Lima : Paracas & Huacachina- Day To Islas Ballestas & Sandboard

It was a good tour but prepare yourself for the length because we started around 5am and reached our hotel a little after 11pm. We experienced a little of everything. I would say it’s definitely worth the money. Just make sure have money whether it’s cash or card to buy food n souvenirs. My only issue slightly was the English speaking tour guide didn’t really explain things fully like the Spanish speaking tour guide but I understand that English is not their first language. Our guides were Gian & Jesus they were great.

Hi super tour! Well worth it. Just one positive feedback, for long drives yo and from the tour a more comfortable transportation, especially for long legs. But other than that all was super, good explanation and nice sites visited.

Enjoyable day, long time on coach but it was very comfortable! Sandboarding was lots of fun and views amazing!

Amazing experience , just do it and slide down the sand dunes, also the drivers were professional and knowledgeable

Our family of four took this tour (during our first trip to Lima). We were picked up at the JW Marriot. We were told to meet there at 5:00, but the bus did not arrive until closer to 5:30 (you will get a message the day before stating the bus may arrive later than the scheduled pick-up time, so don't be worried). Christopher was our tour guide and he was friendly, professional, and trustworthy (he spoke in English and Spanish). I overpacked based on reviews I read. You really do not need to take a lot. You can buy drinks and snacks at every stop. Your first stop is at a roadside 'restaurant' in which you can get breakfast. You then drive to Paracas where you will take a boat ride. People here will try to sell you hats, gators, and sunglasses. If you do not have them for the sand dunes, buy them here, as nobody will be selling them at the dunes. After the boat ride, you will go into a store (they gave us cookie samples that they then try to sell you) will have a little time to shop. From there you will drive to lunch and Pisco tasting. Your guide will send you a menu on the bus ride and you will text him your lunch order. The lunch spot (Tres Niettos/Nietto) was a nice/clean/upscale vibe. We enjoyed our food. After you eat, you do some Pisco tasting (about 5 different kinds). My daughters were a little bored at the tasting, but it was pretty quick (if you do not want to do the tasting you can walk around during that time, you do not have to participate). After this stop, you then drive to what we thought was the most fun part of the day, the sand dunes. There is a small food stand/store front you park at. From there, you will be assigned a dune buggy. You go for a short ride, then you stop and have to climb up the hill from which you can look down at the oasis and take pictures (you get about 5 minutes). After that, you will drive around a little longer. Your guide will park up at the top of a sand dune and will take pictures of you on your dune buggy if you would like. Then you will get your boards to sandboard down the dune on. This was thrilling and exciting all at the same time. After this, you go on one last ride around the dunes before you head back to the bus. You can buy drinks/snacks and use the restroom before boarding the bus for the 4 1/2 hour drive back to Lima. We arrived back at 10:30pm. The seats on our bus were comfortable and reclined nicely which was nice since you spend majority of the day on the bus. Our bus did not have a restroom for use and it did not have charging ports for phones (so bring your portable chargers). Every stop has restrooms to use (as well as toilet paper) but you must pay for almost all of them, so bring coins for that. Overall, the highlight of our trip was the sand dunes. I wish we could have gone down into the oasis. If there was an excursion to just go to the sand dunes and oasis, although it's a long drive, I would have done that.

Big let down. We went buggy riding/sandboarding in huacachina, and let’s just say if you actually want to sandboard this is not the place to do it. We rode around in a sketchy worn down buggy, and stopped on top of a tiny 10 meter hill. The sandboards are just a piece of plywood and all the binding were broken. we simply sledded down the tiny hill a couple times since it was impossible to strap in. So if you want to actually sandboard like you see on the videos don’t choose izi Peru

We were picked up at 5am in front of a Marriott hotel. couple of hours to the boats for the sea lion and penguin viewing. Then lunch and then to Huacachina. It was great. The tour guides were great. The only disappointment was when we found out we wouldn't actually be visiting Huacachina; You see it from the top of the sand dunes. In order to do that you have to book a hotel and stay over night. It is a 20 hour day. up at 3:45am and returned home around 11:30pm.

Excellent experience and very organized tour, Diana and Christopher were great. The bus, boat and everything related with the tour was great. Also the restaurant Pisco Nietto the food was delicious

It was the most incredible experience I have ever lived. Sand boarding, buggy ride on the dunes. I 100% recommend. Diana and Mar are INCREDIBLE guides and made sure everything was explained to my partner in English. They are very friendly and caring and can crack some good jokes! Very patient and amazing people. Definitely book this experience is unbelievable.

If you are ready for an all day adventure then this trip is for you ! We only had 3 hours of sleep because of our flight. But it was worth it. The bus they picked us was very comfortable. You can lean back and take a nap on this long journey. The tour guides Davi and Mar was very nice and professional. The Driver Marco drove us around safely ! The day started at 5am till 11ish pm. We went to three different locations. First was Paracas visiting the island. Which I think was ok because the boat ride was a bit rough. I’m not a water person. You might like it ! Then we went to wine tasting. I’m not much of a drinker so that was ok for as well. It was a beautiful area. We also had lunch there. Food was delicious! My favorite was going to Huacachina ! You get to ride in the Dune Buggy( felt like you were in a roller coaster ! ) and sand board! The view was spectacular. Seeing a small little town in the middle of the dessert was amazing. Love every bit of. I highly recommend this tour if you’re visiting Lima.

What was promised was delivered: The island boat tour; lunch stop with pisco tasting; sand buggy tour, etc. However.... 1/ The guide did not send a message on WhatsApp before the lunch was being ordered. 2/ The toilet in the coach was not working, however, there were toilet stops at various times. 3/ We were expecting to have a recognition system for the attendees, say a sticker or wrist band. This would have helped in the busy venues. 4/ The driver needed breaks, and one toilet stop getting back to Lima gave him a few minutes of down time. 5/ There was no instruction (that WE got) to say where to wait for the pick-up at the Marriott Hotel, which has 4 sides and 2 street-faces. We joined up with others on the tour, including some who said they were there for a "Spanish" tour. The 2nd guide was not able to understand what we were saying and walked off without asking us to follow him. We had to call out to ask for his instructions. We could have been left behind! 6/ The coach had tinted windows and no way to view through the front window, and some guests kept their curtains closed ahead of us. So, the views to the outside were very limited. So, we were prevented from full views of the countryside.

The Paracas & Huacachina Day Tour to Islas Ballestas and sandboarding was absolutely worth the early start in Lima! The itinerary is packed with incredible experiences, starting with a boat tour of the stunning Ballestas Islands, followed by Pisco and wine tasting in Ica, and ending with the thrilling sand dunes and sandboarding adventure at the Huacachina Oasis. Instead of returning to Lima the same day, we chose to stay overnight at Huacachina, which allowed us to fully enjoy the magical evening at the oasis. We found an amazing restaurant, stayed at a fantastic hotel, and soaked in the unique atmosphere of the desert. If you have the time, I highly recommend staying the night—it made the experience even more unforgettable!

Tour was as described. have in mind this is a long trip but its worth the long ride. We loved it especially the buggy ride in the sand dunes our driver was a mad man we had so much fun

It is a very long day. 5AM-10PM. Pick up was easy, but they make several stops in such a small area and it chewed up 1.5 hours just driving around in circles picking people up before leaving Miraflores. It was so close to where it would make much more sense to ask everyone to meet at one spot. The bus was comfortable, which was good because most of the day is spent here. There were two guides, one Spanish speaking and one english, although her english was limited. The spanish guide went much more in depth on historical things, so I had my translate app open most of the time listening. The boat was fun, pisco tasting was just ok, and the dune buggy ride was definitely a highlight of the trip. The group was relatively small. Around 20ish people(this was on Christmas). Larger groups will definitely experience more waiting and probably won’t get back until 11-12ish so be ready for that. Overall, was fun but a little disorganized and not the greatest if you don’t speak fluent spanish.

It was a very complete day filled with adventure! From the boat ride seeing the sea lions to the desert sand boarding and buggy tour. I loved it all and would definitely recommend it

Please bring sunscreen, bottled water & a hat. This trip was door to door service. You just show up and enjoy the day. It's a FULL day, 5am-10pm Scott and diana were my guides. I couldn't ask for more from them. I had an allergic reaction mid trip and they got me the medical attention I needed. Jesus was our driver and he did great in the craziness of Peru's small streets. The food options were also good. Stop researching and just book the trip

This tour was so good! Be prepared to have a very long day but it{s worst it. Huacachina was so nice. If i could i would like to come back and stay one night there

This was a great FULL -DAY adventure!! The service was EXCELLENT and the added stops were both FUN and ENTERTAINING! The boat ride to the see the sea lions was great, and the dunes buggy-ride and sand dunes boarding was OFF THE CHART!! It was a LONG DAY, starting at 5 am and finishing back at the pickup about 10:30 pm, but WELL WORTH THE TIME SPENT!

All tour was incredible. Our guide was so kind. We saw penguins, sea lions, lots of birds and also blue footed bobby. La candelabro was impressive. Dune buggy was unbelievable, we had so much fun. Sand boarding is very funny and we do that 3 times. Huachachina oasis was excellent. So much good things in one day. We do that tour with 2,5 years old daughter. She also liked everything.

Long day but worth it. Enjoyed the island and the sand dunes and views of the oasis. The Bodega and pisco tasting was awesome

Awesome view of wild life take a sweater or jacket a bit cold beautiful scenery a great tour to take I recommend it to anyone visiting

Amazing tour and places. Must see it. Great tour guy and driver. We had a safe and great trip. 100% recommend

Everything. We enjoyed our visit to paracas and of course we enjoyed our visit Huacachina . We loved the people and the food we got to try. Everything was organized and on time!

Trip and all experience was amazing :) Guides were nice And friendly but I had problem understand english of one of our guide… but it wanst such a big deal.

Very action packed tour at 2 stops: Bellasta island & Huachachina desert Oasis. The guides don't speak good English and are disorganized with the bus location pick-ups at each stop. I had to walk a half mile up a sand dune hill to find the final bus at the last stop in Huachachina. Would prefer if lunch is also included so I can avoid having to find my own lunch in a crowded lunch rush hour with so many other tour groups on a holiday Independence Day weekend. The sand buggy tour guide was very skilled in driving and teaching how to sand board down a big hill. I didn't like that the bus passengers all switched seats at each stop and the tour guides need to enforce rules for all passengers. Most of the trip was spent on the 10-hour roundtrip bus ride. A good day trip from Lima!

Great full day, tour guides are super welcoming and willing to help in every request from vistors. The views and landscapes are just stunning.

1st and Foremost - Tour guide Scott Diaz was amazing. Not only did he make sure we arrived for the meet (we were late), he made the ride and tour great. Not only was it Fun but it was Educational and Scott also gave prizes and gifts. On top of that, with my wife and I being the only non-spanish speaking couple on the tour- Scott never once allowed us to feel left out. With that out of the way, the food was amazing, the subsequent stops up to Paracas were amazing, the boat ride to see Penguins, Sea Lions, and Birds was amazing, and the Buggy ride on the sand dunes might literally be THE FUNNEST THING IVE EVER DONE... It's literally like a roller coaster. The mountainous STEEP sand slopes were a wild ride, and our driver was a ton of fun... This was 10/10, 5 stars out of 5 stars, highly recommended, and fulfilling as hell...after this, I'm more willing to try all tours. The tour, Scott, the team, and Viator were all amazing and my wife and I left very happy customers...we still talk about that tour weeks later.

This was a great tour. We traveled with a 2y/o toddler, and the conditions were safe. It was a long tour, but not tiring at all. The guide was amazing and nice. Everything was organized superbly.

This was a full day of incredible views and really fun activities. It starts early and ends late but it is so worth it. We had a lot of fun at the dunes, lunch was great, pisco tasting was fun and boat ride was really nice. We were able to sleep on the bus because the places are far from Lima. Our guide was great, super informative and helpful. They were very professional and every place we visited was beautiful.

A long day because of the distance and the amount of people, but truly well worth it! Like most tours, the general amount of time will depend on the number of people in the group and how fast people look around, shop during stops, etc. The guides do try to keep people together and stay on schedule. All views were amazing! And lunch was plentiful and delicious! The bus was spacious and comfortable with seats that semi reclined for napping between locations. Totally recommend.

Had a great time. Pick up was as scheduled at marriot. Long day so be prepared. It was cold so have a jacket. Our guide zeta kept us on track and knew english so it was easy to communicate. Our driver was sleepy in the drive back so that was a little scary but zeta kept him awake and brought us back home safely. All in all I would recommend this trip.

The trip was a lot of fun. Everyone was very knowledgeable. Sand boarding was the highlight of the trip

I don’t think this tour is worth it. The tour guides were nice but we got back at midnight at the drop off location, so that’s 19 hours… I think these Pisco tasting could have been skipped, there were two in total and it just seemed like a sales pitch to me. We were on the boat in Paracas for about 1.5 hours and in Huacachina for just over an hour. The sand surfing (we weren’t allowed to stand) only lasted for about 20 mins. If you are going to book this, just expect A LOT of sitting down in the bus. I feel the duration on this website is false advertising. It says in one place 14/15 hours, then in the what to expect section it says return time is around 10.30pm, but with us there was not much traffic at all so I can’t understand why we got back at midnight. So unfortunately, I do not recommend.

Both locations were memorable yet different and the excitement of not knowing what you will see and the thrill of the rides were fulfilling

Overall the tour was average. I enjoyed going to both Parascus and Huacachina. A lot of time was wasted on “food stops”. A recommendation to bring snacks was in the tour description. We stopped for breakfast along the way which took longer than expected. If people brought snacks with them, this should have only been a restroom stop. We also stopped at a restaurant for lunch and wine tasting which also lasted much longer than expected. We were never told how much time we would be at each food stop. More time should’ve been allotted for Huacachina. I understand this is a full day tour but some of the food stops amd the wine tasting could have been eliminated or cut in half.

Excellent tour! I recommended. Good price and good guides. ✌🏻 They answered to me fast and offer many interesting tours than other agencies didn’t have.

We had a great time on this tour! The price was fantastic and both the guide and our bus operator were experienced and professional. My only suggestion: Carry extra cash with you. There are points in the tour when you will need small amounts of the local currency.

The tour started with a really early pick up which was chaotic. Despite being told to be on time (or early!), we waiting 20minutes at the Marriott on the bus, presumably for late passengers with no explanation. The coach was full - we were about 50 people. At one point in the day, 2 guests got on the wrong bus and despite us telling the guide they didn't seem that bothered. Luckily, the 2 passengers realised and the bus they had mistakenly taken brought them back so they could rejoin our group. Didn't fill us with confidence! There were two guides with the main guide shouting into a megaphone for much of the day. It felt very much like we were being herded from place to place - not personalised, no good information, and they were quite rude / unfriendly. Paracas part was fine. 30min boat trip out to sea for a 10min trip around the rocks where you can see penguins and seals (from a distance) and then 30min boat trip back. Boat had no shade cover (other operator boats did) so make sure to bring sun protection. Quite a few up-sell points (in Paracas we stopped for 15mins in a souvenir shop to "taste chocolate" which was a small piece of chocolate followed by waiting there for 15mins while staff tried to get you to buy it. Second upsell was after lunch with a pisco tasting and then another sell to try and get you to buy the products). Lunch was tasty but isn't included so keep this in mind. Huacachina was very cool but the sandboarding "experience" we were only allowed to do twice - not very much at all! Back on the bus after not a huge amount of time and we were back to Lima by 10pm. Overall, we'd recommend going to Huacachina but not doing this tour which had lots of other things that weren't very interesting / good and made the day incredibly long.

The sights themselves were absolutely incredible. The bus was quite comfortable, though the on board toilet was out of order, making it a bit difficult for such a lot of driving. Our tour guides were excellent and made sure to take great care of us. We loved the lunch options and Pisco tasting. Huachacina is incredible. We did find that we did not have enough time there. It was a bit too rushed.

A superb day to discover the desert with its oasis and at sea to see this magnificent marine diversity. the organization was top, I recommend it with my eyes closed.

Tony was very good. He showed us a good time. Very attentive and knowledgeable fun . Everyone was excited. We really enjoyed it

Everything, the most stand out part was watching my daughter coming down the sand slide, and stopping halfway down. I never seen anything like it before. 😂😂😂

The tour was amazing. The agency staff picked you up from the hotel meeting point and brought you back. Fantastic staff members, I recommend the tour too everyone.

We had an amazing time. We were on the road for a total of 18 hours. It was an actioned packed Day. At Paracas, we visited the sea lions, did wine tasting and ended our day at Haucachina which was the highlight of the entire trip. Our tour guide Victor and Carlos were amazing and very patient with us.

Trip was excellent. Renzo was a great guide, don’t forget cash for local tax and that lunch is extra.

The tour was good and the places ir went to were great! The tour guide was awesome. Now the bad thing about this tour is that it is not the time frame advertised. We got picked up at 5.00 am like it says but we did not get back until 11.30 pm at night. That is a total of 18 hours and a half it is very tiring and the bus is not comfortable. I wish this was explained correctly in the description of the tour.

Loved the Venues We Traveled To. Our Guide Slept Most of Time. After our bus broke down we should have been offered a paid for Snack.

The tour day is very long, 17 hours! Our driver was inconsistent and it felt as if motion sickness medication was needed. Overall it’s a great tour but time on the dunes and the oasis could have been better. Also if you need to buy lunch, it can be 25% more. When you’re forced to go to these tour-based restaurants, then a discount should be offered or built in.

One of your favorite day in Peru ! It was our first time in a desert, and we got an amazing experience. All was so good so far! Thanks to our lovely guide Patricia