One day in LimaFrom the cliffs to the catacombs
Start early on the clifftop path: the route “Lima on the Pacific” runs from Kennedy Park to Love Park, Larcomar and Barranco, with soft light and few people first thing. Finish at the Bridge of Sighs and head down for a ceviche, which Lima eats at midday. Then take a taxi or the Metropolitano to the centre for “From the City of Kings to the Republic”, from Plaza San Martín to Torre Tagle. As the light fades, “Bones, saints and heretics” brings the San Francisco catacombs and Pizarro's tomb. Round it off with a butifarra.
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Morning
Lima on the Pacific: Miraflores to Barranco along the clifftops
- Kennedy ParkMiraflores's open-air living room, with a church, painters, weekend dancing and dozens of cats who think they own the place.
- Love ParkA twelve-metre couple kisses on the edge of the cliff, surrounded by Gaudí-style mosaics.
- Larcomar and the cliffsA shopping centre dug into the cliff, below a park that remembers an airman who averted a tragedy.
- Barranco Municipal ParkThe main square of the old seaside resort of Lima's elite, with its red-towered library and a marble nymph.
- Bridge of SighsA wooden bridge from 1876, burned in wartime, sung by Chabuca Granda and crossed by generations of lovers holding their breath.
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Lunch
Try Ceviche at Canta Rana. Pasaje Génova 101, Barranco
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Afternoon
From the City of Kings to the Republic: Lima in six scenes
- Plaza San MartínThe square Lima gave itself for the centenary of independence, with the Liberator in bronze crossing the Andes.
- Basilica of La MercedThe Mercedarian friars arrived before the city itself, and their church has a stone façade that crossed the sea as galleon ballast.
- Plaza Mayor (Main Square)Here Pizarro planted the pillar of justice in 1535, and here independence was proclaimed in 1821.
- Casa de AliagaA plot Pizarro handed to one of his captains, still lived in by the same family almost five centuries later.
- Desamparados StationA 1912 railway station on the banks of the Rímac, where trains left for the Andes and books now live.
- Torre Tagle PalaceAn 18th-century marquis's palace with the most famous wooden balconies in Lima.
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Early evening
Bones, saints and heretics: the Lima told in whispers
- Inquisition TribunalBehind this columned façade, the Holy Office tried heretics, crypto-Jews, pirates and alleged witches for 250 years.
- San Francisco Monastery and CatacombsBeneath one of Lima's loveliest churches lie the neatly sorted bones of thousands of colonial-era limeños.
- Lima Cathedral and Pizarro's TombFor almost a century people prayed before the wrong mummy of Francisco Pizarro, until workers opened a forgotten niche.
- Basilica of Santo DomingoThree Lima saints rest here, among them a mixed-race friar credited with astonishing miracles.
- Sanctuary of Saint Rose of LimaThe first saint of the Americas was born in this house, and in its garden is a well where thousands of limeños drop letters every year.
- Church of Las NazarenasA Christ painted on an adobe wall by an enslaved Angolan survived earthquakes that brought down half of Lima.
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Dinner
Try Butifarra at Bar Cordano. Jirón Áncash 202, Cercado de Lima