8 Best Sights in Nazca, The Southern Coast

No less astonishing than Machu Picchu or other Peruvian wonders, this UNESCO World Heritage Site was discovered (or rediscovered) in 1927 by Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejía Xesspe, who stumbled upon them on a walk amid the foothills. Almost invisible from ground level, the lines were made by removing the surface stones and piling them beside the lighter soil underneath. More than 300 geometrical and biomorphic figures, some measuring up to 300 meters (1,000 feet) across, are etched into the desert floor, including a hummingbird, a monkey, a spider, a pelican, a condor, a whale, and an "astronaut," so named because of his goldfish-bowl-shaped head. In 2020, a research team came across a faded feline outline on a hillside. The catlike geoglyph stretches for 37 meters (120 feet) and has been dated to between 200 BC–100 BC, meaning it's part of the Late Paracas period and older than any of the other geoglyphs found in the area. Theories abound as to the purpose of these symbols, from landing strip for aliens to astronomical rituals or travel markers. Since 2000, investigators have discovered hundreds of additional figures, leading many to speculate that science hasn't begun to fathom this most puzzling of Peru's ancient mysteries.

Like the Incas, the Nazca had an advanced understanding of hydraulics, and this system of puquios (spiral-shaped stone wells) just outside the city limits testifies to their engineering genius. The wells are actually entry points to a complex network of underground aqueducts the Nazca built to funnel the scarce runoff from the Andean foothills; they would then pool this runoff in reservoirs and use it to irrigate their crops. Today some 46 puquios still exist; most are in good working order. Their existence continues to be vital to 900 subsistence-farming families in the region as well as (scandalously) to a few local washerwomen, who've been known to sneak in to do their weekly scrubbing.

Inside a walled, 4-square-km (1½-square-mile) precinct west of the Nazca Lines lies an ancient ceremonial site. In it, five adobe pyramids, the highest of which stands at about 21 meters (69 feet), tower above a network of 40 mounds, with a bevy of rooms and connecting corridors. This is Cahuachi, which archaeologists had previously supposed to be the Nazca capital, but which current studies suggest was actually a pilgrimage destination for inhabitants of Peru's Southern Coast. Built by the early Nazca culture, the site has been called the region's "theocratic capital" and is estimated to have existed for three or four centuries before being abandoned around AD 500. Also visible nearby are grain and water silos, as well as several large cemeteries outside the precinct walls. La Estaquería, with its mummification pillars, is nearby. Tours from Nazca, 18 km (11 miles) to the east, visit both sites for around S/50 with a group and take three hours.

To see where a lifelong obsession with the Nazca Lines can lead you, head to the former home of the German anthropologist who devoted her existence to studying them. There's little explanatory material here among the pottery, textiles, mummies, and skeletons from the Paracas, Nazca, Wari, Chincha, and Inca cultures, so don't expect any grand archaeological revelations. What you'll see instead is the environment in which Maria Reiche lived and worked. A scale model of the lines is behind the house; her grave lies not far away. Take a taxi to the Km 421 marker to reach the museum, which is 28 km (17 miles) from town.

In the midst of the pale, scorched desert, 30 km (19 miles) south of Nazca, lies this ancient cemetery, whose precincts are littered with sun-bleached skulls and shards of pottery. Huaqueros (grave robbers) have ransacked the site over the years, and, until the early 2000s, the mummies unearthed by their looting sprouted from the earth in a jumble of bones and threadbare weavings. Now, however, they are housed neatly inside a dozen or so covered tombs. It's an eerie sight, since the mummies still have hair attached, as well as mottled, brown-rose skin stretched around empty eye sockets and gaping mouths with missing teeth. Some are wrapped in tattered burial sacks, though the jewelry and ceramics with which they were laid to rest are long gone. Tours from town take about three hours and cost around S/60. Visits to the cemetery are also packaged with Nazca Lines flights and other attractions.

These wooden pillars west of Nazca, carved of huarango wood and placed on mud-brick platforms, were once thought to have been an astronomical observatory. More recent theories, however, incline toward their use in mummification rituals, perhaps to dry bodies of deceased tribal members. They are usually visited on a tour of Cahuachi.

For an overview of the Nazca culture and the various archaeological sites in the region, this Italian-run museum is the best in town. The exhibits, made up of materials excavated from the surrounding digs, are heavy on scientific information and light on entertainment, although the display of Nazca trophy skulls will appeal to the morbid, and textiles fans will appreciate the display of painted fabrics from the ancient adobe city of Cahuachi. All the signage is in Spanish, so ask for the translation book at the front desk. Don't miss the still-functional Nazca aqueduct in the back garden.

Everyone comes to town for the Nazca Lines, but a more contemporary spot that's also worth visiting is the studio of Tobi Flores. His father, Andrés Calle Flores, years ago discovered Nazca pottery remnants in local museums and started making new vase forms based on their pre-Columbian designs. Today, the younger Flores hosts a funny and informative talk in his ceramics workshop, and afterward you can purchase some beautiful pottery for reasonable prices. It's a quick walk across the bridge from downtown Nazca; at night, take a cab.