Máncora
Máncora is a town and beach resort in the Piura Region, in northwestern Peru. It is located in the Talara Province and is capital of the Máncora District. The town has 8,852 inhabitants (1999).
The Pan-American Highway serves as Máncora's main street. The area is known for its turquoise beaches and good waves, making it a surfing destination. This beach location is favored by two ocean currents year round: the cold Humboldt Current 14 to 19 C° and the warm Niño Current 21 to 27 C°, giving it a tropical-dry climate with ocean waters averaging around 24 C°.
Summers last from December to April and are very hot. Rain is usual during the night and the temperature can reach over 38 °C. The rest of the year is dry, breezy, and sunny. The temperature during winter and spring never falls below 25 C° during daytime and is usually around the high 20's. Night temperatures drop to around 17 C°.
The beach town has over 30 different beach resorts that receive tourists from all over South America. It has a large proportion of restaurants and nightclubs for such a small town of 10,000. Resorts rim the nearby kilometers of beaches connected by a road. Most people arrive by bus, private car, or plane from the Talara Airport or Tumbes Airport. Currently, tourism is booming as a large influx of tourists take to the beaches all year round. In 2005 340,000 tourists visited Mancora.
Distances:
| City | Land | Air |
|---|---|---|
| Lima | 18 hours | 2 hours |
| Arequipa | 34 hours | 3.5 hours* |
| Cajamarca | 14 hours | 2 hours* |
| Chiclayo | 7 hours | 1 hour |
| Chimbote | 13 hours | -- |
| Cusco | 42 hours | 3.5 hours* |
| Piura | 3 hours | -- |
| Piñas | 5 hours | -- |
| Tacna | 35 hours | 4 hours* |
| Trujillo | 10 hours | 1.5 hours |
| Tumbes | 2.5 hours | -- |
| Bogotá, CO | 62 hours | 5 hours* |
| Buenos Aires, AR | 80 hours | 6.5 hours* |
| Guayaquil, EC | 7 hours | -- |
| Santiago, CH | 62 hours | 6 hours* |
| São Paulo, BR | 105 hours | 7 hours* |
.* Excluding connections
Gallery
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Mancora Beach
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One of a few bus companies on the main street in Mancora
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Town hall in Mancora
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Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Máncora. |
See also
- Iperu, tourist information and assistance
- Tourism in Peru
References
- Useful Mancora Guide with Hotels and Beach House listing
- Mancora Beaches Guide in the Northern Peru
- Talara Government description of Mancora (Spanish)
- Piura regional government site (Spanish)
- Mancora - Informative Site about Peru-Mancora
- Las Pocitas - Informative Site about Peru-Mancora-Las Pocitas
- Punta Sal - Informative Site about Peru-Punta Sal
- Cabo Blanco - Informative Site about Peru-Cabo Blanco