NOVEMBER 2019
From Cuenca in Ecuador we took a direct night bus to Máncora in Peru which took us 8 hours including the boarder crossing. Máncora is a very popular beach location for Peruvian people, but I must admit I had never heard of it before. Máncora is located perfectly in between Ecuador and Lima and we were really glad we got to spend two days in this charming beach town. If you are into kite or wave surfing, Máncora is the place to be, when we visited there were several competitions going on which made for a fun watch!
Where we stayed
We arrived at our hotel “Blue Ocean” at 5AM after a night bus and were super surprised we were granted a free early check-in. Blue Ocean was located just off the main beach, but within walking distance. The main road of Máncora is pretty loud and Blue Ocean is just far enough away to be a quiet space. We loved listening to the sound of the waves at night 🙂 Our room was € 42 per night and had ocean view and included a delicious breakfast. After the check-out we were still allowed to use the facilities of the hotel, such as the swimming pool and the showers. This hotel was one of our favorite hotels during our trip, so we would absolutely recommend to stay here!
Things to do
Máncora is a pretty typical bohemian beach town, with sandy roads and coco-loco style restaurants. One of our favorite activities was eating fresh ceviche and watching pelicans dive by. We decided to just relax for our days in Máncora, but if you like something more active: there are many (kite) surf schools in Máncora. The waves seemed pretty decent and you can learn to surf or hire a surfboard at a reasonable price. We also heard that you can go on a snorkeling trip to swim with giant turtles, however this did not seem very ethical. We saw many videos and pictures of tourists touching and standing on the turtles, so we decided not to participate in that. Máncora also is a party town, Loki Hostel throws parties almost every night. If you like a quiet night, don’t stay near to Loki 😉
We took the Cruz del Sur nightbus of 20 hours to Lima after our stay in Máncora and were super happy that the VIP seats were super comfortable and actually managed to get a decent night of sleep! We keep hearing about super cold buses in South America, but have not yet experienced one.
