Back in Lima at the end of our Machu Picchu trek, we decided to take a long day trip to see the Nazca Lines. I had read about these geoglyphs, large line drawings etched in the desert sand, some 250 miles to the south of Lima. Constructed more than 2,000 years ago by the people of the ancient Nazca culture, their purpose remains a mystery.
It seemed that the best way to see them would be by air, which made sense—there are several geoglyphs covering a vast area and standing on the ground at eye-level with them would not enable you to see one in its entirety let alone all of them. I used Nazca Flights and booked a tour with them the day before we wanted to go. Fortunately, the airline had availability and our reservation was confirmed.
We were picked up from our hotel at 8:00 in the morning in order to arrive in the town of Pisco for our flight check-in at 11:30 A.M. The Pisco Regional Airport was surprisingly big, new (built in 2015), and completely lacking in any traffic save for one domestic flight and those to the Nazca Lines. According to our guide it was all corruption money.
After paying the USD 6 airport tax we boarded the Cessna. It was a full flight. The plane left the coast and headed inland down through the farming community of Ica before the first geoglyph—the outline of a whale—came into view.
It was definitely not a trip for someone who suffers from motion sickness. For about 30 minutes we circled the desert, bouncing up and down, doing sharp turns to the left and to the right, as we made our way to each drawing. In total we saw sixteen of the pictorial representations: whale, astronaut, monkey, dog, hummingbird, spiral, spider, condor, seaweed, heron, pelican, parrot, hands, tree, lizard and flower. In addition, various geometric designs like rectangles, triangles and wavy lines could be seen across the arid landscape.
Here’s a video of us flying over the Nazca Lines:
Another thirty minutes later we were back on land. We stopped in the seaside town of Paracas for lunch before making the long, three-hour drive back to Lima, arriving late in the afternoon, in time for cocktails and a chance to relax before dinner.
Flying over the Nazca Lines was one part of our overall Peru experience. Read about the rest of our Peru trip here.
Coda
It was a long day, but really enjoyable, and I’m glad that we went. From what I read, going from Lima is most likely the best way to see the Nazca Lines, especially by plane. There are alternatives, such as flying from the town of Nazca itself, but getting there is a very long journey unless you are planning to spend additional time there.
Additional Info
- Nazca Flights arranged the tour for us. They were very responsive and we coordinated the logistics through email. We were picked up promptly from our hotel, at the scheduled time, in a comfortable van. Our driver was friendly and I was able to converse with him in Spanish.