Huacachina, Ica, Peru
South America, Peru
Full Brief · 8 sections
I live in places instead of visiting them. Peru, Colombia, Portugal, Mexico. Teaching English, volunteering, learning the language on the ground, then writing up what it actually took: the combi you need, the price people really pay, the office hours nobody posts. I write the same field notes at Vibing with Locals.
- Total cost
- US$58What the trip cost them
- Days needed
- 1
- Go between
- Apr to Nov
- Pace
- —
An oasis in the dunes four hours south of Lima. Take the sunset buggy, not the morning one, and sandboard lying flat. Standing up does not work here.
9 of 9 sections are free to read.
The Verdict
An oasis town in the dunes outside Ica, four hours south of Lima. One night is enough. Book the sunset dune buggy run and sandboard lying flat, head first, arms tucked.
Huacachina sits inside a ring of dunes outside Ica
Getting There
Lima to Ica is about four hours south on the Pan-American. Same buses as Paracas: Cruz del Sur, Peru Hop and the rest. Huacachina is not Ica. It sits about five minutes outside it, in the dunes. From Ica bus terminal take a taxi, it is a short hop and cheap. Agree the price before getting in, because that five minute ride is the most overcharged transaction in the region. Coming from Paracas it is about an hour and a half further south, which makes the Paracas to Huacachina hop easy in a morning. Once you are in Huacachina you walk. The whole town is a loop around one lagoon and you can cross it in ten minutes.
Buggy routes leave from the oasis into the dunes
Staying
Everything in Huacachina faces the water because there is nothing else to face. Most places run the buggy booking from the front desk, which is the easiest way to do it. Rooms are simple and the town is loud until late.
Huacachina is small. You arrive in the afternoon, you ride at sunset, you eat, you sleep, you go. A second night is for people who want to do the dunes twice, which is a legitimate thing to want.
The Month
It is desert. It does not rain and it is hot, and the only real variable is how hot. January and February are the peak of the southern summer and the sand is punishing in the middle of the day. The sunset run fixes most of that, which is another reason to book it. April to June and September to November are the comfortable windows: hot afternoons, cool evenings, fewer people on the dunes. June to August is winter here, which still means warm days, but the evenings after sunset get genuinely cold in the open buggy. Take a layer you can stuff in a bag. Whatever the month, drink water at the top of every dune stop. The wind lies to you about how much you are sweating.
Late afternoon gives the dunes softer light and cooler sand
The Receipt
- Bus, Paracas to IcaTransport$8
- Taxi, Ica terminal to HuacachinaTransport$4
- One night, hostel on the lagoonStay$16
- Dune buggy and sandboard, sunset runGuide$16
- Tip for the buggy driverGuide$5
- Dinner and water by the lagoonFood$9
- TotalUS$58
- Guide$21
- Stay$16
- Transport$12
- Food$9
What Went Wrong
I stood up on the first dune. Snowboard instinct. You go over the front of the board immediately and then you are rolling down a 45 degree slope with a plank following you. You lie flat, head first, arms tucked in along the board. That is the only position that works on sand this steep and the guides tell you, and I did not listen. I got sand in my camera. It is everywhere, it is fine as dust, and a bag with a zip is not a seal. Put it in something closed or leave it in the buggy. I did not drink enough water. The wind in the buggy dries the sweat off you before you notice it and by the third stop I had a headache. I heard the Huacca China legend after the ride because I did not know to ask. Hearing it first would have been better. Her tears made the lagoon, her mantle made the dunes, and once you have heard that you cannot look at the place the same way. I booked the morning run first and switched to sunset after talking to people at the hostel. Sunset is not a small improvement. It is a different activity.
The story
A Desert Oasis Built From a Princess's Tears
The logistics get you here. This is what happens after.
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