Interesting Things To Do Around Huacachina

An Overview of Huacachina

Huacachina is a small, desert oasis village found just outside the Peruvian city of Ica. The small lagoon is surrounded by many hotels, a ring of palm trees, bars, clubs and adventure tours. Visitors can climb the nearby dunes for spectacular views of the desert scenery. Visitors also ride dune buggies and sand sleds across the imposing, rolling sand dunes. With the town of Ica nearby, and wavy deserts extending to the horizon, there are many interesting things to do around Huacachina.

Advice While Visiting Huacachina

The bus ride from Lima to Ica, the access city of Huacachina, is roughly five hours of drive time. 

Ica is a good area to spend the night, but the majority of visitors in the area opt to stay at Huacachina.  Lodging in Huacachina is more expensive, but there are more guests in the oasis and the night-culture there is extremely safe.

Huacachina typically doesn’t have any good ATM’s, so visiting Ica for a cash withdraw may be necessary.

If a traveler is planning on visiting the nearby natural preserve Paracas, it’s advisable to bring a swimsuit as there are several swimming beaches within the reserve. 

Interesting Things To Do Around Huacachina

Huacachina Sand-Boarding

As an oasis tourist town with numerous shops, hotels and restaurants surrounding a peaceful lagoon, Huacachina is quite relaxing. However, the area is also is famous for the large sand dunes surrounding it, which allow sand-dune-boarding tours and dune-buggy tours through the vast deserts.

Paracas National Reserve

This is a splendid large and dry nature reserve on Peru’s coast which hosts a stunning amount of rugged wildlife and virtually no rain. The preserve contains deserts, ocean, islands, sea lions, dolphins, flocks of birds and the mysterious Paracas Candelabra geoglyph.

Ballestas Islands

These are a series of famous islands which are part of the Paracas Reserve. These sheer cliffs host enormous flocks of various birds along with several famous marine mammals, such as sea otters, sea lions, dolphins and migrating whales. Travelers visiting the Ballastes Islands require a passport.  The boat ride to the island is roughly half an hour and the actual time around the island is forty minutes or so.  The round trip is about two hours, once everyone is on the ferry.  Expect large lines in the morning. There are numerous shops for food and supplies on the coast. 

The Paracas Candelabro

This is a large, mysterious geoglyph plastered to the side of an ancient hill. The symbol, though unknown in origin and meaning, is highly visable from the sea. The areas nearby have been excavated, discovering pottery carbon dated to roughly 200 BCE, an era in which the Paracas native culture thrived.

Playa Las Minas

This is one of many beaches available for swimming and other beach activities inside Paracas Reserve. The beach is braced against a towering cliff, making it both a dramatic location, as well as a relaxing one.

Restaurant Tia Pily

This is one of the restaurants found inside Paracas Reserve.  It’s near the Mirador Lagunillas Observation Deck and Lagunillas wading area. The restaurants here are often frequented by large tour groups, so they’re somewhat expensive.

Mirador Playa Roja

This is visually striking beach of red sand where desert and sea collide. The unique color of the sand is caused by ground up igneous rock known as pink granodiorite.

Read more about interesting things to do around Huacachina and seeing the world by visiting Leftfade Trails Blog.

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