MEMORABLE TOURS IN NAZCA

When you visit Nazca, the chances are good that you plan on flying over the Nazca Lines, perhaps on one of our CLASSIC FLIGHTS. But after your flight is over, there are still plenty of worthwhile things to do and see around Nazca. There is an excellent combination of historical / archaeogical tours and adventure tours to get your adrenaline flowing.

Come take a private tour to the CHAUCHILLA PRE-INCA CEMETERY, to see how the Nazca civilization (the same folks who created the Nazca Lines) buried their dead, including their rituals and religious beliefs. You will see mummies, skulls and artifacts, although graverobbers long ago robbed the gold and jewelry.

Or visit the CANTALLOC AQUEDUCTS, a set of spiral-shaped aqueducts that allowed this innovative tribe to survive in a harsh desert where annual rainfall is a laughably small number. Or if you are looking for that heart-in-your-throat feeling of excitement, consider a DUNE BUGGY AND SANDBOARDING TOUR at the Usaka Desert. Read about all your tour options below.

Most of these tours below are private or small-group tours. Inexpensive “backpacker” tours are available for a lower cost in Nazca, but we prefer to offer premium tours to assure that our clients are receiving comfortable, safe transportation and skilled tour guides. .

CHAUCHILLA CEMETERY TOUR

Chauchilla is a mummy-filled cemetery that was the final resting place of many important figures in the Nazca culture. Many priests, royalty and upper class citizens were buried. The cemetery was operative from from around 200 C.E (formally A.D) to around 900 C.E.

With your professional english-speaking tour guide, you will visit the cemetery, and learn about the burial practices and religious customs of the Nazca people. Tombrobers stole the jewels and precious metals long ago, but fortunately they left the skeletons, mummies and other items that provide insight into this ancient pre-inca civilization.

CANTALLOC AQUEDUCTS PRIVATE TOUR

When you live in a desert, your biggest challenge is not warfare with other tribes, or dangerous animals. The primary threat you face is a lack of fresh water. This is especially true in Nazca, a particularly dry desert where rain is too infrequent to be useful.

The ancient Nazca civilization discovered an ingenious method of controlling and preserving water for their crops, via an underground system of channels. During your private tour, you will visit the CANTALLOC AQUEDUCTS and learn how the Nazcans brought life to the desert.

CAHUACHI - ADOBE PYRAMIDS TOURS

Recent investigations suggest that Cahuachi was a sacred place for the Nazca civilization, a destination for a yearly pilogramage from all over the empire.

A professional english-speaking guide will explore the site with you, explaining what we know and don’t know about this huge set of desert ruins.

Only a few of the pyramids have been excavated, so this site is very much a work in progress. Visitors should not expect complete, intact ruins because many of the pyramids remain buried and tombraiders and the elements of rain and wind have damaged some of the ruins. Still, it remains an impressive and fascinating glimpe into this coastal desert society.

USAKA DUNE BUGY & SANDBOARDING

Explore the sand dunes of the Usaka desert in a 4-wheel-drive dune buggy and then if you are daring, try sandboarding down the dunes. This is an exciting and memorable adventure tour that you are sure to enjoy.

Although the dunes here are not as big as those in Huacachina Oasis (near Ica) two hours north of Nazca, if you are unable to visit Huacachina this is an excellent alternative.

This is a small-group tour, so you will be placed in a buggy with other travelers. Please bring sunglasses, and wear tennis shoes (not sandals).

CERRO BLANCO SANDBOARDING TOUR

This is no ordinary sand dune! At 1,176 meters from the base to the tip, many geologists consider this is to be the second tallest sand dune in the world. In this once-in-a-lifetime tour, you will join a tour guide to hike up this dune (this takes several hours, and requires a good level of physical fitness).

And when you get to the top, you will have a brief sandboarding lesson, and then you are welcome to sandboard down. The slop of the dune isn’t dangerous, so it will allow you to have an exciting ride down without danger.

You might go ga-ga for the views from the top; stare down onto the cloud-covered tops of nearby mountains.