The south coast in five days: Paracas, Ica, Huacachina, Palpa, Nazca

Why this order

The section runs down the coast from north to south, like the Pan-American Highway: Paracas, Ica, Palpa, Nazca. Each stage is one to four hours from the next, which leaves time for sightseeing every day. Everything takes place at or near sea level: Ica is at about 400 m, and no night is spent at altitude.

Two nights in Paracas rather than one: the trip to the Ballestas Islands takes place in the morning and can be cancelled when the harbour authority closes the sea. With a second night, the morning of day 3 serves as a back-up; without it, a cancellation means losing the trip.

Where you sleep

Total: four nights. Ica or Huacachina? Huacachina for the setting, the lagoon and the sunset, with the night-time activity of its hostels; Ica for a lively town, the restaurants, the museum and the bodegas. The two are a few kilometres from each other.

Day by day

Day 1: from Lima to the Paracas reserve

The bus leaves Lima in the morning (3 hr 15 min to 4 hr 10 min depending on the company). In the afternoon, the Paracas National Reserve is visited by road: the interpretation centre explains why the cold Humboldt Current makes this sea so rich, then the viewpoints lead to Playa Roja, with its red sand, and to the Lagunillas cove, where you eat the fish of the day. Entry: S/ 11. The wind often picks up in the afternoon: windproof jacket and sun cream.

Fallback: if the bus arrives late, the reserve moves to the afternoon of day 2, in place of Tambo Colorado.

Day 2: the Ballestas Islands, then Tambo Colorado

The boat leaves in the morning, life jacket compulsory, for about two hours. You do not land: you sail along cliffs where Humboldt penguins, cormorants, boobies, fur seals and sea lions live, after passing the Candelabra, a geoglyph traced on the peninsula. On top of the boat, the reserve charges an entry fee: S/ 11.

In the afternoon, two choices. Tambo Colorado, 66 km from Paracas via Pisco, in the valley of the same name, is an Inca adobe complex, built after the Chincha kingdom was conquered, which keeps walls painted red, yellow and white. Or a rest by the bay, if the morning at sea was long.

Fallback: if the sea is closed, keep the land reserve or Tambo Colorado for today, and reschedule the boat for day 3.

Day 3: towards Ica, between vineyards and dunes

The morning stays free, or is used for the postponed boat trip. Road to Ica (1 hr to 1 hr 30 min), an oasis town in the middle of an irrigated valley. In the afternoon, a pisco bodega: choose one that explains the grape varieties, fermentation and distillation, and the difference between “puro”, “acholado” and “mosto verde” pisco. Arrange transport: you do not drive after a tasting.

At the end of the day, Huacachina: the lagoon and the dunes at sunset, on foot or by buggy. The FDFA points out that the safety of risky sports, including buggies, varies a great deal from one company to another: look at the seat belts, the roll bar and the condition of the vehicle.

Day 4: Ica, Palpa, Nazca

The Ica regional museum opens in the morning (Tuesday to Friday from 8:00 to 19:00, weekends and public holidays from 8:30 to 18:30, closed on Mondays; S/ 8 per adult). Its Paracas textiles, its Nasca ceramics and its deformed skulls of the Paracas elite set the scene for the day.

Then the road to Nazca: 2 hr 30 min to 3 hr by direct bus, longer with a stop. At Palpa, older geoglyphs, partly attributed to the Paracas culture, are traced on the hillsides; a viewing tower lets you see some without a plane. Between Palpa and Nazca, the road crosses the pampa of the lines: the viewing tower beside the Pan-American Highway shows two or three figures. To stop at Palpa, you need a car with a driver or a guided excursion.

Day 5: the lines, then the road

Overflight or ground programme? The overflight shows the great figures from the sky, in a small plane, in the morning when the air is calm; the tight turns often cause nausea, and mist or wind can postpone it. On the ground, the María Reiche house museum tells the story of the mathematician who devoted her life to the lines, and the Chauchilla cemetery, 28 km to the south, shows tombs from the Nasca period. Both programmes take a morning.

Then the departing bus, to Lima (7 hr to 8 hr 30 min for most services): arrival in the evening. For Arequipa, see below.

After Nazca: Lima or Arequipa

Budget: the items to add up

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Variant in three days

For those with only three days: the sea and the desert, without Nazca, which deserves better than a round trip between two connections.

Without a spare night in Paracas, a cancelled boat trip is lost: if the Ballestas matter a lot to you, keep the five-day version.

Variant without motorised dunes

Nothing obliges you to get into a buggy. In Huacachina, the nearest ridge can be climbed on foot in the late afternoon, with good shoes and water; you come back down as night falls. Day 3 then keeps the bodega, day 4 the museum and Palpa: a slower, quieter south coast.