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Lima

Lima in one, two, three or five days

A woman walks along a wide paved pavement lined with yellow façades and wooden balconies, towards a square and a baroque church
Illustration: on foot in a historic centre with wooden balconies

Lima deserves better than a night between two flights. This programme assumes arrival on day 1 and departure on day 4: three nights. It organises each day around one area, because in Lima it is the traffic, more than the distance, that sets the pace.

Length
3 days, 3 nights (variants in 1, 2 and 5 days)
In the country
3 days, 3 nights
Pace
Relaxed: one area per day, no crossing the city at rush hour
Regions
Lima and around

Who is it for? Any traveller arriving in or leaving from Lima who wants to give it a chance, including families and people with reduced mobility.

Text revised on 7 October 2026

A route to adapt to your dates, excluding international flights. Keep a day in hand before your flight home.

Day by day

ArrivalSightseeing

  1. Day 1

    Arrival, Miraflores Arrival

    Get to your accommodation; if your arrival time allows, the Miraflores malecón and a first simple meal

    Night: Lima

  2. Day 2

    Historic centre Sightseeing

    Plaza San Martín, Jirón de la Unión, Plaza Mayor, San Francisco monastery, lunch in the Barrio Chino, central market

    Night: Lima

  3. Day 3

    Your choice: Pueblo Libre, Surquillo and Barranco, or the art museums Sightseeing

    Ancient Peru at the Museo Larco, market food in Barranco, or art from the MALI to the Barranco museums

    Night: Lima

Each day in detail

Day 1: arriving without rushing

Depending on your arrival time, two different days. The journey from the airport is detailed in the arrival guide.

  1. Arriving in the evening Your neighbourhood

    Straight to your accommodation, a simple dinner nearby, sleep. Nothing else.

    Arriving in Lima

  2. Arriving in the morning Miraflores

    After a break, the malecón, the clifftop promenade, from Parque Kennedy to the Parque del Amor.

    Miraflores

  3. If you have the energy Huaca Pucllana

    The adobe pyramid of the Lima culture, in the middle of the apartment blocks, 1.8 km, about 25 minutes on foot from Parque Kennedy (daytime visits from 9:00 to 17:00, closed on Tuesdays; night visits from Wednesday to Sunday from 18:30 to 21:00, by booking).

    Huaca Pucllana

Day 2: the historic centre, stop by stop

From Miraflores, the Metropolitano takes you to the centre without the traffic jams; leave after the morning rush hour.

  1. Morning Plaza San Martín, Jirón de la Unión

    The Lima of the Republic on the square, then the pedestrian street towards the Plaza Mayor.

    The centre in three hours

  2. Late morning Plaza Mayor

    The cathedral (S/ 30 for a foreign adult (S/ 20 for a Peruvian or resident, free under 6)), the Archbishop’s Palace and its wooden balconies, the changing of the guard around midday in front of the Government Palace.

  3. Midday San Francisco monastery

    Cloisters, old library and catacombs, on a guided tour (every day, from 9:00 to 20:15 according to the official register).

  4. Lunch Barrio Chino

    A chifa on Calle Capón, where Chinese-Peruvian cooking took shape.

    The full day

  5. Afternoon Central market, then the MALI or Rímac

    The big covered market, then the MALI to the south or the stone bridge to the north; back before nightfall, as the FDFA recommends.

Day 3: three possible days, only one to choose

Choose one option. Doing all three on the same day would mean crossing the city twice.

  1. Ancient Peru option Pueblo Libre

    The Museo Larco (every day, public holidays included, from 9:00 to 19:00) to understand the pre-Hispanic cultures, then the National Museum of Archaeology (Tuesday to Sunday, from 9:00 to 19:30, free entry) and lunch in a taberna in the neighbourhood.

    Ancient Peru and a taberna

  2. Food option Surquillo, then Barranco

    A Surquillo market in the morning: No. 1, partly reopened, 1.3 km, about 20 minutes on foot from Parque Kennedy, or covered market No. 2, then a ceviche lunch and Barranco in the afternoon.

    Food-lover’s Lima

  3. Art option MALI, then Barranco

    The MALI (Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 to 18:00 (17:00 on Saturdays)) in the morning, then Barranco: the MAC and the Pedro de Osma museum, about 2.6 km, a 35 to 40-minute walk from each other.

    Barranco, art and food

Times of day are only a guide, suggested to help you organise the day: they are neither guaranteed timetables nor visits already on sale. Check opening hours, access and travel times for your dates.

The assumptions behind this programme

  • Arrival on day 1, departure on day 4: three nights in Lima. If your flight leaves on the evening of day 3, remove one night and keep day 3 light.
  • A single base neighbourhood, Miraflores or Barranco, from which you reach the centre by Metropolitano and Pueblo Libre by booked taxi.
  • No crossing the city at rush hour, in the morning and late afternoon: it is the traffic, more than the distance, that sets the pace. See getting around Lima.
  • Back before nightfall in the historic centre, where the FDFA recommends caution in the evening.

Day by day

Day 1. An international arrival is more tiring than you think. In the evening, get to your accommodation and have dinner nearby. In the morning, a walk along the Miraflores malecón and Huaca Pucllana are enough: you do not add Barranco and the centre after an overnight flight.

Day 2. The historic centre, a World Heritage site, is best read in the order of the route: Plaza San Martín and its 20th-century city, Jirón de la Unión, the Plaza Mayor and its palaces, the San Francisco monastery and its catacombs, then the Barrio Chino for lunch in a chifa. In the afternoon, the central market, then the MALI or Rímac. The two routes, of three hours and a full day, are described in the guide to the centre.

Day 3. Three possible days, each in one area:

  • Ancient Peru. The Museo Larco, in Pueblo Libre, shows five thousand years of cultures before the Incas; the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History, free of charge, completes the visit in the same neighbourhood. Lunch in a taberna in the neighbourhood.
  • Food. A Surquillo market (No. 1, partly reopened, or covered market No. 2) to recognise fruit, fish and chillies, a ceviche at midday, Barranco in the afternoon. See Lima’s markets.
  • Art. The MALI, from pre-Hispanic to contemporary, then in Barranco the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Pedro de Osma museum, devoted to colonial art.

If tiredness or grey skies set in

It almost never rains in Lima, but from June to September the sky stays grey under the garúa, a fine drizzle. Museums (Larco, MALI, Pucllana) then make good days out. If you are tired, keep a day in your neighbourhood: a market, a lunch, the malecón. No place in this programme is so essential that it is worth crossing the city exhausted.

Budget: the chosen visits

Visit Day Amount
Cathedral and its museum 2 S/ 30 for a foreign adult (S/ 20 for a Peruvian or resident, free under 6)
San Francisco monastery 2 Ticket bought on site
Museo Larco 3 (Ancient Peru option) See the published references below (cheaper online)
National Museum of Archaeology 3 (Ancient Peru option) Free
MALI 3 (Art option) See the published references below
Huaca Pucllana 1 See the published references below
Metropolitano 2 One journey each way, with a top-up card

Booked taxis, meals and accommodation are extra: see the budget calculator.

Variant with a single day

Time After a long flight Rested
Morning The Miraflores malecón Historic centre: San Martín, Unión, Plaza Mayor, San Francisco
Midday Lunch in Miraflores A chifa in the Barrio Chino
Afternoon Huaca Pucllana Barranco, its alleys and its Bridge of Sighs
Evening Dinner near your accommodation Dinner in Barranco

Variant with two days

Two days assume two nights in the city and an arrival the evening before or early on the morning of day 1. A single base neighbourhood, Miraflores or Barranco, and no crossing of the city at rush hour.

Day Programme Night
1 The historic centre: Plaza San Martín, Jirón de la Unión, Plaza Mayor, San Francisco convent, lunch in the Barrio Chino, central market; back before dark Lima
2 The Museo Larco in Pueblo Libre in the morning, then Barranco: its lanes, the Bridge of Sighs, the Pedro de Osma museum and dinner facing the Pacific Lima

After an overnight flight, swap the two days: Larco and Barranco on day 1, at your own pace, the centre on day 2, rested. If you have the choice, keep the Huaca Pucllana for the late afternoon of day 2, a few streets from Kennedy Park.

Variant with five days

The first three days stay the same; two days are added, each outside the centre.

Day Programme Night
1 to 3 As above Lima
4 Callao and La Punta: the Real Felipe fortress (Tuesday to Sunday, from 9:00 to 16:00), the La Punta neighbourhood and its promenade facing the islands; if the sea allows, a boat trip to the Palomino Islands Lima
5 Pachacámac, a sanctuary of four eras south of the city: in half a day, the museum and the archaeological circuit; in the afternoon, rest or Barranco Lima

Callao is visited by day and with a specific route: see Callao and La Punta. For Pachacámac: one ticket gives access to the museum and the archaeological circuit; independent official guides, to be hired near the ticket office; electric carts and wheelchairs for visitors with reduced mobility. See Pachacámac and Lurín. With one more day, Caral, one of the oldest monumental centres in the Americas, takes a whole day on the road.

What this route leaves out

  • Day trips out of the city (Pachacámac, Callao, Caral): see the five-day variant.
  • Gamarra and the neighbourhood markets, for a second stay.

Variations

  • With a single day

    After a long flight, keep it for Miraflores and Huaca Pucllana. If you are rested, do the historic centre in the morning and Barranco at the end of the day. Details below.

  • With two days

    The historic centre on the first day, the Museo Larco and Barranco on the second: the two days that count most. Calendar below.

  • With five days

    Add Callao and La Punta on day 4, then Pachacámac on day 5. Full schedule below.

A few prices along this route

Dollars at the rate of 30 September 2026 (1 USD = 3.437 PEN). All prices in Peru.

For the full budget of your trip, add up your quotes in the budget calculator.

Sources and dates

5 sources

Prices, opening hours and rules change: every piece of information cited links to its source, with the date it was consulted.

Figures and rules cited

Sources consulted

How we choose and date our information: our method. Has something changed? Let us know.

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