Pachacamac Pyramids, Lunch & Dance Horse Show

Overview

Enjoy a day of pyramids, Peruvian food, and horses on a private tour from Lima. The visit begins with the Museum and Archaeological Sanctuary of Pachacamac, including the Acllawasi and Temple of the Sun, followed by an authentic lunch and a live Peruvian Paso horse dancing show in traditional costume.

This private tour pairs Pachacamac's archaeological sites with a genuinely Peruvian cultural tradition: the Peruvian Paso, a horse breed known for its smooth natural gait, performing a traditional dressage-style dance in full costume at a local ranch, alongside a real Peruvian lunch.

Highlights

• Acllawasi & Temple of the Sun Visit these two real structures within the Pachacamac sanctuary.
• Peruvian Lunch Stop at an authentic restaurant for a meal inspired by Peruvian and indigenous cuisine.
• Peruvian Paso Horse Show Watch a live horse dancing show showcasing the Peruvian Paso's traditional gait, with costumes and music.

What Stops Does This Tour Make?

A popular starting point — every Voyzo itinerary is fully customizable, so we'll shape the order and stops around your group.

Important Information

Frequently Asked Questions

About This Tour

Enjoy a day of pyramids, Peruvian food, and horses on a private tour from Lima. The visit begins with the Museum and Archaeological Sanctuary of Pachacamac, including the Acllawasi and Temple of the Sun, followed by an authentic lunch and a live Peruvian Paso horse dancing show in traditional costume. This private tour pairs Pachacamac's archaeological sites with a genuinely Peruvian cultural tradition: the Peruvian Paso, a horse breed known for its smooth natural gait, performing a traditional dressage-style dance in full costume at a local ranch, alongside a real Peruvian lunch.

Where this tour's Pachacamac stop differs from a general ruins visit is its focus on two specific, real structures: the Acllawasi and the Temple of the Sun. "Aclla" is Quechua for a chosen woman, and the Acllawasi — literally "house of the chosen women" — housed women selected for skill or standing to live in religious service, weaving fine textiles and preparing chicha (maize beer) for ceremonies and the Inca state. The nearby Temple of the Sun, a terraced stepped pyramid covering roughly 30,000 square meters, was built after the Inca Empire absorbed Pachacamac in the late 1400s and dedicated the structure to their sun god, Inti.

The day's second half turns to something distinctly Peruvian: the Peruvian Paso horse. The breed traces back to horses brought over during the Spanish colonial era — some accounts point as far back as the animals Christopher Columbus carried on his second voyage in 1493, with the bloodline firmly established in Peru by the time of Francisco Pizarro's 1532 expedition. Roughly four centuries of relative isolation on Peru's coastal haciendas, combined with deliberate breeding, produced a horse with an unusually smooth, natural four-beat lateral gait known as "paso llano" — comfortable enough that a rider could reportedly cover long distances without tiring. The breed was formally organized in 1947 with the founding of Peru's national breeders' association, and in 1992 the Peruvian government declared it a Cultural Heritage of the Nation.

The show itself showcases a real regional tradition called marinera de caballo (sometimes "marinera a caballo"): Peru's national dance, the marinera, performed with a costumed rider guiding a Peruvian Paso through intricate stepping patterns that echo the footwork of a dancer moving alongside the horse. It's a performance style rooted in the country's old hacienda culture, and seeing it at a working ranch — paired with a real Peruvian lunch — gives this tour a genuinely different character from a straightforward archaeological visit.