📅 When to go

April through September is the dry season, and itʼs winter, so the weather is not too hot and there wonʼt be a ton of tourists.

🚌✈️ How to get there

Kiwi, momondo or Skyscanner.com. I try to avoid SKY airlines, based on past experiences.

🏠🏨 Where to stay

Miraflores or Barranco are our “fav nabes,” as they are the most fun and diverse, and Airbnb is our choice for affordable rooms. The walk along the shore in Miraflores is amazing. These neighborhoods reminded us a lot of NYCʼs East Village, but with a Peruvian twist.

🚌 Transportation

You can take the bus everywhere, and itʼs cheap, $1.50 Peruvian soles (¢.50 USD) each way. Cash only. They drop you off in your neighborhood, so you have to do the rest by foot. Apparently, itʼs the same for private mini-buses and taxis—sorry, dudes with cars who approach bus lines looking for business while honking and flashing their lights—but
theyʼre about twice the price of buses. Legit taxis are probably more expensive. Uber is about 20-times more expensive, for most trips. There is a metro, but we didnʼt use it.

🥟🥂What to eat or drink

🥂 Try a famous “pisco sour” of course!
🦑 Peruvian food, ceviche or cow heart from Tio at Barranco.
🍖 Central Restaurante
🐙 Isolina Peruana
🐠 La Mar restaurant
🦐 El Senorio del Sulco
🦀 Astrid & Gastón
🌶 La Picanteria
🥩 Osso
🥑 Rafael
🥐 1087 Bistro
🥙 Amaz
🥟 Bao
🍛 IK Restaurante
🌯 Burrito bar
🍮 Arepa cafe

📱 Mobile phone service

Go to Claro on the second floor in La Rambla (mall) and ask for Jonathan. He speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese, is very helpful, and told us about the “Maps” app. Movistar phone company was a frustrating waste of time.

🗺 Maps app

Itʼs awesome, and it doesnʼt require cell service after you download the area that youʼre visiting. Itʼs a lot like Google Maps, but it seems more accurate when youʼre in airplane mode, and it has lots of local info, bus stops, etc.

👨🏼‍🎓👩🏼‍🎓 What we learned

Thereʼs not a ton to do in downtown Lima. The best thing to do there, in my opinion, is to see the Plaza San Martin and to drink the best Pisco Sour in town at the Grand Boliviar hotel. We had one after breakfast, and weʼre still buzzed. We only had 3 days, and we spent most of it walking the city, so next time we will check out the museums. There are some free art galleries with interesting collections, though. Chinatown was not great, compared to those in NYC and San Fran. It was just as hectic, but completely lacking Chinese people. Overall, itʼs a pretty cool city—not amazing, but worth a few days if youʼre heading to Cusco.

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