Lima – quick travel guide

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Big metropolitan city of Peru. Kind of like any other major city.

Welcome to Peru’s “big city”. A modern, beautiful city with beaches (although not the prettiest), wind sports, and parks. The vibe ranges from chill to chaotic, bougie to bohemian. Although Lima doesn’t offer the classic Peruvian tourist destinations (like Cusco), it’s still a very nice stopping point for food and living good.

You can see it all in 3 days. But I’d recommend prioritizing other destinations first.

Where to stay:

  • Barranco – definitely nicest area. Cute, charmy colonial old part of Lima right by the water. With many restaurants and accommodations looking out to the sea. Chill, bohemian, artistic. If you only got a few days in Lima, Barranco easily wins. It has everything, restaurants, cafes, bars, beautiful park, picture opportunities.
  • Miraflores – still nice and touristy, but nowhere as beautiful and charmy as Barranco. But it’s bigger and has more to do, especially in restaurants and nightlife. Many more nice fancy apartments here and many with nice rooftop city views. It’s a big more metropolitan city vibe here. A good option if you want to stay in Lima for a long time and want more things to do, and also to be closer to the nightlife. Miraflores is also more centrally-located in Lima, so it feels like more of the town is here at night. It was and still known as the gringo center for a long time, only recently did Barranco start to come up.

Hostels:

  • La Unsha (Barranco) – the one I wish I stayed at. Great reviews and in great area.
  • Alpes Lima Kennedy Park (Miraflores) – nice hostel in nice area. Friendly vibes. WIFI sucks all day long. Super slow and pretty much unusable. This is the one I stayed at.
  • Rainbow Hostel (Miraflores) – another hostel near great area and with great vibes. I wish I stayed at this one. I think I would have liked it more.
  • Viajero Kokopelli Hostel (Barranco) – typical big hotel-style hostel, super beautiful building (look up photos) and in beautiful Barranco area. Lots of rooms, fancy-looking building with pool, loud music, and non-stop party events everyday…to the point where people complain that they can’t sleep. Not my vibe but perhaps you’ll like it if you want a more social party vibe. Beware, I read stories of people getting robbed or things stolen here. Anyway, I’ve tried Viajero before and it’s 100% definitely not my vibe.
  • Mama Backpackers (near airport) – hostel with great reviews but it’s farther away from main tourist areas. Still, it seems many people love love love this place.
  • Flying Dog Hostel (Miraflores) – I didn’t check the reviews but I do see that it’s literally right in Kennedy Park, right in the middle of where you’ll probably want to be as a party-goer.

Neighborhoods & Walking areas:

  • Barranco – this is THE nicest area in Lima. Very touristy, beautiful and posh. Lots of different levels, giving you many elevated views of the area. Bridges, water views, shops and restaurants, street art, outdoor seating and chairs, street musicians. Nice park. Relaxed and chill vibe.
  • Miraflores – Kennedy Park. Also, a nice tourist area. Very safe, lots of restaurants, bars, cafes, shops. Feels more busy and full of people, also more locals. Has much more of the nightlife here, and much noisier at night than Barranco.

Barranco should be the very first place you visit. Especially in the day time. Then hangout there at night as well. But if you’re looking for busier, more crowded party zone, then head to Miraflores. The rest of your time, you can divide as you like.

Activities to do:

  • Buildings & architecture – I’m not sure there’s truly iconic buildings to see. I would just visit the Barranco neighborhood. They also have the Cristo Redentor statue. But the viewpoints are not easily accessible unless you have a car and the surrounding neighborhood isn’t worth seeing IMO.
  • Parks, gardens, green spaces – Barranco neighborhood and also Kennedy Park (in Miraflores neighborhood).
  • Beaches, bridges, water-points – start in the Barranco neighborhood. And walk down to the water.
  • Arts & museums –
  • Sunset views – look for rooftop/terrace restaurants. Or if you’re walking around by foot, the Barranco area is probably best to find sunset viewpoints.

Restaurants & Cafes:

  • Great restaurants are everywhere. There’s a higher density of nicest ones in the Barranco area.

Bars & Clubs:

  • For clubs, to Miraflores area and follow the noise.
  • For bars, you can find in both Barranco (more chill) and Miraflores (more noisy) area.

Miscellaneous tips:

Nearby towns:

Unfiltered notes:

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