Visiting Paracas, Huacachina and Nazca with the help of Peru Hop

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Peru is full of wonderful places – all of which get overshadowed by Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley with Cusco as the gateway. I’m not saying these areas don’t deserve all the attention but there are some slightly more hidden gems in Peru that are worth exploring. I travelled through Peru and Bolivia with Peru Hop and I was so impressed by this organisation! It allows for travellers to move through some of the smaller towns fast overland bringing business to these places and doing all the hard work for travellers trying to figure out how to plan their journey. Plus you meet some great friends along the way. It’s like a Hop-on-hop-off tourist bus but covering significant distances and included tours on the way so you know there is no chance you will miss the bus and you can fit in more than if you had to organise your travel and your activities separately.

Top Tip for Visiting Paracas, Huacachina and Nazca:

I highly recommend staying a night or two in all of these places if you can – Peru Hop makes it easy to tweak your itinerary as you see fit but also gives you the option to fly through these places as fast as possible if you are lacking in time. We spent way too much time in the Galapagos and in Colombia so we were forced to do this the fastest way possible – yay to Peru Hop for giving us this option!

Where to stay:

Peru Hop gives you discounts with certain businesses (including accomodation) so its good to keep that in mind when choosing accomodation. Otherwise I recommend looking at your options on booking.com. These are small towns so you are not overwhelmed with choices.

Getting there and away:

To visit these locations you can start the trip in Lima, Cusco, Arequipa or La Paz in Bolivia and you can adapt your journey to suit with multiple route options and the option to stay extra nights and catch the next bus. All of these places have plenty of flights in and out and connections around the country while Lima and La Paz have international destinations.

Getting around:

The beauty of Peru Hop is that everywhere you need to go is included. You are picked up from your accomodation (or nearby) and dropped off at your accomodation and taken on tours along the way. The only exception is if you want to take a flight over the Nazca lines (which I highly recommend) and can’t fit a night in Nazca into your schedule. In this case you can:

1. Book a local bus in the morning between Huacachina and Nazca and book your Nazca lines flight
2. Skip the Huacachina to Nazca leg of ther peru Hop bus and travel from Huacachina into Ica via taxi to catch your local bus (we left Huacachina at 8am and our bus arrived in Nazca at 11am)
3. Your Nazca lines tour operator will meet you at the bus terminal in Nazca and take you to the airport for your flight (we booked an 11:30am flight over the Nazca lines)
4. Catch your Peru Hop bus again when it leaves Nazca at 7pm (Our Nazca lines flight time left us plenty of time afterwards to have a late lunch; wander around Nazca and do some shopping before having to catch the bus).

What to bring:

Make sure to pack some comfortable gear to sleep in on the bus from Nazca as you will be on it overnight. It tends to get quite cold on South American buses due to the AC so make sure to also bring a long sleeved top and a blanket or silk sleeping bag.

What to expect:

We took the route from Lima – Paracas – Huacachina – Nazca – Cusco

You will be picked up at 5:30am from your hostel in Lima to depart Lima at 6am. At 10am you will arrive in Paracas and have a short stop to get a coffee or a snack before the included visit to the Paracas National Reserve at 11am. This reserve is absolutely beautiful and you are able to spend some time admiring the landscape before the bus leaves to continue onto Huacachina at 1pm.

You will arrive in Huacachina at 2:15pm which gives you time to check in to a hotel and get organised before the 4:30pm Dune Buggy and Sandboarding Tour that is organised through Peru Hop. The tour ends at 6:30pm. Huacachina is a bit of a party town so its a good idea to head out to party after this but if thats not your thing or you are still an early riser I recommend hiking up the sand dunes for the sunrise in the morning.

As noted above we left Huacachina in the morning and skipped the next leg so that we could take a flight over the Nazca lines without staying the night in Nazca. The flight was so worth it but the early morning bus ride and the flight in a small airplane was not the best idea when hungover. I felt so sick. If you do catch the Peru Hop bus they leave in the afternoon and make a stop at the Nazca viewing platforms instead before continuing on to Nazca.

From Nazca you overnight on the bus and continue on to Arequipa or Cusco.

Travel with Peru Hop and you won’t regret it!

Erika xx