Huacachina (pronounced wa-ka-chee-nah) is a tiny oasis, really just a large pond surrounded by hotels, sandwiched between the city of Ica and a massive area of sand dunes. In Quechua, a huaca is a sacred site and china (chee-nah) means female, so this oasis must have been a female Incan sacred site.

Visiting

There are several ways to visit the dunes. The most common is a day tour from Lima, which is a very long day and a lot of time on a bus. The next most common is to stay a night at one of the hostels in Huacachina and do an evening dune buggy tour. The other option is to stay in Ica and do a separate tour of the dunes, which is what I recommend.

Safety pre-cautions

Pay attention to how many people fit in a vehicle when you’re booking a dune buggy tour. Most fit 10-12 passengers and are unsafe, lumbering vehicles. Check with companies like Go Adventure Ica for smaller Polaris vehicles with more safety precautions and expert drivers, some of whom are professional race car drivers. Smaller vehicles go out farther in the dunes and will get you away from the crowds.