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How much does it cost to visit the Nazca Lines?
How much do the Nazca Lines cover? The Nazca (also spelled Nasca) Lines are geoglyphs located in an arid coastal area of Peru that cover an estimated 170 square miles (450 square kilometers). Scratched on the ground, they number in the thousands and depict creatures from both the natural world and the human imagination.
Can you walk the Nazca Lines? There is a watch tower that takes an hour and a half or more to drive to. But you cannot walk around the lines; its a protected area.
Where is the best place to view the Nazca Lines from? To see the Nazca Lines from Nazca, there are two options. Easiest and cheapest is to catch a bus for 30 minutes north from Nazca along the Carretera Panamericana Sur, where there is a mirador (viewpoint) with restricted views of some of the Lines. But you will not get nearly as good a view as you will from a plane.
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The Nazca Lines are preserved naturally by the region’s dry climate and by winds that sweep sand out of their grooves. UNESCO added the Nazca site to its World Heritage List in 1994.
The Nazca Lines are perhaps best known for the representations of about 70 animals and plants, some of which measure up to 1,200 feet (370 meters) long. Examples include a spider, hummingbird, cactus plant, monkey, whale, llama, duck, flower, tree, lizard and dog.
Located in the desert on the South Coast of Peru, the Nasca Geoglyphs are among the world’s largest drawings. Also referred to as the Nasca Lines, they are more accurately called geoglyphs, which are designs formed on the earth.
The 143 geoglyphs add to the over 1,000 ancient designs already discovered in the Nazca (or “Nasca”) and Palpa regions of southern Peru. The Nazca Lines discovered so far consist of 800 straight lines, over 300 geometric designs and more than 70 animal and plant geoglyphs.
The Lines became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994. At the time, UNESCO wrote, “They are the most outstanding group of geoglyphs anywhere in the world and are unmatched in its extent, magnitude, quantity, size, diversity and ancient tradition to any similar work in the world.”
The most common way of experiencing the lines is by flying over them in a small plane, but people often wonder if it’s also possible to see the Nazca Lines from the ground. While flying gives you a bird’s-eye view of them, it is possible to see them without getting in a plane!
To see the lines you take short scenic flight from one of the three nearby airports: Nazca, Pisco or Ica. The nearest airport to the Nazca lines is Nazca airport. The closest airport to Lima is Pisco, which is around a 3.5hr drive from the capital; alternatively there are limited commercial flights from Cusco to Pisco.
According to scientists, the lines were created by the Nasca people, who flourished from around A.D. 1 to 700. The Chavin and Paracas cultures who lived before The Nazca people may have also drawn some of the geoglyphs.
The lines are found in a region of Peru just over 200 miles southeast of Lima, near the modern town of Nasca. In total, there are over 800 straight lines, 300 geometric figures and 70 animal and plant designs, also called biomorphs.
The town of Nazca is generally safe for travelers, though be wary when walking at night near either bridge to the south of town. Travelers arriving by bus will be met by persistent jaladores (agents) trying to sell tours or take arriving passengers to hotels.
Machu Picchu, also spelled Machupijchu, site of ancient Inca ruins located about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Cuzco, Peru, in the Cordillera de Vilcabamba of the Andes Mountains.
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The Nazca Lines were created by removing the top layer of reddish pebbles to show a whiter ground beneath. The Nazca lines were created by the Mayans.
According to Peru’s culture ministry, they receive between 120-180 reports of illegal encroachments every year, making squatters the biggest threat facing Peru’s archaeological and heritage sites. Finally, like so many historical sites, the Nazca Lines have fallen victim to their own fame.
The Nazca (or Nasca) lived near the arid southern coast of Peru from 100 BCE to 800 CE. Early Nazca society was made up of local chiefdoms and regional centers of power centered around Cahuachi, a non-urban ceremonial site of earthwork mounds and plazas.
The Nazca created these geoglyphs between 200 BCE and AD 600 by clearing away the dark red top soil and stone, leaving the pale underlying soil exposed. Since the plain where the lines are carved receives little rain or wind, the lines are still visible today.
Peru is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of natural resources. Gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, and iron are found across the country, and there are reserves of oil and natural gas. Even so, jobs there can be very hard to find, and Peru remains one of the world’s poorest countries.
The Nazca Lines can only be discerned from high elevation or altitude. The ancients used these ways to attract future generations to search for the wisdom deposited there. Our experts are slow to learn, they called the Ica Stones fake, and missed the climate change. These messages were probably left by the Lemurians.
You can view the lines by climbing the Mirador, an observation tower perched on a hillside by the Pan-American highway 20 km north of Nazca. This tower overlooks the geoglyphs known as the hands, the lizard, and the tree.
an astronomical calendar!
Maria Reicher believes that the Nazca lines were created by ancient Peruvians to form a kind of calendar. Her theory is that the Nazcans used these lines as a sort of grand astronomical calendar, to help them get ready for the all-important change of seasons.
Travelling to Nazca from Cusco takes around 17 hours and public bus companies do this journey through the dangerous Andes roads. There is no other option to get from Cusco to Nazca since there is no public flights to and from these destinations.
Getting To Huacachina
Unless you have your own vehicle, the best way to get to Huacachina is by Peru Hop private bus since it is the only bus that goes to Huacachina directly from Lima and Cusco. Public buses go only as far as the neighbouring city Ica from where you would need to arrange a cab to Huacachina.