Mancora (accent on the first syllable) is a beach town in the north of Peru along the Pacific coast. It lies between the larger cities of Tumbes to the north & Piura to the south and east. Both of these cities have airports & Tumbes is closer to Mancora, but Piura is served by more frequent flights and tickets are just a bit cheaper. The flight from Lima lasts about an hour & 15 minutes but the ground transportation is just under 4 hours from Piura. Airport waiting time for check in and baggage inspection lasts longer than the flight.
Ground transportation can be a cab (240 nuevos soles), private van (25 nuevos soles) or bus (12 nuevos soles). Wife & I went to Mancora by van but returned by bus because the van didn't have enough leg room for the gringo, and my knee was aching for most of the trip.
Mancora is a BYOW (bring your own woman) town. Not really a place to meet local women, but a place to vacation once you have one.
Mancora serves two types of tourist: the surf slacker and the family/ or honeymooners. The Pan American highway runs through the town and off of that highway is a dirt road with a strip of hotels along the beach for the latter class of tourists. In town there are hostel type lodgings for surfers & low budget types. Wife & I stayed at Casa de Playa (
www.casadeplayamancora.net), which is a hotel within walking distance of Mancora. The strip of hotels is accessible by moto taxis, the three wheeled motorcycle taxis. The road is very bumpy and not for those prone to sea sickness or with hemorrhoids.
I had hoped to try some kite surfing during our stay, but it turned out that it required a commitment of 6 hours of instruction over 3 days and it was quite expensive. There are rentals of ATV's, jetskis & motorcycles in town. There are side trips for horse back riding. We took a van trip north to Puerto Pissaro for a boat tour of the Manglares, a wetland ecosystem north of Tumbes. Along the way were stops at two beaches and a mud bath. The mud bath probably didn't cure anything, but we really enjoyed it. No charge for the mud, just a charge for water to wash off the mud.
Mancora has cheap dining, with lots of sea food. Pescado y cangrejos y conchas negras. Tambien cerviche y juguerias. A lot of it is at the level of a diner in the US, but there are better restaurants to be found.
More info, check out this link:
www.vivamancora.com
