Lima

Lima has an image problem: most itineraries treat it as an airport with a hotel attached, something to survive on the way to Cusco. That's a genuine mistake — this is a coastal capital with a restaurant scene that regularly outranks cities three times its international profile, dramatic clifftop parks, and neighborhoods that reward a couple of unhurried days.

How many days do you need in Lima?

Two to three days is the sweet spot — enough for one day of sightseeing (Centro Histórico, Huaca Pucllana), one day dedicated mostly to eating your way through Miraflores or Barranco, and a spare afternoon for the clifftop Malecón walk and a pisco sour at sunset. Many travelers do Lima on both ends of their trip (arrival and departure), splitting the days rather than front-loading them all at once.

Which neighborhood should you stay in?

What's actually worth seeing

1. Huaca Pucllana — a pre-Inca adobe pyramid complex, roughly 1,500 years old, sitting directly in the middle of modern Miraflores. Genuinely strange and worth the short guided tour (English tours run regularly).
2. The Malecón — a clifftop park and walking path running along Miraflores and into Barranco, with sweeping Pacific views, paragliders overhead on a good-wind day, and the Parque del Amor's mosaic sculptures.
3. Centro Histórico — Lima's colonial core, including the Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral, and the Monastery of San Francisco with its famous catacombs and ossuary.
4. Barranco's Bridge of Sighs (Puente de los Suspiros) — a small wooden bridge in the neighborhood's most photogenic corner, best visited around golden hour before a night out in Barranco's bars.

Mistakes worth avoiding

• Booking Lima as a one-night layover — it deserves at least two full days, especially if food is any part of why you travel.
• Walking between Miraflores and Barranco after dark instead of taking a short taxi or Uber — the connecting streets aren't dangerous exactly, but they're poorly lit and not worth the risk for a $3-4 ride.
• Skipping sunscreen because it's cloudy — Lima's coastal fog (garúa) can mean weak-looking sun that still burns, especially May-November.

How to save money in Lima

• Eat your big meal at lunch, not dinner — many top cevicherías and even some tasting-menu spots offer a substantially cheaper set lunch (menú) than their evening à la carte pricing.
• Walk the Malecón instead of booking a paid 'city tour' for it — it's free, self-guided, and arguably the best single stretch of Lima to see on foot at your own pace.
• Skip the taxi from the airport to Miraflores at rush hour if you can help it — traffic can double the fare-equivalent time; a mid-morning or early-afternoon arrival avoids the worst of it.