either from an observation tower or from a propeller plane. These are drawings of lines, objects, or animals created 1500-2000 years ago by moving stones to create a path. The amazing thing about these drawings is their scale. They are enormous, some of which are perfectly symmetrical, and were created at a time when they could not be seen from above. They continue to be a true mystery but they were found through complex math and geometry.
The Start of the Tour
The tour will start from your hotel in Huacachina. From here, you will stop at a breakfast place and then you will visit your first viewpoint to see some ancient drawings of the Paracas society. The difference between these lines and that of Nazca is that these drawings were produced on a hill. They don’t have the geometric precision of the Nazca Lines and are more character in nature, such as having large eyes. Next, you will visit the Maria Reiche Museum on a guided tour, where you will learn about the Nazca Lines and their discovery by Maria Reiche using mathematics.
Visiting the Nazca Lines
Next up is your chance to see the Nazca Lines from an observation tower. Here, you will see three of the figures along with some of the diagonal lines. To see even more figures, you will need to visit the lines in a small propeller plane. This tour is completely optional based on your aptitude for adventure activities, your comfort with rapid movements on a small plane, and how much you want to spend on the tour. The entire ride lasts about 35 minutes.
The reason the lines remain today is completely due to the climate of the region. With very little rainfall and wind, the stones here are protected from any erosion or movement. Scientists were able to determine the age of the lines by comparing the difference in the color of the stones that had been moved with the ones that had not and understanding how the sun could affect the color change.
Other Archaeological Sites
After seeing the lines, you will learn about local artisans at a textile and silver production factory and a ceramic studio where you can purchase some artisanal souvenirs. After this stop, you may visit Los Paredones, an ancient Incan trading and commerce archaeological ruin. Here, you can learn about the Incan presence in this area of Peru. Finally, you will have the chance to see the famous Acueductos de Cantalloc, a set of carved spirals in the ground that, built by the Nazca culture, was engineered to push out a steady stream of fresh water to help support their agricultural endeavors in an area that is a desert. It was later used by the Incan people and continues to function today.
Returning to Huacachina
Finally, you will finish touring and stop in Nazca for lunch before returning to Huacachina. The drive back may take 3 hours.
Other Things to Do in Huacachina
- Hike up the sand dunes – there are a few treks that you can do in the dunes surrounding Huacachina. It is popular to hike up one of these dunes for sunrise so bring a headlamp if this interests you. You can do this on the morning of Day 3 before the Pisco tasting.
- Rent a pedalboat – the oasis has a small lake where you can rent peddle boats to have fun within Huacachina. Depending on when you return from the Nazca Lines, you may be able to do this after your tour.
- Stand-up sandboarding or skiing – If you want to try these adventure sports, Huacachina is the perfect place to try it with a few companies that provide this experience. To do this experience, you will want to add an additional day in Huacachina.
- Desert glamping – if you are interested in sleeping in the dunes around Huacachina, this is the experience for you. It includes dinner and breakfast at the glamping site. You can use this experience as an accommodation in Huacachina.
- Pisco tour – If you are interested in the Pisco-making process, you can add a day to your itinerary to do a tour of several bodegas in the region
Day 3: Pisco Tasting and Enjoying Paracas
Pisco Tour in Ica
To start your third day, you will head to a local Pisco bodega to understand the Pisco-making process and try some different liquors. Pisco is a colorless liquor made with the distillation and fermentation of grape juice. (Wine is made with the skin of the grapes.) The term “Pisco” is typically only used for the liquor that is produced in 5 regions of Peru, and Ica/Huacachina is one of them; today, there is a dispute with Chile over the use of the word and the origin of the alcohol. If you are really interested in the artisanal process of creating Pisco and the different flavors, you can look into a Pisco tasting tour through the Ruta del Pisco (Pisco Route), which would bring you to three different bodegas through a full-day tour.
However, you can learn a lot about the process from just one bodega and you can set up a tour of the distillery yourself via WhatsApp or emailing the individual bodega. The following are some in the region:
- Hacienda La Caravedo (this is the one that Blueprint Travelers have visited and recommend)
- Tambo de Tacama
- Bodegas Vista Alegre
- Tabernero
- Ocucaje
- Pisco Nietto
To get to the bodega, you can hire a taxi. Make sure you schedule this the night before with your hotel. You can negotiate a price for the taxi driver to wait for you at the bodega and then take you to the bus station. If you don’t want to pay for the driver to wait, you can ask the bodega to call you a taxi after your tour to get to the bus station.
Traveling to Paracas
After your Pisco experience, you will want to travel to Paracas for the second half of your weekend. You can read more about your transportation options here. If you are only doing one bodega, you will want to then get to Paracas before 2 PM so you can set up your next few tours for the weekend and take advantage of the beach town.
Reserving Your Paracas Tours
Two tours in Paracas are priorities: visiting the Paracas National Reserve and the Ballestas Islands. The Ballestas Islands are typically visited in the morning for the best weather and the opportunity to see wildlife. You will want to reserve this tour for the following morning. You can visit the Reserve after the Ballestas Islands on Day 4.
The Best Tour Agency in Paracas
To reserve both of these tours, Peru Infinito Tour en Paracas is the tour agency to use. Victor is the owner and operator of the agency and he has a reputation for honesty. You can reserve both tours in person at his agency in town or via WhatsApp at this number.
Options for Visiting the Paracas National Reserve
There are three different options for visiting the Paracas National Reserve and they each depend on your propensity for adventure.
- A group tour on a bus: this option will allow you to leisurely and comfortably visit some of the most famous areas of the reserve. You will have time to get out of the bus at specific viewpoints and relax on a beach
- A group tour on buggies: this option will allow you to explore the reserve while driving yourself on fun buggies. The price for this tour is per buggy and they can each fit two people. You will be guided to different viewpoints to experience the beauty of the reserve
- Independent scooter/moped ride: this option gives you full independence to explore the reserve. You can rent mopeds to ride around the reserve at your own pace and leisure. The price to rent these is per moped; they can fit two people. You will need to know how to drive a moped before using this option.
Relaxing at Your Paracas Hotel
After your arrival in Paracas, you can relax at your hotel or walk along the beach. There are food vendors along the beach with fresh seafood dishes local to Paracas. Remember to bring some cash to purchase anything at these small food spots.
Day 4: The Ballestas Islands (Mini Galapagos), Paracas National Reserve, and Back to Lima
On your final day in this region, you will explore the flora and fauna of the area at the Ballestas Islands and the Paracas National Reserve.
The Ballestas Islands are a small formation of islands just off the coast of Peru. These islands are commonly known as “Poor-Man’s Galapagos” because they contain similar rock formations and wildlife, including Peruvian boobies, sea lions, penguins, crabs, and more. This two-hour tour is an easy and digestible way to experience unique fauna.
The Paracas National Reserve is a nature preserve that protects the unique animals and landscapes in the area. You will have the chance to visit a red-sand beach and see some different birds and marine wildlife.
The Ballestas Islands Weather
Sometimes, the weather off of the coast of Paracas is challenging and the coastguard stops tour boats from going to the Ballestas Islands. When this is the case, the boats will take you to a different set of islands, the Islas Blancas, which are very similar to the Ballestas Islands with the same wildlife. When this happens, the tours will not mention this and pretend that you are seeing the Ballestas Islands, even pretending that different rock formations are the ones from the Ballestas Islands. (We learned about this from the honesty of Victor with Peru Infinito Tour.) The wildlife you see is the same in this circumstance and we recommend continuing with the tour.
Visiting the Ballestas Islands
The tour of the Ballestas Islands happens in the morning, which is the best time to see wildlife and the best chance to have a calm ocean environment. The tour itself is 2-hours long and includes a tour around the Ballestas Islands (or a different set of islands) and a view of the Candelabra, a mysterious drawing in the mountainside on the coast. It is a true mystery as to the creation of and reason for the drawing of the Candelabra. It may have been created as a religious symbol by the Indigenous Paracas society or as a navigational indicator by pirates and merchants after the 1500s.
Touring the Paracas National Reserve
After you tour the Ballestas Islands, you will explore the Paracas National Reserve by tour group, buggy, or moped depending on the option that you chose when booking the experience. You can take in the beautiful and dramatic landscapes that make this area so unique.
Returning to Lima
After the tour of the Paracas National Reserve, you can make your way back to Lima. You can read about your different transportation options between Paracas/Ica and Lima here.