Review: Peru Hop

Nathan and I had limited time in Peru before hiking the Santa Cruz Trek but wanted to explore a little more of the country.  After some research, a visit to Huacachina seemed to be the best option.  I usually avoid group tours at all cost.  In this situation, Peru Hop’s 2-day tour ($130 USD) just made sense.  There simply no way to do the same trip on our own given the limited time we had avaliable.  So, despite my reservations, I signed us up.  Read on to see what I liked and disliked about the experience.

01. HOTEL PICKUP

We arrived in Lima late the night before the tour.  The first benefit of using Peru Hop was that they pick you up at your hotel (Miraflores or Barranco).  This is especially convenient when the tour leaves at 5:30 in the morning.  The bus was very nice with large, comfortable seats.  They also provided large blankets upon boarding and with the reclining seats we were able to get a few more hours of sleep on the way to Paracas.  There was no WiFi on the bus but they did play some movies (in English).

A view from our speedboat on the Ballesta Islands tour.

Photograph by Jeffrey Palmer

02.  ACTIVITIES

Several tours were included in our booking.  The first stop was in Paracas for a boat tour of the Ballestas Islands.  These islands are home to sea lions, small penguins and other wildlife.  Our group of about 35 all boarded the same speedboat.  The guide spoke English and Spanish and I enjoyed hearing the history of the islands.  Not to be pessimistic but if you’ve done boat tours in other areas you may not be overly impressed by the area.  It’s not bad but it isn’t as good as Kenai Fjords in Alaska either.

The second tour left from Huacachina to a Pisco vineyard.  I’m not sure why but it was just us and the Peru Hop guide.  Upon arrival at the vineyard, a guide there showed us the process of making the Peruvian brandy.  At the end, we recieved samples of several different wines and liquors.  For what it was the tour was well done.  My only complaint was that the winery was out of samples of the pisco itself.  This was no fault of Peru Hop though.

By far the best tour of the trip was the dune buggy ride in Huacachina.  The safety standards were better than I had expected. All the dune buggies I saw were equiped with roll cages and had 5 point harnesses for each passenger. Don’t let that give you the impression that the ride wasn’t wild. Our driver drove quite fast but it was impressive how well he knew all the dunes.  Everyone in our buggy had a great time. We stopped to walk around on the remote dunes and take pictures.  You’ll also get to slide down the dunes on a snowboard.  At the end, our driver stopped to let us watch the sunset before returning back into town.

The last tour of Paracas National Park we did independently but used the same company as Peru Hop does.  This tour was a little disappointing.  I felt like we spent as much time in the bus as we did on the ground in the park.  The park does cover a large land area so maybe a lot of bus time is unavoidable.  Regardless, it was like no place I’d been before and I was glad that we took the time to visit.  The longest stop of the tour was at the end.  We were taken to a restaurant and somewhat pressured to eat there by the tour operator.  We didn’t and there are other places to eat nearby.  Luckily, it wasn’t too hard to fill the time by walking along the coast.  The combination of all this left me disappointed with this tour.

03. ACCOMMODATIONS

Basic lodging is included in your Peru Hop package.  In Huacachina you’ll stay at Casa de Arenas.  A shared room is included but we chose to pay less than $5 USD each to upgrade to private rooms.  The private room was very basic and our bathroom didn’t have hot water.  Be aware that there is a bar in the courtyard and the party is likely to last all night.  If you want to get to bed, it’s nothing some earplugs can’t fix.  For a one night stay, it was good enough for us.  If you choose to stay in Paracas, the hotel there is Los Frayles.  This one is basic as well but much nicer than Casa de Arena.  Again, we stayed in a private room ($5 USD per person upgrade).  The room was bigger and had hot water.  A hot breakfast was included.  The hotel itself was kept up well and the pool area was very nice.

04. TIME

As I said before, the main reason we took the Peru Hop tour was to save time.  This was the biggest benefit of the service to me.  There is no need to schedule things seperately or wait around for buses.  The bus picks you up in Lima early in the morning and drops you off late at night (midnight).  Making use of the full day like this would be difficult on your own.  Reviewing all their tours, some of them will keep you very busy.  We chose a tour that offered a decent amount of free time in Huacachina.  This way you don’t have to feel like you’re part of a tour group the whole time.

CONCLUSION

There is no getting around that fact that this is a tour.  However, for me, it was a tour done right.  Given the efficiency of the transportation, I felt like this provided the best of both worlds.  Peru Hop arranges everything for you but still allows you the flexibility to do what you want.  We didn’t take advantage but the service does allow you to hop on and hop off if you wish to spend even more time in a certain location.  It would be cheaper to use a public bus and purchase the tours on your own.  However, the price is already so affordable that I don’t think the slight savings will matter for most people.  I would recommend the service.

BONUS – Airport Express Bus

I’m not sure if it’s the same owners but this service is affiliated with Peru Hop.  Many online guides and locals that we met stressed that we should be very careful using local taxis.  Because of this, the Airport Express Lima was a worry-free solution.  Buy tickets (credit cards accepted) at the company’s counter as you leave the airport’s arrivals area.  The cost is $8 USD each way.  Buses leave every frequently and you can visit the ATM while you wait.  The buses feature WiFi and have USB charging ports.  There are select drop off points in Miraflores.  One of them was right beside our hotel (Hotel Runca).