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Coastal Road to Nazca
Nazca & Islas Ballestas 5-Day Tour - Peru
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Prices from £298 pp
All prices exclude international flights at the start/end of your trip. Let us book flights for you.
5 days / 4 nights (flexible)
Lima - Huacachina - Islas Ballestas - Nazca - Arequipa
Overview
Take your time travelling along Peru's weird and wonderful coast, a surreal mix of enigmatic etchings, giant sand dunes, sea lion colonies and desert lagoons. Surf down the golden dunes and drift around the Islas Ballestas, spotting wild dolphins and penguins as you sail. It’s a bizarre and beautiful adventure. Whisking you from Lima to Arequipa over five days, you'll stop at the oasis town of Huacachina and have the chance to see the mysterious Nazca Lines.
What's included
- Accommodation – based on 2 people sharing
- Breakfast
- Transfers to/from bus stations
- All bus transport
- Ballestas Islands excursion (inc. entrance fee and transport)
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Location map
Your day-by-day itinerary
Lima - Huacachina
This morning you’ll travel by Royal Bus from Lima to Ica, which takes around five hours and follows the coastal road. On arrival, you’ll be transferred to Huacachina, a tropical lagoon set in the centre of a desert. Your hotel is a real little hideaway, nestled amidst the pastel-coloured houses that huddle around the lagoon. Scale the sand dunes in time for sunset and sip on a Pisco Sour.
Islas Ballestas Excursion
This morning you’ll get up close to the Islas Ballestas. Inhabited only by animals, these islands are crammed coast to coast with seals, iguanas, sea lions, pelicans, penguins and dozens of other birds. Passing just metres from the shore, you’ll get a great close-up glimpse of the wildlife. Afterwards, you can explore Huacachina at your own pace, try a traditional lunch or ride the dunes on a sand board.
Huacachina - Nazca
Next up you’ll hop on the bus to Nazca, home of an ancient mind-boggling mystery. You’ll stay in a cosy hotel with swimming pool in the centre of town, a friendly tourist mecca for travellers itching to see the fabled lines, geometric figures and plant drawings that criss-cross the desert. Nobody knows how these etchings got here, and the mystery throws a magical atmosphere over the whole area.
Free time in Nazca
Today you’ll be free to explore Nazca. You have a couple of options to see the lines – either take the local bus to the viewing tower 20km north of Nazca, or book a 30-minute flight to get a birds-eye view. We can’t book this in advance, so make sure you do a little research on which company to use.
Overnight bus to Arequipa
Towards the end of the afternoon, you’ll be transferred to the bus station to catch the overnight bus to Arequipa, which takes about 10 hours on the sleeper service. Arequipa lies at an altitude of 2300m and, with an average temperature of 20-25C and sunshine all year round, it’s a lovely place to spend a couple of days adjusting to the altitude.
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