Two Days in Lima, Peru

When my family and I took a 10-day trip to Peru this past May, we decided to spend the first and last day exploring the enormous capital city, Lima, before continuing on to Cusco, Machu Picchu, and the Sacred Valley. This made logistical sense given that we were flying in and out of Lima, but we were also curious to explore this massive coastal city that often goes overlooked by tourists.

We stayed in a neighborhood called Miraflores, which is situated right on the edge of massive cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Miraflores is one of Lima’s most upscale neighborhoods and home to many of the city’s best shops, restaurants, and museums. I’d HIGHLY recommend spending some time in Lima if you can spare a day or two on your trip to Peru!! Two days was plenty of time for us to get a feel for the city and explore a couple of neighborhoods, and our trip was much richer for it.

Here are some of the things not to miss while in Lima:

Miraflores Boardwalk

A decent portion of our time in Lima was spent walking along this boardwalk. Being from New Jersey, when I hear “boardwalk” I automatically think of boardwalks on the Jersey Shore, jam packed with arcades, tiki bars, and Kohrs Ice Cream, but the boardwalk in Miraflores is a different breed. It is a cliffside pathway that stretches roughly six miles, with stunning panoramic views overlooking both the ocean and the city. The buildings alongside of it are some of Lima’s fanciest hotels and most expensive high rise apartments. We ended up spending hours walking up and down the boardwalk just because the views were so spectacular. Walking along, you will come across a beautiful lighthouse called La Marina lighthouse, the “Park of Love,” and multiple launch sites for hang-gliding, which is a popular tourist activity in Lima.

Park of Love

Miraflores Boardwalk

La Marina Lighthouse

Hang-glider!

Larcomar

Larcomar is a high-end outdoor mall built onto the side of a cliff along the Miraflores boardwalk. It is home to some of the best retail shopping in all of Peru, and some amazing restaurants as well. Most of the stores are big brands that you will find in the US, so even though it might not be the type of shopping you want to do while in Peru, it is honestly worth a visit just for the setting and the views.

Sunset from Larcomar

Sunset from Larcomar

Barranco

Barranco is a trendy, bohemian neighborhood next to Miraflores, and you shouldn’t leave Lima without spending a day here. My family and I spent hours walking around, taking in the colorful buildings, hole-in-the-wall art galleries, street musicians, and general artsy vibes of Barranco on our first day, and loved it so much that we returned on our last day in Lima at the end of our trip. The best way to explore this neighborhood, in my opinion, is to spend a few hours letting yourself get lost wandering through all the little streets. You will completely forget that you’re in a massive city!

Main Plaza in Barranco

Church in main plaza

Churros con Chocolate

View of Barranco

Cute boutique in Barranco

Food

If you are going to spend money on anything when you’re in Lima, spend it on the food. Lima is basically the foodie capital of South America, so it is worth dishing out a few extra dollars (if you can spare it) to go out. Peruvian cuisine centered around quinoa, corn, potatoes, and peppers, all of which are grown domestically. There are literally hundreds of varieties of potatoes and corn in Peru that don’t exist here in the States, so even foods that might sound basic on the menu always ended up being a surprise.

Tacos in Miraflores

At a coffee shop in Barranco

There was a restaurant called Tanta in the Larcomar mall that was situated right on the side of the cliff overlooking the ocean, and we went to this restaurant a few times. It is actually a chain with locations worldwide, but the food was all Peruvian and it was incredible. I’d highly recommend this is you are in Miraflores and want amazing Peruvian cuisine without spending a fortune! There was also a Tanta in the Lima airport that we stopped at where I had the best chicken empanadas of my life.

Lugar de la Memoria Museum

This museum’s full name is “El Lugar de la Memoria, la Tolerancia y la Inclusión Social,” which translates to the Space of Memory, Tolerance and Social Inclusion. It is a relatively new museum located in Miraflores dedicated to remembering the country’s relatively recent civil war, which killed nearly 70,000 people. My family and I did not actually visit this museum, mostly because we didn’t find out about it until the end of our last day there, but a good friend of mine who visited Lima right after me said it was one of the most powerful and profound museums she had ever been to. For more information on the museum, click here.

Historic Center

On our last day in Lima, right before heading to the airport, we stopped in the Historic Center of Lima to witness some of the beautiful architecture and government buildings. Unbeknownst to us, there was a a huge parade in this part of the city that started right when we got there. We did not initially know what the parade was celebrating, but we stood for about an hour and watched hundreds, maybe thousands, of people dressed in various indigenous outfits dance down the streets. We later took a bike taxi out of the area, and our driver explained to us that the parade was an annual summit celebrating all of Peru’s indigenous groups. Being able to witness this event was really special, and it was even more special that we happened upon it by accident. It was a beautiful event and made us feel a bit more connected to Peruvian culture.

After the parade, we spend about an hour wandering around and taking in the architecture, which was really spectacular. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

*note: the historic center is not the safest part of Lima, so be aware of your surroundings as you explore the streets. I wish we had more time to explore this area, but unfortunately we had to catch our flight home later that day, so our time was limited.

Some of my favorites from the historic center:

Iglesia de la Merced (go inside – it is gorgeous!)

Plaza San Martín

Church and Convent of San Francisco

My family and I really enjoyed our time in Lima, and our two days there were the perfect bookends to our trip. However, it’s important to recognize that the areas we were in, mainly Miraflores and Barranco, are touristy, rich parts of a city that suffers from an extreme wealth gap. The Peruvian government wants tourists to spend time in the areas that I mentioned above, which is exactly what we did, so they heavily invest in these areas at the expense of the local people. This is a really important topic that I don’t want to brush over just in this one paragraph, so I’m going to dedicate a future post solely to this issue.

However, for now, I’m just going to end this post by saying gracias to Lima for being the perfect beginning and ending to an amazing trip to Peru. Espero que pueda regresar pronto.