Peru > The Southern Coast

Useful Information

Getting There - Paracas
You can reach Paracas by Ormeño and Cruz del Sur bus, leaving from the main bus station in Lima.  The ride takes 3 hours and the buses are spacious and very comfortable.  Ormeños are slightly more high-end but both are dependable (prices and times).

Once there you can walk to El Chaco from our two recommended hotels in about 10 minutes, which is safe during the day, but will need to hire a taxi through the hotel to get out otherwise.  From El Chaco you can hire a taxi yourself if you want to go to the town of Pisco or do a day trip to the beach.

Getting There - Nazca
Getting to Nazca can prove tricky unless you take a direct bus from Lima.  Though this is a safe route to take during the day, we don’t generally recommend traveling by bus over long distances.  Ormeño and Cruz del Sur companies both make the trip straight from Lima to Nazca, roughly a 5.5 hour trip. 

From Paracas you can also take an Ormeño which leaves at 5pm from Hotel Paracas and arrives in Nazca at 8pm.  If you want to travel during the day you can take a Soyuz bus from the highway (ask any taxi driver to drop you off at the Soyuz pick up point, which is a 5 soles ride from the town of Pisco) but these only go to Ica, a 45 minute ride.  From here you can either get a minibus or hire a taxi to go to Nazca.  The lines are still another short drive away from the town so you will need a taxi to drop you off at the airport or the observatory, whichever you decide to do.  Alternatively, hiring a taxi or taking a tour for the day from Paracas will take care of all the transportation hassles.