By air
Lima (LIM), ~7 h by road; small planes fly the lines from Nazca
South America · Peru
Nazca Lines, Peru
Giant desert drawings seen from the air
Getting there
Best time to visit
All year; the air is clearest December to March
Don't miss
The hummingbird and monkey figures
The Maria Reiche viewing tower
Chauchilla
Cantalloc
Things to do
An overflight
The observation tower
The Chauchilla cemetery
Where to eat
Sources: Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0
What to pack
Sun protection, motion-sickness tablets for the flight
A quieter corner
The Cantalloc aqueducts
Questions travellers ask
What is the best way to see the Nazca Lines?
From the air: small planes fly the lines from Nazca. Look out for the hummingbird and monkey figures, and take motion-sickness tablets for the flight.
When is the best time to fly over the Nazca Lines?
Any time of year, but the air is clearest December to March. Pack sun protection.
How do I get to Nazca from Lima?
It's about 7 h by road from Lima (LIM).
What else is worth seeing near the Nazca Lines?
The Maria Reiche viewing tower, the Chauchilla cemetery and the Cantalloc aqueducts. Nazca town has simple local cooking.
About Nazca Lines
- Desert
Where it is
The Nazca Lines are etched into an arid plateau stretching more than 80 km between the towns of Nazca and Palpa in the Ica region of southern Peru, about 400 km south of Lima, a short way inland from the Pacific coast.
History
People of the Nazca culture made the lines between about 500 BCE and 500 CE by removing the reddish-brown, iron-oxide-coated stones of the desert surface to reveal the yellow-grey ground beneath. The Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejía Xesspe noticed them in 1927, the German-born mathematician Maria Reiche spent decades studying and protecting them, and they became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.
People
Nazca is a small desert town whose people farm cotton and fruit in the river valleys, watered in part by ancient underground aqueducts, and increasingly live from visitors. Spanish is spoken, and the town's planetarium and museum honour Maria Reiche, who made Nazca her home.
Known for
- The hummingbird, monkey and spider figures
- Overflights in light aircraft
- The roadside viewing tower
- The Chauchilla cemetery
- The Cantalloc aqueducts
Did you know?
Laid end to end, the Nazca lines would stretch more than 1,300 km, and the largest figures are about 370 m long; the dry, windless climate of the plateau has preserved them for some 2,000 years.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.