Peru » Lima

Lima: Ballestas Islands & Huacachina Dune Buggy Day Trip

★★★★★★★★★★ 5.00 (3 reviews)

Free cancellation

1/7

Duration12h

GroupUp to 12

LanguagesEN · ES

PickupAt your hotel

Speedboat to penguin colonies, then sandboard down Peru's biggest dunes

You start with an early pickup from your Lima hotel, then spend 2 hours on a speedboat touring the Ballestas Islands to see penguins and sea lions up close. After lunch at the desert oasis of Huacachina, you ride a dune buggy up massive sand dunes and sandboard back down. Hotel return is in the evening after a full 12-hour day.

12h

Step-by-step itinerary

Pickup from Lima hotel
Bus ride to Paracas
Boat tour of Ballestas Islands
Travel to Huacachina oasis
Free time and lunch in Huacachina
Dune buggy ride on sand dunes
Sandboarding down sand dunes

The Experience

The boat cuts away from the Paracas dock and the coast shrinks behind you—that's when you realize how close the Ballestas Islands really are. Within minutes, sea lions are sliding off rocks into the water, and the guide is pointing out Humboldt penguins clustered on the ledges above. A 2-hour boat tour of the Ballestas Islands puts you face-to-face with hundreds of them, along with cormorants and other seabirds that nest nowhere else on the Peruvian coast. The water is cold and the boat moves fast, so the wildlife feels both intimate and wild at the same time. You're not watching them through glass or from a distance—they're there, doing their thing, and you're just passing through their space.

After the boat returns to Paracas, you drive inland toward Huacachina, a natural oasis buried in the Ica Desert. The landscape changes completely—suddenly it's all sand, massive dunes that look almost unreal in their scale. The oasis itself is small and quiet, ringed by palm trees and a few low buildings. You'll have time to walk around, grab lunch at one of the local spots (you pay separately), and then the real part starts: a dune buggy ride that takes you up the face of those enormous hills. The driver knows the angles, and the engine sounds like it's working hard the whole way. Then you get out, strap on a sandboard, and slide down. It's faster than you'd expect, and the sand is softer than it looks. Most people do multiple runs because once you're up there, you might as well.

The whole day trip from Lima runs about 12 hours with the 4-hour bus ride each way. Your hotel pickup happens early—you're on the road before sunrise—and the bilingual guide stays with you through both the boat tour and the dune activities, so there's no confusion about timing or what comes next. The vehicle is air-conditioned, which matters on the drive back when you're tired and covered in sand. By the time you return to your hotel in Lima, you've seen wildlife most people only read about and done something physical enough that you'll feel it the next day, but not so extreme that you need special training to show up.

What’s included

Your day includes hotel pickup from Lima, a 4-hour air-conditioned bus ride to Paracas, entry to the Ballestas Islands national reserve, a 2-hour guided boat tour to see penguins and sea lions, free time and lunch at Huacachina oasis (at your own expense), a 2-hour dune buggy tour, sandboarding equipment and instruction, and return transport to your Lima hotel. A bilingual guide accompanies you throughout.

Good to know

Easy physical level

Operated by Trek The Colca

Is this one for you?Book this if you want to see the Ballestas Islands and try sandboarding in one day without arranging separate transport, boat tickets, and dune activities—the fixed itinerary and included pickup handle all of that, and the bilingual guide keeps the day moving on schedule.