Experience the best of Paracas
Paracas is a small Pacific bay on Peru's south coast, where desert meets the ocean and boats set out to the sea-lion islands.
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Paracas lies on a bay south of Lima, in the Ica region, where bare desert hills run straight into the Pacific. Most of the peninsula is part of the Paracas National Reserve, the first marine protected area in Peru, a landscape of red sand cliffs and pelican-fringed beaches, with the Red Beach as a famous stop. The Paracas culture, known for its fine textiles, flourished here more than two thousand years ago.
Boats leave the pier for the Ballestas Islands, a group of rocky islets with sea lions, Humboldt penguins, boobies and thousands of seabirds, nicknamed the poor man's Galápagos. On a hillside of the peninsula, the Paracas Candelabra, a huge figure drawn in the sand, is seen from the water. The oasis of Huacachina, with its sand dunes, lies inland near Ica, and the Nazca Lines are further south.
Ceviche, scallops grown in the bay and fried fish are the local meal, with pisco sours made from the grape brandy named for the neighbouring port of Pisco. Lagunillas, a fishing village on the reserve's coast, is known for its seafood restaurants. Afternoon winds blow across the peninsula, and the name Paracas is said to come from a Quechua phrase for sand falling like rain.
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