A Digital Nomad Guide to Mancora

Mancora Visa

Most of the countries of America and Western Europe do not require a tourist visa to enter Peru, and the maximum length of stay granted by the authorities is 180 days, although it cannot be extended. For a stay for a longer period with other objectives (business, study, work, etc.) it is necessary to previously request the corresponding visa from the Peruvian consulates. Some of the available visas are:

• Tourist visa that allows a foreigner to visit Peru for tourism purposes.
• Business visa that allows a foreigner to visit and do business in Peru.
• Humanitarian visa for Venezuelan citizens who wish to enter Peru, in order to ensure an orderly and safe migration.

To enter Peru, it is an essential requirement to present a valid passport with a minimum validity of six months counted from its entry into the national territory. Citizens of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia and Chile can enter with their national identification document.

On the other hand, people with a passport from Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua do require a visa to enter Peru and the costs vary according to nationality and can be consulted at the Peruvian consulate.

I always recommend checking in advance the information with the Peruvian embassy in your country of origin as it may change.

Culture and Food in Mancora

In Mancora the options are varied. The most economical are the menus that appear on the posters on the main avenue. There you can eat for 8 soles (2 USD) and choose between 4 starters, 5 main dishes and a lemonade. To enlarge the dishes and lower the price of the menu, just go to eat at the market restaurants. They are less pleasing to the eye but they give you better and bigger portions and the main menu costs only 6 soles (1.50 USD).

La Meche, located behind the market, is a small family restaurant with really good ceviche. Prices vary between 40 and 60 soles per person (10 and 15 USD). It is better to go earlier because this place is crowded after 2 pm. Although, if your intention is to try the best hake ceviche in the area, I recommend going to the Los Órganos pier. There you will find a cevichera called Nirma that prepares it in front of your eyes only for 4 soles (1 USD). Watching her prepare it is a show itself.

Returning to Mancora, Banana’s restaurant, just outside a chic clothing store, has prices to watch out for. For example, a large seasonal juice with a ciabatta sandwich for 8 soles (2 USD). The one I liked the most was the vegetarian one: lettuce, tomato, avocado, fresh cheese, mushroom, olive, basil and olive oil. In addition, it also sells fruit cups with yogurt, cereal and honey for 5 soles.

If you have a higher budget, the most pleasant place for a romantic dinner is La Sirena d’Juan, which has a menu with pasta, fish and seafood. They use national inputs such as quinoa and also offer classic dishes with the catch of the day. The dishes are impeccably presented and their desserts are delicious. For example, you should ask for the apple crisp. 

La Mosca en la Sopa has Argentine owners who offer gourmet dishes and warm service. The menu has seafood, pasta and meats, as well as a delicious piña colada. I recommend the smoked tuna.

Café del Mundo, almost at the entrance to Máncora, has French owners who offer healthy food. Their dishes are a French-Peruvian fusion where you will find from ratatouille with garlic prawns and salad to a falafel burger and sea salads. It is an excellent option for a light, delicious and healthy lunch.

Since mid-2005, Antonio Ortenzio created his own Ristorante Pizzeria Volentieri, in the heart of Máncora. Here you can try Italian stone pizzas cooked in a wood-fired oven as well as gnocchi, ravioli, lasagna and tagliatelle in a family atmosphere with the best Italian traditions. ¡Buon appetito!

Mancora Nightlife

The nightlife in Mancora is famous for being fun and crazy. Its night offers good parties in a beachy and relaxed atmosphere. Here you can drink alcohol almost anywhere, from hostels to hotels and restaurants.

Atelier is a good place to start the night with their happy hour and delicious cocktails. Its menu features Peruvian and Latin American wines and a classic cocktail selection. It also has weekly live music shows, which is not a common thing in other places of Mancora.

At the Wild Rover Hostel you will find the only Irish bar in the area with excellent cocktails and a local atmosphere. Their pool parties with guest DJs and live music are famous in the area.

If you want to go to an authentically Peruvian bar, I recommend La Tienda, just to the right of La Sirena d’Juan restaurant. It is a little luxurious bar, with plastic chairs and a local atmosphere that makes you experience another Peru.

The biggest parties in Mancora take place in Loki del Mar. Every night is partying in this hostel full of travelers from all over the world. If you want to have a good time, have fun and meet new people, this is the place.

At Wiracocha Surf Restobar you can enjoy typical cocktails in front of the beach with your feet on the sand. This place is what you need to reconcile with the world. As the sun sets, the music begins and your outdoor bar turns into a party.

Along the beach there is a row of bars with dance floors where you can enjoy the best Latin rhythms of the moment. These bars usually close early in the morning so the vast majority of people end up here to watch the sunrise to the rhythm of the music.

Tip: to alleviate the hangover the next day, drink coconut water.

Things to do in Mancora

• El Ñuro pier

  One of the adventures in Mancora that generates the most emotions is whale watching. Any agency will want to charge you a fortune for taking you into the sea. A cheaper option is to go to the El Ñuro pier at 6 am and take one of the tourist boats that leave from there. The cheapest I could bargain for it was for 50 soles (13 USD) but it depends on how many people there are for the tour. Perhaps, on the same day the price can be lowered a little more. The whale season runs from the first of August to the end of September / October.

• Swimming with Turtles

  Swimming with Turtles is one of the most recommended activities. The giant tortoises are completely free inside the ocean but they stay by the dock because the fishermen throw fish at them and take care of them due to tourism. For a comfortable walk you can hire the tour but the place is not far and if you travel accompanied it will be cheaper to go on your own. The round-trip by bus to El Ñuro costs 12 soles (3 USD). Another option is to take a mototaxi (tuc-tuc) for 7 soles (2 USD). To return, to Los Órganos it costs 1 sol (0,25 USD) and from there you can get remises for 4 soles (1 USD). Once on the beach there are two options: pay five soles to enter the pier and go directly to an area with turtles or swim from the beach around the pier where they are scattered. The life jacket costs 2 soles (0,50 USD) but it is not mandatory to use one. On the way back, don’t forget to stop by the cevicheras on the Los Órganos pier for a plate of hake ceviche prepared in front of your eyes for 4 soles (1 USD). It was the best one I try in my life.

• The Mud Pools

  The mud pools, in Quebrada Fernández and Zorritos, are also a good choice to spend the day. The first option is approximately 30 kilometers away from Mancora. I do not recommend it since it only has a small well where so many people go that when you want to grab mud you end up with a lot of other people’s hair on your hand. Instead, Zorritos has three pools with different mineral properties. The place is called Hervideros and it is 65 kilometers away. Here you will find more locals than tourists and also the pools are larger. They are filled with the rising of the sea and at low tide the locals enjoy warm water and mud with special properties for the skin.

• Manglares de Tumbes National Sanctuary

  The tour to the Manglares de Tumbes National Sanctuary costs 80 soles (20 USD) but you should consider that they crowd many people together and sometimes it can be uncomfortable. The boat takes you to visit the different islands with characteristic flora and fauna from Peru, such as the Island of Crocodiles, the Island of Love and the Island of Birds with hundreds of colorful birds flying over it. The sanctuary consists of 2.972 hectares where the fishermen of black shells go to collect them among the roots of the mangroves. In the center of Mancora there are many tourism agencies that show the images of the tour on their televisions so that you can have a better idea of what you will experience on the tour. If you prefer to do activities on the beach and without leaving Mancora, you can take kite surfing and surfing classes. Beginning children and adults can take classes at one of the many schools that display their posters on the beach. For those who already have an idea, equipment is rented at Victors Surf Lessons. When I was there the waves didn’t look good to me. All the advanced surfers that I met where to Chicama to surf, a little further south. There you will find “the longest perfect wave in the world”, according to the magazines and those cute crazy people who fly on the board. Therefore, I recommend Mancora only for beginners.

• Jet Skis

  Jet skis and quad bikes are also rented to stroll along the beach. A more interesting offer is that of Eco-Fundo La Caprichosa with a canopy-aeromoto circuit consisting of four lines of cables that run 1.600 meters down the mountain. In addition, along the beach you will see men with two horses that come and go from one end to the other offering rental services. It costs 10 soles (2,50 USD) for half an hour if you bargain enough and you have the option of galloping or going quietly with their owner monitoring you. I recommend considering how well the horse is treated and not encouraging animal abuse.

The good thing about the area is that you can spend a peaceful night away from the center or a crazy night in one of its bars facing the sea. Drugs and alcohol seem commonplace, although it is not always obvious since each tourist is in their own world. The night of Mancora is why most people visit it.

Best Time to Visit Mancora

The geographical position of the area locates the beaches of Piura, Tumbes and Mancora in front of the crossing of the two great marine currents: the cold Humboldt that comes from the south and the warm Equatorial or El Niño current that comes from the north.

The confluence of these two currents creates an excellent semi-tropical and dry climate, with an average relative humidity of 60% and with more than 300 average sunny days per year. Temperatures range from 21 °C to 34 °C. It also has moderate southerly winds and almost no rain, except in exceptional summers.

The ocean temperature varies between summer and winter. In summer (from December to April) it ranges between 22 °C and 26 °C and the rest of the year between 18 °C and 21 °C. The beaches located south of Cabo Blanco have lower temperatures due to the greater influence of the Humboldt Current.

One of the best reasons to visit Mancora and nearby beaches is its amazing climate, which remains almost unchanged throughout the year.

Mancora for Families

Mancora is an ideal place to vacation with children but not to live there mainly due to the lack of a good hospital and good bilingual schools. The local schools have a very low level of education and completely in Spanish. Also, although places like Los Organos and Las Pocitas are quite safe, in the center of Mancora you will see drug use and robberies due to the high turnover of people and tourism.

However, for short stays outside the school period or if you teach your children from home, areas like Las Pocitas have enormous tranquility that will allow them to play in nature. Keep in mind that the friends you make may rotate according to the tourist seasons, although there are many foreigners and locals who live in the area.

Living in Mancora

Mancora Transportation

If you are not yet in Mancora and you are wondering how to get there, the airline with the best deals from Latin America is LaTam. The closest domestic airports are Talara (72 km), Tumbes (102 km) and Piura (190 km). The international ones are those of Lima (1.165 km) and Guayaquil in Ecuador (470 km). All of them have transport agencies (bus, minibus and taxis) that connect with Mancora. From Guayaquil the trip costs approximately 20 USD and from Lima around 30-35 USD.

Some of the long-distance transport companies in Mancora are: Oltursa (www.oltursa.com.pe, 225-4499 / 224-1839), Civa (www.civa.com.pe, 332 5236/423 2755) and Cruz del Sur (www.cruzdelsur.com.pe, 225 6163/215 5031).

Once in Mancora, the town is quite small so a walking tour is ideal. You can take walks along its extensive boardwalk where both during the day and at night there are bars and restaurants to taste the local cuisine. You can also walk through its small pedestrian area full of handicraft and souvenir shops or on its main street where you will find clothing stores, markets, bars and restaurants. You do not need any means of transport to visit these places.

To cover slightly greater distances, you can take a motorcycle taxi, or even public transport to reach more remote points such as Los Órganos beach. For example, the round-trip by bus to El Ñuro costs 12 soles (3 USD). Another option is to take a mototaxi (tuc-tuc) for 7 soles (2 USD). To return, to Los Órganos it costs 1 sol (0.25 USD) and from there you can get remises for 4 soles (1 USD) back to Mancora.

Another widely used option is the private minivan to cover some short trips such as to Punta Sal Beach. The cost is usually per person and you will have to wait for the car or minivan to fill up for the driver to start the car. These minivans are stopped on the Panamericana which is the street with all the businesses, and it will be very easy for you to find them.

Fitness and Health

Among the gyms in the area is the Xserfit Mancora Fitness Center in the town of Mancora and also at Hotel Las Cabañas de Antica in Vichayito. Every Friday they have a class where you work with dumbbells, discs, garters, isometric, localized, box and functional exercises that make the class entertaining, dynamic and intense where you will burn many calories and increase your aerobic capacity to the rhythm of the music. They also have spinning classes, localized, yoga, aquaerobics and the machines area. They are open every day from eight in the morning.

You can also find hotels with gyms such as the Hotel Punta Ballenas Inn. Some of them charge a pass per day to be able to train at their facilities.

Another possibility is to learn surfing, kitesurfing or Stand Up Paddle in some of the schools in the area such as Wild Kite Peru, Inka Warrior Surf School or On Shore Kitesurf School.

Inka Warrior Surf School is located in front of the Mancora surf break. They offer private surf lessons for all levels, surfboard rentals, stand up paddle board lessons and rentals, and surf trips. They open from 6:30 am to 6 pm.

Mancora People

The people in Mancora and in the north of Peru in general are friendly, calm and very traditional in terms of the roles of women and men in the house. Every day they are becoming more westernized but still preserve many of the traditions of yesteryear. For example, the Inti Raymi festival. This is the oldest Peruvian tradition in the Peruvian Andes, and it is an Inca celebration in honor of Taita Inti (the father sun), which takes place on the winter solstice of the southern hemisphere, that is, on the longest night of the year. Nowadays it is also considered a ceremony of tourist interest since it has the presence of foreign visitors.

Also, Peruvians are very Catholic and celebrate Saint John’s Day. This is the largest and most popular celebration in the Peruvian Amazon, which takes place between June 21 and 27 every year. This holiday originates from the introduction of Christianity in the region by the Catholic missions, which declared Saint John the Baptist as the Patron Saint of the Amazon. Among the activities that take place on this date are book festivals, handicraft fairs, concerts by musical groups, dances, stoves, the election of Miss San Juan, and the use of parades and typical clothing of the area.

It is also worth making the 500-kilometer trip to witness the Marinera Festival that takes place in Trujillo, between January 20 and 30. The great Marinera contest is one of the most beautiful Peruvian dances, where people of all ages participate with dances full of joy, agility and elegance. In the festival there are also parades and competitions of horses with the famous Peruvian horse that moves in such particular way.

The north of Peru is full of traditions and festivities both Catholic and from the indigenous peoples of the area. Its people are always willing to tell you about their roots and customs since foreigners are not always interested in them.

Mancora Insurance and Medical Care

In addition to a small state hospital that provides basic health care and serves mostly the residents in Mancora, there are institutions and private clinics that have different more specialized health services. In case of more complex problems, you should be transferred to nearby cities such as Piura, Tumbes, Talara or even the capital of the country. I recommend paying a private insurance because even in the largest cities, state hospitals have too basic facilities and medical care that can be inefficient.

Currently there are several pharmacies throughout Mancora. Many of them are pharmacy chains from Peru, with a good assortment of medicines and diapers. They mostly accept credit and debit cards.

Some international media and tourist guides wrongly show Mancora and its surroundings as a zone of yellow fever or malaria. There are no records of such diseases here in recent years. The usual illnesses are mild poisonings and stomach upset, mainly due to water or bad fish. It is always advisable to buy bottled water and avoid food stalls that do not have adequate hygienic measures or that are not very crowded.

Dengue disease also exists in the area, so it is recommended to use mosquito repellent all the time.

Another factor to consider is the sun and skin burns. I recommend the use of sunscreen during the day.

Make sure you are fully covered by reading our full Digital Nomad Travel Insurance guide.

Jobs in Mancora

To work in Peru legally without being a native of the country you need a working visa. However, many employers in different areas operate informally and hire staff without the need for a work permit and without declaring them as employees.

If you are looking for a job as a professional, Mancora is not a good place and it will be more convenient for you to go to Lima or work remotely through internet. In the town you will find mostly low-paying jobs related to tourism and the hotel sector. Keep in mind that the minimum wage in the country is 236 USD per month so don’t expect much more than that for a simple job at a hotel or at a restaurant.

Check out our Digital Nomads Jobs Postings to find the best jobs available for Digital Nomads.