Most visitors see Lima as a clifftop in Miraflores and a colonial square downtown. The city between those two points is where it gets interesting: working markets, a bohemian district built around a wooden bridge, and pre-Inca pyramids sitting in the middle of ordinary neighbourhoods.
The quick facts
- Lima is enormous and spread out; plan by district rather than by distance
- The coastal fog, the garua, sits over the city for much of the winter, roughly May to November
- Markets are busiest and best in the morning
- Take normal big-city precautions, keep valuables out of sight and use booked transport at night
Barranco s back lanes
Barranco is the small bohemian district south of Miraflores, and it repays walking. The Bajada de Banos, the old path that drops from the centre of the district to the sea, passes under the Puente de los Suspiros, the wooden Bridge of Sighs that the neighbourhood is built around. The streets either side are lined with painted mansions in various states of grandeur and decay, murals on almost every corner, and small bars that open late. The Museo Pedro de Osma, in a colonial-style mansion, is the quiet cultural anchor.
Mercado No. 1 de Surquillo
The market that supplies a good number of Lima s serious kitchens sits a short walk across the expressway from Miraflores. It is a working produce market rather than a tourist attraction: stacks of potatoes in colours you did not know potatoes came in, chillies dried and fresh, ranks of unfamiliar fruit, and juice and ceviche counters at the back. Go in the morning, eat where the stallholders eat.
