03.10.2021 | Peru, South America

Where Desert meets the Ocean – Huacachina & Paracas

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In the South of Lima, you can find fascinating high cliffs along the coast for miles, as well as an incredible desert oasis surrounded by the highest sand dunes of South America, both locations are pretty close to each other. These landscapes couldn’t be more different but merge seamlessly. Actually, you only need 1 hour and 15 minutes from one location to the other, no matter if you take the hop on hop off bus or if you drive with your rental car. Both stops are must-see locations if you plan your Peru itinerary!

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Huacachina the Desert Oasis

From Lima it is a 4.5 hour car or bus ride south along the Pan-American Highway, until you find yourself surrounded by the highest sand dunes of South America. In the middle of these high sand dunes, you will find an Oasis with a lake and palm trees, surrounded by a nice promenade and a lot of hotels. Only if you climb up the high sand dunes, you can really perceive the whole oasis and the absolutely incredible endless desert around this little “movie set up”. Crazy place right? We were blown away, how big this desert is. We first thought there are some dunes enclosing the oasis, but no. For miles you can see beautifully shaped desert dunes until they meet the coastline.

In the day you will face temperatures around 30 degrees, the sand is almost too hot to walk on. However, in the morning and in the evening it can get really cold, it’s highly recommended to bring some long clothes, too!
Nobody really swims in the lagoon, but there are a lot of hotels with a pool to escape the hot sun.

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1. Hike the dunes in the day

The dunes are looking so different over the day, sunset and sunrise. Therefore you should have a walk on the dunes during all of these different sun positions. As mentioned above, the sand can get pretty hot, so bring some shoes when hiking up the dunes in the midday sun. Also, hiking up the big dunes get’s pretty exhausting after some time, the dunes are definitely higher than expected at first. Definitely bring enough water and sun cream. Also we had some kind of a sand storm on top of the dunes the first day, so maybe a scarf is useful.

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2. Hike to the viewpoint for sunset

The most magical time in the desert is the sunset, that’s for sure! The dunes are immersed in this beautiful orange red warm sunlight, the shadows get softer…oh I love sunsets in the desert so much – it’s so photogenic! We highly recommend to climb the big dune behind the hotel El Huacachina for sunset. There is a “viewpoint” on the highest dune: 14°05’04.2″S 75°45’55.9″W. From there you will have the best view towards the setting sun and the big endless desert. Also there will be no buggies in this area driving around! When the sun went down, wait until all the lights of the buildings in the oasis are turned on, it gives the oasis a really special look!

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3. Early mornings in the dunes

We wanted to catch an incredible sunrise, so we set our alarms to 6am and went up on the dunes. Yeah, little did we no. The guy of the hotel told us later, that Huacachina is always cloudy until 10am… Therefore you really have to be there for a beautiful sunset!! However, even if there was no sun in the morning, the clouds made this place look really special and mysterious. We likes it too! It was pretty cold though until the sun came out.

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4. Go sandboarding or buggy driving

A lot of people book a buggy tour here. The buggies will drive up the dunes and speed it down again. If you like adrenaline it might be a lot of fun :). Also you can rent some sand boards.

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5. Eat in the best café in Ica: Harvest Coffeehouse

Well, there aren’t a lot of good places to eat in Huacachina, except Wild Olive, a restaurant with pizza and pasta. So if you have your own rental car, we highly recommend to drive the 10 minutes to the close city Ica and to eat in the incredible Harvest Coffeehouse! It’s so good and definitely a highlight! It’s also very popular amongst the locals there. You can get all the healthy stuff, like different bowls, avo toast, sandwiches…and good coffee! We have to admit, we’ve been there twice and loved it.. 😀

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6. Where to stay?

We booked the hotel El Huacachinero, because of the great reviews, the nice pool and most important, the private access to the big dune. There is a lot of party sometimes in Huacachina and we were told that this hotel is really calm. Although our room was really good, we were a little disappointed. First the private access to the dune was closed, maybe due to Corona. Also the breakfast was bad. It seemed a little bit loveless there. Maybe you try another hotel.

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7. How to get there?

We rented a car in Lima and drove straight to the Pan-American Highway. Never ever drive through Lima city, the traffic is really absolutely crazy there! We had to take a detour close to the city, because a part of the highway was under construction, and it was very nervewrecking, speaking of a lot of horns, people changing lines without blinking…However if you mostly drive the big highways it’s fine to drive with a rental car! It get’s more relaxed the further you drive away from Lima ;). We had some police controls, but both didn’t had any issues after showing them our drivers licence. There are some toll stations, have some cash with you.

If you don’t plan to rent a car, there is another very common option: The Peru Hop bus. It drives along a defined route with several stops, like Lima-Paracas-Huacachina-Nazca-Arequipa-Puno-Cusco. You can hop on or hop of whenever you want. We recommend to take only this touristic Peru Hop bus, smaller local busses might not be save for you.

8. Vineyards and Pisco in Ica

The area between Huacachina and Paracas is well known for vineyards. Pisco, how they call their sweet wine, is a really common thing here. You can check it out while doing a vineyard Pisco tour.

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Paracas – high cliffs and red beaches

Only 1 hour and 45 minutes away from Huacachina or 3 hours and 30 minutes from Lima by car, you will find a small fishing village and a beautiful National Reserve with high cliffs along the coast. You can drive the small streets for miles. Either you have your own rental car or you rent a dune buggy or a scooter to get around. There is a lot of wildlife in the National Reserve, best viewable on a boat trip to the Isla Ballestas. When we’ve been there it was really windy but also sunny. The ocean was rough and birds were circling above our heads.

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1. Drive along the cliffs in the Paracas National Reserve

The landscape is incredible in Peru. Big mountains in the center of the country merge into deserts with big dunes, which slowly alleviates to sandy high cliffs along the coast. The sea meets the desert in Paracas. Explore the endless roads in the protected Paracas National Reserve with a car, buggy, scooter or a guided tour.

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2. Playa Roja and the most beautiful sea bay

In our opinion the most beautiful part of the coastline is Playa Roja, with beautiful shaped high cliffs and a red beach. Birds were constantly circling above our heads, salty cold sea wind was blowing around us and the views were just breathtaking. You can’t walk down to this beach as far as we know, but there are some other beaches for sunbathing along the coastline. There is a road directly next to Playa Roja.

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3. Boattrip to Isla Ballestas

The Isla Ballestas are a group of small islands in a protected Reserva National. Because it’s a protected area, there are still many animals to see. There are a lot of sea lions lying on the rocks. You can see dolphins, a lot of sea birds, pelicans and even penguins!! They offer 2 hour boat rides around the islands, but you will not have access to any of the islands. Some people call the Isla Ballestas the second Galapagos Islands.

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4. Drive along with a buggie

It’s really nice to drive on the endless roads along the coast, you can easily spend 3 hours here. If you don’t have a rental car, ask for buggies or a scooter in the fisherman village Paracas. Otherwise you can book a guided tour.

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5. See the flamingos

If you are driving from Playa Roja back to Paracas village you will see pink flamingos in the water. They are not far away from the main beach in Paracas village and the kite surfers. But they seem to like it there ;).

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6. Go kiting

If you want to go kite surfing in Peru, Paracas is the place. There is a lot of constant wind and shallow water. We saw a lot of kite surfers at the beaches near Paracas village. At the beaches in the Paracas National Reserve it’s forbidden to go kiting.

Anzeige / ad: The hotels and companies we mentioned above didn’t sponsor us. Our recommendations are based on our own opinion.