Things to Do in Lima: 17 Experiences Locals Actually Recommend

Most "things to do in Lima" lists make the same mistake. They rank monuments by Wikipedia importance, send you to overpriced restaurants because they have English menus, and tell you to visit the catacombs because that's what every guidebook says.

This list is different. It's built from what we actually recommend to friends visiting the city — the experiences that travelers tell us, six months later, were the highlight of their entire Peru trip. Some are obvious. Some are hidden in plain sight. We've grouped them by what kind of traveler you are, because the best things to do in Lima depend entirely on what you came for.

We've been guiding visitors through Lima since 2014. The list below is what we'd do with three days and a curious friend.

The shortlist: if you only do five things

If you're skimming, here's the absolute non-negotiable five:

1. Bike the coast from Miraflores to Barranco at sunset

2. Eat ceviche at a real cevichería (not a hotel restaurant)

3. Walk through the San Francisco Monastery catacombs in the Historic Center

4. Visit the Larco Museum for one hour or three — it scales

5. Watch the sun set from the Parque del Amor cliffs

Do those five and you've understood Lima. Everything else on this list deepens the picture.

For the food traveler

Lima was named the culinary capital of South America by World's 50 Best for nine years running, and the food scene is what most visitors end up talking about long after they leave. Here are the experiences that pay off.

1. Eat ceviche where Limeños eat it

Ceviche is the Peruvian dish — raw fish cured in lime juice, ají chili, red onion, and salt, served with sweet potato and cancha corn. The rule no one tells you: ceviche is a lunch dish. Locals eat it between 12 and 3 PM, when the morning's catch is freshest. By dinner, the fish has been sitting too long. Skip any cevichería open past 5 PM.

Three reliable picks: Canta Rana in Barranco (60 years old, no-frills, the locals' choice), La Mar by Gastón Acurio (more polished, harder to get a table without a reservation), or Punto Azul in Miraflores (mid-range, consistently excellent).

2. Take a "huarique" food tour

A huarique is an unmarked, unlisted, family-run restaurant where Lima actually eats. There's no website, often no sign, and the menu changes daily. They serve the dishes you came for — anticuchos (grilled beef heart), causa rellena (cold mashed-potato terrine), aji de gallina (creamed chicken with yellow chili), seco de cordero (lamb stew).

You won't find them in guidebooks because that's the point. The easiest way in is with a local guide — our Huariques & Bike tour (10 km, 4h30, $95 USD) takes you to four of them on bikes, with tastings included.

3. Visit the Surquillo Market at 9 AM

Mercado de Surquillo No. 1 is where Lima's chefs source their ingredients. Walk in early — by 11 AM the lunch rush starts and prices climb. You'll see fish you've never heard of (chita, fortuno, lenguado), tropical fruit at its peak (lúcuma, cherimoya, aguaymanto), and stalls of ají chilies in shades from yellow to deep red. Eat a 25-soles ($7 USD) menu of stew at one of the back-corner stalls.

4. Take a cooking class

Most cooking classes in Lima last 4 hours, cost $80-120 USD, and end with you eating what you cooked. They typically cover ceviche, causa, and a pisco sour. Pick one that includes a market visit beforehand — it doubles the value.

5. Drink pisco where it was invented

Peru and Chile both claim the pisco sour, but the recipe most bartenders use today was codified at Antigua Taberna Queirolo in Pueblo Libre, a 19th-century bodega still pouring from the same wooden bar. Order one straight from the source.

For the culture traveler

Lima has 5,000 years of history layered on top of itself — pre-Inca pyramids, colonial palaces, a UNESCO Historic Center, and contemporary art studios. These are the highlights worth your time.

6. The Larco Museum

The Museo Larco is consistently ranked Lima's best museum, and it earns it. Set in an 18th-century mansion, it holds one of the world's most complete collections of pre-Columbian art — Chavín, Moche, Nazca, Inca. Allow 2 to 2.5 hours. The garden café is a calm spot to break up the visit.

7. The Historic Center and the catacombs

The colonial heart of Lima sits 25 minutes north of Miraflores by Uber. Plaza Mayor is where Pizarro founded the city in 1535. The Cathedral holds his tomb. The Government Palace stages a daily changing of the guard at noon. The Archbishop's Palace has the most photographed wooden balconies in South America.

Two blocks east, the San Francisco Monastery has the city's most visited catacombs — narrow corridors lined with the bones of an estimated 25,000 people. The visit is unsettling and unforgettable.

The most efficient way to cover the Historic Center is on bike. Our Downtown Lima tour (25 km, 5h30, $105 USD) covers it plus the colonial neighborhoods most visitors never see.

8. Huaca Pucllana

In the middle of Miraflores, surrounded by glass towers, sits a 1,500-year-old adobe pyramid built by the Lima culture between 200 and 700 AD. Guided tours leave every 30 minutes (English available), last 45 minutes, and cost roughly 15 soles ($4 USD). The on-site restaurant overlooking the pyramid is a popular dinner spot — book ahead.

9. Barranco's contemporary art scene

Barranco has been Lima's artist neighborhood since the 1960s, and most of its galleries are walk-in free. MATE (the Mario Testino museum) holds the rotating collection of one of the world's most famous fashion photographers. Museo Pedro de Osma is a colonial mansion full of viceregal art. The street art across Barranco is some of the best in South America — Jade Rivera, Entes, and Pésimo are the muralists to know.

10. The Open Studio experience

A handful of working artists in Barranco open their studios to small groups. Our The Open Studio tour (8 km, 3h30, $77 USD) bikes you between three of them — printmakers, ceramicists, painters — with conversations in the studios themselves. It's the closest you'll get to Lima's contemporary art scene without being a local.

For the active traveler

Lima sits on the Pacific. The cliffs reach 80 meters above the ocean. The bike lanes are some of the best in South America. If you came to move, here's where.

11. Bike the Costa Verde

The cliffside route from Miraflores to Chorrillos covers 10 km of dedicated bike lane along the Pacific. You ride past Parque del Amor, Larcomar, the Bridge of Sighs in Barranco, and end at the La Herradura surf break in Chorrillos.

🚴 The single most-recommended thing to do in Lima

Our Urban Bike Tour (11 km, 3h, $59 USD) is the most-booked experience on Lima Bici, and the route most travelers cite as the highlight of their stop in Lima.

✓ Trilingual local guide (English, French, Spanish)

✓ Comfortable bikes and helmets included

✓ Safe, dedicated bike lanes the whole way

✓ Small groups (8 people maximum)

✓ Sunset departure available

Book the Urban Bike Tour →

12. Paraglide off the Miraflores cliffs

Tandem flights leave from the Parque Raimondi clifftop launch in Miraflores. You glide for 10 to 15 minutes, 200 meters above the Pacific, with the city behind you. Around $80 USD. No experience needed. Best in the afternoon when the thermals pick up.

13. Surf at Makaha or La Herradura

Lima has surfable waves year-round. Makaha Beach in Miraflores is shallow, mellow, and beginner-friendly — surf schools rent boards and run 90-minute lessons for around $40 USD. La Herradura in Chorrillos is the more serious break, with waves up to 4 meters in winter (May-September). Our Surf & Bike tour (6 km, 4h, $57 USD) combines both: a coastal bike ride and a surf lesson.

14. Run the Malecón

The Miraflores cliff path is 6 km of paved running track between Parque Salazar and Parque Domodossola. Locals run it at sunrise and sunset. It's flat, well-lit, and continuously oceanfront.

For the neighborhood explorer

Lima is a city of districts, each with its own character. Three are worth your full attention.

15. Spend a slow morning in Barranco

Barranco is the bohemian district — narrow streets, colonial mansions converted into bars and galleries, street art on every block. The signature walk: down Bajada de los Baños to the ocean, across the Bridge of Sighs, through Plaza San Francisco, and back up via Pasaje Sáenz Peña. Our Barranco guide goes deeper into the neighborhood.

16. Get lost in Miraflores

Miraflores is Lima's modern heart — clifftop parks, glass towers, restaurants on every corner. The Parque Kennedy is the social center (and famously full of friendly stray cats). The Parque del Amor, with its giant kissing statue and Antoni Gaudí-inspired mosaic walls, is the city's most photographed spot. Full breakdown in our Miraflores guide.

17. Watch the sun set from the cliffs

Free, repeatable, and consistently the moment most travelers decide they should have stayed longer in Lima. Best vantage points: Parque del Amor, Larcomar's clifftop deck, or Mirador de Chorrillos. The Pacific takes about 20 minutes to set, and the sky stays pink for another 20.

What to skip

The honest part most lists leave out:

• The hop-on hop-off tourist buses. Lima's traffic is famously bad. Two hours on a bus gets you maybe four photo stops and a lot of frustration. A bike tour or a walking tour shows you more in less time.
• The souvenir markets near Plaza Mayor. They sell mass-produced trinkets at tourist prices. The artisan markets in Miraflores (Mercado Indio) and Barranco (Mercado de Pulgas, weekends) offer better quality.
• The ground-floor restaurants at Larcomar. The view is great but the food is overpriced and average. Walk 10 minutes inland and you'll do better for half the price.
• Magic Water Circuit at peak hours. It's worth seeing once, but go on a weeknight at 7 PM. Weekends it's packed and the lines for the interactive fountains take 30 minutes.

How long do you need?

Most travelers do Lima in 2 or 3 days. With this list, 3 days is the comfortable amount — enough for the food, the Historic Center, and one active day on the coast. One day is enough for the essentials if you're efficient (the bike tour, ceviche, sunset). A week is for travelers who want to go deep into the food scene or use Lima as a base for day trips to Pachacámac and Caral.

For hour-by-hour planning, see our Lima itinerary guide.

FAQ

What is the most popular thing to do in Lima?

The cliffside route from Miraflores to Barranco is consistently the most recommended experience by both visitors and locals. Whether you do it by bike, on foot, or as part of a guided tour, it concentrates everything that makes Lima distinctive — the Pacific, the food, the architecture, and the everyday life of the city — into a few kilometers.

What is Lima famous for?

Lima is the culinary capital of South America, home to two of the World's 50 Best Restaurants (Central and Maido), the birthplace of pisco sour and ceviche, a UNESCO World Heritage Historic Center, and the longest stretch of urban Pacific coastline in any major South American city.

Is Lima worth visiting?

Yes — and most visitors who plan a "stopover" end up wishing they had booked more time. The food alone justifies the trip. The Historic Center, the cliffside coast, and the contemporary art scene are bonuses. Two days is the minimum; three is the sweet spot.

What can I do in Lima for free?

Walking the Malecón cliffs, sunset at Parque del Amor, exploring Barranco's street art, the changing of the guard at the Government Palace at noon, the contemporary art galleries in Barranco, and Plaza Mayor itself are all free. Most museums charge between 10 and 30 soles ($3-8 USD).

What should I avoid in Lima?

Skip the hop-on hop-off bus tours (slow, crowded, traffic-bound), the tourist restaurants at the ground floor of Larcomar (overpriced, average food), and the mass-produced souvenir markets near Plaza Mayor. Avoid hailing taxis on the street — use Uber or Cabify instead. Don't eat ceviche after 5 PM at any restaurant; it's a lunch dish.

What is the best time of year to visit Lima?

Lima is mild year-round (15-25°C / 59-77°F). The dry, sunny season runs December to April — best for the coast and outdoor activities, but also the busiest. May to November is garúa season — Lima's famous coastal fog, which makes mornings overcast but rarely rains. We have a full when-to-visit guide with a month-by-month breakdown.

Is Lima safe for tourists?

Miraflores, Barranco, and San Isidro — the three districts where most visitors stay — are safe day and night. Use Uber instead of street taxis, keep valuables out of sight in crowds, and avoid the outer districts at night. See our Lima safety guide for the full breakdown.

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Ready to start planning? Our Urban Bike Tour is the experience travelers consistently rate as the highlight of their Lima stop. Or contact our team to build a custom itinerary around your dates and interests.