Thunderroad

My wife and I will be traveling in Peru in September. I have a few questions:

1. When I go to the Cruz del Sur bus site, I see that the best bus for us from Paracas to Lima actually originates in Nasca the previous evening before stopping in Paracas at 8:30 a.m. Perhaps this will be clear if I complete the purchase, but am I in effect buying the ticket all the way from Nasca?
2. The site also only seems to allow me to buy one ticket at a time. Am I doing something wrong?
3. We'll take the 1:30 p.m. bus from Lima to Paracas. We're a bit up on the air (so to speak) about which flight to take from Cuzco to Lima. With lots of miles to burn and wanting to make sure we make the bus, we could take the Taca business class (though I know it's a short flight) that arrives in Lima at 9:30 a.m. But there are also many LAN economy flights, including those that arrive at Lima at 11 or 11:30 a.m. Any advice on how reliable the LAN and Taca flights are, in terms of making sure we make the bus connection? And any further advice re Taca versus LAN?
4. If we do have time to kill between a Lima airport 9:30 a.m. arrival time and 1:30 p.m. bus departure, I realize there are no great options. But I understand there are some food outlets at the Lima airport. Should we simply hang out there? Any other alternatives?
5. I assume that, aside from making sure we negotiate a firm price from the airport to the bus station and upon our return from the bus station to our Lima hotel, there are no problems with taking a taxi in Lima. Do I assume correctly?

Thanks for any help!

Villavic

3. LAN is enough reliable, and September is still good dry season, but you never know.

4. Maybe not enough time for downtime or Miraflores, but a quick visit to La Punta Callao may be possible, specially in weekend

Thunderroad

Thanks! A few more questions:

1. On a domestic to domestic connection, are there any lounges to access?
2. Is the food court a decent place to hang out? And is it landside (i.e., before an outgoing passenger goes through security) or airside?
3. We'll arrive from the USA on a LAN flight that arrives at 7:05 a.m. and connect on LAN to Cuzco at 9:40 a.m. Are there long immigration lines that time of day? If not and if we have time, any recommendations on which lounge to try to access?
4. Similarly, any recommendations on which lounge we should try to access when flying from Lima back to the USA on a 9 a.m. flight?

For what it's worth re lounge access, I have Priority Pass and partner airline status that should let me access any lounges affiliated with either LAN or Taca.

Thanks for any help!

Villavic

1. Check http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/lan-l...nges-peru.html

2, you must go thru security check for the food court

4 I always recommend VIP club. Less crowded than Sumaq

Thunderroad

Again, thanks very much! I should have been more precise on one matter, though: If we have to check our luggage on our domestic UCZ-LIM flight and retrieve it in LIM, will we still be able to access the lounge and food court there? Or does going to get the luggage take us past a "point of no return"?

(FWIW, that flight will be on Taca in business class, and we usually pack light enough to just do carry-ons. So if we can do carry-ons and/or can simply gate-check the bag, I guess we do not have a problem.)

SometimesFlyer

I would clarify and note the foodcourt at Lima is landside.

Also, OP, once you pick up your bags, IIRC, you are past the point of no return. No more lounges.

Cheers,
SF

Thunderroad

Thanks yet again for more very useful info, SF.

ibdsux

I took Cruz Del Sur on the exact route you are seeking and booked my tickets online. I agree it is a little confusing but I eventually figured it out by emailing them - they responded right away and told me which bus to book. If you don't speak Spanish (I don't) here's a tip - write your question out and put it into Google translate, then send that. You can then use it to translate their response. Worked pretty well for me.

Cruz Del Sur's buses were well maintained and comfortable - I highly recommend booking a first class ticket. Doesn't cost too much more and is well worth it for the larger seats, leg rests, and extra space. Also, a first class ticket will get you access to a waiting lounge at their Lima terminal. The lounge is nothing special, but was a nice quiet place to retreat from the chaos of the terminal while waiting for our bus. Food is available inside the terminal.

Thunderroad

A very belated thanks, ibd! A couple more questions:

1. I can't seem to bring up any information when I put in at the Cruz del Sur "itinerary retrival" box that I want to travel from Lima to Paracas (or other destinations) on a given date. I just get a message, "No itinerary for the selected route has been found." Am I doing something wrong? This seemed to work when I checked a few weeks ago.
2. When you say first class ticket gets you lounge access, do you mean a VIP ticket?

Thanks for any help.

ibdsux

No problem, Thunderroad. Yes, the VIP seats are the first class seats. I took a look at their website, it looks like it has been recently updated and seems more user friendly now. From the home page, select orgin as Lima and destination Paracas on a 2 way ticket. Enter your dates and select "All Services". You should see the itinerary options. The destination will likely either say Nasca or Arequipa, but if you hover your mouse over the "i" it will show Paracas and the time the bus gets there. The reservation seems straightforward to complete from here.

FYI the bus station in Paracas is an open air depot at a budget hotel. There is a small gift shop/snack bar but not much else. There will probably be a taxi or two waiting there for the bus but you might want to arrange for your hotel to pick you up. Hope you enjoy Paracas, we found it very relaxing and I really enjoyed the local food.