Would you like to have a great one day bicycle trip in Peru and check how it is to ride by bike in the desert? Nothing simpler! Go to Paracas, around 3-4 hours by bus from Lima, rent a bike and visit Paracas National Reserve (Reserva Nacional De Paracas). Great adventure guaranteed!
Peru is a perfect place to ride by bike. Even the most demanding travellers will find ideal routes for them. Definitely Paracas Natioal Reserve is a good choice for everyone who loves desert, a lot of sun and also beaches. During one day bicycle trip you will have all of that in one.
When to go?
The best time to visit Paracas is between December and April. Then you will have a very nice, cloudless weather. February is extremely hot, so if it is possible avoid bicycle trips during this month unless you enjoy a very dry, hot weather.
How to get there?
If you are in Lima then first you need to get to Pisco. The journey takes about 3-4 hours. Pisco is situated around 20 km from Paracas. To get there you must either take from Pisco a taxi for 20 soles, or colectivo for 3 soles. Travel time is less than half an hour.
I recommend you to leave Lima at 6 am or even earlier. Thanks to that you will arrive to Paracas fast enough to visit some interesting places around during the day, like for example Ballestas Islands (the last boat to this attraction leaves from Paracas at midday – more details about it in the further part of the article). Bicycle tour is better to organize the next day. Bus ticket from Lima to Pisco costs around 15 soles.
Where to rent the bike?
After arriving to Paracas, you only need to find the bike. Very simple matter, because almost every travel agency here provides bicycles for rent. The price for renting a bike for full day varies between 25-45 sole. So before making the choice, first always check some places. Thanks to that you can save money and chose the most modern bikes. Do not forget to bargain – we had the bikes for 25 soles per day! As already you found a dream bike, it remains just hit the road.
But here I give you a very good advice!
Remember that the best option is to rent a bike in the evening for the next day and start the trip very early in the morning. I highly recommend you to start the tour around 6 am. The sun here is very strong and after 9 am becomes really hot. If you will start early, the driest part of the tour (pour desert without anything) you will overcome without suffering because of the sun, in more fresh and friendly time. Maybe if you are close to the beach it is not so big issue, but when you will ride by bike on a desert, it can play quite a big role.
Details about the route of the bicycle tour in Paracas National Reserve
The good question is from which side to start the tour?
Some people recommended us to do a circle from Paracas through Lagunillas and Playa Roja – Red Beach, through Yumaque to La Catedral (The Cathedral) and then come back to Paracas. But when we checked the map we realized that it is not the best idea, and that more comfortable will be to go in the opposite direction. So first we rode towards La Catedral (the Cathedral), than to Yumaque and then to Lagunillas – to Playa Roja and from Playa Roja we had only around 7 km to come back to Paracas.
Why?
Well, the whole part from Paracas to La Catedral and then to Yumaque and Lagunillas is empty, without any shops, restaurants. Generally in this part there is a desert, you and maybe some other tourists. In Yumaque you will have possibility to take a bath, the beach is really nice. The next opportunity will be in Lagunillas. If you will be lucky maybe you will meet the man with ice creams. It happened for us – miracle. In the middle of nowhere, after 1,5 hours of riding from Paracas towards La Catedral we met a young man who was pushing uphill the bicycle full of ice creams. We bought a lot of ice creams from this guy, talked with him for a while and everyone happy went in the own directions.
By the way the ice cream company Cerca de ti (close to you) is doing a great job. Their ice creams are really always close to you – even on the desert.
Only in Lagunillas you can eat something delicious. So I recommend you to eat good breakfast in the morning, and arrive to Lagunillas (as the last stop during your tour) for the lunch. You will enjoy much more. From Lagunillas to Paracas is around 30-40 minutes.
In Lagunillas you can enjoy really nice beaches – like for example Playa Roja.
What to do in Paracas besides biking?
During the day you can take a boat to the Ballestas Islands. You will have a chance to admire wild birds and mammals, including sea lions, fur seals, and Humboldt penguins in their natural environment.
Good choice for animal lovers and bird watchers.
This boat trip takes around 2-2,5 hours. In my opinion it is worth to buy it. The price is around 40 soles + entrance ticket to National Park. Just remember, that the last boat, leaves the port at noon.
Besides this you can eat delicious ceviche or jalea in the restaurant close to the beach, and take a nice walk in the beach and enjoy the beautiful sunset. In the meanwhile make a visit in some travel agencies and rent a bike for the next day.
VIDEO
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12 Comments
Hello – I would like to do this bike ride on my own (I’m a 50 year old woman in relatively good shape). Would you say it is safe to do here? Also, are there many elevated sections where one is biking uphill?
Hi Sylwia,
I am planning a trip in Peru this June and I meant to visit Paracas National Reserve by bike. Well, I am over 42 and I am in shape (I run 3 times a week covering 30 km as a whole, I do exercises regularly and so on) BUT I haven’t ridden a bike for more than 20 years (I used to do it regularly in my school years). Mi question is: is it very physically demanding the shorter bike trail into the Reserve? Are there uphills, heavy sandy paths, strong wind etc.? Take into account that I will be alone.
Furthermore, is there the possibility to visit the Reserve just walking, without a bike, maybe following a shorter trail?
Thank you
Alex
Hi:
I am traveling to Peru in December 21-31 with my family.
There are three teenagers ages: 16, 14 & 12
What places do you recommend taking them?
Thanks,
Lili
Dear Lili,
Dear Lili,
December is not the best month to travel in the Andes and the Jungle – in that parts of the country there is during that time rainy season.
In last years sometimes in the Andes (for example Cusco city and the whole region; Puno city and the whole region), can be less rain, but still it is hard to predict this. So if you will stay only in those parts it can be risky and boring – in the moments when will be rainy.
In this case definitely I recommend also to visit for example Arequipa city – where the weather is nice in that time and where you can find very nice,diverse things to see in just one day (thanks to this no one can be bored), as well as for example Paracas National Reserve and Ballestas Islands or/and Huacachina oasis.
Of course it is hard to advise something, because all depends what your family like to do. But definitely it is necessary to consider that you are planning the trip during rainy season in the Peruvian Andes and jungle.
Sylwia Travel
We only have half a day to explore the Paracas Natural Reserve. We get off the Ballesteros boat at 10am and then need to leave late afternoon. Is this enough time to explore on bike? We would like to visit Playa Roya.
Hello Don,
in this case you can visit playa roja by car. To go there by bike it should not take you more than 2-3 hours both sides with the stops. So if you leave Paracas in the late afternoon, you will have enough time to take a bike tour. Just you will have to go and come back the same road – because there will be no enough time to do all the circle. Or if you are good bikers – yes then you can try to do longer trail. But remember – the bikes which are offered in Paracas are not so perfect, so always you need to take it into consideration.
I wish you wonderful trip and great time in Paracas!
SylwiaTravel team+
Would it be too complicate, or too costly to arrange a taxi from Paracas to Huacachina for the evening and return to Paracas for the night. We would like to go to the sand dune to take pictures, but seems like the tour are more tailor for sandboarding.
Hello Mui,
it is not so complicated to take a taxi, but can be quite expencive – depends on the type of taxi. But I do not recommend to do it, because unfortunately some taxi are fake and it can be dangerous – especially during the evening. There are many buses going very often from Pisco to Ica – so you can take one of them and will be safe. The journey takes 1 hour. From Paracas to Pisco you need to take taxi (20 minutes around) or colectivo – but not all the time there is colectivo. The other option is to ask in the travel agency, who will find the safe taxi for you – but it will be definitely more expencive in compare when you are looking by yourself – but for sure more safe too.
Thanks much for the very helpful advice.
Welcome 🙂 If you need any other advice just leave the question below any of the articles related with the question. I will try to help.
Greetings from Cusco!
Have a wonderful trip
Hi, I am visiting Peru in Aug, and am very much interested in doing the bike ride. How long does it takes to go around the Paracas National Reserve? and, I am going to the Island as well, do I need to pay for entrance fee every time when I enter the reserve? Many Thanks. Mui
Hello Mui
to do biking trip in Paracas National Reserve you have some options: shorter and longer. Shorter bike trail takes around 4-5 hours – slowly and with many stops; longer around 1,5 hour more. There is even much longer trail, but it will take all the day. In general during biking in the park you have many beaches where you can enjoy nice views and it is really worth to stop for a while there and just reslax. It means that every bikig tour takes longer then it normaly can take :-). The entrance fee for National Reserve is for one day, so if you will use it in that day, you need to buy new one to entrance in the other day. Sometimes you can ask the guard to let you entrance if for example one day you just did only islas ballesas and the next day you are planing to do biking trip – sometimes it works. If you will start the biking at 6 am what I ecommend (less sun, fresh) there will be now one to check the ticket. But when you iwll coe back, yes there is the control. Depends of course at what tme you will come back.
Greetings, and I wish you wonderful time in Paracas National Reserve