Our BAD experience with Peru Hop - HOW TO travel in Peru by bus?

We were moving from place to place quite fast and we chose Peru Hop as our main transportation from Lima to Paracas to Huacachina to Arequipa but ...

Is Peru Hop Actually a good choice for tourists? Is it a rip-off?

Whatttt?! It's time to leave Huacachina

Honestly, not much to do in Huacachina at all except for the dune buggy and the sandboarding. Wait, also climbing a giant dune to watch sunset and sunrise? Anyways, still, not much to do but every time we stay somewhere for a few days seems like we grow some roots out of our butt. Just wanna be there for just a Li......ttle bit longer.

Kev unfortunately had just 3 weeks to travel with me here in Peru so we gotta get going so... Chao Huacachina! Not sure if we would see each other again as there's such limitation what to do around here but it was lovely!

We fell for Peru Hop - It's really PRICEY!

We could have paid $95 less

We take a tourist bus - as touristy as it could get, Peru Hop it is... - Have you heard? Yes you have. The company has such a great SEO score for what I know. You search for anything at all on the internet about Peru, What to do in Lima, How to get to Rainbow Mountain, What's the best way to get to Machu Picchu and all that, Peru Hop will pop up! They're ranking good and I respect them for it.

For the fact that Peru Hop's site looks quite professional and trustworthy. They have their headquarters in Lima and in Cusco. They claim to pick us up at wherever hotels/hostels we stay and a lot of discounts at all the restaurants and bar in a few cities...

We didn't have time to do much research and didn't know there are many bus companies out there offering same type of service for MUCH LESS EXPENSIVE than Peru Hop from Lima to Paracas to Huacachina to Arequipa cost us $139 ~ S/ 500 roughly.

By just randomly googling, I could those other bus companies other than Peru Hop like, Econociva, Oltursa, Tepsa, Cruz Del Sur, etc. https://www.busbud.com have all the prices and time schedule compared. The whole journey traveling form Lima to Paracas to Huacachina to Arequipa, we could have just paid $45 ~ S/ 150

Our bad experience From Huacachina to Arequipa with Peru Hop

We didn't have any problem until we did... #lol The day we left Huacachina, we're supposed to be at the meeting point at the certain time to catch a ride with Peru Hop. We went there 20 mins early and waited for quite a while... 'No other people are waiting here? Are we late? Is it actually right right place?'

Hi, we're here for Peru Hop. Can you check if they're late or what?

The guy made a phone call and then...

They left half an hour ago...

There's no word needed. I was mad. Really mad. How come the communication was so bad. We missed the bus and we're even there early for the time scheduled. A few Peru Hop staff showed up out of nowhere and tell us 'No worries, we will get you a taxi to meet the others at the Pisco Vineyard' The vineyard tour that's supposed to be included in the Bus package... They say it's free but the costs, of course, included in that outrageous $139 we paid for.

How come we were the only ones missing the bus? The email about schedule changing was sent 30 mins before the new departure time. We don't check out emails every 30 mins.

Peru Hop fun fact :

• 'Don't be a typical tourist, discovering the REAL Peru with Peru Hop' was their slogan but no, by going on the Peru Hop journey, we felt the complete typical tourists. Dumb ones :)

Good job Peru Hop! I have never written negative review much at all on my blog posts, now I am doing it just for the company... Peru Hop...

Anyways, let's continue with some positivities in the post!

I love traveling by bus and train

By doing that so, I could actually see whatever on the way other than the cities I visit themselves. On the way coming by bus from Huacachina to Arequipa, we have seen some interesting towns and beautiful nature along the way. It was lovely.

Also, traveling by bus could be quite affordable and less expensive than another transportation like car, plane and maybe compared to Peru Rail, very much cheaper.... Well, Peru hop is not the case. #oops!

Nazca lines was on the way from Huacachina to Arequipa

We would have spent a few nights there in Nazca and check out how it really is if Kev was not really in a rush. 3 week-period is such a short time to check out Peru! We stopped by to check out the famous Nazca lines though.

Nazca Lines (Líneas de Nazca) in southern Peru are a group of pre-Columbian geoglyphs etched into desert sands. Covering an area of nearly 1,000 sq. kilometers, there are about 300 different figures, including animals and plants. Composed of over 10,000 lines, some of which measure 30 meters wide and stretch more than 9 kilometers, the figures are most visible from the air or nearby hilltops.

We could check it out by going on a helicopter and watch the Nazca lines from above for about $80 or so. We were just checking it out from the tower and guess what, lucky enough, we were the first people to use the new and taller tower there in Nazca.

Seeing the lines from the tower was not so bad really, check it out yourself with us here in 360 video shot with this camera :)

It took the whole night from Nazca to get to Arequipa

Yay! Finally, we got to one of my favourite cities ever in Peru, Arequipa. I know I just said I love traveling by bus. The road from from Nazca to get to Arequipa though, sketchy a f***. All the windy road with the cliff right on the side of the road. We were not so comfortable.

Not that impressed with Peru Hop but gotta thank them that we got to Arequipa safe. I'm sure other bus companies would just do the same as well.

We didn't expect so much of Arequipa but dang, just the first minutes we got there, Arequipa is super duper pretty with its white city built with white volcanic rocks and the volcano in the background. Not to mention a lot more delicious Peruvian food we are going to be eating in those Picanterias we all love.

Spoiler alert! We ate our first guinea pig here in one of the picanterias in Arequipa!

Let's enjoy load tons of Peruvian food and more Peru's fun in general togeter real soon. For now, chao amigos!

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