Guide · From Lima

Sandboard in Lima: the dunes south of the city and day trips

Lima sits on the edge of the same coastal desert that makes Ica famous. You can ride dunes south of the city and be back for dinner, or take a long day trip that ends at sunset on the dunes of Huacachina.

Check availabilityfrom $199 · free cancellation

Editorial team, perusandboarding.comUpdated October 26, 2026about 6 min to read17 sources

The matching tour Sandboarding Experience Lima Includes Boots, Bindings & Helment 5.0 (394 reviews) 6.5 hours from$199per person Check availabilityFree cancellation up to 24 hrs before

Quick answer

01Closest dunes: South of the city, with gear handed out at Punta Hermosa.
02Top rated day: 6.5 hours with snowboards, boots and bindings, 394 reviews.
03Board time: One Lima outing lists 2 hours of sandboarding.
04Huacachina instead: Day trips from Lima give 1 to 2 hours on the dunes.
05Pick by: Riding time if you want to learn, the oasis if you want the sights.

Close dunes or a long day south

Searches for a sandboard in Lima lead to two kinds of trip. The first kind stays close: a 4x4 takes you south of the city into the coastal dunes and you spend the day riding. The second goes far: a coach heads down the Pan-American to Paracas and Huacachina and fits a dune session into a very long day.

They answer different wishes. The close trip is about the board, with time to learn to turn and to try steeper slopes as the day goes on. The far trip is about seeing the south coast in one go, from the Ballestas boat to the oasis, with the dunes as the finale rather than the main event.

Distance explains the gap. The beach towns of Punta Hermosa and San Bartolo lie 40 km south of Lima, while PromPeru puts the Ica region about 4 hours away by road.¹ ² Every hour in a vehicle is an hour off the sand, and that trade decides which trip suits you.

The top-rated day

A sandboarding day south of Lima

7 am

Pickup by 4x4

From your hotel, hostel or rental in Lima.
30 minutes

Punta Hermosa

Gear handed out and a short briefing on the day.
Next

Into the dunes

A 4x4 ride across sand hills of different sizes.
Riding

Small dunes first

Then the large dunes, with photos and videos taken.
6.5 hours

Back in the city

The listed length of the whole day.

The dunes south of the city

The most reviewed of the dune outings near Lima that we compare is a 6.5-hour day sold on Viator: rated 5.00 from 394 reviews, its guide speaks English and Spanish, groups stay at 10 or fewer, and prices start from $199. It picks you up by 4x4 at 7 am and drives 30 minutes south to Punta Hermosa, where the gear is handed out and a short briefing is given.

After that comes a 4x4 ride through the dunes and then the riding itself, on small dunes and then large ones. The kit is proper snow gear: snowboards, boots, bindings and a helmet, plus a first aid kit, snacks, bottled water, photos and videos. Alcohol and meals are not included.

That makes it the obvious choice if you want to learn sandboarding in Lima, Peru, standing up. The age range is 8 to 75, and the listing does not recommend it for spinal injuries, pregnancy, poor cardiovascular health or asthma. It cancels free of charge up to 24 hours before.

Time on the sand

Minutes of dunes per trip

minutes

Each bar is the dune time the listing states: 2 hours for the Lima outings, 120 and 60 minutes at Huacachina on the day trips.

Side by side

Sandboarding trips from Lima compared

Trip	Length	Time on dunes	Reviews	Price
Punta Hermosa dune day	6.5 h	Not stated	394	from $199
Sandboarding & jeep	6.5 h	2 h	23	from $159
Half-day sandboarding	6 h	2 h	6	from $150
Paracas & Huacachina	16 h	120 min	10,196	from $94
Paracas, vineyard & oasis	18 h	60 min (Premium)	6,795	from $49

Lengths, listed times on the dunes, review counts and from-prices from each listing.

Three ways from Lima

Dune day, jeep tour or the long drive

Top rated

Punta Hermosa dune day

Snow gear and a helmet

Duration: 6.5 hours
Group: Up to 10
Price: from $199

See the trip

Small group

Sandboarding & jeep

Briefing at Punta Hermosa

Duration: 6.5 hours
On the sand: 2 hours
Price: from $159

See the trip

Most reviewed

Paracas & Huacachina

Islands, vineyard, dunes

Duration: 16 hours
On the dunes: 120 minutes
Price: from $94

See the trip

Decision helper

Which trip from Lima suits you?

Decide what the day is for, then pick the trip

I want to learn to ride standing up I want a cheaper Lima outing I want the islands and the oasis too I travel with a child of 8 or more I hate early starts

Punta Hermosa dune day

Snowboards, boots and bindings are included.

The half-day tour

From $150, with 2 hours of sandboarding.

A Huacachina day trip

Ballestas boat, vineyard and 120 minutes of dunes.

Punta Hermosa dune day

The listing takes riders aged from 8 up to 75.

A Lima dune outing

Pickup is at 7 am on the top-rated day, not before dawn like the day trips.

Also, 40 km south of the city there are resorts such as Punta Hermosa, San Bartolo, Señoritas and Caballeros

PromPeru (peru.travel)Source 1

Two smaller Lima outings to compare

On GetYourGuide, a 6.5-hour sandboarding and jeep tour from Lima is rated 5.0 from 23 reviews and starts from $159. It caps the group at 10 and picks up in Barranco, Miraflores or Punta Hermosa. Its listed stops are a jeep ride of 2 hours, a safety briefing at Punta Hermosa of 30 minutes, 2 hours of sandboarding and 1.5 hours back by car.

The second, a 6-hour half-day sandboarding tour, picks up in San Isidro or Miraflores and starts from $150. It lists 1.5 hours by jeep each way and 2 hours at a campsite for photos and sandboarding. Its boards use velcro bindings that work with athletic shoes, a detail worth noting if you do not want to fit snowboard boots.

Both have far fewer reviews than the Viator day, and both give a clear number of hours on the sand. Read the timings with care: a 6-hour day with 1.5 hours of driving each way leaves you 2 hours of riding. That is enough to get comfortable on a board, and as much as the longest dune session on a Huacachina day trip.

Map

Where Peru's sandboarding dunes sit along the coast

The northern dunes from Sechura to Casma, the road south from Lima past Punta Hermosa and Paracas to Huacachina and Nasca, and the big dunes of the far south.

Map of the north coast of Peru from Sechura in Piura south past Coishco and Casma to Lima — North coast

Map of the coast south of Lima past Punta Hermosa, Paracas and Huacachina to the town of Nasca — Lima to Nasca

Map of southern Peru with Huacachina, Cerro Blanco near Nasca, Toro Mata near Acari and the dunes near Ilo — South coast

1
Medano Blanco
A dune 300 m long and 20 m high in the Sechura Desert, Piura.³
In Google Maps ↗
2
Huamanchacate
Dunes near Coishco with easy access from the highway; riders start at the foot.⁴
In Google Maps ↗
3
Manchan
A dune field about 5 km from Casma, best visited with a guide.⁵ ⁶
In Google Maps ↗
4
Lima
The capital; its beach towns lie 40 km south and Ica is about 275 km away.¹ ⁷
In Google Maps ↗
5
Punta Hermosa
Beach town south of Lima where the Lima sandboarding days hand out the gear.
In Google Maps ↗
6
Paracas
Gateway to a reserve of 335,000 hectares, about 3 h 10 min from Lima by road.⁸ ⁹
In Google Maps ↗
7
Huacachina
The lagoon 5 km west of Ica, ringed by dunes up to 100 m high.¹⁰ ¹¹
In Google Maps ↗
8
Nasca
The town of the lines, about 2 h by road from Ica.¹²
In Google Maps ↗
9
Cerro Blanco
A dune about 24 km east of Nasca with a summit at 2078 m.¹³ ¹⁴
In Google Maps ↗
10
Toro Mata
A dune by the Acari river with a descent of 1,800 m, for experts only.¹⁵
In Google Maps ↗
11
Pampa Salinas
Dunes near Ilo where you bring your own board.¹⁶
In Google Maps ↗

Open the map in Google Maps

Checklist

For a dune day out of Lima

Check in the listing

Hours on the sand, not just the total length
Snow boots and bindings, or velcro straps
Which districts the pickup covers
Age limits and health exclusions

Bring

Sunscreen and sunglasses, even under grey skies
Water for the day
Money for lunch, which is not included
Clothes that can take a load of sand

Cost calculator

Price a dune day for your group

Enter your group size to compare four trips from Lima.

Punta Hermosa dune day6.5 hoursfrom $199 Sandboarding & jeep6.5 hoursfrom $159 Half-day sandboarding6 hoursfrom $150 Paracas & Huacachina16 hoursfrom $94

People 2

Total from$398

per head from $199

Check availabilityfree cancellation

Totals are each outing's from-price times the number of people you enter, turned into your currency with that day's ECB rate; checkout shows what you actually pay.

Video

A sandboarding day on the dunes near Lima

The player stays empty until you press play.

The long day trips that end at Huacachina

The other answer starts before dawn. The most reviewed day trip from Lima, on Viator, runs 16 hours with a speedboat to the Ballestas Islands, a pisco vineyard with tasting, and finally a 120-minute buggy and board session at Huacachina. Its score is 4.89 across 10,196 reviews, with prices from $94.

A second trip is cheaper and has a catch. It runs 18 hours and starts from $49, but its 60 minutes of buggy and sandboarding at sunset are included only with the Premium option and are otherwise added on the bus. Ask which option you are buying before you pay.

On GetYourGuide, a 16.5-hour luxury day trip with lunch picks you up between 4:00 and 5:00 am and brings you back around 10:00 pm. Its listing warns that on Easter weekend and around Independence Day the sandboarding and buggy at Huacachina last 1 hour. Long days like these are about the whole coast, not about the board.

Board time against road time

Put the numbers side by side and the choice gets clearer. The Lima dune outings spend about a third of the day on the sand: 2 hours of sandboarding in a 6 or 6.5 hour day. The Huacachina day trips spend 16 to 18 hours on the road and give the dunes 60 to 120 minutes.

Each Huacachina hour is very different, though. You ride dunes that PromPeru describes as up to 100 m high, and the buggy part is a ride in its own right.¹¹ The most reviewed buggy tour at Huacachina has its boards ridden on the belly or sitting, which is fun but teaches you little about riding standing up.

If you can spend a night in the south, there is a third route: take the bus or a day trip to Ica and book a dedicated outing there. A buggy tour with sledding at Huacachina takes 2 to 3 hours and starts from $23, which turns the long drive into an overnight trip with time to ride.

Getting picked up and getting home

Pickup is where the Lima options differ most in practice. The top-rated dune day collects you from your hotel, hostel or rental by 4x4 at 7 am, and airport pickup is not included. The jeep tour collects in Barranco, Miraflores or Punta Hermosa, and the half day in San Isidro or Miraflores.

The Huacachina day trips start much earlier and finish late. The luxury trip's pickup falls between 4:00 and 5:00 am, and the Viator day returns to Lima around 11:30 pm. Plan a slow next morning, and keep snacks and water in your day bag for the coach. A light jacket helps too: the morning boat and the evening on the dunes feel very different from the warm middle of the day.

For all of them, check the cancellation terms and the age rules. MINCETUR's definition of sandboarding as an adventure activity set a minimum age of 8, the same lower limit as the Lima dune day.¹⁷ Children younger than that are better off watching from the top, or building sand castles below.

Which Lima sandboarding trip to book

Book the Punta Hermosa dune day if learning to ride is the point. It has the most reviews of the dune days near Lima that we compare, it includes snowboards with boots and bindings, and it fits into a single day with time to spare in the evening.

Choose the jeep tour or the half day if you want a smaller outfit or a cheaper start, and check whether boots are included; the half day's velcro bindings take your own athletic shoes. Pick a Huacachina day trip if you want to see the islands, the vineyards and the oasis as well, and accept that the board is a short part of it.

Whatever you choose, the sand near Lima is real desert. Bring sunscreen, sunglasses and water even on a grey morning, wear clothes that can take a load of sand, and leave valuables at the hotel. A zip pocket or a small bag strapped to your body keeps your phone safe on the falls, and a buff or scarf over your mouth helps when the wind lifts the sand. Then let the guide pick the slopes, starting small, the way the Lima dune day itself does.

Your sunset