Just outside of the town of Nazca, near the Peruvian coast, there are over 800 lines, 300 figures and 70 depictions of plants and animals etched into the desert floor and surrounding hills.

These are the famous Nazca lines!!!

It is now known that the lines are roughly 2,000 years old and lay undiscovered, preserved by the desert until they were found in 1926. However, the full scale of the lines wasn’t realised until the first flight over the area in 1930! It was only then that the now-famous figures of the hummingbird, condor, monkey and others were seen.

In this article, we will outline the two ways to see the Nazca lines: Booking a flight or going to a viewpoint.

We will also go through how you can couple this half-day trip with a stop at the rarely-visited Nazcan aqueduct.

How to see the Nazca Lines for €3?

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There are only two ways to see the Nazca Lines; by plane or by visiting a viewpoint just outside town. Many will say the viewpoint is free, but it’s not. It is very cheap though! For the price of the 10 soles bus and 3 soles entrance fee, you will get to see the lines for only €3. Of course, the main reason to take the plane is that you will see more and see them better.

Flying at 1,500ft in the sky, the view is unrivalled. But €90 for a 30-minute flight puts a big dent in the budget of a backpacker. This is why the lookout built by the local community has become popular for those on a tight budget, but still wanting to see the lines up close.

Note: All of this can be done as part of a tour from Nazca. You will be brought from town to the viewpoint in a minivan and then brought to the circle formation a little further and then Maria Reiche Museum.

Pro & cons of visiting the Nazca Lines’ Mirador

PRO

• It’s cheap, easy and quick to get to
• Allows you to understand the scale of the area, which can be lost in photos and in the plane
• You can see the lines and the drawings from just a few metres away

CON

• You will only see two figures clearly and be able to make out another, just about,
• It’s a long way to travel to only just see two figures
• It is so exciting to see the lines but it creates some frustration of not being able to see more.

What to see near the Nazca Lines Viewpoint?

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If after this little trek up the hill, you feel motivated for a bigger walk, get back to the road. Behind the bright blue shrine, there is a path heading up. Here, you should find an even better view of the area. But if you are roasting in the heat, stand on the side of the road and wait for any bus heading back to Nazca. There are lots of buses passing by, make a sign to them and they will stop to pick you up.

The price is 5 soles for two people, but they tend to increase a bit. If like us you don’t like this type of practice, stick out your thumbs and hitchhike a ride with a local to the aqueducts.

Be aware the sun is incredibly hot out there and there is zero shade on the side of the road. This is the desert after all.

Note: in Peru, it is accepted that if someone picks you up that you should pay them something small. You can either take out a few coins or simply ask, “How much?”.

Visit the Nazcan aqueducts

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After seeing images of several spiralling Nazcan-made aqueducts, just outside of Nazca on the same road as the viewpoint, we made it our mission to find it. They are known as Puquios, but the problem was we couldn’t find much information about them online, except for seeing them as part of a tour. So with our limited knowledge, we got out of our hitchhiked ride at Achaco as we saw on maps.me there were some aqueducts in the area and started exploring.

Part of exploring is getting lost, and that is exactly what we did. After about 30 minutes of aimless wandering, we finally spotted a local on his farm and he kindly pointed us in the right direction. As it turns out we had turned right when we should have turned left. It would have been pretty easy to find otherwise as it seemed to be a quite popular park for locals who come to chill in the shade of the palm trees.

There is a large car park and what looked like small local restaurants. After walking around it became perfectly clear that we were not at a Puquios. We somehow managed to get lost and found a completely different set of water channels, known as the Achaco Aqueducts.

Tip: Upon further research, we discovered that there are 52 Nazcan aqueducts surrounding the town. The benefit of visiting Achaco is that it was empty and free but if you wish to see Puquios, head to the Cantalloc aqueducts. For this, you will need to walk about 1 hour east of town or hire a taxi. The entrance is 7.50 soles per person and the site is open Monday to Sunday from 9 am until 6 pm. Here are the Google Maps coordinates.

Why we decided to fly above the Nazca lines

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After seeing the hand and the tree from the viewpoint, we felt it wasn’t enough. It got us pumped up and excited to see more. We heard that the prices of the flights could be anywhere between €80 – €100, but we decided to take a chance and see if we could negotiate them down to €65. If we could do that, we would do it!

After visiting the viewpoint and Achaco, we stopped off at a couple of agencies and tried to negotiate a cheap rate for the next morning. Some wouldn’t budge, but we found one agency, one of the airlines, Aero Paracas, and not a reseller, who first would only negotiate a rate for that evening.

As we were walking out the door, he called us back and met our price. That was it, everything was booked for the next morning. Included with the flight was a pickup and drop-off at our hostel.

Tip: If you plan on flying, it is better to do so in the morning while the sun is low. This will mean the light is better to see the lines and the weather usually clearer.

how to see Nazca lines from the plane?

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There are two sections the planes can fly over, most companies only do section one, which is the most famous and will allow you will see: the hummingbird, condor, heron, whale, spaceman, spider, pelican, tree, monkey and hands. Of course, you will also see many shapes and lines pointing in all directions across the desert floor.

If you have never been on a small plane before, it should be said that it is not the same as a large aircraft. You feel every jolt. The sharp turns of the pilot make sure that everyone, on both sides of the plane, sees the lines correctly. Unfortunately, this means that your stomach ends up doing somersaults. As much as he loved the view, Steven couldn’t wait for the flight to be over. He was maybe only a couple of more turns away from getting sick! He actually didn’t look very well as we landed and he hopped out of the plane.

What is the best way to see the Nazca Lines?

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After seeing the Nazca lines from both vantage points, it is not a question of either seeing the lines from the sky or from the viewpoint. You should do both. The perspective from each is completely different and it allows you the opportunity to really grasp the scale.

When you travel for long periods of time, constantly checking prices and budgets and trying not to overspend, we felt that we sometimes tend to lose sight of the reasons for travelling. For most of us, this will be the only time we visit Nazca, and saving that bit of money and not living the full experience from above is a bit of a shame. Isn’t this the reason we are travelling? Yeah!

If you are short on time and don’t have the luxury to go around Nazca town to negotiate prices, I would recommend booking your tour online. To make the most out of your Nazca adventure, there are several types of tours available that cater to different preferences. For those already in Nazca, consider booking this 35-Minute Flight Over Nazca Lines or this 30-min flight.

Alternatively, if you’re based in Lima, you can opt for a Day trip to Ballestas, Nazca Lines, & Huacachina Oasis, which promises a thrilling day-long journey, starting with a visit to the magnificent Ballestas Islands, home to a diverse range of marine wildlife. Afterwards, you’ll board a plane to witness the Nazca Lines from above, an experience that will etch lasting memories in your heart. The tour culminates with a visit to the enchanting Huacachina Oasis, where you can enjoy a refreshing dune buggy tour across the vast sand dunes, adding an adventurous touch to your day.

Alternatively, you can choose that tour from Lima that includes also a buggy tour at the Huacachina Oasis! From Lima: Nazca Lines, Huacachina Oasis, & Dune Buggy Tour.

If you have more than a day to discover the Nazca lines and the Peruvian coast, definitely opt for a multi-day trip from Lima. Here is a selection of tours highly rated that you may like.

Visiting the Maria Reich Planetarium

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We had been told in advance of visiting Nazca that the María Reiche planetarium would be good to learn more about the history and discovery of the lines. María Reiche was a German mathematician who dedicated her life to discovering the mysteries of the Nazca lines. She is responsible for most of the information we now know about them.

The DM Hoteles Nasca, where María Reiche lived during her research, runs an evening show in multiple languages each night which goes through a visual presentation in a small planetarium on its grounds. After the show, the astronomer will take you outside and explain some of the theories about the lines and the stars.

They will then, depending on the time of year and clarity of the sky, let you look through a high-powered telescope to view planets, moons and stars. We saw Saturn! The show lasts around 45 minutes and costs 20 soles. A good way to spend the evening in Nazca.

Tip: If you plan on going to the planetarium, visit the hotel in advance and check the times. They run shows in multiple languages at different hours and tickets need to be purchased in advance.

Where to sleep in Nazca?

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We stayed in Nazca for around 30 hours. After arriving early in the morning we spent the day visiting the viewpoints, the aqueduct and organising our flight. The next morning we had our flight early and then left for Ica and Huacachina in the early afternoon. For us, this was the perfect amount of time. Yes, it meant going quick, but other than the lines there isn’t much to do in Nazca.

We stayed in the only hostel we could find online at the time, Nanasqa Hostel. It was basic but good. A bit outside the centre of town, but it was quiet and they have a kitchen. We originally booked a dorm and they put us in a room with a double bed and a bunk bed but told us no one had booked into the bunk so the room with an en-suite was ours.

Getting to Nazca from Cusco

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After spending a while walking around all the bus agencies in Cusco, we finally booked an overnight bus with Civa, for 85 soles. We left at 8 pm and arrived at 7 am in the morning. Once in Nazca, we had to take a taxi to the hostel as the bus driver dropped us off on the Pan American road outside of town.

Heading on to Ica/Huacachina from Nazca

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The journey from Nazca to Huacachina is quite short. We brought all of our bags with us to the airport for our flight, where the airline stored them. We asked the driver to drop us off at the bus terminal instead of our hostel on the way back. This saved us from walking through town with our bags or paying for a taxi.

We took the bus to Ica from the Terminal Terrestre which is located right next to the Cruz del Sur station (the tickets were much cheaper than Cruz del Sur). The ride to Ica should take 3 hours and cost 8 soles. From Ica you can either get a taxi or a TukTuk into the sand dunes of Huacachina. We took the fun option of the TukTuk for 5 soles and it dropped us off at our hostel.