Travel bucket list idea:
Paracas, Ica Region, Peru
The coast around the little resort town of Paracas, including this 335,000-hectare reserve, is some of the most impressive in tropical South America: dune-rolling desert runs to caramel and blood-red crags that crumble over sheer cliffs. Powerful Pacific waves pound endless empty beaches of honey-yellow and coral-red sands.
Much of the region is protected: for its natural beauty, for the hundreds of barely-explored archaeological sites and for the abundant sea life. Sealions and Humboldt penguins bask on the sand. Just offshore, hundreds of thousands of Guanay Cormorants, boobies, terns and fur seals live on the Ballestas archipelago – a string of islands are scattered like desert rocks thrown into the blue of the Pacific.
The kite surfing here is excellent, with consistent winds 300 days a year. It’s a good place for beginners or if you’ve never tried it, with long stretches of relatively flat, shallow water close to the beach.
Our selection of the best Viator tours of this attraction or activity
Lima
Price $63
Min age 0
Rating 4.93 / 5 [1005 ratings]
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Lima
Price $75
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Rating 4.85 / 5 [903 ratings]
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Lima
Price $119
Min age 3
Rating 4.85 / 5 [585 ratings]
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Lima
Price $68
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Rating 4.81 / 5 [351 ratings]
Tour supplied by:
Lima
Price $149
Min age 0
Rating 4.78 / 5 [296 ratings]
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Buses leave from Ica to Paracas throughout the day, taking 90 minutes (or you can rent a car in Ica airport). Paracas has plenty of accommodation options and myriad tour agencies offering boat trips to the Ballestas Islands. You will have no trouble finding a ticket but book the night before you leave as boats generally depart at 8am.
Most boat rides pass by the Paracas National Reserve, but to see it properly you’ll need to rent a bike or an ATV, or take a tour.
Paracas is on the edge of the Atacama desert – one of the driest most climatically stable places on Earth. Expect sun and stars all year round. There is little chance of rain ever. The wettest month, February gets less than 2cm on average. Temperatures vary by only two or three degrees summer (Sep-Mar) to winter (April-Aug).
There are kite-surfable winds all year round. They are 99% reliable September to March dropping to around 60% May to July. Boat trips run throughout the year.
