Three Days In Huacachina
If you are traveling to Peru, put Huacachina on your list!! Huacachina is one of the most unique places Kaylie and I have ever visited and the experiences we had there were some of the top of our whole Peru trip. We spent a total of 3 days/2 nights in Huacachina.
There were many questions we had before getting to Huacachina like: how do we get there, where should we stay, and what excursions should we choose!? This blog will go into detail of the best experiences to do and the best places to stay in Huacachina!
Day 1: Arrival & Check In
When traveling to Huacachina, you are likely coming from Lima (which is what we did). Huacachina is right next to the larger city of Ica so any transportation you are looking at will be traveling to Ica first. The only sensible way to get to Ica is by bus.
We used the website Busbud which offers the cheapest and fastest rides to Ica.
On Busbud, you can choose between different bus companies. Cruz Del Sur was by far the best bus we rode on our trip. They have comfortable seats and the best prices! Plus, you can choose between one way or round-trip rides.
The bus ride took about 4 hours. You leave from Lima here and arrive in Ica here.
Once you arrive in Ica, you can get a taxi into Huacachina for 20 soles ($5 usd, 2023).
Where to Stay - Bananas Adventure Hostel
There are not many places to choose from to stay in Huacachina, so we went with the place that had the best reviews and coolest looking bar and Bananas was by far the best choice! The rooms were very nice and clean, and it had a really nice outside area with a wraparound bar and pool.
The other famous hostel in Huacachina is called Wild Rover but it is very much a party hostel. What we did was stay at Bananas and then just walked 5 min to Wild Rover when we wanted to go out to party.
Bananas Hostel also had a good restaurant and you can book excursions right at the front desk for really great prices.
We arrived in the evening on day one, so we spent our night walking around the lake, eating at the hostel, and enjoying some beers by the pool.
Day 2: Oldest Winery in South America!
Day 2 for us was our only full day in Huacachina so we kept busy and did two really fun activities.
1. Wine tour of Tacama Winery (oldest in South America)
2. Dune Buggy Ride & Sand Boarding
Both of these experiences were extremely fun and something you can only do while in Huacachina.
Tacama Winery
Tour companies offer many different wine tours near Huacachina, but if you want the real deal you need to visit Tacama Winery! It is about a 25 min taxi ride from Huacachina into the city of Ica (the taxi costs 30 soles each way - $16 usd). Once you get to Tacama Winery you can choose from a couple different kind of tours. The tour that is in English starts at noon every day.
Our tour only costs us 20 soles each ($5 usd) and included a full walk through of the winery and a full tasting. The winery is definitely the most beautiful winery we both have ever visited, and it had a ton of unique history since it is the oldest winery in South America.
The winery is also unique because it does not only just make wine; it also makes Pisco, which is Peru's most famous alcohol.
Once you get done with the wine tour, you can have lunch/dinner at their restaurant which is delicious.
Dune Buggy & Sandboarding
There are also so many options to choose from for exploring the sand dunes. We kept it simple and chose to go through our hostel to book the excursion.
Since we went through our hostel, we got to go with a bunch of other travelers that were staying in the same place as us, so we got to make friends and hang out with them all night!
The excursion costs 80 soles ($21 usd) for both of us and it lasted about 4 hours. They take you to the sand dunes and you go on an absolutely crazy ride in a dune buggy. The dune buggy drivers do not hold back, it feels like you are on a roller coaster through the sand. Kaylie and I both couldn’t stop laughing during it because he was going so fast.
Once you ride around for a while you then get to get out and take pictures and sandboard down some steep sand dunes. We were proud of ourselves because both of us went down the fastest out of anyone in our group. You ride down about 5 dunes and then they take to you to the top of the dune overlooking the oasis to watch sunset.
Once the sun goes down, we ran down the dune back to our hostel which was also a lot of fun. However, I lost my sunglasses running down the hill so make sure you put all your stuff in a fanny pack during the trip!!
Where to Eat
1. Wild Olive Trattoria & Guest House
2. Jaku Coffee
3. Bananas Adventure Hostel Restaurant
4. Tambo de Tacama Restaurant
1. Wild Olive is an Italian restaurant right on the water of the oasis that has great food. We spent my birthday dinner there sharing a bottle of Tacama wine with some pasta and pizza. They had a tv in the corner playing 80s music videos our whole dinner too, so the vibes were perfect.
2. Jaku Coffee is a good breakfast spot and if you come to Peru do not go a day without having coffee because coffee in Peru is on another level...
3. Bananas Hostel Restaurant had all kinds of food. We ate there twice, and Kaylie specifically loved the club sandwich. Eating there is just such great vibes because it really does feel like an oasis.
4. Tambo De Tacama has amazing Peruvian food and, in my opinion, the best wine in Peru. We had the arroz con pollo and Aji de Gallina.
Other tips!!
1. If you are leaving early in the morning make sure you schedule a taxi the day before! (That is what we had to do)
2. If you want to party go to Wild Rover. When we went, they were doing a karaoke night which was super fun. They also pour shots into your mouth while standing on the bar table haha
3. Make sure you bring something to cover your face from the sand!
4. Don't overpay for a taxi, they will also start out with a ridiculous price, and you just need to bargain them down
5. Bring bug spray
6. Don't be scared to make friends. Almost everyone there is travelling so its super easy to hang out with people.
7. Go to Huacachina! Some people online talk badly about it for no reason. It is so much fun!