Part of enjoying a destination is arriving at the right time. In Peru, there are so many good excuses throughout the year to visit its cities and enjoy traditional and popular festivals, or to experience purposeful trips, such as corporate meetings.

Harvest Time

The grape harvest is the time when the grapes used to make wines and spirits, such as pisco, Peruvian flagship drink, are picked. In Peru, the grape harvest takes place in March, making it the ideal month to visit Ica, one of the main wine-producing centers.

The Grape Festival

In Ica, a coastal department in the south of Lima, the harvest is celebrated with a series of traditional activities involving the harvest and the traditional grape trampling, which is when barefoot men and women crush the grapes to extract the juice that will later be turned into wine or pisco. This is an emblematic and traditional moment of the harvest. But it is not the only one.

In 2026, the 61^st edition of the Grape Harvest Festival of Ica will be held from March 6 to 15, with activities full of joy and regional pride. The main events are the election and coronation of the Harvest Queen; dances, concerts, traditional dance competitions, and food fairs take place throughout the week, with March 13 as the main day (which is declared a non-working holiday throughout the Ica region); the festival culminates with a grand parade and float competition. Quite a spectacle.

Savoring Tradition

The harvest is also an opportunity to visit the famous wineries of Ica, on a wine and pisco route that includes Hacienda Tacama (the oldest vineyard in South America, founded in 1540), La Caravedo (the oldest distillery, founded in 1684), Viñas de Oro, Ocucaje, Bodega Tres Generaciones, and Viñas Queirolo, as well as other artisan wineries.

The route allows you to taste the wine and pisco produced in the region, as well as learn about the process of harvesting the fruit in its various varieties, pressing it with specialized machines to extract the juice or must, and learning about fermentation for wine production and distillation for pisco production.

In addition to the celebration in the city of Ica, the harvest is also celebrated in the provinces of Pisco, with its focus in Paracas. Therefore, there is nothing better than spending the day at the harvest festival or touring the historic vineyards of Ica, and then returning to rest at the Hotel Paracas, a Luxury Collection Resort. The hotel has a wine expert, Riecel Damian. The guests are also invited to sample the quality of the wine cellar of the hotel at the bar of its Ballestas restaurant and the pool bar. Some of the recommended Peruvian labels are Origen de Tacama, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier; Patrimonial Intipalka de Queirolo, in Negra Criolla and Torontel varieties. Other recommended labels include the French Dourthe N1, a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc, and the Argentine Caellum, Reserva Malbec.

Thus, in the streets, the wineries, or by the pool at the Paracas hotel in Ica, the grape harvest in March is celebrated with tradition, enthusiasm, and lots of flavor.