Ica's hospitable city is placed on the south coast of Lima, at 406 MASL. It is an oasis in the middle of the desertic pampas of Peru and starting point to visit Nasca's famous Lines and Paracas National Reserve.
 
Some of the most important civilizations of ancient Peru established themselves here as the Paracas and the Nasca who left a legacy that has endured the passage of time.
 
The city offers beautiful beaches and thermal spring waters, varied marine fauna, museums and excellent hotels. You can also visit the vineyards of the department, where they produce excellent piscos and wines, the Huacachina Lake, a beautiful oasis situated among the sand dunes just a few minutes away from Ica, and Chincha, the valley which gave birth to the Afro-Peruvian music.
 
Paracas is a small town and district, but it is best known for the Paracas National Park and wildlife reserve.
 
This State protected area is, among its beaches and staggering beautiful rock formations, the refuge to fur seals, otters, penguins, dolphins, and more than two hundred species of birds such as flamingos, waders, and guano birds.
 
Paracas is one of the biggest marine reserves in the world. From this bay, you will start the visits to Ballestas Islands and Chincha.
 
Huacachina Lake, 5 km/3 miles southwest of Ica, is a traditional relaxation spot and, literally, an oasis in the desert: a splendid landscape of dunes, palm trees, and acacias. Some natives believe in the medicinal properties of its waters.

Nasca lines

Two hours from Ica, between 419 and 465 km. of the Panamericana Sur highway, you will arrive to the beautiful Pampas of Nasca: Palpa, Ingenio, Nasca and Socos, whose immense engravings of drawings and geometric and zoomorphic lines impress by their complexity and intriguing meaning.
 
The Nasca Lines, discovered in 1927, are the most extraordinary legacy left by a culture that flourished in 300 BC.
 
The theories about the use and interpretation of the Nasca lines are too many; the most experienced ones suggest that they were runways of extraterrestrial ships; others say that it was a giant seismograph, but the most appropriated one is what Dr. Maria Reiche indicates (a German researcher who dedicated her life to studying the lines): it was an immense solar and lunar calendar, used by the old Nasca astronomers.
 
Ms Reiche was also the first one to discover the ancient technique of digging into the tough and dry desert floor and covering the track with stones brought from distant sites. The component of natural plaster existing in the area helped to preserve for thousands of years the drawings (more than 30 figures etched into the plain).
 
This wonderful spectacle can be appreciated only from air, at an altitude of 1,500 feet. By flying in a small plane over Nasca lines, you will see more than 30 geoglyphs with geometric, human and animals figures, as a bird of 300 meters, a lizard of 180 meters, a pelican of 135 meters, a condor, a monkey, a spider, etc.
 
In 1994, Nasca lines were declared a Mankind Heritage Site by UNESCO.