Dune Buggying and Sandboarding in Huacachina, Peru

by Rebecca Hollman
updated Dec 10, 2018

Dune Buggy and Sandboard Tour - Huacachina, Peru

Huacachina is a tiny oasis town on Peru’s southern coast. Surrounded on all sides by deserts and giant sand dunes, Huacachina is only able to exist because of its tiny lagoon that gives fresh water to the area. Because of the lagoon, palm trees and other vegetation can flourish and this little, tiny town has popped up. The main reason that people stop in Huacachina is to go on a sandboarding and dune buggy tour.

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Tours go once in the morning and once in the afternoon and last about 2-3 hours. If you came with PeruHop, then you’ll only have time for the afternoon tour since the bus doesn’t arrive until around noon. You start off by climbing up to the iconic viewpoint of the oasis where all the buggies are parked. Then you hop into a buggy with a couple other people and head out into the desert. This was one of my favorite experiences in all of Peru just because it was pure child-like fun. We had a driver who was whipping it so we were bombing some of the dunes which made it even more fun. After about an hour of driving, we reached our first sandboarding spot. Everyone in the buggy gets pushed down a dune on their bellies and then the driver comes and picks you up at the bottom. A little more driving fast, and then on to another sandboard spot. And then more driving, and more sandboarding, and more driving, and more sandboarding… All in all, you get to sandboard about 7-8 times, sometimes laying on your belly going head first and other times sitting on your bum. They never let you stand because it really is dangerous and guaranteed your going to fall since these boards don’t have feet straps. If you’re on the afternoon tour, the tour ends by going to a spot to take pictures and watch the sunset over the dunes. I would suggest taking the morning tour if you can because it will be way less crowded.

Getting There

Most people get to Huacachina via a bus from Ica or directly through PeruHop. Read my article about about traveling with PeruHop HERE. Once in Huacachina, you can book a tour through any of the hostels or hotels or through a tour agency. You could probably even walk up to where all the dune buggies are and hop onto a tour. If you came with PeruHop, they will book the tour for you.