Lima & the Coast – 5 Days

07:50 hrs. Departure from the hotel. Lima region. Let’s go on an adventure through Perú!

08:30 hrs. Pantanos de Villa or Villa swamps: arriving at the district of Chorrillos. You’ll visit a natural reserve with an abundance of flora and fauna, and 263 hectares of natural wetlands. It is home to various species of birds (208) of which 52 are local and 156 are migratory birds. This is their resting point, as they cross the American continent from Canada to Tierra del Fuego: between Chile and Argentina. You’ll enjoy a boat ride through a swamp lagoon to appreciate various birds.

10:20 hrs. Museum and archaeological remains of Pachacamac: here was the main oracle of the coast from the Ichma and Inca times, one of the most feared gods of ancient Perú: Pachacamac, who had the power to move the earth and cause earthquakes. You’ll visit the Site Museum with its incredible collection of 04 important cultures of the Peruvian coast: Lima, Wari, Ichma, and Inca; being the Ichma (900 and 1470 AD) who carried out most of the constructions that are seen today in the place, then you’ll panoramically tour a large number of ancient places between temples, palaces, pyramids, aqueducts, cemeteries, squares, and streets. You’ll go up to the Temple of the Sun from the Inca era.

12:30 hrs. Hacienda Los Ficus: It is a typical hacienda of the Pachacamac valley in the middle of nature, you’ll have an entertaining tour where you’ll see the planting of vegetables and the various lettuces that’ll be eaten later as part of lunch. Hacienda Los Ficus is dedicated to raising the Peruvian Paso horse, you’ll have a tour where you’ll meet different horses and they will tell us the history of this horse, followed by an excellent show of Peruvian Paso Horses with their riders called Chalanes, who will show us the beauty of this horse and its unique way of dancing to the traditional music of the Peruvian coast. Then, if you like, you can experience a nice and relaxing ride on the smoothest horse in the world.

16:30 hrs. You’ll leave for the region of Ica; arriving at Paracas in about 3 hours.

08:00 hrs. Tour to the Ballestas Islands: you’ll depart from the local pier called El Chaco where you’ll take a 02-hour boat ride. On the tour you’ll experience the marine life of various species of birds such as the tendril, guanay, cormorant, seagull, booby, and pelicans; you’ll also see many sea lions and the funny but endearing Humboldt penguins. At the end of the tour, you’ll have a walk along the boardwalk called El Chaco to appreciate local life and learn from them through their crafts.

11:00 hrs. Moving on to the Paracas National Reserve: in this place, protection is given to various species of wild flora and fauna that live there. It is considered one of the richest and rarest ecosystems in the world with beautiful desert and ocean landscapes. In our transport you’ll have an unforgettable tour through the Paracas National Reserve, stopping at the most important, beautiful and interesting places.

12:30 hrs. Heading to the city of Ica.

13:30 hrs. Visit Hacienda Tacama: it is the first vineyard in South America, existing since the year 1540. You’ll have a walking tour of the old Hacienda, visit its cellars, and climb to the top of the Tower to be able to see the many hectares of vineyards. You’ll also have the chance to taste the different wines and products made from Pisco, our national brandy, with its various flavors of grapes: Pure, Italy, Moscatel, and Mosto Verde.

Lunch at the Hacienda Tacama.

17:00 hrs. This evening headed towards Huacachina, an oasis in the middle of the desert, in the middle of high undulating dunes. It is time to enjoy the place and explore it on your own.

09:30 hrs. Tubulars and sandboard through the dunes of Huacachina: you’ll walk towards the dunes, arriving at the point of departure and arrival of the tubular, boarding one of them to enjoy a ride full of adventures. You’ll feel the speed, the adrenaline, and the wind; great dunes will surround us, going up and down through them, surrounded by unforgettable landscapes.

From the top you’ll have the experience of sand boarding, there they’ll explain to us about safety and how to descend on the regular board for this practice, there are several styles of descent. You’ll get on the table and slide down the dunes, it is a very enjoyable experience.

At the end of your experience in the dunes, you’ll have a walk around the lagoon called La Huacachina, an oasis in the middle of high and beautiful dunes, a traditional place for locals and tourists alike; we’ll talk about its legend. Check out at the hotel.

12:00 hrs. Visit the Regional Museum of Ica: mainly dedicated to the Paracas culture, which exhibits several of its mummies in a very good state of conservation, teaching us some of its cultural practices such as deformations, cranial trepanations, trophy heads, their hairstyles, funerary contexts as well as also some of their diseases and food.

Ceramics and cloaks from the Paracas, Nazca, Wari, Chincha, and Inca cultures are also on display. It was the first Peruvian museum in which pale pathological studies were carried out on pre-Hispanic human remains.

13:30 hrs. Lunch in Ica.

15:30 hrs. After lunch, you’ll take the South Pan-American Highway to continue on our route to Nazca (3 hours). Upon arrival in Nazca, you’ll check in at the hotel, then go to have dinner in a typical restaurant near the Plaza de Armas; during dinner there will be an art show, presenting us some of the typical dances of our Peru, especially from the coastal area.

Flight over the Nazca Lines: early in the morning you’ll go to the Nazca aerodrome to take the 45-minute flight in a small plane. Our pilot will tell us some stories about the lines and help us take some good pictures.

The Nazca Lines are considered one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of Peruvian archaeology; they are ancient geoglyphs, with incredible designs and traces located in the desert, created at the time of the Nazca civilization, between the years 200 BC to 600 AC.

These lines range from simple designs to complex zoomorphic figures, representing animals such as monkeys, spiders, and hummingbirds, among others. Finally, they will give us our Flight Certificate, we are champions!

Chauchilla Cemetery: it is located in the desert plain 30 km from the city of Nazca, it is a pre-Inca necropolis; some relate it to the ancient Huari and Nazca cultures that flourished in this area between the 2nd century BC to the ninth century of our era. In the cemetery, you can see many mummies with parts of their skin and very exotic hairstyles with long braids of human hair, all of them in their original graves. It is a hair-raising journey, surrounded by bodies with skull faces that watch us wrapped in bundles of cloth.

Lunch in Nazca.

Nazca Walls: you’ll have time for exploration in one of the few Inca archaeological remains found on the Peruvian coast, it is located at an altitude of 620 meters above sea level on a rocky elevation. There are deposits ordered to be made by the Incas, buildings of adobe and carved stone, with trapezoidal niches and a projecting rock on top, reminiscent of the Intihuatana of Kenko or Pisaq, of Cusco.

Cantalloc Aqueducts: the Nazcas stood out for their advanced technology and hydraulic engineering, they built an impressive network of aqueducts, canals, and wells that allowed them to permanently supply themselves with water since they were located in the middle of a desert and thus had many farmlands. In this place you’ll find many large aqueducts that are underground and spiral in shape, we will be able to enter these aqueducts and have the experience of tasting the delicious and pure water they have.

Ceramic workshop of the Nazca culture: to end the day you’ll visit a workshop where they will teach us in a super interesting and dynamic way the whole process of how the ancient inhabitants of the Nazca culture made their ceramics, considered the most colorful of the ancient Peruvians; also here we can buy ceramics at a very good price

08:30 hrs. You’ll visit the capital of the Nazca culture, Cahuachi: it is a treasure of Peru, 19 km from the current city of Nazca, in a valley, an unforgettable place. It was the capital of political and religious power, its ceremonial center; the name Cahuachi means “place of the ancestors“, they are a large set of pyramids and it has been determined that the different structures have had different uses, such as housing, workshops, open air, and ceremonial spaces.

In all the ceremonies music was very important since many flutes, antaras and drums have been found, likewise, there are musicians represented in its iconography of textiles and ceramics. You’ll have the opportunity to walk through the pyramids.

12:00 hrs. Lunch in Nazca

13:30 hrs. Return to Lima (07 hours), on the way you’ll stop to use the restrooms as well as to visit some interesting places along the way.

Return to Lima at night.