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Lima, Peru · Work · Leisure · Adventure

Lima
by the Mile.

August 30 to September 3. California to Atlanta to Lima on Delta One, one hotel we walked out of, and then five days built on a single question. How far is it from the bed, and is it worth the drive.

Distance from the Aloft on Av. 28 de Julio, drive time, what it costs, what to order by name, and the one thing nobody tells you before you go. Thirty four stops. One ruined pyramid you can eat dinner next to. One food delivery app that does not work here and will catch you out on night one.

Lima, PeruAug 30 to Sep 35 Days30 StopsDelta One via ATLBase: Aloft MirafloresFurthest 9 miClosest 0.4 miS/3.37 to $1Sea LevelSunset 6:04 PMTraveling with parentsNo UberEats in PeruUse RappiGarua seasonOrder thisFun factMust knowLima, PeruAug 30 to Sep 35 Days30 StopsDelta One via ATLBase: Aloft MirafloresFurthest 9 miClosest 0.4 miS/3.37 to $1Sea LevelSunset 6:04 PMTraveling with parentsNo UberEats in PeruUse RappiGarua seasonOrder thisFun factMust know
5
Days
On the Ground
30
Stops
Logged
9.0
Furthest
Miles Out
0.4
Closest
Miles Out
60
Longest
Drive, Min
S/4
Cheapest
Ticket

Tap any button to narrow the trip. They stack, so Food plus Miraflores plus Under S/50 gives you a short list. Tap again to switch it off, or hit Reset.

What kind of stop
Which meal
Which neighbourhood
Budget
Real or touristy
Work, leisure or adventure
Make it yours
Currency
Order thisFun factMust know
0stops in your plan
S/0per person, roughly
0done so far
01

Landing

Sunday, August 30 · California to Atlanta to Lima · the day you lose to travel, and the hotel mistake

Every trip has a day that is not really a day. This was ours. It is on here anyway, because the two things that went wrong on it are the two things I would tell anyone flying into Lima.

The day at a glance

  1. All dayDelta One, ATL to LIM
  2. On arrivalGetting out of the airport
  3. NightCosta del Sol Wyndham Lima Airport
  4. DinnerKFC, and the delivery app problem
All day

Delta One, ATL to LIM↗The flight

LeisureGood, not especially local

California to Atlanta to Jorge Chávez International

Two legs. West coast to Atlanta, then Atlanta straight down to Lima. Delta One is the lie flat cabin, which matters more than usual on this route because the Lima leg lands you into a full day you are expected to function in.

Route
CA → ATL → LIM
Cabin
Delta One
Arrives
Jorge Chávez, LIM
Time zone
Same as US Central
Fun fact

Lima runs on UTC-5 year round with no daylight saving, so from the west coast it is only a two hour shift. There is no real jet lag on this trip. What wrecks you is the flight length, not the clock.

Must know

Jorge Chávez opened an entirely new terminal in June 2025 and it is still shaking out the kinks. Build a real buffer on connections, and check your flight status the night before and the morning of.

On arrival

Getting out of the airport↗Transport

LeisureGood, not especially local

Jorge Chávez International to Miraflores

Roughly 45 to 90 minutes to Miraflores depending on traffic. Here is the part worth writing down: the hotel desk quoted us about $35 for a taxi. The Uber was about $17 for the same ride. Same road, same traffic, half the money.

To Miraflores
45 to 90 min
Taxi, quoted
S/118 ($35)
Uber, actual
S/57 ($17)
Shuttle
S/15 ($4.40) each
Do this

Take the Uber. It picks up from the designated zone at Parking E1, not curbside, so walk out and follow the signs rather than standing at arrivals wondering why nobody is coming. Cabify works the same way.

Fun fact

Nearly every quote you get at a desk or counter is priced for someone who has not opened the app yet. It is not a scam, it is just the tourist rate, and it roughly doubles the fare on this exact route.

Must know

If you do want a taxi, use the staffed counters inside Arrivals and confirm the fare is todo incluido before getting in. Never take a ride from someone who approaches you outside Arrivals. That is the one real scam at this airport and it runs constantly.

Night

Costa del Sol Wyndham Lima Airport↗Honest review

LeisureGood, not especially local

Inside Jorge Chávez International, Callao

The famous airport hotel, and the only one physically connected to the terminal. We booked it for the arrival night on the theory that landing tired and walking straight to a bed was the smart play. The service was genuinely good and the room was not. Both of those things are true and it would be unfair to only say one of them.

Shuttle
Free, every 30 min
Welcome drink
Included
Restaurant
24 hours
Breakfast
Free buffet
What was actually good

You walk to your gate. Plus a free shuttle every thirty minutes, a welcome drink on arrival, a restaurant open around the clock, and a free buffet breakfast we absolutely took advantage of before we left. For an airport hotel that is a real package, and the staff were fine.

Why we left anyway

The room was old in the way you feel rather than see in photos. Rust, a smell, and that sticky, been-here-too-long surface feel. After two flights and a full travel day, that is the wrong first night. We ate the free breakfast and got out on the next thing smoking.

The honest verdict

Worth it for a genuine tight connection, where being able to walk to the terminal and eat at 4 AM is the entire product. Not worth it as the first night of a real trip. A late arrival is not a reason. Take the 45 minute ride and wake up in Miraflores. Note the tiers too: the Grand rooms and the standard rooms are not the same hotel, and we were clearly not in the newer stock.

Dinner

KFC, and the delivery app problem↗The lesson

LeisureSkip it

Ordered in

First night in one of the great food cities on earth and we ate KFC in a hotel room. That is what a travel day does to you, and there is no shame in it. What there is, is a logistics lesson nobody warns you about.

UberEats
Does not exist in Peru
Uber rides
Works fine
Use instead
Rappi
Or
PedidosYa
Must know

UberEats does not operate in Peru. Uber for rides works perfectly, which is exactly why this catches people out. For food delivery you need Rappi or PedidosYa. Download both at the airport while you still have wifi, before you are hungry and stuck.

Do this

Rappi is the one that covers the most restaurants in Lima and it also delivers groceries and pharmacy items. Set it up first. PedidosYa is the backup when a place is not on Rappi.

02

Ice Cream and a Long Drive

Monday, August 31 · out of Callao, into Miraflores · 0.4 miles, then 9

The day we got out of the airport district and into the hotel every distance on this page is measured from. A short day with a useful lesson buried in it. The best stop was four tenths of a mile away. The longest drive was to a shopping mall.

The day at a glance

  1. MiddayAloft Lima Miraflores
  2. AfternoonHelarte
  3. AfternoonPlaza Norte
Midday

Aloft Lima Miraflores↗Base camp

LeisureGood, not especially local

Av. 28 de Julio 894, Miraflores

This is the anchor for the whole trip. Miraflores is flat, walkable, well lit, and close to almost everything worth eating. Every mile figure on this page is measured from this front door.

From airport
45 to 90 min
District
Miraflores
To the cliffs
0.9 mi
To Barranco
2.2 mi
0 MI48 MI
Do this

If you are choosing a base in Lima, choose Miraflores. Barranco is more beautiful and better at night. San Isidro is quieter and emptier. Miraflores is the one that makes every other day shorter.

Must know

Ask for a room away from Av. 28 de Julio if you are a light sleeper. It is a real road.

Afternoon

Helarte↗Ice cream

LeisurePeruvian institution

Calle Bolívar 205, Miraflores

Artisanal ice cream, waffles and cakes in a room built to be photographed. Nine minutes from the lobby and open until ten at night, which quietly makes it the default answer to any evening that ends early.

From Aloft
0.4 mi
Walk
9 min
Open
Daily, 8 AM to 10 PM
Price
Cheap
0 MI48 MI
Order this

Lúcuma. It is a native Peruvian fruit that tastes like maple and sweet potato had a very good idea, and it does not really exist outside the Andes. Chirimoya and algarrobina are the other two to try.

Fun fact

Lúcuma has been eaten in Peru for thousands of years and shows up painted on Moche pottery. It is on ice cream menus in Lima the way vanilla is everywhere else.

Afternoon

Plaza NorteMall

LeisureGood, not especially local

Av. Alfredo Mendiola 1400, Independencia

One of the largest malls in Lima, about 200,000 square meters, up in Independencia in the north of the city. Nine miles from the hotel and close to an hour each way in traffic.

From Aloft
9.0 mi
Drive
~60 min
Open
Daily, mall hours
Cost
Free entry
0 MI48 MI
Must know

Two hours of driving for a mall. If you want a mall in Lima, Larcomar is on a cliff over the Pacific and it is 0.9 miles from Miraflores. Plaza Norte is bigger and more local, but the drive is the whole story and I would not do it twice.

Fun fact

Plaza Norte sits next to one of Lima's biggest bus terminals, which is why it is enormous. It is built for the whole north of the city, not for visitors staying in Miraflores.

03

What Actually Happened

Tuesday, September 1 · logged as it went, not as it was planned · coffee, nails, the Netflix ceviche counter, three casinos and a pool table

This is not the plan, it is the record. We went to two different coffee shops than the ones I had listed, got our nails done instead of the pyramid, ate at the counter that Netflix made famous with about twenty minutes left before they closed, and finished the night in a casino and then a hotel game room with a box of Popeyes wings. That is the point of these pages. Nobody's real day looks like a travel blog.

The day at a glance

  1. MorningThe Coffee
  2. MorningCafé Risso
  3. MiddayMias Salon y Spa Izi
  4. MiddayWeWork José Larco
  5. AfternoonParque Kennedy
  6. Late afternoonAl Toke Pez
  7. EveningThree casinos in one night
  8. NightPool table and Popeyes
Morning

The CoffeeWent here

LeisureGood, not especially local

Miraflores

A Japanese influenced coffee chain that has landed in Peru, all minimal counters and cold drinks. We came for the gelato frappe and a matcha, which is not what you come to Lima for and was exactly what we wanted.

From Aloft
~0.5 mi
Two drinks
S/36.50 ($11)
Got
Gelato frappe, matcha
Verdict
Good, not local
0 MI48 MI
Order this

The gelato frappe. It is a dessert pretending to be a drink and nobody at the table minded.

Must know

This is a chain, not a Peruvian institution. Two drinks came to S/36.50, which is roughly double what a neighbourhood café charges. Worth it for the matcha, which is genuinely hard to find done well in Lima. Not worth it if you want to taste Peru.

Morning

Café RissoMixed

LeisureGood, not especially local

Miraflores

A small neighbourhood café with a good local rating. The mocha was fine. The makioto had no flavour at all and went in the bin. Two drinks, S/22.

From Aloft
~0.6 mi
Two drinks
S/22 ($6.50)
Rating
4.8 on Google
Verdict
Half worked
0 MI48 MI
Order this

Stick to the mocha or a straight espresso drink. The simple things were fine and it is genuinely cheap, half what the chain charged.

Must know

They had no sugar available, which matters if you take it sweet. And the makioto was completely flat, no flavour, thrown away. A 4.8 rating and a drink you cannot finish can both be true. Order conservatively here.

Midday

Mias Salon y Spa IziUnplanned and worth it

LeisureGood, not especially local

Miraflores

Two gel manicures and one gel pedicure. This was not on any list and it turned into the thing we actually did with the morning, which is how good trips usually go.

Three services
$73 USD
Plus
Tip on top
Roughly
S/82 ($24) each
Time
Most of the morning
Must know

Budget roughly $24 per person for gel work here, plus tip. That is toward the higher end for Lima, where neighbourhood salons often charge less, but you are paying for a Miraflores address and being able to walk in.

Worth saying

Three sets of nails took most of a morning. If you are travelling with people who want this, block it as a real activity rather than squeezing it between two other things.

Midday

WeWork José Larco↗Work, done

WorkGood, not especially local

Av. José Larco 1232, Miraflores

Toured the Larco location. Fine for a desk and a laptop day. The rooms are not right for filming, which is the whole reason I need the other one.

From Aloft
0.6 mi
Walk
12 min
Verdict
Desk yes, film no
Next
Andrés Reyes
0 MI48 MI
Still to do

Andrés Reyes 338 in San Isidro has the better rooms for filming. That is the one I actually need, and it is the only work thing left that has a location attached.

If you are working from Lima

There are three: José Larco 1232 in Miraflores, and Andrés Reyes 338 and Jorge Basadre 349 in San Isidro. Book the desk in the app first and check your plan tier covers Peru.

Afternoon

Parque Kennedy↗Free, and better than it sounds

LeisurePeruvian institution

Av. José Larco at Av. Diagonal, Miraflores

The square at the centre of Miraflores, and it is full of cats. Dozens of them, living there permanently, sterilised and fed by the district and by volunteers. They sleep on the benches, on the grass, on the low walls, and they do not come at you.

From Aloft
0.6 mi
Walk
12 min
Cost
Free
Time
20 to 30 min
0 MI48 MI
If someone in your group is afraid of cats

This is the calmest cat colony you will ever walk through. My mother is genuinely scared of them and she walked the whole park. They are not strays scavenging, they are fed and settled, so they do not approach, beg or follow. We left them alone and they left us alone. If cats are the reason you were going to skip this park, go anyway.

Fun fact

Nobody agrees on how the cats got there. The most repeated version is that they were brought in decades ago to deal with rodents and simply stayed. The district now runs adoption days in the same park.

Do this while you are there

The park is ringed by cafés and there is an artisan market on the north edge most afternoons. It is also the pickup point for the airport shuttle, so it is worth seeing once before you need it in the dark.

Late afternoon

Al Toke Pez↗The one on Netflix

No website of their own. That link goes to their own page, not a booking site.

AdventurePeruvian institutionPhysically demanding

Av. Angamos Este 886, Surquillo

A counter. Not a restaurant, a counter, with stools along it and Tomaás Matsufuji cooking a metre from your face. It is the Lima episode of Street Food: Latin America on Netflix, and it is one of the cheapest great meals anywhere in the world. We got there just before closing and still ate properly.

From Aloft
0.9 mi
Drive
5 min
Open
Roughly 11 to 4:30
Per head
S/25 to 35
0 MI48 MI
Order this

The combinado. We had the cevichimista: ceviche, fish chicharrón and arroz con mariscos on one plate, so you get the three things you came to Peru for without ordering three dishes. Add a cold local beer, and get the chicha morada for whoever is not drinking.

About the chicha morada

It is the purple one, and it is not a soft drink invention. It is pre-Columbian: purple corn boiled with pineapple rind, cinnamon, clove and quince, then cooled and finished with lime and sugar. Every Peruvian household has a version. Order it once even if you order nothing else.

Must know

Go early, not late. They close mid afternoon and when the fish is gone it is gone. There is no waiting area, no table service and no reservations. You stand until a stool opens, you eat, you leave. Cash is easiest. It is a five minute drive from Miraflores and the single best value on this entire page.

Evening

Three casinos in one nightMy parents' idea

LeisurePeruvian institution

Atlantic City, La Hacienda and Mardi Gras, Miraflores

My parents love a casino, so we did three of them in one evening. In Lima they are close together, they are open late, and they are nothing like a Vegas floor: smaller, quieter, and the drinks come free while you play.

From Aloft
0.3 to 0.9 mi
Entry
Free
Open
Most run 24 hours
Bring
Passport
0 MI48 MI
Must know

Bring your passport, not a copy. Peruvian casinos check ID at the door and 18 is the minimum age. Play in soles. Machines will happily take dollars at a rate that is not in your favour.

How to do three in a night

They are walkable from each other around Av. Benavides and Av. 28 de Julio, so you are not paying for cars between them. Set the number you are willing to lose before you walk into the first one and leave the rest of the cash in the room safe. Complimentary drinks are standard while you are playing, so factor that into the evening rather than eating first.

Worth saying

This is not a tourist activity and that is exactly why it was one of the better nights. It is where locals actually are on a Tuesday. If you are travelling with parents, ask what they want to do instead of building them a cultural itinerary they did not ask for.

Night

Pool table and PopeyesHow it ended

LeisureGood, not especially local

Aloft game room, Av. 28 de Julio 894

Back at the hotel, the game room, a pool table, and a delivery order of Popeyes wings. Not a single Peruvian ingredient involved and it was the right call.

From Aloft
0.0 mi
Cost
Wings, delivered
Time
Until we stopped
Verdict
No notes
0 MI48 MI
Must know

Delivery in Lima runs on Rappi and PedidosYa. Set up the app with your card on day one rather than at eleven at night when everyone is hungry. Many hotels will not take a delivery to the room, so meet the rider in the lobby.

The honest read

You are allowed to have a normal night on a trip. Six days of ceviche and ruins is a lot, and a pool table and fried chicken with your family is a legitimate use of an evening in Peru. Nobody's real trip is a highlight reel and pretending otherwise is why most itineraries are useless.

04
You are here

The Last Day, and It Is Short

Wednesday, September 2 · checkout 8 PM, shuttle 9 PM · eight usable hours, so this is a cut list, not a wish list

Checkout is 8 PM and the airport shuttle collects at 9. That is eight usable hours from noon, which is more than it sounds and less than you want. Everything below is ordered so that when the day runs long you cut from the bottom instead of arguing about it on a street corner. The evening is a genuine fork and you cannot have both halves of it.

The day at a glance

  1. 7:30 AMBreakfast at the hotel
  2. Read firstThe weather nobody warns you about
  3. 11:45 AMChicken and waffle, and an affogato
  4. 12:45 PMHuaca Pucllana
  5. 1:45 PMRaíz Coffee Roasters
  6. 3:00 PMLa Mar Cebichería
  7. 2:00 PMMercado Indio and ChocoMuseo
  8. 4:45 PMMalecón and Larcomar
  9. 6:15 PMBack to the room, then choose
  10. Option ACircuito Mágico del Agua
  11. Option BAstrid y Gastón
  12. 8:00 PMCheckout
  13. 9:00 PMAirport shuttle
  14. CutWhat I am telling you to drop
7:30AM

Breakfast at the hotelDone

LeisureGood, not especially local

Aloft, Av. 28 de Julio 894

Eaten. The next proper meal is not until half past one, so this one had to count.

From Aloft
0.0 mi
Cost
Included
Status
Done
Then
Brunch at 11:45
0 MI48 MI
Read first

The weather nobody warns you aboutMust know

LeisurePeruvian institution

All of Lima, May to November

We came to Peru expecting heat and have worn trousers and a jacket every single day. Grey sky, damp air, cold enough to feel it. That is not bad luck. That is what Lima is for half the year and almost nobody tells you.

Sept temps
16 to 19°C / 61 to 66°F
Sky
Overcast, most days
Rain
Almost none
Feels
Colder than the number
What is actually happening

Lima sits in a coastal desert that essentially never rains, and from roughly May to November it lives under a permanent low fog called the garúa. It does not fall as rain, it just hangs there. The result is a city that is simultaneously bone dry and constantly damp, sunless for weeks, and cold enough for a jacket at midday even though the thermometer says sixteen degrees.

Pack this instead

Layers and a light waterproof shell, not shorts. Long trousers, a jumper, closed shoes. Add one warm layer for the malecón, because the cliff runs several degrees colder than three blocks inland and the wind comes straight off the Pacific. Nothing you own needs to be heavy, but nothing should assume sun.

If heat is the point of your trip

Peruvian summer is December to March. That is when Lima is hot and the sky is actually blue. September is the tail end of winter. Every photograph of Lima you have ever seen was taken in January, which is exactly why this keeps happening to people. Herman Melville called Lima the saddest city in the world because of that veil of fog, and he was here in the same season.

11:45AM

Chicken and waffle, and an affogatoAte here

LeisureGood, not especially local

Miraflores

Not on any list, and it turned into the real meal of the day. A house waffle stacked with chicken fingers, bacon, cheddar, lettuce, tomato and a fried egg under a house sauce, with fries on the side, S/40. Plus a caramel frappé at S/14, a proper affogato, and a double espresso.

Chicken waffle
S/40 ($12)
Caramel frappé
S/14 ($4)
Also
Affogato, double espresso
Verdict
Ruined lunch, worth it
Order the affogato

Espresso poured over artisanal vanilla ice cream, finished with coffee chantilly and chocolate shavings. Affogato is Italian for drowned, which is the whole recipe in one word. It is the best value dessert in any café anywhere because it is two things you were going to order separately.

Must know

S/40 for the waffle is Miraflores café pricing, not Peruvian pricing. The same money buys a full cebiche lunch at a proper cebichería. That is not a complaint, it is a calibration: this is a brunch plate in a tourist district, and it is fine to want one, but do not read S/40 as what food costs here. Al Toke Pez fed three people properly for about the same.

What it does to the day

A waffle, chicken, bacon, an egg and fries at midday ends any chance of a one-thirty lunch. If you eat like this in the morning, move the real meal to three o'clock and let the appetite come back. That is exactly what happened to us.

12:45PM

Huaca Pucllana↗Start here

LeisurePeruvian institution

Calle General Borgoño cuadra 8, Miraflores

A 1,500 year old adobe pyramid sitting in the middle of a residential block, apartment buildings on all four sides. You walk a raised path around and over it. About 45 minutes, and it is the one thing left that will make you feel like you were actually in Peru.

From Aloft
1.8 mi
Drive
11 min
Entry
S/15, over 60s S/7.50
Open until
5:00 PM
0 MI48 MI
Do this first

Daytime visits are walk-in, first come first served. No booking, no reservation, just turn up and pay. Open Wednesday to Monday, 9 to 5. Closed Tuesdays, which is why yesterday was never going to work.

Must know

Over 60s, students and children 5 to 12 pay S/7.50 instead of S/15, so bring ID for your parents. It is gravel and slopes rather than flat paving. If the tour language matters to you, call +51 913 864 037 before you go — I could not confirm the English schedule from an official source and I am not going to pretend otherwise.

Fun fact

The bricks are stood on end like books on a shelf rather than laid flat. That is why it has survived centuries of earthquakes: the gaps let the whole structure shake without coming down.

1:45PM

Raíz Coffee Roasters↗Only if you want it

No website of their own. That link goes to their own page, not a booking site.

LeisurePeruvian institution

Calle Porta 152, Casa Lerner, Miraflores

Named among the best coffee in South America, and it is directly across the street from the pyramid. You walk out of the ruins and it is right there. This is the coffee stop you have been trying to fit in all week and it costs you nothing in travel time.

From the huaca
Across the street
From Aloft
1.8 mi
Time
30 min
Roughly
S/15 to 25
0 MI48 MI
Order this

Ask what is on the single origin bar today and drink it black before you decide anything about it. Peru grows extraordinary coffee and exports almost all of it, which is why good local coffee was hard to find here until places like this opened.

Must know

I could not verify their opening hours from an official source — they run on Instagram, not a website. If they are shut, Terrua at Pasaje Tello 163 is open until 8 and is a ten minute walk from Av. Larco.

3:00PM

La Mar Cebichería↗Only window today

No website of their own. That link goes to their own page, not a booking site.

LeisurePeruvian institutionSplurge

Av. La Mar 770, Miraflores

Gastón Acurio's cebichería, and the other end of the same dish you had at the counter yesterday. Al Toke Pez is ceviche as street food. This is ceviche as the thing Lima built a reputation on.

From Aloft
1.5 mi
Drive
8 min
Open
Noon to 5, no dinner
Per head
S/70 to 110
0 MI48 MI
Must know

They close at 5 and they do not open for dinner. Lunch is the only service, they are walk-in only, and there will be a queue. Three o'clock is past the peak and still well inside the window, which is why the big late brunch pushed it here rather than killing it.

Order this

Cebiche clásico and a leche de tigre to start, which is the citrus marinade served as a shot and is the best thing on the menu for the money. Add a causa. Pisco sour if anyone is drinking. Ceviche is a lunch dish in Peru because the fish came in that morning, which is exactly why nowhere serious serves it at night.

If the queue is too long

Walk two blocks. Av. La Mar is a whole street of cebicherías and the ones without a Netflix credit are frequently just as good and half the price.

2:00PM

Mercado Indio and ChocoMuseo↗Last chance to buy anything

LeisureSkip it

Av. Petit Thouars 5321 to 5330, Miraflores

Blocks of artisan stalls in a row, and the ChocoMuseo shop is on the same block. Two stops, one street, forty five minutes. If you are bringing anything home, it happens here or it does not happen.

From Aloft
1.2 mi
Drive
9 min
Open
Roughly 10 to 8
Budget
45 min
0 MI48 MI
Buy this

Baby alpaca, a chullo, a retablo. Real alpaca is cool to the touch and does not squeak when you rub it between your fingers. At ChocoMuseo, buy the bars and the cacao tea rather than doing anything that takes time.

Must know

Skip the chocolate workshop. It is two hours and then you have to come back an hour later to collect what you made. That does not fit a departure day. Also, ChocoMuseo's own website contradicts itself on the Miraflores address, listing both Petit Thouars 5330 and Av. Arequipa 5031, and the Berlín and Larcomar branches are gone entirely. Call +51 977 197 560 before making a special trip.

Haggling

Offer 60 to 70 percent of the first price and settle in the middle. It is expected, it is friendly, and nobody is offended.

4:45PM

Malecón and Larcomar↗Shoot here

LeisureGood, not especially local

Malecón de la Reserva 610, Miraflores

A paved clifftop path a hundred metres above the Pacific, paragliders overhead, and an open air mall cut into the cliff face at the end of it. Flat the whole way. This is the last look at the ocean and it is the best light you will get.

From Aloft
0.9 mi
Drive
5 min
Sunset
~6:03 PM
Cost
Free
0 MI48 MI
For the camera

Shoot north with the coastline curving away from you, not into the sun. September is Lima's grey season, so the light is soft and even rather than harsh, which is better for faces. Parque del Amor has the giant mosaic and the poetry walls and is the strongest single backdrop on the cliff.

For the content you actually came to make

This is the first day of Suicide Prevention Month and this path is the right place to film it. Wide, open, calm, and nobody is going to interrupt you. If Finesse Our Minds is getting one piece out of this trip, shoot it here rather than in a hotel room.

Must know

Bring a layer. The cliff runs several degrees colder than three blocks inland and the wind comes straight off the water.

6:15PM

Back to the room, then chooseThe fork

LeisureGood, not especially local

Aloft, Av. 28 de Julio 894

Bags done, then pick one of the two below. They do not both fit. One is the best photograph in Lima and one is the best meal, and the honest answer is that you are choosing which kind of last night you want.

From Aloft
0.0 mi
Checkout
8:00 PM
Shuttle
9:00 PM
Choose
A or B
0 MI48 MI
Do this either way

Settle the bill early and leave the bags with the front desk rather than coming back to a checkout queue at eight with a shuttle waiting at nine. Every hotel in Miraflores will hold luggage. It costs you nothing and it buys back the whole margin.

Option A

Circuito Mágico del Agua↗The photograph

LeisurePeruvian institution

Parque de la Reserva, Cercado de Lima

Thirteen illuminated fountains, a tunnel of water you walk through, and a laser projection thrown onto a wall of mist. It holds the Guinness record for the largest fountain complex in a public park, and entry is about two dollars.

From Aloft
5.5 mi
Drive
27 min
Entry
~S/7 ($2)
Show
7:15 PM
0 MI48 MI
How it fits

Check out at 6:45, bags to the desk, car at 6:50. The 7:15 show runs about 25 minutes. Leave straight after, back by 8:20, shuttle at 9. Do not stay for the 8:15 show or you will miss the shuttle, and there is no version of this where that ends well.

Buy ahead

Tickets at ventas.serpar.gob.pe, paid by card, Yape or Plin, ticket delivered by email. Skipping the ticket queue is the entire difference between this fitting and not fitting. The official site says S/7 and recent reporting says S/5, so budget S/7.

Must know

The tunnel gets you wet, so this is a poor choice if you are flying in the clothes you are standing in. The park runs 3 PM to 10 PM daily and there is no longer a weekly closing day, so ignore any guide that says it shuts on Mondays.

Option B

Astrid y Gastón↗The meal

LeisurePeruvian institutionSplurgeNeeds booking

Casa Moreyra, Av. Paz Soldán 290, San Isidro

Gastón Acurio's flagship, in a restored 300 year old colonial hacienda with courtyards and gardens. More or less the restaurant that convinced the world Peruvian food was worth flying for. This is what we nearly lost by assuming the 9 PM was a flight.

From Aloft
2.9 mi
Drive
13 min
Book
6:30 PM
Mains
~S/90 ($27)
0 MI48 MI
Call now

+51 1 442 2777, restaurante@astridygaston.com, or astridygaston.mesa247.pe. Ask for 6:30 and say you have a nine o'clock pickup. Their kitchen runs to 10:30 so the hour is easy for them, but the table is not going to be there if you call at five.

Order this

À la carte, not the tasting menu. Starters S/56 to S/86, mains around S/90, so three of you eat extremely well for a fraction of the S/809 tasting and nobody sits through three hours of courses with a shuttle coming. Pisco sour, then their cebiche.

Why I would pick this one

The fountains cost S/7 and will be there in five years. This is the restaurant that made the world take Peruvian food seriously, it is thirteen minutes away, and it is your last night. Back by 8:15, easily.

8:00PM

CheckoutHard time

LeisureGood, not especially local

Aloft, Av. 28 de Julio 894

Room keys back, bill closed, bags in the lobby. If you took either option above you already did this at quarter to seven, which is the point.

Checkout
8:00 PM
Bags
With the desk
Shuttle
9:00 PM
Buffer
One hour
0 MI48 MI
9:00PM

Airport shuttle↗The end

LeisureGood, not especially local

Aloft to Jorge Chávez International

Collection from the hotel, roughly 40 minutes in evening traffic.

Drive
~40 min
Shuttle
$5 (S/17) each
Uber
~$17 (S/57)
Street taxi
~$35, no
0 MI48 MI
The cheap way

Airport Express Lima runs about $5 a head from Miraflores. Four pickup points: Larcomar and the Marriott, the Tourist Information Centre, Parque Kennedy, and Hotel Boulevard. Roughly 30 minutes. Book at lima-airport.com.

Must know

Never take a street taxi to the airport. We were quoted $35 for the run an Uber did for $17. If you are ordering a car, do it in the app, meet it at the designated pickup zone rather than the curb, and do not go with anyone who approaches you inside the terminal.

Cut

What I am telling you to dropThe honest list

LeisureGood, not especially local

Not today

Four things that were on the plan and are coming off it. Better to lose them here than to lose an hour finding out on a street corner.

Horneando Ando
Not a walk-in
Chocolate workshop
3 hrs total
Terrua
Needs booking
Barranco
No time left
Horneando Ando

Everything findable points to a puerta cerrada, a closed door kitchen cooking by order rather than a bakery you can walk into, and listings cannot even agree which district it is in. Message them on Instagram if you want it for next time. Do not go looking for it today.

The chocolate workshop

Two hours of making it and then a return trip an hour later to collect it. That is three hours on a departure day for a bar of chocolate you can buy in the shop downstairs in four minutes. Buy the bars.

Terrua and Barranco

Terrua's coffee tasting has to be booked and they publish no times and no price, so it is fine as a café and not as an experience. Barranco is a forty minute walk plus twenty minutes of driving each way and today does not have sixty spare minutes in it. Both go on the next-time list.

05

The Day We Gave Back

Thursday, September 3 · for whoever stayed · the two things Wednesday could not hold

We flew out Wednesday night, which killed two stops that had been on the list all week. If you are still in Lima on Thursday, these are the ones to take. Both of them are better than anything we cut them for.

The day at a glance

  1. 1:00 PMAstrid y Gastón
  2. 3:30 PMWeWork Andrés Reyes
  3. 9:00 PMDansa
1:00PM

Astrid y Gastón↗The one we lost

LeisurePeruvian institutionSplurgeNeeds booking

Casa Moreyra, Av. Paz Soldán 290, San Isidro

Gastón Acurio's flagship, in a restored 300 year old colonial hacienda with courtyards and gardens. More or less the restaurant that convinced the world Peruvian food was worth flying for. We ran out of days before we got here.

From Aloft
2.9 mi
Drive
13 min
Service
1 PM to 10:30 PM
Mains
~S/90 ($27)
0 MI48 MI
Order this

À la carte, not the tasting. Starters run S/56 to S/86, mains around S/90, so you eat extremely well for a fraction of the S/809 tasting menu and you are not committed to three hours. Pisco sour first, then their cebiche.

Must know

Book it. +51 1 442 2777, restaurante@astridygaston.com, or astridygaston.mesa247.pe. Lunch is easier to get than dinner and the courtyard is better in daylight.

Fun fact

The building is Casa Hacienda Moreyra, and the restaurant kept the bones of it rather than gutting it. You are eating in a house that predates the republic.

3:30PM

WeWork Andrés Reyes↗Work, unfinished

WorkGood, not especially local

Andrés Reyes 338, San Isidro

The location with the rooms that actually work for filming, which the Miraflores building does not have. Ten minutes from lunch, same district.

From Aloft
2.4 mi
Drive
11 min
From lunch
5 min
Cost
On your plan
0 MI48 MI
If you work while you travel

Three buildings in Lima: José Larco 1232 in Miraflores, Andrés Reyes 338 and Jorge Basadre 349 in San Isidro. Book the room in the app before you arrive and confirm your plan tier covers Peru, because global access is not automatic on every membership.

9:00PM

Dansa↗Thursday to Saturday only

No website of their own. That link goes to their own page, not a booking site.

LeisurePeruvian institutionSplurgeNeeds booking

Miraflores

This is the reason to still be here on a Thursday. It only runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday, which is exactly why it fell off a Wednesday departure.

From Aloft
3.6 mi
Drive
11 min
Runs
Thu, Fri, Sat only
Book
In advance
0 MI48 MI
Must know

Three nights a week and it fills. Check the current schedule and book before the day. If you are choosing between this and a second night out somewhere generic, this is the one.

06

If You Are Staying On

Friday, September 4 · the extension · for whoever is not on the Thursday flight

Not everyone leaves Thursday. If you are still here Friday and Saturday, the two best things that got cut come straight back, because both of them only exist on these days. Dansa runs Thursday to Saturday and nothing else in Lima is like it.

The day at a glance

  1. 9:00 AMMachu Picchu, the Lima version
  2. 1:00 PMLa Mar Cebichería
  3. 6:50 PMDansa
9:00AM

Machu Picchu, the Lima version↗Back on

AdventureGood, not especially localPhysically demanding

Parque de las Leyendas, San Miguel

A ten metre Machu Picchu replica hidden in a cave in the middle of Lima, reached only by boat across the park's lagoon while Andean music plays. Gloriously strange. The park around it is a full zoo with more than 3,500 animals and real archaeological mounds.

From Aloft
7.3 mi
Drive
35 min
Entry
S/20 ($6) · S/4 senior
Boat
S/6 motorised
0 MI48 MI
Do this

Take the motorised boat, not the pedal one. Head straight for the Zona Costa lagoon, do the replica, then decide how much zoo anyone wants. Two and a half hours, not a full day.

Fun fact

Seniors 65 and over pay S/4, about a dollar twenty. Cheapest ticket in the family for once.

Must know

This is the stop distance killed on the compressed trip. With a spare day it is genuinely worth the 35 minutes each way.

1:00PM

La Mar Cebichería↗Back on

No website of their own. That link goes to their own page, not a booking site.

LeisurePeruvian institutionSplurge

Av. La Mar 770, Miraflores

Gastón Acurio's cebichería, the one that exported the whole idea of a Peruvian cebichería to the rest of the world. Open air, loud, packed with Limeños, lunch only because the fish does not sit overnight.

From Aloft
1.5 mi
Drive
8 min
Open
Lunch only
Per head
S/90 to 150 ($27 to 45)
0 MI48 MI
Order this

Cebiche clásico to start, a tiradito for anyone unsure about raw fish, and arroz con mariscos for the table. Drink the leche de tigre left in the bowl.

Must know

No reservations, ever. Arrive before noon or after 2 or you will wait 45 to 90 minutes.

6:50PM

Dansa↗The one that got away

No website of their own. That link goes to their own page, not a booking site.

LeisurePeruvian institutionSplurgeNeeds booking

Av. Rivera Navarrete 2692, Lince

Not a restaurant. A staged production called Wankar where nine courses, six dishes and three cocktails, arrive while live dancers and musicians work the room and projections run the walls. Peru's regions are the structure. Each course belongs to a place and the dance that comes with it is from the same place.

From Aloft
3.6 mi
Drive
11 min
Runs
Thu to Sat only
Mezzanine
S/266 ($79)
0 MI48 MI
Book this the moment you know you are staying

Joinnus, or +51 1 219 9000. It caps and it only runs three nights a week, which is exactly why it fell off the compressed trip.

Fun fact

Built by Lucho Quequezana, a musician who plays dozens of traditional Peruvian instruments, and Vania Masías, a former ballerina who left the classical world to train street dancers from Lima's outer districts. The cast comes out of that programme.

Must know

Check in around 6:50 for a 7:30 start, about two and a half hours. Ask for platea, the ground floor. No reason to climb stairs for a worse view of dancers.

07

The Spare Saturday

Saturday, September 5 · the loose day · everything else that got cut

No fixed shape. This is the day for whatever the compressed trip did not have room for, in roughly the order I would do it.

The day at a glance

  1. 11:15 AMAl Toke Pez
  2. 7:00 PMCircuito Mágico del Agua
  3. 9:00 PMClon
11:15AM

Al Toke Pez↗Back on

No website of their own. That link goes to their own page, not a booking site.

AdventurePeruvian institutionPhysically demanding

Calle Manuel Bonilla 113, Surquillo

Eight or nine stools at a counter, one chef, no menu to think hard about. Toshiro Matsufuji has a doctorate in structural chemistry and gave it up to run this. One of the cheapest famous meals in Latin America.

From Aloft
0.9 mi
Drive
5 min
Open
Daily, 11 to 5
Plates
S/25 to 35 ($7 to 10)
0 MI48 MI
Order this

The combinado. Ceviche, chicharrón de pescado, arroz con mariscos and tallarín saltado on one plate, so nobody has to choose.

Must know

No reservations, a sidewalk queue and nowhere to wait. Be there at 11:00 sharp. Cash is smoothest. This is the least comfortable stop in Lima and it is worth it.

7:00PM

Circuito Mágico del Agua↗If you skipped it

LeisurePeruvian institution

Parque de la Reserva, Cercado de Lima

Thirteen lit fountains, a tunnel of water you walk through, and a laser show on a wall of mist. Guinness record holder for the largest fountain complex in a public park, and entry is about a dollar.

From Aloft
5.5 mi
Drive
27 min
Shows
7:15, 8:15, 9:15
Entry
S/4 ($1.20)
0 MI48 MI
Do this

Arrive for the 7:15, then walk the Túnel de las Sorpresas and the Fuente Mágica once the first crowd clears.

Must know

The tunnel gets you wet, and Lima evenings sit around 60 degrees and damp. Bring a layer and book the ride home in the app rather than hailing at the gate.

9:00PM

Clon↗Back on

LeisurePeruvian institutionSplurgeNeeds booking

Av. Almirante Miguel Grau 203A, Barranco

The loose, loud younger sibling of Mérito, which sits at number 26 in the World's 50 Best. Same kitchen brain, shareable plates, a third of the ceremony.

From Aloft
2.2 mi
Drive
11 min
Booking
952 992 337
Per head
S/150 ($45)
0 MI48 MI
Order this

In rounds, not all at once, and ask what came in that morning before you touch the printed menu.

Must know

Call to confirm they will seat you at 9 PM. Their closing time is the one thing I could not verify anywhere online.

What to actually order in Peru

Fifteen words of a
Peruvian menu.

Heat is marked, because ají is used constantly here and some of it lands harder than it looks.

CevicheHas heat
Raw fish cured in lime with red onion, chili and salt, served with sweet potato and giant corn. The lime liquid left in the bowl is leche de tigre and you drink it. Ask for it sin ají if anyone wants it mild.
TiraditoMilder
Ceviche's calmer cousin. Fish sliced thin like sashimi, sauced rather than marinated, no onion. This is the one to order for a parent who is unsure about raw fish.
CausaMild
Chilled layers of yellow potato whipped with lime and ají amarillo, packed around chicken, tuna or crab. Looks like a small cake. Tastes nothing like one.
Lomo saltadoMild
Beef stir fried with onion, tomato and soy in a screaming hot wok, served over fries and rice. Chinese technique, Peruvian ingredients. The safest bet on any menu.
Ají de gallinaGentle
Shredded chicken in a creamy yellow chili and walnut sauce over rice. Comfort food, warm rather than hot.
AnticuchosHas heat
Beef heart, marinated and grilled on skewers over coals. It does not taste like organ meat, it tastes like the best steak tip you have had. The street food of Lima.
Rocoto rellenoGenuinely spicy
A rocoto pepper stuffed with spiced beef and cheese and baked. The pepper is the whole dish and it is hot. Order one for the table to try, not one each.
Papa a la huancaínaMild
Boiled potato under a cold, creamy cheese and yellow chili sauce. Almost every meal starts with this somewhere.
Arroz chaufaMild
Peruvian Chinese fried rice, born in Lima's Barrio Chino. Order it at a chifa and understand half of Lima instantly.
Pan con chicharrónMild
Fried pork, sweet potato and salsa criolla in a roll. The national hangover breakfast, sold before noon and rarely after.
PicaronesSweet
Squash and sweet potato doughnut rings, fried and drenched in chancaca syrup. Street dessert. Eat them standing up.
Suspiro a la limeñaSweet
Caramel manjar blanco under a port spiked meringue. The name means the sigh of a woman from Lima, which tells you exactly how sweet it is.
Pisco sourStrong
Pisco, lime, syrup, egg white, bitters. Peru's national drink and a genuine argument with Chile over who invented it. Stronger than it tastes.
ChilcanoEasy
Pisco, ginger ale, lime, ice. Lighter than a pisco sour and much easier to drink with food. This is what locals order on a weeknight.
Chicha moradaNo alcohol
Purple corn boiled with pineapple, clove and cinnamon, then chilled. Sweet, spiced, non alcoholic, and the correct drink with ceviche.
Inca KolaNo alcohol
Bright yellow, tastes like bubblegum, and outsells Coca-Cola in Peru so thoroughly that Coke eventually gave up and bought a stake in it. Try it once for the story.
The market list

Ranked by whether it is
worth your time.

Five markets came up. They are not equivalent, and two of them are not a good use of three remaining days.

Inka Market, Miraflores

Go. Av. Petit Thouars, blocks 5200 to 5400. Artisan goods, alpaca, silver, ceramics, all in a safe walkable strip. Already built into Day 3 because it shares a street with ChocoMuseo.

Bargain to about 70 percent of the opening price. Bundle purchases at one stall.

1.2 MI · 9 MIN

Barrio Chino

Go if you want lunch, not shopping. Calle Capón in the historic center. Lima's Chinatown is where chifa was invented, which is arguably the most influential thing that has ever happened to Peruvian food.

Daytime only, and go for a chifa meal with arroz chaufa rather than for the shops. Watch your bag on Capón.

~5 MI · 25 MIN

Polvos Azules

Only if you love a chaotic bazaar. An enormous informal market in the center selling electronics, clothing and a great deal of counterfeit everything. It is an experience, not a shopping trip.

Cash only in practice, crowded, and pickpocketing is the main risk. Nothing you buy here has a warranty.

~5 MI · 25 MIN

Gamarra, La Victoria

Skip on this trip. South America's largest garment district, tens of thousands of textile businesses in a few dozen blocks. Fascinating if you are sourcing clothing. Overwhelming if you are not.

La Victoria requires real street awareness, and it will eat an entire day you do not have.

~4 MI · 30 MIN

Plaza Norte

Done. You already made the nine mile, near hour long drive to Independencia. That was the mall trip. There is no reason to make that drive twice.

9 MI · ~60 MIN
Cut from the list, and why

Being honest about
what does not fit.

That is the difference between an itinerary and a wish list.

Laguna Esmeralda, Huacho

This one hurts, because the photos are unreal. But it is at kilometer 137 of the Panamericana Norte, roughly three hours each way from Lima. That is six hours in a car out of a three day trip. Worse, it is not a public natural site. Access runs through a private condominium development, departures are limited and decided by them, and multiple visitors report that the tour includes a pitch to sell you a plot of land. With parents and three days left, this is a no.

If the sandboarding is the part you want, the Chilca dunes are about an hour south of Miraflores, tours run at 8 AM and 2 PM daily, and operators will dial the dune buggy down to a gentle version on request. That is a half day instead of a full one.

Dansa, the Wankar dinner theatre

Nine courses with live dancers and musicians, and it was the anchor of the original Thursday. It only runs Thursday to Saturday, and Thursday is now a 3 AM airport run. Wednesday is not an option for it. Genuinely the biggest loss on this trip.

Book it first thing on the next Lima trip. Joinnus, or +51 1 219 9000, and ask for platea on the ground floor.

Parque de las Leyendas and the Machu Picchu replica

A ten metre Machu Picchu replica in a cave you reach by boat, plus a full zoo, and seniors pay S/4 to get in. It is also 7.3 miles out and needs two and a half hours, which is the entire morning that Huaca Pucllana now has to occupy because Huaca closes Tuesdays.

Distance lost this one, not quality. It is the first thing I would add back with one more day.

Al Toke Pez and La Mar

Both are lunch only, and there is exactly one lunch slot left. Horneando Ando took it because it sits four minutes from the Barranco walk, which saves a crossing of the city on the tightest day of the trip.

Al Toke Pez was always the rough one anyway: eight stools, a sidewalk queue and nowhere to sit while you wait.

Clon, Barranco

A good dinner that lost its night to Astrid y Gastón. With one evening left, the flagship wins.

La Picantería, Surquillo

Héctor Solís's whole-fish picantería was the plan for Thursday lunch, and it is closed. The Surquillo location shut in May 2026. Solís has said it returns in 2027 in a different district. Every listing still online shows it open, which is how a trip loses an afternoon.

Replaced with La Mar on Av. La Mar, eight minutes from the hotel. Same job on the day, a proper sit-down seafood lunch, and the one place in Lima that arguably did more than any other to put Peruvian food on the map.

Helarte

Calle Bolívar 205, open daily 8 AM to 10 PM, and you already went. Worth knowing it is 0.4 miles from the lobby and open until 10 PM, which makes it the default late dessert on any night that ends early. Lúcuma is the flavor to get if you did not.

Before you go anywhere else today

The practical
everything.

Book these two right now

Astrid y Gastón for Friday dinner: +51 1 442 2777. Dansa for Thursday: through Joinnus or +51 1 219 9000.

Both are the kind of thing that sells out while you are deciding.

Two calls to confirm

Clon at 952 992 337, to check they seat at 8:45 PM. Horneando Ando to reserve, because it is a closed door house with limited seats.

Money, and the ATM trap

About S/3.37 to the dollar. Every price on this page is in soles first, because that is the money you will actually be handing over.

Do not pull cash at the airport. The airport ATMs charged us close to $8 per withdrawal. Wait until Miraflores and use a bank machine, BCP, Interbank, Scotiabank or BBVA, inside the branch rather than a standalone kiosk.

One button that saves you money

When any ATM or card reader offers to charge you in dollars instead of soles, always choose soles. That offer is called dynamic currency conversion and the exchange rate baked into it is terrible.

Take out one larger amount rather than three small ones, since the fee is per withdrawal, not per sol. Tipping is about 10 percent, and check the bill for servicio first, because if it is there you do not add more.

Water

Do not drink the tap water, including in the hotel. Sealed bottles only. Ice at real restaurants is fine. At street stalls and juice carts, ask for it without ice.

Getting around

Uber and Cabify both work well here and are cheap. Book through the app rather than hailing on the street, especially at night and especially outside a busy attraction.

Every drive on this itinerary is under 35 minutes except the one to Plaza Norte, which is why it is not on it twice.

Food delivery, the trap

UberEats does not operate in Peru. Uber for rides works perfectly, which is exactly what makes people assume the food app does too.

Download Rappi first and PedidosYa as the backup. Do it at the airport on wifi, not at 10 PM when you are hungry.

Where to stay

Miraflores. Not the airport. The airport hotel is attached to the terminal and that is its only argument.

We booked it for the arrival night and left immediately. Eat the 45 minute ride and wake up somewhere worth waking up in.

Staying smart

Miraflores, Barranco and San Isidro are the comfortable districts and this itinerary lives almost entirely inside them.

Phone away on quiet side streets, bag in front on crowded ones, and take a car back from the center rather than walking after dark.

Weather

Around 60 to 68 degrees, grey, and damp on the coast. September is the tail of the garúa season. Bring one layer everywhere. It will not rain in any meaningful way.

If you need support in Peru

Línea 113, option 5. Free, 24 hours, run by Peru's Ministry of Health, for mental health support in Spanish.

Worth having in your phone before you land, whether or not you think you will need it.

Two useful phrases

La cuenta, por favor to get the bill, which never comes until you ask. Sin ají if someone wants it without the chili.

Partnerships

Every link on this page
goes straight to the business.

No affiliate rails, no booking resellers, no Viator, no GetYourGuide. If a restaurant is on here it is because I ate there and it was worth your afternoon. When a venue has no site of its own, the link goes to their page, not to somebody selling tickets on their behalf. That is the whole editorial policy and it is not negotiable, including for paid work.

What a partner gets

A named, linked placement inside a real itinerary that people use on the ground, plus the photo and video I shoot while I am there. The pages stay up and keep working. This is not a story that disappears in 24 hours.

Who this reaches

I speak and train in eight countries. The people reading these pages are the ones who were in the room: professionals, organizers, university and government audiences, and the friends they send afterward. Smaller than a travel blog. Considerably more qualified.

What I will not do

Write a stop I did not go to, take a link out because a competitor paid, or hide that something is sponsored. Anything paid is labeled. The cut list stays honest, and a partner can end up on it.

Work with me

Tourism boards, hotels, airlines, restaurant groups and travel brands: I build the city guide, shoot the content, and speak at the event while I am there. Tell me the market and the dates.

Start a conversation →

Take the whole thing. Change the city.

Distance from where you are sleeping, what it costs, what to order, and the one thing nobody tells you. It works for Lima. It works for everywhere else on the list.

Every CitySend Me a City

Lima by the Mile

August 30 to September 3, 2026 · Base: Aloft Lima Miraflores, Av. 28 de Julio 894
Distances and drive times are from that front door. Prices in soles, dollars in brackets.

01 · Landing

Sunday, August 30 · California to Atlanta to Lima · the day you lose to travel, and the hotel mistake

All dayDelta One, ATL to LIMCalifornia to Atlanta to Jorge Chávez InternationalJorge Chávez opened an entirely new terminal in June 2025 and it is still shaking out the kinks. Build a real buffer on connections, and check your flight status the night before and the morning of.
On arrivalGetting out of the airportJorge Chávez International to Miraflores · S/57If you do want a taxi, use the staffed counters inside Arrivals and confirm the fare is todo incluido before getting in. Never take a ride from someone who approaches you outside Arrivals. That is the one real scam at this airport and it runs constantly.
NightCosta del Sol Wyndham Lima AirportInside Jorge Chávez International, CallaoThe room was old in the way you feel rather than see in photos. Rust, a smell, and that sticky, been-here-too-long surface feel. After two flights and a full travel day, that is the wrong first night. We ate the free breakfast and got out on the next thing smoking.
DinnerKFC, and the delivery app problemOrdered in · S/40UberEats does not operate in Peru. Uber for rides works perfectly, which is exactly why this catches people out. For food delivery you need Rappi or PedidosYa. Download both at the airport while you still have wifi, before you are hungry and stuck.

02 · Ice Cream and a Long Drive

Monday, August 31 · out of Callao, into Miraflores · 0.4 miles, then 9

MiddayAloft Lima MirafloresAv. 28 de Julio 894, Miraflores · 0.0 miAsk for a room away from Av. 28 de Julio if you are a light sleeper. It is a real road.
AfternoonHelarteCalle Bolívar 205, Miraflores · 0.4 mi · S/25
AfternoonPlaza NorteAv. Alfredo Mendiola 1400, Independencia · 9.0 miTwo hours of driving for a mall. If you want a mall in Lima, Larcomar is on a cliff over the Pacific and it is 0.9 miles from Miraflores. Plaza Norte is bigger and more local, but the drive is the whole story and I would not do it twice.

03 · What Actually Happened

Tuesday, September 1 · logged as it went, not as it was planned · coffee, nails, the Netflix ceviche counter, three casinos and a pool table

MorningThe CoffeeMiraflores · 0.5 miThis is a chain, not a Peruvian institution. Two drinks came to S/36.50, which is roughly double what a neighbourhood café charges. Worth it for the matcha, which is genuinely hard to find done well in Lima. Not worth it if you want to taste Peru.
MorningCafé RissoMiraflores · 0.6 miThey had no sugar available, which matters if you take it sweet. And the makioto was completely flat, no flavour, thrown away. A 4.8 rating and a drink you cannot finish can both be true. Order conservatively here.
MiddayMias Salon y Spa IziMirafloresBudget roughly $24 per person for gel work here, plus tip. That is toward the higher end for Lima, where neighbourhood salons often charge less, but you are paying for a Miraflores address and being able to walk in.
MiddayWeWork José LarcoAv. José Larco 1232, Miraflores · 0.6 miAndrés Reyes 338 in San Isidro has the better rooms for filming. That is the one I actually need, and it is the only work thing left that has a location attached.
AfternoonParque KennedyAv. José Larco at Av. Diagonal, Miraflores · 0.6 miThis is the calmest cat colony you will ever walk through. My mother is genuinely scared of them and she walked the whole park. They are not strays scavenging, they are fed and settled, so they do not approach, beg or follow. We left them alone and they left us alone. If cats are the reason you were going to skip this park, go anyway.
Late afternoonAl Toke PezAv. Angamos Este 886, Surquillo · 0.9 mi · S/30Go early, not late. They close mid afternoon and when the fish is gone it is gone. There is no waiting area, no table service and no reservations. You stand until a stool opens, you eat, you leave. Cash is easiest. It is a five minute drive from Miraflores and the single best value on this entire page.
EveningThree casinos in one nightAtlantic City, La Hacienda and Mardi Gras, Miraflores · 0.7 mi · S/150Bring your passport, not a copy. Peruvian casinos check ID at the door and 18 is the minimum age. Play in soles. Machines will happily take dollars at a rate that is not in your favour.
NightPool table and PopeyesAloft game room, Av. 28 de Julio 894 · 0.0 mi · S/60Delivery in Lima runs on Rappi and PedidosYa. Set up the app with your card on day one rather than at eleven at night when everyone is hungry. Many hotels will not take a delivery to the room, so meet the rider in the lobby.

04 · The Last Day, and It Is Short

Wednesday, September 2 · checkout 8 PM, shuttle 9 PM · eight usable hours, so this is a cut list, not a wish list

7:30 AMBreakfast at the hotelAloft, Av. 28 de Julio 894 · 0.0 mi
Read firstThe weather nobody warns you aboutAll of Lima, May to NovemberLima sits in a coastal desert that essentially never rains, and from roughly May to November it lives under a permanent low fog called the garúa. It does not fall as rain, it just hangs there. The result is a city that is simultaneously bone dry and constantly damp, sunless for weeks, and cold enough for a jacket at midday even though the thermometer says sixteen degrees.
11:45 AMChicken and waffle, and an affogatoMiraflores · S/54S/40 for the waffle is Miraflores café pricing, not Peruvian pricing. The same money buys a full cebiche lunch at a proper cebichería. That is not a complaint, it is a calibration: this is a brunch plate in a tourist district, and it is fine to want one, but do not read S/40 as what food costs here. Al Toke Pez fed three people properly for about the same.
12:45 PMHuaca PucllanaCalle General Borgoño cuadra 8, Miraflores · 1.8 mi · S/15Over 60s, students and children 5 to 12 pay S/7.50 instead of S/15, so bring ID for your parents. It is gravel and slopes rather than flat paving. If the tour language matters to you, call +51 913 864 037 before you go — I could not confirm the English schedule from an official source and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
1:45 PMRaíz Coffee RoastersCalle Porta 152, Casa Lerner, Miraflores · 1.8 mi · S/25I could not verify their opening hours from an official source — they run on Instagram, not a website. If they are shut, Terrua at Pasaje Tello 163 is open until 8 and is a ten minute walk from Av. Larco.
3:00 PMLa Mar CebicheríaAv. La Mar 770, Miraflores · 1.5 mi · S/120They close at 5 and they do not open for dinner. Lunch is the only service, they are walk-in only, and there will be a queue. Three o'clock is past the peak and still well inside the window, which is why the big late brunch pushed it here rather than killing it.
2:00 PMMercado Indio and ChocoMuseoAv. Petit Thouars 5321 to 5330, Miraflores · 1.2 mi · S/100Skip the chocolate workshop. It is two hours and then you have to come back an hour later to collect what you made. That does not fit a departure day. Also, ChocoMuseo's own website contradicts itself on the Miraflores address, listing both Petit Thouars 5330 and Av. Arequipa 5031, and the Berlín and Larcomar branches are gone entirely. Call +51 977 197 560 before making a special trip.
4:45 PMMalecón and LarcomarMalecón de la Reserva 610, Miraflores · 0.9 miThis is the first day of Suicide Prevention Month and this path is the right place to film it. Wide, open, calm, and nobody is going to interrupt you. If Finesse Our Minds is getting one piece out of this trip, shoot it here rather than in a hotel room.
6:15 PMBack to the room, then chooseAloft, Av. 28 de Julio 894 · 0.0 miSettle the bill early and leave the bags with the front desk rather than coming back to a checkout queue at eight with a shuttle waiting at nine. Every hotel in Miraflores will hold luggage. It costs you nothing and it buys back the whole margin.
Option ACircuito Mágico del AguaParque de la Reserva, Cercado de Lima · 5.5 mi · S/4Tickets at ventas.serpar.gob.pe, paid by card, Yape or Plin, ticket delivered by email. Skipping the ticket queue is the entire difference between this fitting and not fitting. The official site says S/7 and recent reporting says S/5, so budget S/7.
Option BAstrid y GastónCasa Moreyra, Av. Paz Soldán 290, San Isidro · 2.9 mi · S/200+51 1 442 2777, restaurante@astridygaston.com, or astridygaston.mesa247.pe. Ask for 6:30 and say you have a nine o'clock pickup. Their kitchen runs to 10:30 so the hour is easy for them, but the table is not going to be there if you call at five.
8:00 PMCheckoutAloft, Av. 28 de Julio 894 · 0.0 mi
9:00 PMAirport shuttleAloft to Jorge Chávez International · 11.0 mi · S/17Never take a street taxi to the airport. We were quoted $35 for the run an Uber did for $17. If you are ordering a car, do it in the app, meet it at the designated pickup zone rather than the curb, and do not go with anyone who approaches you inside the terminal.
CutWhat I am telling you to dropNot todayEverything findable points to a puerta cerrada, a closed door kitchen cooking by order rather than a bakery you can walk into, and listings cannot even agree which district it is in. Message them on Instagram if you want it for next time. Do not go looking for it today.

05 · The Day We Gave Back

Thursday, September 3 · for whoever stayed · the two things Wednesday could not hold

1:00 PMAstrid y GastónCasa Moreyra, Av. Paz Soldán 290, San Isidro · 2.9 mi · S/200Book it. +51 1 442 2777, restaurante@astridygaston.com, or astridygaston.mesa247.pe. Lunch is easier to get than dinner and the courtyard is better in daylight.
3:30 PMWeWork Andrés ReyesAndrés Reyes 338, San Isidro · 2.4 mi
9:00 PMDansaMiraflores · 3.6 mi · S/300Three nights a week and it fills. Check the current schedule and book before the day. If you are choosing between this and a second night out somewhere generic, this is the one.

06 · If You Are Staying On

Friday, September 4 · the extension · for whoever is not on the Thursday flight

9:00 AMMachu Picchu, the Lima versionParque de las Leyendas, San Miguel · 7.3 mi · S/26This is the stop distance killed on the compressed trip. With a spare day it is genuinely worth the 35 minutes each way.
1:00 PMLa Mar CebicheríaAv. La Mar 770, Miraflores · 1.5 mi · S/120No reservations, ever. Arrive before noon or after 2 or you will wait 45 to 90 minutes.
6:50 PMDansaAv. Rivera Navarrete 2692, Lince · 3.6 mi · S/300Check in around 6:50 for a 7:30 start, about two and a half hours. Ask for platea, the ground floor. No reason to climb stairs for a worse view of dancers.

07 · The Spare Saturday

Saturday, September 5 · the loose day · everything else that got cut

11:15 AMAl Toke PezCalle Manuel Bonilla 113, Surquillo · 0.9 mi · S/30No reservations, a sidewalk queue and nowhere to wait. Be there at 11:00 sharp. Cash is smoothest. This is the least comfortable stop in Lima and it is worth it.
7:00 PMCircuito Mágico del AguaParque de la Reserva, Cercado de Lima · 5.5 mi · S/4The tunnel gets you wet, and Lima evenings sit around 60 degrees and damp. Bring a layer and book the ride home in the app rather than hailing at the gate.
9:00 PMClonAv. Almirante Miguel Grau 203A, Barranco · 2.2 mi · S/150Call to confirm they will seat you at 9 PM. Their closing time is the one thing I could not verify anywhere online.

Before you go

Book these two right nowAstrid y Gastón for Friday dinner: +51 1 442 2777. Dansa for Thursday: through Joinnus or +51 1 219 9000. Both are the kind of thing that sells out while you are deciding.
Two calls to confirmClon at 952 992 337, to check they seat at 8:45 PM. Horneando Ando to reserve, because it is a closed door house with limited seats.
Money, and the ATM trapAbout S/3.37 to the dollar. Every price on this page is in soles first, because that is the money you will actually be handing over. Do not pull cash at the airport. The airport ATMs charged us close to $8 per withdrawal. Wait until Miraflores and use a bank machine, BCP, Interbank, Scotiabank or BBVA, inside the branch rather than a standalone kiosk.
One button that saves you moneyWhen any ATM or card reader offers to charge you in dollars instead of soles, always choose soles. That offer is called dynamic currency conversion and the exchange rate baked into it is terrible. Take out one larger amount rather than three small ones, since the fee is per withdrawal, not per sol. Tipping is about 10 percent, and check the bill for servicio first, because if it is there you do not add more.
WaterDo not drink the tap water, including in the hotel. Sealed bottles only. Ice at real restaurants is fine. At street stalls and juice carts, ask for it without ice.
Getting aroundUber and Cabify both work well here and are cheap. Book through the app rather than hailing on the street, especially at night and especially outside a busy attraction. Every drive on this itinerary is under 35 minutes except the one to Plaza Norte, which is why it is not on it twice.
Food delivery, the trapUberEats does not operate in Peru. Uber for rides works perfectly, which is exactly what makes people assume the food app does too. Download Rappi first and PedidosYa as the backup. Do it at the airport on wifi, not at 10 PM when you are hungry.
Where to stayMiraflores. Not the airport. The airport hotel is attached to the terminal and that is its only argument. We booked it for the arrival night and left immediately. Eat the 45 minute ride and wake up somewhere worth waking up in.
Staying smartMiraflores, Barranco and San Isidro are the comfortable districts and this itinerary lives almost entirely inside them. Phone away on quiet side streets, bag in front on crowded ones, and take a car back from the center rather than walking after dark.
WeatherAround 60 to 68 degrees, grey, and damp on the coast. September is the tail of the garúa season. Bring one layer everywhere. It will not rain in any meaningful way.
If you need support in PeruLínea 113, option 5. Free, 24 hours, run by Peru's Ministry of Health, for mental health support in Spanish. Worth having in your phone before you land, whether or not you think you will need it.
Two useful phrasesLa cuenta, por favor to get the bill, which never comes until you ask. Sin ají if someone wants it without the chili.

finessehumxn.com · Hours and prices were verified in September 2026 and change without warning. Call ahead for anything you are counting on.