Paracas

Paracas needs 2 days: sailing to the Ballestas Islands, with colonies of sea lions, Humboldt penguins and guano birds, on one, and touring the desert of the Paracas National Reserve, with cliffs over the Pacific, on the other. May-September brings the mildest weather, avoiding the coastal summer heat. It's mid-priced. It's the usual base for small-plane flights over the Nazca Lines, figures traced in the desert over 1,500 years ago that can only be made out in full from the air, and its bay, nicknamed the «poor man's Galápagos,» concentrates marine wildlife comparable to the Ecuadorian islands at a fraction of the cost.