Guide · The oasis

Huacachina: a desert oasis outside Ica

A green lagoon in a bowl of tall sand dunes, a short taxi ride from Ica. What Huacachina is, how it is protected, what it costs to enter and how to fill a day around the water.

Check availabilityfrom $23 · cancel for free

Editorial team, huacachina-sandboarding.comUpdated October 26, 2026read in 7 minutes40 sources

The tour behind this guide Dune Buggy Sightseeing Tour in the Huacachina Desert, Sunset, and Sandboarding-Sledding 4.9 (543 reviews) 2 to 3 hours from$23per person Check availabilityFree cancellation up to 24 hrs before

Quick answer

01What it is: A lagoon in the desert of the Ica region, ringed by palms and dunes.¹ ²
02Where: 5 km west of Ica city, at 406 m above sea level.³ ⁴
03Entry: PromPeru lists PEN 8.10 for foreign visitors.⁵
04Protected: The lagoon and its desert form a Regional Conservation Area.⁶
05Best light: Sunset from the dune tops is the classic view.⁷

What this lagoon in the desert actually is

Huacachina is a lagoon in the middle of the desert of the Ica region, and PromPeru puts it four to five hours from Lima by road.¹ ⁸ Rolling dunes close in on every side, and the greenish water is ringed by tall palms, eucalyptus and huarango trees.² The effect is the one you have seen on postcards: a small ring of green at the bottom of a sand bowl, with the dune crests standing high above the rooftops.

The Huacachina oasis is not a remote wilderness spot. The lagoon lies 5 km west of Ica city, and the drive out takes about 10 to 15 minutes.³ ⁸ PromPeru calls it the Oasis of America and describes a lagoon with lush vegetation and walking trails.⁹ Around the shore you will find a small resort of hotels, hostels, restaurants and tour offices, and above them the open dunes begin almost at once.

Water here once had a reputation of its own: the lagoon was famous for the healing properties of its water, which comes from underground seepage.³ Today it is the dunes that draw people. Sandboarding at Huacachina means riding a board down slopes up to 100 m high, and the sunset from the dune tops is one of the most photographed sights of the place.¹⁰ ⁷

A day at Huacachina

From the morning walk to the lights

Early morning

Birds on the shore

Herons and other birds along the reeds and palms.¹¹
Mid-morning

Out on the water

A rowing or pedal boat on the lagoon.¹¹
Midday

Shade and lunch

Sit out the hottest hours by the water.
Late afternoon

Up onto the dunes

Boards, skis or a walk to a high crest.
Sunset

The classic view

The most photographed moment of the day.⁷
Evening

Lights around the lagoon

The shore turns festive after dark.¹²

Where Huacachina sits in Peru

Ica is a city of the southern coast, about 48 km from the Pacific and 275 km southeast of Lima, in the arid, heavily irrigated valley of the Ica River.¹³ Huacachina belongs to that landscape of irrigated fields on one side and raw desert on the other. The lagoon itself lies at 406 m above sea level, in the same valley climate as the city.⁴

If you are planning a route through Huacachina, Peru, the town fits naturally between Lima and Nazca on the Pan-American road south. The Paracas National Reserve lies 42 km from Ica city, and the Nazca Lines are some 400 km south of Lima.¹⁴ ¹⁵ The coast strings together well over a few days. Our pages on the road from Lima, the Paracas day trip and the Nazca flight cover each leg in detail.

Getting from Ica to the lagoon is simple. PromPeru names taxi, tuk tuk and organized tours from the city center as the usual ways in.¹⁶ Most sandboarding and buggy outings also collect guests from hotels in Huacachina or Ica, and the tour this site recommends lists pickup from both. You do not need a car of your own for any of it.

Entrance rates

What PromPeru lists for each visitor group

PEN

Entrance rates for the Huacachina lagoon in Peruvian soles as PromPeru publishes them; tours may or may not include the fee.⁵

In figures

The lagoon at a glance

What	Figure	Source
Altitude	406 m	PromPeru
Distance from Ica city	5 km west	PromPeru
Drive from Ica	10 to 15 min	PromPeru
Road trip from Lima	4 to 5 h	PromPeru
Dune height	Up to 100 m	PromPeru
Entry, foreign visitor	PEN 8.10	PromPeru
Rain in a normal year	10.6 mm	SENAMHI

Altitude, distances, travel times, dune height and the entrance rate as published by PromPeru; the rain total is the 1991 to 2020 normal of SENAMHI's San Camilo station near Ica.⁴ ³ ⁸ ¹⁰ ⁵ ¹⁷

Three ways to see it

Shore, dune crest or buggy

Free and easy

From the shore

A loop on the lagoon paths

Effort: Flat walking
Extra: Boats on the water
Best time: Morning

See the buggy tour

Classic view

From a dune crest

A climb on foot above the oasis

Effort: Steep, soft sand
Dunes: Up to 100 m
Best time: Sunset

See the buggy tour

Guided

On a buggy tour

Photo stops, sledding, sunset

Duration: 2 to 3 hours
Reviews: 543
Price: from $23

See the buggy tour

Decision helper

How to plan your time at the oasis

Pick the line that sounds most like you

I want the postcard view of the lagoon I want a calm hour on the water I want to try a board on the sand I want to see birds I am unsure about buggies

Climb a dune at sunset

Sunset from the dune tops is one of the most photographed sights here.⁷

Rent a boat

Rowing and pedal boats go out on the lagoon.¹¹

Book a sunset outing

PromPeru says an instructor gives instructions and gear on organized outings.¹⁸

Walk the shore early

The black-crowned night heron is now much more common here.¹¹

Read PromPeru's advice

The tourism board advises against them, as they are not regulated.¹⁹

This rich biodiversity is now protected, as Huacachina and the surrounding subtropical desert have been officially designated a Regional Conservation Area.

PromPeru (peru.travel)Source 6

A protected lagoon with a story

The lagoon and the desert around it are protected. Huacachina and the surrounding subtropical desert are officially designated a Regional Conservation Area, and PromPeru points to its migratory birds, fish and plants adapted to the desert.⁶ ²⁰ The tour this site recommends lists a Huacachina conservation area tax among the items not included.

Wildlife is part of a slow visit. PromPeru notes that the black-crowned night heron has become much more common at Huacachina in recent years, and guides offer interpretive walks about the plants and animals around the water.¹¹ ²¹ Early morning, before the boards and buggies head out, is the calm hour for birds along the reeds and palms.

The name carries the legends. In Quechua, Huacachina means weeping woman.²² One legend says the lagoon formed from the tears of a green-eyed woman mourning her beloved, who later became a mermaid; another tells of an Inka princess fleeing a man, her dress turning into a sheet of sand and the mirror she dropped becoming the lagoon.²³ ²⁴ Local guides tell both, and the second explains the dunes as well.

Map

From Lima down the coast to the dunes and the lines

First the Pan-American road south from Lima past Paracas and Huacachina to Nasca, then the lagoon beside Ica, then the bay of Paracas with the Ballestas Islands.

Map of the Peruvian coast from Lima south past Paracas and Huacachina to the Nazca Lines and the town of Nasca — Lima to Nasca

Map of Ica city with the Huacachina lagoon to its west, the regional conservation area and the San Camilo weather station — The oasis

Map of the bay of Paracas with Pisco, the town of Paracas, El Candelabro on the peninsula and the Ballestas Islands offshore — Paracas bay

1
Lima
Where the day trips and the buses start; Ica is about 275 km to the southeast.¹³
In Google Maps ↗
2
Paracas
Gateway to a reserve of 335,000 hectares; overland from Lima takes about 3 h 10 min.²⁵ ²⁶
In Google Maps ↗
3
Huacachina
The lagoon 5 km west of Ica city, at 406 m, ringed by dunes up to 100 m high.³ ⁴ ¹⁰
In Google Maps ↗
4
Nazca Lines
A World Heritage site since 1994, some 400 km south of Lima.²⁷ ¹⁵
In Google Maps ↗
5
Nasca
The town of the flights; Ica to Nasca is about 2 h by road.²⁸
In Google Maps ↗
6
Ica
The valley city of the Ica River, about 48 km from the Pacific.¹³
In Google Maps ↗
7
Conservation Area
The Regional Conservation Area that takes in the lagoon and the desert around it.⁶
In Google Maps ↗
8
San Camilo
Where SENAMHI measures the temperatures and the yearly rain we quote, at 407 m.¹⁷
In Google Maps ↗
9
Ballestas Islands
Islands of sea lions and Humboldt penguins, seen from the boat only.²⁹ ³⁰
In Google Maps ↗
10
El Candelabro
A geoglyph 181 m long on the dunes of the peninsula, seen from the boats.³¹
In Google Maps ↗
11
Pisco
The town in whose province Paracas and the boat piers lie.³²
In Google Maps ↗

Open the map in Google Maps

Checklist

Pack for a day at the oasis

In your daypack

Sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat for the open sand
Water for the climb up the dunes
A windbreaker for the evening on the crest
Cash in soles for the entrance and small purchases

On the day

Walk or ride in the morning and before sunset
Ask whether your tour includes the conservation area tax
Read PromPeru's advice on dune buggies first

Cost calculator

Price a dune outing for your group

Enter your group size to compare four outings from the oasis.

Buggy and sledding2 to 3 hoursfrom $23 Sandboard or sandski4 hoursfrom $48 Buggy at sunset3.5 hoursfrom $24 Short buggy ride1 hourfrom $17

People 2

Total from$46

pp from $23

Check availabilityfree cancellation

The total is each outing's from-price on its booking site multiplied by your party, converted at the day's ECB rate; the checkout shows the final amount.

Video

48 hours at a lagoon among the dunes

The video starts loading once you tap play.

Entrance rates and what they cover

PromPeru publishes the Huacachina entrance rates as PEN 2.00 for local tourists, PEN 4.00 for national tourists, PEN 8.10 for foreign visitors and a preferential rate of PEN 2.00.⁵ Carry some small notes in soles: the tourism board's own list of essentials for the area includes cash next to the camera and sunscreen.³³

When you book a dune outing, check how the listing treats the fee. The site tour lists the Huacachina conservation area tax as not included; plan to pay it on the day. Accident insurance is also outside its price, which is worth knowing before an afternoon on steep sand.

Prices for tours are a different matter and change with the season and the operator. On this page we only quote the from-prices that the listings show. The buggy tour with sledding that this page links to starts from $23, and the sunset sandboard and sandski evening this site is built around starts from $48.

How to spend a day at the lagoon

A good day at Huacachina follows the sun. PromPeru's own list for the conservation area is short and sensible: race down the dunes on a sandboard, take a boat out on the lake and have a pisco sour at the lakeside hotel.³⁴ Pedal boats and rowing boats go out on the water, and the shore paths make an easy loop between the palms.¹¹ ⁹

Keep the middle of the day for shade, lunch and the water. Walking the dunes at sunrise or sunset shows how the sun changes the colors of the landscape, and the climb is far kinder in low light.³⁵ The late afternoon belongs to the boards and buggies, which head out onto the dunes to be on a crest when the sun goes down.

After dark the place changes again. PromPeru describes how the lights of the businesses around the lagoon come on after sunset and the mood turns festive.¹² If you want quiet, walk a little way up the nearest dune and look back down on the lit ring of the oasis. If you want company, the bars around the shore are a few steps away.

Seeing the oasis from the dunes

The classic view of the lagoon is from above, and there are three ways to get it. You can climb the nearest dune on foot from the shore, which is free and steep. You can join a buggy tour, like the one this page links to, which drives out to photo stops and a sunset point and adds sand sledding. Or you can spend the evening on a board or skis and watch the sun set from the slope.

The dunes at Huacachina are considered among the highest in the region, and the sand is soft and deep.³⁶ On foot, take the ridges rather than the faces, rest often and go up early or late. Sandboarding equipment is for rent at the resort if you want to try a run on your own, and PromPeru says an instructor is present on organized outings to give instructions and the right equipment.³⁷ ¹⁸

PromPeru also advises visitors not to use dune buggy services, because the activity is currently neither regulated nor officially supervised, and asks them to put their safety first.¹⁹ That is a plain warning from the national tourism board, and we repeat it here. If you choose a buggy anyway, read our dune buggy page first; if you prefer to avoid them, the walk up and the view are yours for nothing.

When the oasis is at its best

PromPeru names February and March as the best time to visit Huacachina, when it is warmer, and adds that the oasis is a good destination all year.³⁸ The tourism board gives its weather as 23 °C minimum and 32 °C maximum, and the long-term record of the San Camilo station near Ica shows a mean daily high of 33.4 °C in March.⁴ ³⁹

The winter months are milder. San Camilo averages a high of 25.2 °C in July and a low of 10.3 °C, cool enough that an evening on the dunes calls for a layer.³⁹ ⁴⁰ Rain is almost absent: the station records 10.6 mm of precipitation in a whole normal year.¹⁷ The month-by-month detail is on our weather page.

Whatever the month, the rhythm of the day is the same. The sand heats up fast, the light is harsh at noon and soft at the edges of the day. Plan your walks and rides for the morning and the last hours before sunset, keep water and sunscreen with you, and leave the hot middle hours to the lagoon and the shade.

Your sunset