Peru · August 2025
Overview
Many travellers only stop in Lima on the way to Cusco, and that's a mistake. It's a huge, chaotic city on cliffs over the Pacific, with a colonial center full of balconies and churches, pre-Inca pyramids in the middle of residential neighbourhoods, and some of the best food on the planet, from ceviche at a market stall to world-famous tasting menus. The weather is strange: it almost never rains, but for half the year the sky is grey. Most visitors stay in Miraflores or Barranco, by the sea, which feel modern and relaxed.
Long before the Spanish, the Lima culture built adobe pyramids (huacas) along the coast between 200 and 700 AD, and the Ichma and later the Inca controlled the valley; the great temple of Pachacamac, just south of the city, was one of the most important oracles of the Andes. Francisco Pizarro founded the city on 18 January 1535 as the "Ciudad de los Reyes" (City of the Kings), and it became the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, which ruled most of Spanish South America, the richest city of the continent thanks to the silver of Potosí. The 1746 earthquake and tsunami destroyed much of Lima and wiped out the port of Callao. On 28 July 1821, José de San Martín declared Peru's independence in the Plaza Mayor. In the 20th century, migration from the Andes turned Lima into a city of over 10 million people. Its historic center has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988.
How long to stay: 2 to 3 days.
Last updated: October 2026
Quick Facts
Location
On the central coast of Peru, on cliffs over the Pacific, in a desert valley crossed by the Rímac River. Cusco is about 1 hour 20 minutes by plane, and Paracas and Huacachina are 3.5 to 5 hours south by bus.
Budget
Per person, per day, in soles (October 2026).
| Backpacker | Mid-range | Comfort | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation | PEN 40–60 (dorm) | PEN 150–250 (double, split) | PEN 450+ |
| Food | PEN 40 | PEN 100 | PEN 300+ (tasting menu) |
| Transport | PEN 10 | PEN 40 (apps) | PEN 80 |
| Activities | PEN 20 | PEN 80 | PEN 250+ |
| Daily total | about PEN 120 | about PEN 370 | about PEN 1,000 |
A "menú" (set lunch with starter and main) costs PEN 12–20 in local places, a plate of ceviche PEN 30–60 in a good cevichería, and a pisco sour PEN 20–30.
Things to Do
Lima is one of the great food capitals of the world. Three of the world's top fifty restaurants are here, but you can eat spectacularly for ten dollars at any hueca in Barranco or Surquillo.
Walk the Miraflores clifftop from Larcomar to Parque Kennedy at sunset. Cross into Barranco for the Bridge of Sighs and street art, and duck into MAC Lima before dinner.
The historic center is UNESCO listed. Give it a morning for the cathedral, San Francisco catacombs, and Plaza Mayor before the coastal fog burns off.
The heart of colonial Lima, laid out by Pizarro in 1535. Around it stand the Palacio de Gobierno (the presidential palace, built on the site of Pizarro's house), the Cathedral, the Archbishop's Palace with its carved wooden balconies, and the Municipalidad. The Cathedral, rebuilt several times after earthquakes, holds the tomb of Pizarro.
Price: square free; Cathedral about PEN 30 · Hours: changing of the guard at the palace every day around noon · Time needed: 2 hours.
A 17th-century Baroque monastery with a library of about 25,000 antique books and, underneath, the catacombs that served as the city's cemetery until 1808, where the bones of thousands of people are arranged in geometric patterns.
Price: about PEN 20, with a guided tour in English or Spanish · Time needed: 1 hour · Tip: photos are not allowed inside.
A colonial mansion built in 1535 on land given by Pizarro to Jerónimo de Aliaga, one of his captains, and still lived in by the same family after almost 500 years. It's one of the oldest houses in the Americas still owned by the original family.
Price: visits by reservation, about PEN 40–50 · Tip: book ahead; it's not always open.
A huge adobe pyramid in the middle of Miraflores, built by the Lima culture between about 200 and 700 AD with millions of handmade bricks placed like books on a shelf, a technique that resisted earthquakes. Guided tours explain the ceremonies and burials found here.
Price: about PEN 20 with a guide · Hours: closed Tuesday; night tours some days · Time needed: 1 hour · Tip: the restaurant next to the pyramid is great for dinner with the ruins lit up.
A private museum in an 18th-century mansion built over a 7th-century pyramid, founded in 1926 by Rafael Larco Hoyle. It has one of the best collections of pre-Columbian art in the world, gold and silver jewellery, and the famous gallery of erotic Moche pottery. Visitors can even walk through the storage rooms with thousands of ceramics.
Price: PEN 50 at the door, PEN 45 online · Hours: open every day, until evening · Time needed: 2 hours · Tip: the café-restaurant in the garden is very good.
A clifftop promenade of parks above the Pacific, with the Parque del Amor and its giant sculpture "El Beso" by Víctor Delfín (1993), Gaudí-style mosaic benches, and the Larcomar shopping center built into the cliff. Paragliders fly along the cliffs every afternoon.
Price: free; tandem paragliding flight about PEN 250–300 · Tip: walk at sunset, especially in summer when the sky is clear.
The bohemian district, once a summer resort for rich Limeños in the 1800s, with colourful mansions, murals, bars and galleries. Cross the Puente de los Suspiros (a wooden bridge from 1876) and walk down the Bajada de Baños to the sea. MATE, the museum of photographer Mario Testino, is here too.
Price: free; MATE about PEN 30–40 · Tip: legend says that if you cross the bridge holding your breath, your wish comes true.
In Parque de la Reserva, 13 illuminated fountains that entered the Guinness Book of Records in 2007 as the largest fountain complex in the world. At night there's a music, light and laser show.
Price: about PEN 4 · Hours: evenings, Wednesday to Sunday · Tip: go by app, not on foot at night; the surrounding area isn't great.
Try ceviche at lunch (cevicherías often close by 17:00, because fish is eaten fresh), lomo saltado, ají de gallina, anticuchos (grilled beef heart) and chifa (Chinese-Peruvian food). Lima also has restaurants among the best in the world, like Central, by chef Virgilio Martínez, named the best restaurant in the world in 2023, and Maido. The Mercado de Surquillo, next to Miraflores, is the place to see local fruits.
Price: ceviche PEN 30–60; tasting menus at top restaurants are very expensive and need booking weeks ahead.
A large archaeological site 40 km south, used for more than 1,000 years by different cultures and later by the Inca, with the Temple of the Sun and a modern site museum.
Price: small entrance fee · Hours: closed Monday · Tip: go with a tour or an app; public transport is complicated.
Transit Tips
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From the airport: the new terminal opened in June 2025, on the opposite side from the old one. The Airport Express Lima bus goes to several stops in Miraflores (about 45 to 70 minutes, about PEN 30–40), and official taxis have counters inside with fixed prices. Uber and the other apps work; follow the pickup instructions in the app.
Long-distance buses: Cruz del Sur and Oltursa are the safest companies, with their own terminals.
Uber, Cabify, DiDi and InDrive: the best option for visitors; Miraflores to the historic center costs about PEN 20–30.
Metropolitano: a bus rapid transit line from Barranco and Miraflores to the historic center, about PEN 3, paid with a rechargeable card. It's very crowded at rush hour.
Street taxis: no meter, so agree on the price first; avoid them at night.
Keep in mind that Lima's traffic is terrible: a 10 km trip can take an hour at rush hour, so plan your days by area. Miraflores, Barranco and San Isidro are safe to walk, the historic center is fine by day, but be careful with your phone everywhere. If you have a connecting flight to Cusco, leave plenty of time.
Helpful Words
A few basics in Spanish can make everyday conversations much easier.
Where to Stay
Plan & Book
Explore accommodation options and open hotel details directly from the map.
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