Holiday in Huacachina

What makes Huacachina special as a destination?

Huacachina is a surreal oasis in the middle of the Peruvian desert — an emerald green lake surrounded by sand dunes up to 100 meters high and a handful of palm trees, hostels, and restaurants. The place is only five kilometers from the coastal city of Ica and looks like a movie set: too perfect to be real, yet it is exactly that. The legend says that the lake was formed from the tears of an Inca princess who wept for her lost warrior. Today, Huacachina is less romantic and more of an adrenaline hotspot. Dune buggy tours are the main event: Open buggies race over the massive dunes, taking steep descents at full speed and leaving passengers hovering between euphoria and panic. Sandboarding on the dunes is the second adrenaline highlight. You strap a board to your feet (or lie on your stomach) and glide down the steep sand mountains. The speed is surprisingly high, the sand remarkably hard, and the fun is limitless. The sunset over the dunes is Huacachina's third trump card. When the sun turns the sand deep orange and the shadows violet, the scene looks like a painting. The bar terraces by the lake fill up, the atmosphere turns golden, and for a moment, Huacachina is the most romantic spot in Peru. The oasis itself is tiny — you can walk around it in five minutes. Backpacker hostels with pools, small restaurants, and souvenir shops make up the entire infrastructure. The atmosphere is relaxed, international, and slightly crazy — a kind of desert party village for backpackers. Ica, the nearby city, offers Peru's best Pisco experience. The distilleries around Ica produce the national grape brandy, and tours with tastings are a rewarding half-day trip. The region is also the center of the Nazca culture, and the regional museum in Ica showcases impressive artifacts.