Luxury hotels in Lima

Lima guide

Lima: the gastronomic capital of South America

Ceviche at lunchtime, tasting menus at night and the cliffs of Miraflores at sunset.

Lima's food is the most cited reason to visit: ceviche is a lunchtime dish at cevicherías across the city, and several restaurants in Miraflores and Barranco regularly appear among the best in the world, so book tasting menus well in advance.

Between meals, walk the clifftop Malecón of Miraflores, explore the bohemian district of Barranco, see the pre-Columbian art of the Larco Museum and the colonial historic centre, a UNESCO site. Lima is also the gateway to Cusco and Machu Picchu.

Miraflores, Barranco and the clifftop Malecón

The Malecón, the clifftop promenade of Miraflores above the Pacific, is one of Lima's most cited places, with parks, the Parque del Amor and tandem paragliding along the cliffs. Huaca Pucllana, a pre-Inca adobe pyramid, stands in the middle of the district and has a fine restaurant.

Barranco, the bohemian neighbourhood to the south, has the wooden Bridge of Sighs, colonial mansions turned galleries and the MATE photography museum, and its bars and restaurants are lively at night.

The historic centre and the Larco Museum

Lima's historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of its most cited areas: the Plaza Mayor with the cathedral and the Government Palace, carved wooden balconies, and the Monastery of San Francisco, whose catacombs hold the bones of thousands.

The Larco Museum, in an eighteenth-century mansion in Pueblo Libre, holds one of the world's finest collections of pre-Columbian art, from gold and silver to Moche ceramics, and its garden restaurant is one of the city's most pleasant.