Nazca Lines from Nazca
Nazca · Flyover
Tours in Nazca: Flight Over the Lines and the Desert
Fly over the geoglyphs that a civilization carved into the pampa more than 1,500 years ago—geoglyphs that can only be fully appreciated from the air—which have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- 12 tours available
- From $0.00
- All year round · More stable flying conditions in the morning
- 1 day
Why Visit Nazca
- World Heritage Site geoglyphs, created between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D.
- A light aircraft flies over the hummingbird, the monkey, the spider, and the astronaut
- One of the driest deserts on the planet, with no rain for decades
- The Cantalloc Aqueducts: Pre-Columbian Hydraulic Engineering Still in Use Today
Tours and Experiences in Nazca
Nazca Lines from Paracas - Pisco
Paracas · Nazca · Aerial Tour
Nazca Full Day
Nazca Lines · Chauchilla Tour + Pottery and Gold Workshop
Packages that include Nazca
2 days
Ica Nazca 2 days 1 night
- Ica and Huacachina
- Nazca
- Accommodation
- Transfers
- Guide
- Tickets
3 days
Paracas Ica Nazca 3 days 2 nights (Land tour)
- Paracas
- Ica and Huacachina
- Nazca
- Accommodation
- Meals
- Tickets
20 days, 19 nights
Peru Adventurer
- LIMA
- Paracas
- Nazca
- Arequipa and Colca
- Puno and Lake Titicaca
- Cusco and Machu Picchu
- Accommodation
- Meals
- Transfers
- Guide
11 days, 10 nights
Southern Peru
- LIMA
- Arequipa and Colca
- Puno and Lake Titicaca
- Ica and Huacachina
- Cusco and Machu Picchu
- Nazca
- Paracas
- Accommodation
- Meals
- Transfers
- Guide
14 days, 13 nights
Magical Peru
- LIMA
- Paracas
- Nazca
- Arequipa and Colca
- Puno and Lake Titicaca
- Cusco and Machu Picchu
- Accommodation
- Meals
- Transfers
- Guide
3 days, 2 nights
Paracas - Ica - Nazca | 3 Days, 2 Nights
- Paracas
- Ica and Huacachina
- Nazca
- Accommodation
- Meals
- Transfers
- Tickets
2 days, 1 night
Paracas - Nazca | 2 Days 1 Night
- Paracas
- Nazca
- Accommodation
- Meals
- Transfers
- Tickets
2 days, 1 night
Ica - Nazca | 2 Days 1 Night
- Ica and Huacachina
- Nazca
- Transfers
- Guide
- Tickets
2 days, 1 night
Paracas - Ica - Nazca | 2 Days 1 Night
- Paracas
- Ica and Huacachina
- Nazca
- Accommodation
- Transfers
- Guide
- Tickets
Things to Do in Nazca
An Overview of the Lines
A roughly 30-minute flight in a small plane over the main figures: the hummingbird, the monkey, the spider, the condor, the astronaut, and the hands.
View the tour
Cantalloc Aqueducts
A system of spiral-shaped underground channels built by the Nazca culture to collect groundwater. It remains in operation and supplies water to crops in the area.
Las Líneas Lookout
A metal tower overlooking the Pan-American Highway, from which three figures can be seen: the tree, the hands, and the lizard, cut off by the highway.
The Lost City of Cahuachi
An adobe ceremonial center of the Nazca culture, featuring truncated pyramids in the middle of the desert, 25 km from the city.
How to Get to Nazca and When to Visit
-
From Lima
7 h
Via the Pan-American Highway South, 450 km. Overnight and daytime sleeper buses with frequent departures.
-
From Ica
2 h
A short section that allows you to combine dunes and trails on a two-day hike.
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From Paracas / Pisco
3 h
There is also a flight that takes off directly from the Pisco airfield, without any ground transportation.
When to Visit
Nazca is one of the driest places on the planet: it hardly ever rains, and the sun shines year-round, with temperatures ranging from 15 °C to 32 °C. That extreme aridity is precisely what has allowed the lines to be preserved for centuries. Early morning is the best time for a flyover: the air is more stable, there is less turbulence, and the low-angle sunlight better highlights the outlines of the figures. Around noon, the heat generates updrafts that make the flight more bumpy. From December through March, temperatures are higher, but this does not affect operations.
Before Traveling
- Fly on an empty stomach: Eat a light breakfast and avoid heavy meals beforehand
- If you are prone to motion sickness, take an anti-nausea medication one hour before your flight
- The small planes seat 6 to 12 passengers, and seating is usually assigned by lottery
- The pilot banks the plane to each side so everyone can see the maneuvers
- Bring your ID: it is required for boarding
- There is a boarding fee at the airfield that is paid separately
Frequently Asked Questions About Nazca
The flight over the main attractions lasts between 30 and 35 minutes. Including the pre-flight briefing, passenger check-in, and the wait at the airfield, you should set aside about two and a half hours for the entire activity.
Partially. From the overlook on the Pan-American Highway, you can see three figures, and from some nearby hills, you can make out scattered outlines. But the complete figures can only be fully appreciated from the air.
It can make you dizzy. The small plane circles each figure, tilting first to one side and then to the other so that all passengers can see it, and that creates a sense of motion. Flying early in the morning, eating a light breakfast, and taking an anti-nausea medication can greatly reduce discomfort.
From Nazca, the flight is shorter and cheaper, because the airfield is right next to the geoglyphs. From Pisco, you avoid the three-hour overland trip, but the flight is longer and more expensive.
Yes. The planes are small, and each passenger is weighed before boarding to distribute the load. In some cases, a surcharge is applied for passengers exceeding a certain weight.
Nazca Guide
The Nazca Lines are one of the world’s most famous archaeological mysteries. On a pampa spanning more than 500 square kilometers, between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D., the Nazca culture removed the top layer of dark stones to reveal the light-colored desert soil, creating figures of animals, plants, and geometric shapes measuring up to 300 meters. UNESCO designated them a World Heritage Site in 1994.
The only way to appreciate the figures is from the air. The light aircraft flight lasts just over half an hour and takes in the best-known ones: the hummingbird, the monkey, the spider, the condor, the dog, the hands, and the so-called “astronaut,” carved into the side of a hill. The pilot tilts the aircraft to each side so that all the passengers can get a good look at them.
The fact that the lines have survived for nearly two millennia can be explained by the climate: Nazca is one of the driest places on the planet, with no significant rainfall for decades and winds that sweep away the sand without erasing the lines.
The destination also features the Cantalloc aqueducts—a system of spiral underground canals that still draw water from the subsoil to irrigate crops—and the Cahuachi ceremonial center, with adobe pyramids in the middle of the desert. Nazca is seven hours from Lima and two hours from Ica via the Panamericana Sur highway, making it easy to include in itineraries that also feature Paracas and Huacachina.
