You are here : Destination Info - Nazca, Ica and Paracas Tours

Nazca, Ica and Paracas Tours

Nazca Lines overflight.

You will see an interesting video and receive updated information about the Nasca lines from a qualified guide before being transferred to a specially designed CESSNA airplane for your approximately one hour flight over the Lines.

The Nasca Lines are gigantic geoglyphs located in the Nasca Desert, a high arid plateau that stretches 53 miles between the towns of Nasca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana in Peru.

They were created by the Nasca culture between 300 BC and 700 AD. There are hundreds of individual figures, ranging in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, and lizards.

The Nasca lines cannot be recognized as coherent figures except from the air. Since it is presumed the Nasca people could never have seen their work from this vantage point, there has been much speculation on the builders' abilities and motivations.

The Chauchilla Cemetery is a pre Inca site in which the profanation of tombs by the huaqueros , have left some tombs open in which you can appreciate the old inhabitants' remains. It is located at 17.4 miles to the south of Nazca.

The well laid-out and interesting Regional Museum of Ica has a collection of mummies, textiles and pottery of the Paracas and Nazca culture among other artefacts. At the rear of the museum there is also a large representation of the Nazca Lines allowing you get an overview of the entire series.

From the port at Paracas you will embark on your tour of the Islas Ballestas . The Islands have been eroded into arches and caves which provide shelter for thousands of seabirds and sea lions.

Better known as the Peruvian Galapagos, the hilly, desert coast of Paracas and the Islas Ballestas boast a wide variety of air and sea wildlife, including over 100 species of birds, as well as sea lions, turtles, dolphins, whales and sharks. You might even see a condor or a penguin!

The Paracas National Reserve is located on the peninsula and bay of Paracas. It contains archaeological remains of the Paracas Culture. It covers an area of 335 thousand hectares, of which 217,594 correspond to marine waters and 117,406 to mainland.