A desert oasis set in the Ica department is truly a sight to behold. It is very picturesque and like nothing I had ever seen before. Only 10 minutes from the city of Ica, Huachachina is a brilliant place to visit and must do as part of any trip around Peru.

Huacachina Travel Guide - Desert Oasis
Huacachina – The Desert Oasis

Huacachina Travel Guide

Huacachina is a small little village based around a desert oasis lake which is then surrounded by imposing sand dunes. Below are some of the top things to do when visiting Peru’s desert oasis.

Huacachina Travel Guide - The Lake
The lake

Watch Sunset

Head up one of the dunes for sunset. It’s beautiful watching the skies change colour over the sand. It’s a nice place to relax and reflect and also to take cool pictures. Its also completely free!

Huacachina Travel Guide - Dune hiking
Walking on the dunes is tougher than any hike to Machu Picchu!

Huacachina Travel Guide - Sunset
The hiking is worth it though for the sunset

Huacachina Travel Guide - The Endless Desert
The desert seems endless

Sandboarding and Dune Buggies

The most popular thing to do in Huacachina is the sandboard and dune buggy tour. For 3 hours of fun in the sand it includes 3 chances to board down some dunes ranging in height. Our first one was great, second was more of an after thought but the third was so high that the journey down was a mixture of fun, speed, I’m going too fast, bumps, I’m going to die, scared for my life, will it ever end type of feelings. I hurt my foot in the last one as I was trying to brake to prevent myself from being launched from the board.

Huacachina Travel Guide - Sandboarding
Sandboarding was so much fun


Afterwards there was some more driving around in the dune buggy, we were screaming to go even faster, but to no avail.
We got the obligatory photo on top of the dune buggy, watched the sunset and stopped for a look over the lake with the other hundreds of tourists.
Overall it was good fun, all for 35 soles. You can definitely get it for cheaper, after we had paid some guy on the street offered a tour for 20\25 soles! We booked through our hostel, which is the most common thing to do.

Huacachina Travel Guide - Dune Buggy
Fun with the dune buggy

Huacachina Travel Guide - Sunset
Beautiful Sunset

Chill Out


There are some nice restaurants to eat and chill out for the evening. They were a bit pricier than what we were used to but we didn’t mind. It felt as if we were in holiday, so a little splurge was okay!

Huacachina Travel Guide - Partying
The Huacachina Vibe!

Menu del Dia can be found for 15-20 soles. Dinners were about 30-50 soles.

Other things to do in Huachachina

  • Winery Tour including Pisco tasting.
  • Go for a boat trip on the small lake.
  • Visit Paracas National Reserve.
  • Party if you find it!!
Huacachina Travel Guide - Pisco Sours
Pisco Sours!

Where we stayed

We stayed in Hostel Mayo. It was cheap and basic but it did the job. We stayed 2 nights and arrived from Lima.

Huacachina Travel Guide - Huacachina
What a beautiful place…

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[…] as you will know if you have been following the blog, we love a good hike. However, when we were sandboarding in Huacachina Aoife got a bit scared going down the big sand dune and planted her foot into the ground to slow […]