Private list of best places in Lima, Peru
- AlfrescoMirafloresAlfresco is an excellent restaurant, offering beautifully presented Peruvian dishes in an old building that has been extended to include a covered terrace that is larger than the...
- Avenida La Paz silverMirafloresLima is a town where vendors of particular goods cluster together: eyeglasses around the central downtown market, electrical supplies on jirón Lampa, stationers in the passage...
- Banco Central de Reserva del Peru MuseumCercadoThis little-known museum in a space that clearly was a bank 100 years ago is bigger than it looks and houses a very good collection. As a matter of fact for someone with very...
- Bodega y Taberna Santiago QueiroloPueblo LibreFrom 1880 to the 1960's, the Queirolo family grew grapes and made wine here. The vineyards have been moved south of the city, but the charming restaurant remains, just steps from...
- Calle ContumazaCercadoRun-down calle Contumaza contains three blocks of lovely architecture, much of it Art Nouveau, somehow managing to avoid the incursion of ugly new buildings. The city has started...
- Casa Museo Ricardo PalmaMirafloresFor Spanish-speakers only, the late 19th-Century home of Ricardo Palma, author of Tradiciones Peruanes and rebuilder of the national library after it was destroyed by the...
- Caseta el ViajeroCercadoIn his tiny kiosk pleasant and helpful Señor Condori has one of the best selections of maps and guides in town, and the only one in this part of town....
- Centro Cultural de San MarcoCercadoFor S/5, you will get a private tour of his lovely complex, originally built for the jesuits, and now housing the classes and special events of a cultural center. Particularly...
- Centro Cultural Inca GarcilasoCercadoArt shows and other events in a beautifully renovated space....
- Downtown MarketCercadoWhatever it is, probably the best place to buy it is at the central market. The covered market hall and surrounding streets offer all types of food (local food, that is; you...
- Estación de DesamparadosCercadoThe old train station recently has been restored and converted into a cultural exhibition space. Interesting, changing shows; very inexpensive....
- Indian MarketsMirafloresThe largest selection of native handicrafts in Lima, much of excellent quality, is the end of Avenida Petit Thouars in Miraflores. The selection in many of the markets is similar,...
- La Iglesia y El Convento de San Francisco el GrandeCercadoWhat looks like a church annex from the outside, inside looks like a town. Beautiful tile work, over-the-top baroque architecture, a lovely central garden with five fountains (the...
- La Posada del ParqueSanta BeatrizThis excellent hotel, with very pleasant staff, is in the old Santa Beatriz neighborhood, just behind the Museo de Arte, within walking distance of downtown Lima, and about a...
- Lima AutobusesOtherPublic transport in Lima is privately run, ubiquitous and chaotic. Part of the challenge for the visitor is that except downtown and in the tonier neighborhoods, there are few...
- Museo AmanoMirafloresMuseo Amano not only has a connoisseur's small collection of pre-Columbian pottery, it has drawer after drawer of breathtaking Chancay and other ancient textiles--one of the...
- Museo de Arqueología Josefina Ramos de CoxCercadoIn the lovely house of the war hero Benardo O'Higgins (19th Century War of the Pacific, with Chile), a well-selected collection of pre-Columbian art that is tiny by Lima...
- Museo de Arte de LimaCity CenterA very interesting collection that includes some lovely Paracas textiles, a large model of the Nasca geoglyphs, and striking Chancay anthropomorphic pottery. The cultural rupture...
- Museo de Arte ItalianoCercadoThis is a lovely little museum inside and out. Lozenge-shaped, with striking mosiacs on the outside, it houses a permanent collection of very good classical Italian painting,...
- Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia de PeruPueblo LibreOrganized around three lovely interior patios, this is probably the best pre-Columbian museum in the world, and an excellent introduction to the history of Peru. It offers a whole...
- Museo Rafael Larco HererraPueblo LibreA first-rate pottery collection, beautifully presented to a modern museum standards. Also gold, silver, a few textiles, and a much-advertised special gallery of sexually explicit...
- Salón-Restaurante CordanoCercadoThis classic is not as dark as the picture, and is one of the few really good places to eat downtown, serving travelers and politicians for over a century. Try the fried calamari...