What You Need To Know

Huacachina Travel Guide

Nestled in the heart of the Peruvian desert, Huacachina is a hidden oasis waiting to captivate your senses. Join me as we delve into the thrill of sand dunes and the vibrant energy.

Huacachina Unveiled

Your Ultimate Huacachina Travel Guide to the Desert Oasis

If you’ve ever seen Huacachina on social media you might think it’s not a real place or doesn’t look how it is in real life. Let me tell you, it looks just like it does online! Picture a tiny little village surrounding a small oasis in the middle of the desert. That’s Huacachina.

If coming by bus, know that they’ll arrive in Ica, which is the main town outside of Huacachina, which doesn’t have its own bus station. Once in Ica, you can take a quick tuktuk or cab to Huacachina.

Vanessa's Insider Tips

My Travel Tips for Huacachina

Here are some helpful Huacachina travel tips to know before you go:

When to Go: Huacachina enjoys a dry desert climate all year round, so there’s no rainy season and you can go whenever!
Where to Stay: When I visited, I stayed in Ica, because I thought I would spend some time in Ica too. However, I ended up walking or taking a tuktuk to Huacachina every day, so I recommend just staying in Huacachina. It’s a village, so everything’s walkable. If staying in Ica though, depending on where your hotel/hostel is, you can walk to Huacachina.
How to Get Around: You can walk everywhere in Huacachina since it’s tiny.
Huacachina Solo Female Travel: Huacachina is great for solo female travel. There are a lot of hostels, so you’ll meet people pretty easily! There’s also a bit of a party scene, however it’s super safe, like the rest of Peru.

Discover Huacachina

My Recommended Itinerary for Huacachina Travel

There isn’t too much to do here – the main attraction is really Huacachina itself. That said, I’d still recommend it because it’s such a cool site to see. As I’ve mentioned in other guides, you can come here as a (long) day trip from Lima or even Paracas. Here’s what I recommend for Huacachina:

Hike up the dunes:

Of course you’re going to want an epic picture on top of the sand dunes overlooking the village. The trick to finding one of the best spots: look for the water tower (you can’t miss it) and then hike up to the right of it.

I am deathly afraid of heights, so I only made it a certain point before I was trembling in fear. However, if you keep hiking up, you’ll get to the top and be rewarded with an insane view!

Extreme sports:

Everywhere you look you’ll see people sandboarding down the dunes! However, I don’t like heights or going fast so I didn’t do it. Dune buggies are another popular activity that I was also scared to do (notice a theme here!).