Pisco and the Ballestas Islands (Islas Ballestas)

The main reasons visitors come to Pisco, about 200 kilometers south of Lima, are to see the nearby Islas Ballestas and the Reserva Nacional de Paracas on the Paracas Peninsula. Almost directly west of Pisco, the Islas Ballestas, sometimes referred to as the "poor man's Galapagos," are home to hundreds of thousands of birds, large colonies of sea lions, pelicans, penguins, and dolphins. Boat tours, which visit the islands daily, leave in the mornings from Pisco. The full tour takes passengers past the "Candelabra," a hillside geoglyph seen from the coast, and then spends a considerable amount of time boating around the islands watching for wildlife. This tour is generally a half-day trip, returning around noon.

The Paracas Peninsula, jutting out into the Pacific Ocean just south of Pisco, is home to the Reserva Nacional Paracas and the largest section of protected coastline in Peru. The shoreline of the Paracas Peninsula supports a huge variety of wildlife, with approximately 200 species of seabirds, two types of sea lions, a rare type of otter, and the endangered Humboldt penguins.