Free Walking Tour Huacachina: Oasis to the Dunes

Your Huacachina Walking Tour Stop by Stop, from Water to Sand

1. 1

   Oasis de Huacachina

   

   Start at the water. The Oasis de Huacachina is a small natural desert lake with a village built around it, home to around 100 permanent residents and a great many more visitors each year. People call it the "oasis of America", and in 1991 Peru put it on the back of the 50 nuevo sol note. The promenade around the lagoon is open at any hour and costs nothing, so take your time here: this is the free part of the day.

   The name comes from Quechua: wakachina means "guard" or "conceal", possibly short for wakachina qucha, the "hidden lagoon". The legend fits. A beautiful native princess undressed to bathe, saw in her mirror a hunter approaching from behind and fled; the mirror she left behind became the lake. In another version the pool she was bathing in stayed behind as the lagoon, and the folds of her mantle, streaming out as she ran, became the dunes around it. Some say she never left and still lives in the water as a mermaid.

   Watch what people do at the edge. Local tradition holds that the water and mud heal, and locals and visitors alike bathe here or cover themselves in mud against arthritis, rheumatism, asthma and bronchitis. Huacachina began as a resort for families from nearby Ica and is still geared to them, even as more and more travellers arrive for the sandboarding.

   The lagoon is more fragile than it looks. It was fed by natural seepage from underground aquifers until increased well drilling in the early 2000s began to threaten that supply. Since 2015 local business groups have pumped water into the lake to keep the oasis alive for visitors. In 2016 it was announced that Marino Morikawa, the Peruvian scientist whose nanobubble system cleaned lake El Cascajo, would lead a restoration project; by 2020 nothing more had been heard of it.

   From the promenade, the first leg is long: 5110 m, about 71 minutes on foot to the checkpoint of the conservation area. Let the GPS route lead the way.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free (public promenade / village around the lagoon)

   Location

   Oasis de Huacachina on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Área de Conservación Regional Laguna de Huacachina

   

   At the checkpoint of the Área de Conservación Regional Laguna de Huacachina, the desert becomes protected ground, and this is where you pay the regional entry fee.

   The reserve was created on 7 August 2014 and is managed by the regional government of Ica. It covers 24.08 km² of desert, a roughly rectangular block 6.5 km from north to south and up to 4.6 km wide. It takes in the lake surface and the western shore, and the oasis you just left sits in its northeastern corner.

   What it protects is the landscape itself. Sand dunes run across the whole area, and a ridge up to 660 m high cuts through it from north to south. The reserve is listed in IUCN category VI, the class of protected areas managed for the sustainable use of natural ecosystems, so visitors are welcome, under rules such as the fixed checkpoint hours.

   Is the fee worth it? If you are going on to the dunes, it is simply the price of walking into the sand. If the lagoon was enough, this is a good place to turn around and let the GPS navigation take you back.

   The second leg is 5000 m, about 69 minutes. On the way you pass Sandboard en las dunas de Huacachina, a sandboarding spot right beside the route.

   Hours

   Daily 08:00–19:00 (checkpoint access hours; motorized dune buggy tours prohibited between 19:00 and 06:30)

   Price

   S/ 8.10 foreigners, S/ 4.00 national tourists, S/ 2.00 local residents (Ica) / students / seniors (60+) / persons with disabilities; free for children under 5 and residents of Huacachina

   Location

   Área de Conservación Regional Laguna de Huacachina on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Dunas de Huacachina

   

   This is what the whole walk has been pointing toward. The promenade was the free frame, the reserve the protected one, and the Dunas de Huacachina are the subject: sand dunes reaching heights of up to 500 m, and the reason more and more travellers come to the oasis at all.

   At the booths, keep two purchases apart. Entry follows the regional conservation fee, the same schedule as at the checkpoint behind you. Buggy and sandboarding tours are something else entirely: private, optional and many times the price of entry. Nothing on this walk requires them.

   If sandboarding is why you came, decide here, with the price in front of you. That one choice makes the difference between this stop costing pocket change and taking a real bite out of your budget for the day. Without it, the dunes are simply a viewpoint: take your time and look out over the sand you have just crossed.

   The route ends here. When you're ready, the GPS navigation in your browser leads you back to the lagoon; plan to be back past the checkpoint before it closes.

   Hours

   Daily 08:00–19:00 (checkpoint access hours; motorized dune buggy tours prohibited between 19:00 and 06:30)

   Price

   S/ 8.10 foreigners, S/ 4.00 national tourists, S/ 2.00 local residents (Ica) / students / seniors (60+) / persons with disabilities; free for children under 5 and residents of Huacachina

   Location

   Dunas de Huacachina on Google Maps ↗

Shorter Ways to Walk Huacachina

The two desert legs are long, so the route splits naturally into a free lagoon visit, a half walk to the reserve and the full walk to the sand.

Lagoon only

Stops: 1

For a relaxed hour without any walking legs: stroll the promenade, look at the water and the people bathing in the mud, and you pay nothing at all.

Lagoon and reserve checkpoint

Stops: 1, 2

For walkers who want the desert without the full distance: 5110 m, about 71 minutes on foot to the checkpoint, where the regional entry fee applies. The GPS navigation leads you back to the lagoon when you're done.

The full walk to the dunes

Stops: 1, 2, 3

For anyone who came for the sand: 2 h 20 min of walking across both legs, with the regional entry fee as the only required cost. Sandboarding and buggy tours are optional extras on top.

How Long Does the Huacachina Oasis to Dunes Walk Take?

The walking alone takes 2 h 20 min: 71 minutes from the lagoon to the reserve checkpoint, then 69 minutes on to the dunes. With half an hour at the lagoon, twenty minutes at the checkpoint and three quarters of an hour on the sand, plan on roughly four hours.

A sample morning: leave the promenade at 08:30, reach the checkpoint at 09:41, set off again at 10:01, arrive on the dunes at 11:10 and finish around 11:55. The lagoon alone takes about half an hour; the walk to the checkpoint with a short stay there takes about two hours before you head back.

Before You Set Off into the Huacachina Desert

• Start and finish: Start at the lagoon promenade of the Oasis de Huacachina and finish on the Dunas de Huacachina. You can join at any stop; the order here is the recommended one, and the GPS navigation takes you from the dunes back to the start if you want.
• Best time: Any day works. Start in the morning, so you have plenty of time on the sand before the reserve checkpoint closes.
• Costs: The lagoon is free. The conservation area and the dunes charge a regional entry fee. Sandboarding and buggy tours are separate private purchases.

Common Questions About Visiting Huacachina