5 Best Sights in The Southern Coast, Peru

No less astonishing than Machu Picchu or other Peruvian wonders, this UNESCO World Heritage Site was discovered (or rediscovered) in 1926 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 200-100 BCE, 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.

The great Inca Pachacutec himself probably stayed at this, one of Peru's most underrated archaeological sites. The labyrinthine alleyways and trapezoidal plaza of this huge adobe settlement were devised as an outpost for soldiers and visiting dignitaries of the far-flung Andean empire, making it the most important Inca site on the Peruvian coast. Today, Tambo Colorado is incredibly well preserved, owing to its bone-dry setting. When you go, you'll feel some of the same grandeur found in the stones of the Sacred Valley around Cuzco.

Tambo Colorado, or Pucahuasi ("red resting place") in Quechua, derives its name from the bright bands of imperial red, yellow, and white with which it was once blazoned. The site comprises several sections laid out around a large central plaza, and you can see the quarters where the great Inca received his guests. Notice that the plaza's distinctive trapezoid shape is reflected throughout the site—look for trapezoid windows and other openings—and thought to have been an earthquake-proofing measure, necessary in this extremely volatile region. Be sure to visit the museum on the premises, which houses many finds by the great archaeologist Julio C. Tello, the site's discoverer.

Within a walled, 3,400-square-meter (4,050-square-yard) courtyard west of the Nazca Lines is an ancient ceremonial and pilgrimage site. Six adobe pyramids, the highest of which is about 21 meters (69 feet), stand above a network of 40 mounds with rooms and connecting corridors. Grain and water silos are also visible inside, and several large cemeteries lie outside the walls. Used by the early Nazca culture, the site is estimated to have existed for about three or four centuries before being abandoned around AD 500. Cahuachi takes its name from the word qahuachi (meddlesome). La Estaquería, with its mummification pillars, is nearby. Tours from Nazca, 34 km (21 miles) to the east, visit both sites for around S/40 with a group and take three hours.

These wooden pillars, 34 km (21 miles) 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, lean toward their use in mummification rituals, perhaps to dry bodies of deceased tribal members. They are usually visited on a tour of Cahuachi.