The Ballestas Islands are the most important wildlife sanctuary off the Peruvian Pacific coast. The group of small islands is located near the town of Paracas on the south coast of Peru, and they are home to a wide variety of species. As well as thousands of guano-producing seabirds, these rocky islands are a refuge for Humboldt penguins, blue-footed boobies, fur seals, and sea lions. And if you’re very lucky, you might see marine otters and maybe even a humpback whale as you tour the islands by boat.
Our half-day Ica city tour will take you to all the most interesting cities of the coast with the highlight of The Huacachina Lagoon, the famous oasis town surrounded by huge sand dunes, eucalyptus trees, palm trees, and huarangos. Here you can ride the dunes in a sand buggy and slide down them on a sand board. Despite suffering extensive damage from the 2007 earthquake, the city of Ica in southern Peru has many charms and numerous attractions. For a city surrounded by desert, it may seem surprising that Ica and the surrounding region produce such large quantities of asparagus, cotton, and fruit. Not to mention its status as the main wine and pisco region of Peru.
Come with us as we take a flight over the incredible Nazca Lines! Created by the Nazca civilization between 500 BC and 500 AD, these huge geoglyphs were etched into the desert for unknown reasons, and can only be fully appreciated from the air. Despite having been studied for more than 80 years, the geoglyphs still remain shrouded in mystery. There are hundreds of simple lines and geometric shapes, as well as more than 70 zoomorphic designs. These include a hummingbird, spider, fish, condor, heron, monkey, lizard, dog, and a human (the famous “astronaut”). Other shapes depict trees and flowers. Flying over the Nazca Lines is quite an experience, and you’ll fly around to have great views of all the most important and most impressive shapes and figures.
Fire away with your questions and snag some tailor-made wisdom from our experts to make your adventure epic!
Today, we will pick you up at 05h00 from your hotel in Lima to transfer you to the bus terminal. Your private car will take you to Paracas, on a journey of approximately 4 hours. Your trip to the Ballestas Islands begins at 9 a.m. We’ll head to the harbor and sail out into the Bay of Paracas. It takes about 30 minutes to get out to the Ballestas Islands.
On the way, we’ll pass by the famous Candelabro (chandelier), a large-scale geoglyph built by the Paracas culture around 200 BC. While its exact purpose is unknown, some theories suggest it represents the trident or lightning rod of the god Viracocha, and it might have served as a sign to sailors, who could easily see it from the sea.
When we reach the islands, we’ll have about one hour to explore by boat. Going ashore is forbidden, as it could disturb the natural balance of this vital reserve. But we can see plenty from the boat, and you’ll have magnificent views of the islands and their many residents. Your guide will point out the various animals that call these craggy islands home. You’ll see Humboldt penguins hopping around and an incredible amount of seabirds, including gulls, terns, pelicans, guanays, cormorants and blue-footed boobies. You’ll also be able to spot hundreds of fur seals and sea lions, and maybe marine otters or possibly a humpback whale, which come to these waters between August and October.
Afterwards, we’ll head back towards Paracas harbor, arriving at around 11 a.m. This is where our tour ends. After this tour, we will transfer you to the bus terminal to take the bus to Ica that will take about 2 hours and a half. Once in Ica, we will head you to the hotel in Ica.
After our Ballestas tour, we will take you to the city of Ica for a tour of the city. We will visit the Regional Museum to learn more about this desert region of Peru. Next up is the Huacachina Desert and its famous Oasis. This magical Lagoon, sometimes called “The Oasis of America.” is the perfect place to relax and enjoy lunch. This pretty village is surrounded by a spectacular landscape of dunes, with the shining lagoon sitting in this otherwise arid location. The greenish water comes from a subterranean spring, creating a literal oasis. Apart from being a relaxed place to stay, Huacachina is also famous for two adrenalin-pumping activities: sand boarding and dune buggy rides, both of which are great fun! Sandboarding can be done by anyone in reasonable physical condition. Beginners tend to slide down the dunes on their stomachs, while more experienced sandboarders ride their boards in the same way as a snowboard. After the sandboarding activity, we can enjoy the adrenaline-filled dune buggies, where our guide will take us out in a tubular car to enjoy a ride across the famous dunes of the Huacachina. The sunset is spectacular in this part of the world!
After this action-packed day, we will drop you off at your chosen hotel in Ica or Nazca.
Our Nazca Lines adventure begins when we pick you up from your hotel in Ica /Nazca. We’ll then head to the small Nazca Aerodrome, where we can board a light aircraft for our magnificent flight over the Nazca Lines.
The light aircraft have seats that guarantee a good view of the geoglyphs, that are best seen from the air. Each passenger has professional noise-canceling headphones through which you can hear the informative narration by the pilot. The pilot will follow a course that takes you over all of the main geoglyphs, which span an area of roughly 50 km2 (19 square miles). The views are breathtaking, and it’s fascinating to think how the Nazca Lines were made – and for whom – as you see these huge shapes and figures from the air.
The flight lasts for 30 minutes approx.
*Important:
Please remember that flying times can vary depending on the weather conditions.
It is now to board our private car back to Lima. You can ask the driver to stop at any time to take a photo or grab a roadside snack! On arrival in Lima, we will take you back to your hotel for a well-earned rest!
Departure dates for this package have not been configured yet. Please check back later or contact us for more information.


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Valencia Travel was amazing to work with, and I would highly recommend them for any new travelers. Special thanks again to Andes (guide) , Maria (agent/coordinator) , and Washington (driver) . Thank you for making this a trip to remember for a lifetime.
Valencia Travel was amazing to work with, and I would highly recommend them for any new travelers. Special thanks again to Andes (guide) , Maria (agent/coordinator) , and Washington (driver) . Thank you for making this a trip to remember for a lifetime.
We truly had an incredle experience from booking with Maria, to meeting Miguel upon arrival at the airport, and of course trekking with our incredible guide Aldo and the amazing porters who helped make trekking much more comfortable and luxurious than we're used to. We couldn't believe the 3 course meals they cooked up. Truly blew us away.
The trek itself is incredible as you're able to see so many Inca sites along the way before arriving to Macchupicchu. The mountain range was beautiful.
Aldo our guide was the best! He was very information and taught us so much about the incas and knew so much about all the trees, wildlife, and fauna we saw along the trek. He's been guiding for many years and thanks to his experience and forethought we managed to catch amazing views away from the other groups of trekkers and were the first to arrive to Macchupicchu making for an even more private experience. I highly recommend Aldo!
Valencia travel is a local company that supports all the locals they employ. I highly recommend them for any bookings!
**tip: definitely give yourself 3 days in Cusco before hiking in order to acclimate to the altitude. We saw a couple turn around due to issues with altitude.
We truly had an incredle experience from booking with Maria, to meeting Miguel upon arrival at the airport, and of course trekking with our incredible guide Aldo and the amazing porters who helped make trekking much more comfortable and luxurious than we're used to. We couldn't believe the 3 course meals they cooked up. Truly blew us away.
The trek itself is incredible as you're able to see so many Inca sites along the way before arriving to Macchupicchu. The mountain range was beautiful.
Aldo our guide was the best! He was very information and taught us so much about the incas and knew so much about all the trees, wildlife, and fauna we saw along the trek. He's been guiding for many years and thanks to his experience and forethought we managed to catch amazing views away from the other groups of trekkers and were the first to arrive to Macchupicchu making for an even more private experience. I highly recommend Aldo!
Valencia travel is a local company that supports all the locals they employ. I highly recommend them for any bookings!
**tip: definitely give yourself 3 days in Cusco before hiking in order to acclimate to the altitude. We saw a couple turn around due to issues with altitude.
The Porters and Chef Filex were exceptional and went above and beyond with all our needs.
I was surprised with a Birthday Cake on our hike, and I had no idea someone could make and decorate a cake in a tent.
It was incredibly mind-blowing.
I highly recommend them to anyone looking to do the Inca Trail.
We are extremely pleased with the service we received.
I give them A++++++
Un’altro aspetto importante è stata la guida per Macchu Picchu, Washington! Super appassionato del posto e della storia, vi coninvolgerà con i suoi racconti e le sue spiegazioni. E’ davvero una guida molto esperta e professionale!
Thank you for such a brilliant trek!
Our chef, Gregorio, "Goyo", had the best food of all of our Peru!! the culinary expertise of this guy whom planned a menu according to our hike plan, carbs and proteins, and we had plenty.. .I mean plenty to eat. The porters (all 10), with leads from Climico, and special mention to Fortunato who would met us at the end of the trail to help carry our personal packs to our porters applauding our days hard accomplishment. Along the entire trail, Wilbur encouraging the porter of other competitors as his "little brother" to continue to be strong as they quickly passed us on the trail. My respect to the team of Valencia Travel, the porters, head chef and his assistant and mostly to Wilbur for delivering an experience that I encourage anyone to participate in. Thank you Wilbur. we the 7 women from California, USA will forever be your "Flowers".
There were some challenges communicating with the office staff with some questions we had before the trek and booking it, though once we had our meeting with Guillermo it was all sorted out.
After a lot of research, Valencia Travel appeared as the most qualitative and professional agency organizing the excursions we wanted to take part in. We signed in for day trip to the rainbow mountain and had an amazing experience. The guide spoke English and shared a lot of interesting facts with us, the food was delicious and the general activity was perfectly organisez.
Thanks to this very positive experience, we decided to do the 4 days Lares Trail to Machu Picchu with Valencia Travel. Waouw. We spent the 4 days talking about how impressed we were about the professionalism of the agency. The trek was wonderful, the nature breathtaking but the most impressive part was the service, the kindness of the staff, their organisation,… Everything is in the details, the camp are very confortable, they even bring you tea in your tent to wake you up in the morning!
The food was beyond expectations. At every meal, we had a salad, a soup, a main dish and once we even had a cake that they baked in the tents! Being vegan, we are always a bit scared that it could be a problem for trekkings, but with Valencia it is not at all! We had some of the best foods of our trip during our trekking!
I am so happy that we did the Lares trekking with Valencia as there is no better way to reach the sacred site of Machu Picchu than by doing a trekking in the nature. It is a very special place and trekking to reach it definitely add some magic to the experience!
To conclude, I would highly recommend Valencia for any activities in Peru, it will make your experience unforgettable!!
At 55 and with a helpful dose of camaraderie from my younger trek-mates, including my 16 year-old niece who managed the ascents and descents with aplomb, I felt a sense of accomplishment in completing the trek, which is more vertical than horizontal and ranges from about 9,000 to 12,000 feet over three days. Hiking the trail does require above-average fitness for the middle-aged. No unmanageable parts but a walking stick, reliable shoes, dependable leg muscles and accommodating joints, a relatively light backpack of essentials, and stops along the way to gulp down the thin air, take in the jaw-dropping vistas, pause for passing porters, and make way for grazing llamas—all are required to push through. So is a large reserve of self-deprecation. Alex and other minders were more than indulgent while keeping us all on the move.
Reaching Machu Picchu at the end was paradoxically awe-inspiring and anti-climatic given the splendor of the journey to get there. At the end of it, getting on the train that deposits and returns the vast majority of visitors in the space of a day, I simply couldn’t imagine seeing Machu Picchu without doing the trek.
If you are hiking the Inca Trail I highly recommend to go through Valencia Travel. Ask to have Elistan as your guide. The porters are treated very well. They have good hiking shoes, and attire to wear. (though if they could get backpacks that include waist straps I think that would be great!). Ask for Luis to be your cook. I have never eaten so well on a vacation. Luis is amazing at what he can cook up on the trail, we are talking three course meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and the food is presented as if it was at a 5 star hotel. Incredible!!!
My only other desire is if Valencia offered a Recipe Book of the meals eaten on the trail. I would totally purchase such a piece of "gold".
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