How to spend a day in Paracas, Peru!
Paracas, or as the locals call it, El Chaco, is a beachy port town tucked away in the Pisco province of southern Peru, just about 4 hours south of Lima. It's not just a dot on the map; it's the perfect place for the adventure seekers eyeing the Ballestas Islands (aka the "Peruvian Galápagos") and the expansive Paracas National Reserve—a desert peninsula boasting beaches with red sands and plenty of long roads with epic sandy backdrops for scootering down while safeguarding wildlife and doubling as an archaeological treasure trove!
How to get there?
Most people will be visiting Paracas from Lima and luckily it's a very straightforward process, especially if you're backpacking. The bus ride takes only around three to four hours and there are multiple bus companies to choose from. We went with Cruz Del Sur because it had the best reviews we could find and it certainly didn't disappoint. We ended up using Cruz Del Sur for the majority of our bus journeys in Peru!
In Lima, there's a couple of different bus terminals for different companies. We found the Cruz Del Sur bus terminal on Google and took an Uber there for about $5 from Miraflores.
You can either book your bus online or just show up on the day! We used two main bus companies to book our tickets online.
Red Bus - this one is great for booking tickets in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia! Firstly it's in English, and it has many different bus companies for each route and you can download your tickets to your phone - always check in at the counter though! Download the app through this link and you'll even save yourself some cash!
Cruz Del Sur - this is the official website of the bus company we favoured. However it doesn't travel to all the main places in Peru so keep Redbus in mind if you can't find your route.
Where did we stay?
As usual with our travels, we picked one of the cheapest options we could find. This time surprisingly, staying in a double room was cheaper than staying in a dorm. So we stayed in a private room in a hostel called Hostel Willys. It was an incredibly budget friendly option at only $12 per night for a double room with a free breakfast included! Our room was spacious and had its own private bathroom, we couldn't help but laugh that the toilet didn't have a toilet seat though! The hotel itself looks like it’s still under construction, but this didn’t impact us in any way. The breakfast was served with tea and coffee, a freshly blended juice and two bread rolls with scrambled eggs and jam. Overall, we were really happy with our stay!
Islas Ballestas / Poor Mans Galapagos
One of the main reasons tourists visit Paracas is for this particular boat ride, to the poor mans Galapagos. Islas Ballestas is known for having penguins, sea lions and a multitude of bird life! We were met by one of the many tour guides in the town and bargained a deal of 30 soles per person. Or if you prefer to book before you arrive, you can book through Get Your Guide here. The tour has two times in the morning, one at 8-10am and one from 10—12pm. We opted for the earliest one so that we could make the most of our day! Our tour was with Paracas Explorers and we hopped on a speed boat ready to go! We had a guide up front who spoke incredible English and told us all about what we were about to do. About 10 mins into the journey, the boat stopped to show us where the feasting seals like to rest sometimes. They were all sitting on top of a buoy, half relaxing and half fighting!
Next stop was the mystery of The Candelabra, a shape etched into the sand that nobody knows how or when it got there. The colossal geoglyph looks out over Paracas Bay from the coast and has the same kinda style as the Nazca Lines. This mysterious masterpiece appears to be a candelabra or chandelier, etched into the landscape. Theories surrounding its origin range from the ancient Paracas Culture and the revolutionary Jose de San Martín to 19th-century pirates and, of course, extraterrestrial enthusiasts!
The island was the next stop, where we were immediately greeted by the penguins. They were all plodding down the rock, ready to plunge themselves into the sea to get their breakfast. Another unfortunate thing we were met with was the smell of bird poop! The guide told us that they have that much bird life there, that they are able to sell it by the tonne! If you have eaten a banana in Peru, apparently there’s no doubt that this type of bird poo will have fertilised it. Not sure if that's something you'd want to know or not... The seals put on another show for us next, sunbathing on the rocks and belly flopping down into the sea. The guide even spotted and pointed out to us a bunch of red starfish attached to the rocks.
After this it was time to head back, if you know much about the Galapagos then you can see that it’s not really much like it at all. But, it was still cute to see the penguins and the sea lions playing around.
Paracas National Reserve
Another popular thing to do in Paracas is to visit the Paracas National Reserve. It’s a desert that meets the coast and has many pretty beaches and lookout points. There are multiple ways to visit this park, bicycle, scooter, buggy, car or tour bus. We chose to hire a scooter which we got for 90 soles for the entire day until 18:00. But we also think this buggy tour here looks like so much fun! For us though, we think a scooter believe was the best budget option for us as we had the freedom to go where we wanted, plus the bicycle journey would have been SO HOT! This way you can visit all the beaches Paracas Reserve has to offer: Playa La Mina - El Raspón - Playa Lagunillas - Playa Roja - Playa Yumaque - Mirador Itmos peninsula - La Catedral - Playa Supay - Mirador de Flamencos and Museo.
The landscapes along this route are like nothing else! The desert meets the sea in a mix of blue and orange hues. Definitely check out the beaches that you can swim in too such as Yumaque beach, the water is calm but so refreshing after baking on the back of the bike! If you're feeling peckish, head over to the town of Lagunillas inside the reserve. There are a few restaurants there if you're up for some fresh ceviche for lunch or fancy sipping on a refreshing pisco sour!
Spend the day by the beach
If you've explored other South American countries before reaching Peru, you might have noticed that while Peru boasts some of the most incredible hiking trails and landscapes, its beaches aren't necessarily stealing the spotlight.
Paracas town is included in this, however it has a large enough beach filled with locals relaxing with beers in hand. There's plenty of locals offering refreshments and it even has an inflatable obstacle course out on the water for those who are looking for a bit of fun! The Viajero Kokopelli hostel is also based on this beach, so if you're a fan of volleyball, you can take part in the hostel game.
If the obstacle course isn't for you, another popular water activity is Kitesurfing! For water enthusiasts, kitesurfing is gaining popularity in Paracas, offering excellent conditions almost year-round. Various local companies provide equipment rental (around $70 USD per day), lessons (approximately $70 USD for a one-hour private session) however as we found with the other activities here, its always up to be bargained!
Where to next?
If you've travelled from Lima to Paracas and are wondering where is your next stop, we
recommend getting another bus to Ica, then a 10 minute taxi or tuktuk ride to Huacachina! One of our favourite little stops along the way, it's a cute oasis surrounded by sand dunes. Want to hear more? Go to our blog here!
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