The trip is only a 30-minute flight when departing from the airport in Nazca, or a longer journey can also be made from the airport in Ica, for those who want to avoid staying in Nazca. If you’re not a fan of small, shaky planes, a small sample of the Lines can also be seen from an observatory just off the Panamerican Highway, Be warned that what you see is only a glimpse of two small lines and you may be left disappointed if you made the trip with this as your only goal.
Cahuachi was a ceremonial centre that overlooks the Nazca Lines. It was occupied between AD 1-500. It is believed that this was a pilgrimage destination and that its population grew during major ceremonial events. Its significance today is that it is believed to hold the key to the mystery of the Nazca Lines. They are still under excavation by an Italian team but the site can be visited. The challenge of their investigation is that all 5000 tombs in the site have been looted and little remains of the original artifacts that were there once. Tours are not organized onsite so if you’d like to get the most of your visit it is best to organize a guided tour through your hotel.
Most day tours organized by hotels to visit the Lines will include a visit to the Aqueducts. Located a short drive from the town of Nazca, the Aqueducts should not be missed. Spiral-shaped to resemble shells, the Aqueducts were the tool through which the Nazca overcame the scarcity of water in their land. The structures create a network of subterranean stone galleries and vents of up to 12 metres in depth used to reach the source of underground currents. They are still in use today by local farmers for the irrigation of the land, and provide evidence of the Nazca culture’s technological development. You can reach them by taxi from Nazca if you’re not doing a tour, and pay a small fee at the entrance to go in.
This small museum gives you an overview of the Nazca Lines using Maria Reiche’s original sketches, and a description of this researcher’s theory. She spent a significant part of her life researching the Lines and advocated for their preservation. In doing so she convinced the government to restrict public access to the area and had a tower built from which visitors could view part of the lines. Today the museum is located in her former house, where her grave also lies.
The Ballestas Islands are located off the coast of Pisco and have to be visited from the sea. You will see an abundance of birds and playful sea lions, some will even swim up to your boat. Along the way you also get a view of the Candelabro, a more recent design carved in the soil, similar to the Nazca Lines, that can only be seen from the ocean. A few tours leave from the port at El Chaco but the most reputable tour is that organized through the Hotel Paracas. It leaves at 9am and 11am and takes roughly 1 hour. If you want to see the sea lions awake it’s best to take the later tour. If you tend to get motion sickness we recommend taking medication for this one hour before the tour, since the water can be choppy.
A visit to the Paracas Reserve will let you explore some of the beautiful local beaches of La Mina, Lagunilla, see some of the unique sand and wind formations at La Catedral, and visit the somewhat sparse museum Julio C Tello and Paracas Necropolis. A main attraction of this tour is getting to see pink flamingos in the bay during the winter months. The Hotel Paracas organizes afternoon tours of the area for (US$)
El Chaco is a beach town and port just outside the Paracas Reserve. Here you can get a glimpse of local life, as people come here to spend the day at the beach. It’s a small beach and the main attraction here is the lineup of affordable, high quality seafood restaurants along the boardwalk. At one end of the beach is a crafts market that opens in the afternoons. You can catch a boat to take you to the Ballestas Islands from here, if you want to take your chances with less reputable companies.
If a trip to the Reserve doesn’t appeal and you just want to chill out at the beach, you can get a taxi to drive you to La Mina for a few soles. This beach, the most popular in the area, is easily accessible and you can swim in the ocean. El Raspón is another beach further down from La Mina. This is a beautiful, very secluded beach that lies at the bottom of a cliff and takes some maneuvering to hike down to, but it is rewarding to escape the crowds and have the beach almost to yourself!
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