Things to do
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Arennas Máncora
A beachfront hotel on the Las Pocitas stretch south of town, low white buildings around a pool that runs to the sand, and the quietest of the beach's smart options. Rooms open onto the shore, and the walk into Máncora along the sand takes about twenty minutes at low tide.
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Cabo Blanco
The fishing village where Hemingway came for black marlin in 1956, now a small port with a hollow, fast left-hand wave that is one of the best in Peru when it works. The old fishing club is a ruin on the point.
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KiChic
A nine-room adults-only retreat on the Las Pocitas beach with yoga on the deck, an organic kitchen and rooms open to the sea. It is the coast's most considered small hotel. One wall of each room is open air, the garden supplies the kitchen, and children are not accommodated.
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Los Órganos
A fishing town with a long pier where humpback whales pass close to shore from July to October and boats go out to watch them, and to swim with the sea turtles that feed off the pier. The beach shelves gently and the town is quieter than Máncora, which suits families travelling with small children.
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Playa de Máncora
The country's surf and party beach, a long strand of warm water under the Pan-American Highway where the Humboldt current gives way to the tropics. The left point breaks all year and the town runs on it. It is busiest from December to March, when the water is warmest and the bars stay open late.
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Punta Sal
A long, sheltered bay of calm water north of Máncora, with the region's resort hotels spaced along it and almost no surf. It is the family end of the coast, about an hour up the highway, and the water stays warm through the year because the tropical current reaches this far south.
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Vichayito
The quieter beach south of Máncora, a stretch of low-key boutique hotels behind the dunes with a mellow wave and no town at all. There is no shop on the sand, so the hotels run their own kitchens, and a taxi covers the ten minutes into Máncora for anyone who wants the noise.
