Lima : Paracas & Huacachina- Journée à Islas Ballestas & Sandboard

An experience that could be long but wonderful

Amazing experience , just do it and slide down the sand dunes, also the drivers were professional and knowledgeable

Our family of four took this tour (during our first trip to Lima). We were picked up at the JW Marriot. We were told to meet there at 5:00, but the bus did not arrive until closer to 5:30 (you will get a message the day before stating the bus may arrive later than the scheduled pick-up time, so don't be worried). Christopher was our tour guide and he was friendly, professional, and trustworthy (he spoke in English and Spanish). I overpacked based on reviews I read. You really do not need to take a lot. You can buy drinks and snacks at every stop. Your first stop is at a roadside 'restaurant' in which you can get breakfast. You then drive to Paracas where you will take a boat ride. People here will try to sell you hats, gators, and sunglasses. If you do not have them for the sand dunes, buy them here, as nobody will be selling them at the dunes. After the boat ride, you will go into a store (they gave us cookie samples that they then try to sell you) will have a little time to shop. From there you will drive to lunch and Pisco tasting. Your guide will send you a menu on the bus ride and you will text him your lunch order. The lunch spot (Tres Niettos/Nietto) was a nice/clean/upscale vibe. We enjoyed our food. After you eat, you do some Pisco tasting (about 5 different kinds). My daughters were a little bored at the tasting, but it was pretty quick (if you do not want to do the tasting you can walk around during that time, you do not have to participate). After this stop, you then drive to what we thought was the most fun part of the day, the sand dunes. There is a small food stand/store front you park at. From there, you will be assigned a dune buggy. You go for a short ride, then you stop and have to climb up the hill from which you can look down at the oasis and take pictures (you get about 5 minutes). After that, you will drive around a little longer. Your guide will park up at the top of a sand dune and will take pictures of you on your dune buggy if you would like. Then you will get your boards to sandboard down the dune on. This was thrilling and exciting all at the same time. After this, you go on one last ride around the dunes before you head back to the bus. You can buy drinks/snacks and use the restroom before boarding the bus for the 4 1/2 hour drive back to Lima. We arrived back at 10:30pm. The seats on our bus were comfortable and reclined nicely which was nice since you spend majority of the day on the bus. Our bus did not have a restroom for use and it did not have charging ports for phones (so bring your portable chargers). Every stop has restrooms to use (as well as toilet paper) but you must pay for almost all of them, so bring coins for that. Overall, the highlight of our trip was the sand dunes. I wish we could have gone down into the oasis. If there was an excursion to just go to the sand dunes and oasis, although it's a long drive, I would have done that.

Big let down. We went buggy riding/sandboarding in huacachina, and let’s just say if you actually want to sandboard this is not the place to do it. We rode around in a sketchy worn down buggy, and stopped on top of a tiny 10 meter hill. The sandboards are just a piece of plywood and all the binding were broken. we simply sledded down the tiny hill a couple times since it was impossible to strap in. So if you want to actually sandboard like you see on the videos don’t choose izi Peru

It was great! Everything very well organized and delivered as sold. The guide very kind and the places are beautiful. The trip to Paracas eh significant, but it was worth it

An unforgettable experience. Excellent agency service. All on time. On time departures and pickups. I recommend Izi agency GEORGE

We were picked up at 5am in front of a Marriott hotel. couple of hours to the boats for the sea lion and penguin viewing. Then lunch and then to Huacachina. It was great. The tour guides were great. The only disappointment was when we found out we wouldn't actually be visiting Huacachina; You see it from the top of the sand dunes. In order to do that you have to book a hotel and stay over night. It is a 20 hour day. up at 3:45am and returned home around 11:30pm.

Excellent experience, the guides geniuses with excellent explanations about what we were visiting. The beautiful landscapes, from the Tour to the Ballestas Islands to Huacachina .. an experience worth realizing!! We had a great time!!

I found it extremely disorganized, from the exit to the return. The bus had minor defects. On the go, the microphone didn't work. On the return, the lack of numbering in the banks next to us, made the light remain strong and direct in us. In the first part of the tour, we lost time with going to a souvenir store to taste "a candy that only we would have la", which is the famous nut with milk candy and bathed with chocolate. In the second part, the tour/tasting of pisk was much more interesting. But it also demanded too much time. Due to this lack of time management, we arrived late in the desert, and it was necessary to get off the bus very early and "run" to get to the mountain in time for sunset. Which was in vain. Several times we were so distant from the guide that we ended up having it seemed like we were alone. When we finally arrived near the mountain, if we had been offered the bugger service that is at the entrance, we would have continued to climb the mountain in time to see the sunset. However, we still had to "run" between tourists and merchants, until we reached the entrance of the mountain. From there, we went on foot and we were still advised not to stop for photos, so we could get to the bugs soon. When we finally caught the bug, instead of being taken to see the little sunset that was still left, they stopped a dune and made the boards available to slip. Another extremely disorganized moment with rude guides. The bug that took us, just went out to get more people, leaving my group without any guidance. Finally, when we returned to the bus, it stopped at the same place that left us. That is, we had to "run" between people and cars, to get to the bus immediately in order to avoid getting to Lima in the morning.

the tour was excellent!! I would repeat it They attended us very well, the explanation of the guide was perfect, we understood everything:)