If you’ve never visited a desert oasis in person, it’s a pretty amazing sight to see. It’s almost like being in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Peru’s Huacachina Oasis is a landscape as fantastic as any place on Earth, and it’s easy to reach if you’re already in Peru. Being situated between Lima and Cusco, it’s simple for almost all tourists to pencil into their itinerary.
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Getting to the Huacachina Oasis
Unfortunately you can’t fly to Ica for love or money. There’s no airport there. Virtually all visitors here arrive by bus.
If your trip is limited in scope or time you can see the Huacachina Oasis on a single day bus tour starting and ending in Lima. But the ride is four hours each way so it makes for a very long day with a fair amount of physical exertion hiking in the desert. You’ll leave early in the morning and won’t return until late at night.
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If you’ve got more time you can schedule a visit here as part of a larger bus-based itinerary with an operator like Peru Hop. But for maximum flexibility you’ll want to plan your own trip to Huacachina Oasis. Lima is an ideal starting point with many bus companies operating from multiple terminals.
I used Cruz Del Sur for my trip. I was able to book tickets online and receive them via email. This isn’t necessary as you can just buy tickets at the station. However few people book online so if you do you’ll be able to choose any seats on the bus. Uber can get you to and from the bus station on both ends. Or you might get a tuk tuk in Ica if you’re feeling adventurous.
Where to Stay and Eat
You’ll definitely want to stay at the Huacachina Oasis itself. All of the local tours will originate here and it’s a self-contained resort village with everything you’ll need during the course of your stay. The road to the oasis is unfriendly to navigate on foot and the city of Ica is quite dusty and dreary without much to recommend it to visitors.
I stayed at the DM Mossone Ica hotel (full review here) which is the only actual hotel at the oasis site. It’s a Spanish mission style building that’s over 100 years old and a unique experience, even if it is a bit rustic. The pool was just fantastic. If you’re staying during the summer you should give this place serious consideration for the pool alone. All of the other accommodations at the oasis are hostels, and they’re probably going to provide a similar experience. I’m not an expert in hostels by any means, but a number of these are chain hostels with brand names like Wild Rover and many of them can rent you a private room.
When it comes to food there are a number of restaurants surrounding the lagoon. They’re all fairly similar in that they offer scenic outdoor dining and small menus consisting of a mix of Peruvian specialties and pizza/pasta/hamburger general tourist fare. Most places accept credit cards and several of the restaurants and hostels have bars that provide a place to go in the evening after dinner.
Tours and Activities
When visiting the Huacachina Oasis it’s important to decide in advance how long you want to stay. Most travelers have other destinations and considerations to plan around. If you get an early enough start, one night at the oasis could be enough. But I would suggest that this is a good place to stay longer than you might think: for 3-5 nights even.
The catch is that you have to fill your time here. Sitting by the lake and reading a nice book is pleasant, but it isn’t what you came for. Virtually every visitor here books some kind of tour, at the very least one of the rides in a sand car to go out and see the dunes and the sunset.
Safety Concerns
I booked one such tour and honestly: kind of hated it. These sand cars are not maintained to any kind of standard and ours had trouble with both the accelerator and the radiator while we were miles out in the desert. I also have serious doubts about the training and skill level of the drivers. Ours was about 22 years old and had a day job outside of being a tour guide. These cars can reach speeds up to 50 mph and this kid was jamming down the gas the whole time, taking bumps and going up and down dunes as fast as possible. There were also points at which he’d alternate the wheel side to side or take turns as hard as possible, relying on g force to keep the car upright.
It’s a certainty that accidents do happen with these cars. There’s no way of knowing how often or how serious they are. The level of emergency preparedness also leaves much room for doubt.
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There’s not much to the sandboarding part of the tour. It’s very similar to sledding down a hill. You go one at a time and the ride lasts a few seconds. If I had it to do again I’d probably have looked into something more like this sandboarding and skiing class.
You can also use the Huacachina Oasis as a base to check out other major attractions like taking a Pisco tour, seeing the Nazca Lines, or the Canyon of the Lost.
History of Huacachina Oasis
There are various legends surrounding the history of Huacachina Oasis. You can find them by searching online or taking one of the walking tours at the resort. Personally I don’t find them very compelling. Mermaid this, mourning Incan lady that… blah blah blah.
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There’s not a lot of information readily available about the history of Huacachina as a resort destination, which is a shame. With the hotel being more than 100 years old it’s clear this is the sort of place that people have been coming to since long before the average person could take vacations. At one point, people must have invested significant time, effort and funds to reach this place.
Walking along the stone concourse around the lagoon, you get the sense of being the latest in a long history of visitors, enjoying an experience that has changed very little over the generations.
Bottom Line
I consider the Huacachina Oasis a once-in-a-lifetime or bucket list sort of destination not just for its remote location, but because its small size means you can see and experience all of it in one visit. After you’ve come here, there’s little reason to return again. If you come here, choose your tours carefully and make the experience count.
It’s well worth the trip for your first visit. Huacachina is a unique and beautiful landscape that’s hard to duplicate anywhere on Earth.
