Lima

Peru·South America

Currency

PEN

Language

Spanish

Timezone

Lima

Continent

South America

Our guide

Discover Lima

Lima turns its back on the desert and faces the Pacific along two hundred kilometres of cliff. The Historic Centre of Lima is a World Heritage site: the Catedral de Lima and the Goverment Palace close the main square, and the Monastery of San Francisco hides catacombs holding tens of thousands of bodies. The Palacio Torre Tagle and the Casa Aliaga — lived in by the same family since 1535 — keep the carved wooden balconies the city is known for. In Miraflores, Huaca Pucllana raises a 5th-century adobe pyramid among the apartment blocks.

When to go

December to April, the austral summer: the only genuinely sunny season. The rest of the year Lima lives under the garúa, a permanent grey coastal mist that gives almost no rain but erases the sky for months. It hardly ever rains — the city is built on desert — but the humidity is constant. Do not count on sun between June and September.

Getting around

The historic centre and Miraflores are ten kilometres apart and linking them takes time at rush hour. The Metropolitano, a busway on its own lanes, is the most reliable way across. Ride-hailing apps are widely used and preferable to unmarked street taxis. Each district — Centre, Miraflores, Barranco — then walks well, and the malecón joins the last two along the clifftop.

Where to eat

Lima claims the best cooking in South America and our data agrees on volume: Peruvian leads by a wide margin, ahead of seafood. Ceviche is eaten at midday, never at night, because the fish comes in the morning. Lomo saltado shows the Chinese influence, chifa being the name for that Chinese-Peruvian cooking. Pisco sour is the national cocktail and Chile disputes it. No halal address is listed in our data.

Good to know

The sol is the currency and cash still helps outside the tourist districts. Tap water is not drunk. Safety asks the usual precautions of a large Latin American city: little on show, ride-hailing rather than a taxi flagged in the street, and local advice about a district before going at night. And altitude is not a subject here — Lima is at sea level — but it becomes one the moment you head for Cusco.

Smart Planning