Things to do
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Bodega Tacama
The oldest vineyard in South America, planted by the Jesuits in the 1540s on the Ica river, now making pisco and a serious range of wines under a pink colonial hacienda. Tours end with a tasting on the terrace. The harvest runs from late February into April, and the estate lies ten kilometres out of town on the road to La Tinguiña.
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Huacachina
A palm-fringed lagoon in a bowl of dunes five kilometres from Ica, the only natural desert oasis in South America and the launching point for dune buggies and sandboarding. The dunes are at their best in the last hour before sunset.
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Cerro Blanco
One of the highest sand dunes in the world at 2,078 metres, rising above the Nazca valley, climbed on foot before dawn for a three-hour ascent and a sandboard run of over a kilometre down. Guides run it from Nazca.
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Museo Regional
A provincial museum with one of the best collections of Paracas and Nazca material in the country, including feather textiles, trophy heads and the quipu knotted records. A scale model of the Nazca lines sits in the yard. It is a short ride south of the plaza, the labels run in Spanish, and the deliberately shaped skulls fill the first room.
