Huacachina – A complete guide to Peru’s desert oasis

Huacachina – it looks like a fairy tale from 1001 nights. Sand is everywhere, and one small green isle is among the dunes. It seems like a mirage. But we can tell you one thing in advance: it’s real! It is South America’s only desert oasis and one of the reasons we visited Peru and you should too.

1. The Legend behind Huacachina

There are different myths about the origin of the name. Huacachina is composed of the Quechua words Huaca („sacred place“) and china („woman“). According to one legend, a young woman was mourning the death of her lover. The Inca gods transformed the tears into a lagoon, a sacred place.

Another story tells of a princess who looked at her image in a mirror. When she discovered a hunter watching her, she was frightened and dropped the mirror. The mirror broke and the broken pieces turned into a lagoon that swallowed the fleeing princess. It is said that she lives in the water as a mermaid up to this day.

2. Basic Information about Huacachina

Huacachina is located 10 minutes from the city of Ica and 300km/200 miles south of Lima (= 5 hours). It’s the third stop of our Peru itinerary. The way from Paracas (our previous stop) to Huacachina is relatively short and takes only a good hour by bus.

Only 150 people live in Huacachina, while thousands of tourists visit it every day. Carry some cash with you, because there is only one unreliable ATM in the city.

There is only 25mm of rainfall annually. So that can not be the reason that everything is so green here. Instead, it is fed by an underground river from the Andes that carries mineral-rich water, making it the only natural oasis in Latin America. Water consumption was so high due to the many tourists that the lake dried up in 1988. Since then, water is pumped from Ica to Huacachina.

You can visit Huacachina all year round. The weather is dry and warm and the temperature never drops below 23° Celsius.

3. Where to eat and sleep

We stayed at the Wild Olive Guesthouse in a double room for only 6$ per person per night. It is nothing special, but for this price unbeatable. And you can get pizza in their trattoria.

The party hostel in Huacachina is the Wild Rover. We haven’t stayed here but were visiting a party with beer pong and excellent cocktails. It is much more expensive and louder than our guesthouse.

You can eat well in the Bananas Adventure Hostel, as we did twice. The rooms seem to be quite good here as well.

4. What to do

The small oasis just outside Ica has enormous dunes up to 750ft/100m, making them one of the largest in the country. From up there, you can see beautiful sunsets (or sunrises, if you are an early bird), even though the way uphill in the sand can be exhausting. But it is worth it!

In Huacachina you can book a buggy tour through the dunes. You will drive off into the desert and make some stops, where you can sandboard downhill. We recommend doing it in the evening so it is not so hot and you can take pictures in the desert during sunset time.

We booked our tour directly at the waterfront and only paid 6$ per person. But ours wasn’t the best one. While the buggy ride was still enjoyable, the sandboarding was rather boring because the dunes we slid down from were quite low. And we only did the one-hour trip which was quite short. You will be there only once, so we recommend doing the longer one and driving further into the desert. Here we should have compared better. But for this price, we guess you can’t expect more and we would do it again!

Ica is also known for its vineyards and old haciendas, where the majority of Peru’s wine and Pisco come from. Don’t know what Pisco is? It is a kind of liquor and the official national drink of Peru. Like wine, it is made out of distilled grapes.

If you fancy having a sip or two you should do a tasting at one of the wineries. We went to one with Peruhop as it was already included in our bus ticket. At a first stop, you can make your own sweets, called „Tejas“, in a traditional and family-run business (Tejas Rosalia). Then it’s on to a pisco winery. Here the process of making pisco is explained and you get to taste over 10 different spirits, wines, and liqueurs. Peruvians are very proud of their pisco and you simply cannot come to Peru without having a few glasses of pisco, so be sure to try it!

5. Realtalk about Huacachina

At one moment it feels like a dream, but at the same time, it’s very touristic. We think Huacachina is an amazing place to visit and we had it on our bucket list for a long time. But we were shocked by the tons of trash that were flying around and lying in the sand. Even during the buggy tour, we could see a lot of plastic.

And being only 10 minutes away from the city of Ica it is not as secluded as you would think. From the top of some dunes, you can see the oasis and the city of Ica at the same time. So be aware of that. But don’t let this real talk stop you from visiting Huacachina, Peru’s unique desert oasis.

You’re planning a trip to Peru? Be sure to check out the perfect 3-week itinerary here.

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