Information on the Coast of Peru
Deep sea fishing around Cabo Blanco. Click here for more information
Peru has about 2500km of coastline. That's considerably longer than the US Pacific coastline ( 1700 km from San Diego to Seattle ). That means a lot of beach.
Beaches
There are various areas that could be considered beach resorts.
Around Lima.
Lima itself is on the beach. It has many beaches that get very crowned in summer, particularly at the weekend. These beaches tend to be dirty and the water polluted. I believe the water pollution has improved considerably in recent years, as the shanty towns within Lima, that used to dispose of sewerage directly into the ocean, now have proper waste drainage. However they are still pretty littered and crowded.
South of Lima, there are plenty of beaches, accessible by local bus. These can be measured by the KM south they are from Lima. At km 40 is Santa Maria. This beach now suffers from the pollution that used to plague the central Lima beaches, due to it's rapid growth in recent years. Again this is crowded in summer.
Around km 80-100 there are many good beaches, however, many of them are private. There are a few accessible ones, such as Bujama at km 90 is a good option. Cerro Azul, at 130km south is also a good option, a small town with a few hostels.
Paracas
Paracas is 250 km south of Lima and offers very good beaches, albeit a little hard to get to the best ones. A car might be needed to get to the most remote.
Paracas also offers boat trips to the Ballestas Islands, a wildlife reserve, home to sea lions, humbolt penguins and lots of birds.
Ica
This town, about 300km south of Lima has a pleasant climate year round . It offers sandboarding as an activity. It is the heart of Peru's wine making area. Wineries and Pisco Distilleries can be visited. Also, much of the world's asparagus comes from this area.
It can be used as a base to explore the area. Hotel Las Dunas is a big resort here, popular with Limenos, due to its great climate and good facilities. It has an airstrip, from which flights over the Nazca lines can be taken. However it's cheaper to fly from Nazca.
Nazca
The famous Nazca Lines. The town is 450 km south of Lima. Flights can be arranged over the lines. Although there are towers for viewing, far and away the best way to see the lines is from an aircraft.
Nearby can be found the cemetery of Chauchilla .... open graves in the desert ..containing piles of bones dating back to the late Nazca period ( 500AD -700AD ). one of the driest places on earth.
Mancora and Punta Sal
This is Peru's premier beach resort area. It is about 1200km north of Lima, not far from the border with Ecuador. Be aware this is not an international 5 star resort, but more a quiet place with small hotels, pleasant beaches, surfing, some of the best game fishing and great seafood. Many of the hotels offer bungalow style rooms.
As the sea has large waves, great for surfers, many people head for Mancora, as it has some rocks just out in the sea, so there are pools of calm water close to the beach, so kids can play safely in the water.
See the Information page for Trujillo and Chiclayo for more on the north coast.
