One Day in Lima, Peru

The Archbishop's Palace, Plaza Mayor

If you go to Machu Picchu, chances are that you'll travel through Lima as the brand new (as of June 2025) Jorge Chávez is Peru's only international airport. You can connect there to Cusco, the gateway to Machu Picchu or like us, you can spend more time in Lima. We arrived late in the evening and spent the next day in Lima.

The view from our room in Miraflores

Lima is a desert. What we discovered is that from June to November a fog, called garúa, covers the city. The mist from the cool Pacific ocean mixes with the warmer desert air and the Limeños rarely see the sun during those months. Despite not seeing the sun, we thoroughly enjoyed our tour of the city.

Lima is a huge city of 13 million people. As with many cities that size, traffic is challenging especially since many of the streets are narrow and not equipped to handle the volume of cars.

Rush hour

Our first stop was the pyramid, Huaca Pucllana in the center of Lima not far from our hotel. Interestingly, it's one of 200 pyramids in the city. Construction began in about 200 AD. Forty mummies have been discovered which have given archeologists much information about the people and culture of that time.

Unlike the pyramids of Egypt, the Peruvian pyramids are squared off at the top. The clay material made carving easy.

Plaza San Martin

Built in 1920 to celebrate the 100th anniversary free from Spanish rule, Plaza Martin was designated a World Heritage site in 1988. The statue in the middle of the square is José de San Martin, considered the liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru.

Plaza Mayor

The main square in Lima, also known as the Plaza de Armas, is surrounded by several government buildings and the cathedral.

The Government Palace where the president lives and works

Below is the cathedral and to the left, the Archbishop's Palace. We weren't able to go into the cathedral unfortunately.

This is the Municipal Palace, or City Hall.

The pisco sour is a very popular alcoholic drink in Peru. Among the other buildings surrounding the Plaza Mayor is this building which houses the Pisco Museum!

And this is a pisco sour!

Just off the square is the Basilica and Convent of Santo Domingo. We were able to get a peek inside.

We especially enjoyed these closed wooden balconies, built after the Spanish conquered Peru. We saw them in Lima and Cusco.

Barranco

This bohemian area of the city is home to artists and musicians and the vibe is young. One area of Barranco is dedicated to outdoor murals. Our guide told us that there is a competition every year for artists to paint their designs. Below are two artists creating their masterpieces!

We enjoyed seeing the other designs, too.

Some school children were in the area to have their end-of-year photos taken. When they heard us speaking English, they crowded around us to practice and wouldn't let Paul leave!

Fun Facts about Peru

Our guide was excellent and gave us some interesting information about Peru:

• Voting is mandatory for anyone from the age of 18 - 65. If none of the candidates appeal to you, you don't have to vote for any of them, but you need to show up at the polls or you will be fined.

• There are 3,000 varieties of potatoes in Peru.

• Peruvians are very proud of their country. This was evident literally everywhere we went.

• There are two official Peruvian flags; the official, or state flag, with the crest in the middle is hung on government buildings and the unofficial, or civil one without the crest is hung on homes and other non-governmental buildings.

• The red stripes represent the people's bravery during the fight for independence and the white stripe represents peace.

• The crest in the center represents the natural wealth of Peru; a vicuña which is the national animal, a cinchona tree which provides medicinal benefits and below is a cornucopia signifying the treasures of Peru.

  

  

• Peru's national day is July 28. All residents are to hang the flag in their window on that day. If it's damaged (torn or dirty), a fine will be levied.

  
  

• This is the unofficial, or civil flag.

  

  
  

This is the cute cafe in Barranco where we stopped for a snack.

The omnipresent haze

A few more photos as we drove around the city.

We were glad to have spent a day in Lima to get a feel for it.

See also our posts about Cusco, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu.

➜ Top Tips

• I know that there are other good areas to stay in the city, but Miraflores is lovely and right on the ocean. We stayed in a Marriott, the AC Hotel by Marriott Miraflores, which we highly recommend.

• Don't try to drive. Leave the driving to those who know the city and are used to driving in it.

• Be sure to include Barranco if you do a city tour. It's a fun , artistic area.

• We booked our private tour here and we couldn't have been happier. Nathaly was an outstanding guide and told us so much about Peru and Lima.