The BEST Way To Visit The Paracas National Reserve

The Paracas National Reserve is honestly a must see if you’re in the area (and travelling through Peru). We found these landscapes to be so unique, and this tour is the best way to see it – reach ALL the best viewpoints by dune buggy or ATV. Riding through the desert landscapes and reaching coastal viewpoints is the perfect way to spend your late afternoon.

Paracas National Reserve Tour

This tour was about two hours in total, and we actually booked it through Lima Experience (linked here) as we organized a two day tour through them to Paracas and Huacachina. It was an afternoon tour that started around 330pm and lasted about two hours. We met up at the location where we would take the dune buggy’s from and headed off on our adventure driving towards the national reserve.

During the tour, we drove through the desert / park terrain which was absolutely stunning in itself! We then stopped along the way at three different locations. The dune buggy’s go somewhat fast and the ride itself is super fun (depending on who’s driving ofcourse)!

The first location was Playa Yumaque and WOW. This beach is somewhere you could travel on your own and set up camp for the day enjoying the sun, ocean, and insane views all around. The coastal cliffs with the desert-red hills in the background are something else. We spent about 15 minutes here walking on the beach, taking photos, admiring the scenery.

Then we headed off to the next location: Isthmus. This viewpoint was way different than the first, and equally as mesmerizing. Here you can see the drop from the dramatic cliffs, the beaches below, the rolling hills in the background, and the barren land all throughout the distance. Again, a quick walk and photo-op around this area, we concluded our time at this viewpoint before heading to the next amazing view!

The last viewpoint was red beach – a simple but STUNNING viewpoint with unique red sand. This area was down by a small harbour and had dramatic cliff views along the entire left side of the coast! This was our last viewpoint and by this point we felt like we had seen so much of Paracas National Reserve and the stunning coastline – the tour was SO worth it.

After the tour, we headed back to where we initially departed from before parting ways and grabbing a taxi back home.

Tips

• Make sure your goggles fit well! My eyes watered so much and a good fitting pair of goggles could have probably helped this.
• Clothing! We wore long sleeves and shorts, and the long sleeves helped act as a wind breaker from the sand and wind hitting us.
• Sunscreen & water. Keeping hydrated is obvious, but it’s also still sun hours so make sure you stay protected from the sun.
• Transport. Our transport was only included one way in our tour (to the tour start location), so we had to organize transport back. You can likely do this through your hotel, tour operator, or have a local number handy to organize a ride. It’s usually not too expensive to get around Paracas.

Similar Tours

The tour we did was through Lima Experience (linked above) however, there are tons of similar tours with the same experiences! Check out these tours:

• Paracas National Reserve Tour: Buggy or ATV through Paracas National Reserve with this tour. It takes you to the most beautiful look out spots, with stunning drives to admire in between each location. Not to be missed in Paracas in our opinion!

• Paracas Paragliding Tour: If you’re looking for a unique tour, this is the one! Paragliding will give you a better view of the area that most people don’t experience, and there’s SO much beauty in this area to admire. 

• Paracas Sunset Walk: They call this the golden trek for a reason – the views at Paracas National Reserve at sunset are stunning! Take in the scenery at one of the most beautiful locations with the sunlight bathing the area in its light.

More on Peru

We LOVED Peru and have so many more experiences to share. Check out our Peru blog posts to see more of what we did & our tips / info!