Sunset over Lima's Costa Verde from the Miraflores clifftop promenade
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Lima in 2 days

  • 2 days
  • 8.5 km on foot
  • 17 stops
  • Audio guide

With two days, Lima stops being a sprint. The first goes to the ocean and the pre-Hispanic past, the second to the viceregal centre, with a museum and a neighbourhood of chifas. The pace is comfortable, with long lunches and free afternoons, for anyone who wants to see the main sights well without giving up a table and a taste of the cooking.

Day 1Ocean, huacas and legends

Start early on “Lima on the Pacific”, from Kennedy Park to the Bridge of Sighs, and have a ceviche for lunch in Barranco. The afternoon is free: Huaca Pucllana in Miraflores and the Larco Museum in Pueblo Libre link up easily by taxi and lie on the way to the centre. Reach Plaza San Martín as the sun drops for “Bones, saints and heretics”: the Inquisition, the San Francisco catacombs, Pizarro's tomb. End with a butifarra for dinner, the Lima way to close a day.

  1. Morning

    Lima on the Pacific: Miraflores to Barranco along the clifftops

    Mixed · 4.5 km · 2 h 30 min

    1. Kennedy ParkMiraflores's open-air living room, with a church, painters, weekend dancing and dozens of cats who think they own the place.
    2. Love ParkA twelve-metre couple kisses on the edge of the cliff, surrounded by Gaudí-style mosaics.
    3. Larcomar and the cliffsA shopping centre dug into the cliff, below a park that remembers an airman who averted a tragedy.
    4. Barranco Municipal ParkThe main square of the old seaside resort of Lima's elite, with its red-towered library and a marble nymph.
    5. Bridge of SighsA wooden bridge from 1876, burned in wartime, sung by Chabuca Granda and crossed by generations of lovers holding their breath.

    Start the audio guide See the route

  2. Lunch

    Try Ceviche at Canta Rana. Pasaje Génova 101, Barranco

  3. Afternoon

    Huaca Pucllana

    An adobe pyramid of the Lima culture, older than the Incas, rising between the apartment blocks of Miraflores. You visit it on a guided walk around its platforms and courtyards, and it is lit up at night. A short taxi ride from the clifftop, ideal after lunch.

    Directions

    Larco Museum

    A museum in a viceregal mansion built over a pre-Hispanic structure in Pueblo Libre. It traces thousands of years of pre-Columbian ceramics and has a lovely bougainvillea garden. Take a taxi and set aside at least an hour and a half.

    Directions

  4. Early evening

    Bones, saints and heretics: the Lima told in whispers

    Mysteries & legends · 2.1 km · 1 h 55 min

    1. Inquisition TribunalBehind this columned façade, the Holy Office tried heretics, crypto-Jews, pirates and alleged witches for 250 years.
    2. San Francisco Monastery and CatacombsBeneath one of Lima's loveliest churches lie the neatly sorted bones of thousands of colonial-era limeños.
    3. Lima Cathedral and Pizarro's TombFor almost a century people prayed before the wrong mummy of Francisco Pizarro, until workers opened a forgotten niche.
    4. Basilica of Santo DomingoThree Lima saints rest here, among them a mixed-race friar credited with astonishing miracles.
    5. 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.
    6. Church of Las NazarenasA Christ painted on an adobe wall by an enslaved Angolan survived earthquakes that brought down half of Lima.

    Start the audio guide See the route

  5. Dinner

    Try Butifarra at Bar Cordano. Jirón Áncash 202, Cercado de Lima

Day 2Viceroys and chifas

Give the morning to “From the City of Kings to the Republic”: Plaza San Martín, La Merced, Plaza Mayor, Casa de Aliaga and Torre Tagle, all within two kilometres and with no rush. At midday, a pan con chicharrón at El Chinito brings your energy back. In the afternoon the Lima Art Museum gives you centuries of Peruvian art in context, and Chinatown, a few steps away, is the place for a coffee or a sweet before you say goodbye to Lima.

  1. Morning

    From the City of Kings to the Republic: Lima in six scenes

    History · 1.9 km · 1 h 50 min

    1. Plaza San MartínThe square Lima gave itself for the centenary of independence, with the Liberator in bronze crossing the Andes.
    2. 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.
    3. Plaza Mayor (Main Square)Here Pizarro planted the pillar of justice in 1535, and here independence was proclaimed in 1821.
    4. Casa de AliagaA plot Pizarro handed to one of his captains, still lived in by the same family almost five centuries later.
    5. Desamparados StationA 1912 railway station on the banks of the Rímac, where trains left for the Andes and books now live.
    6. Torre Tagle PalaceAn 18th-century marquis's palace with the most famous wooden balconies in Lima.

    Start the audio guide See the route

  2. Lunch

    Try Pan con chicharrón at El Chinito. Jirón Chancay 894, Cercado de Lima

  3. Afternoon

    Lima Art Museum (MALI)

    Peru's great art museum, in the Palacio de la Exposición inside Exposición Park. It gathers centuries of Peruvian art, from pre-Hispanic cultures to contemporary work. A few minutes from the historic centre; check which day it closes.

    Directions

    Chinatown (Barrio Chino)

    Lima's Chinatown, beside the centre, is the heart of the chifas, the Chinese-Peruvian cooking born of nineteenth-century immigration. Walk through the gate on Calle Capón, browse the shops and stop at a chifa or a bakery.

    Directions

The map

Lima in 2 days, on the map

Each route’s stops are numbered in order; the stars are the extra sights.

Mixed Mysteries & legends History Extra sight

Loading the map…

Before you go

Tips for Lima in 2 days

  • Group things by area: day one runs between Miraflores, Barranco and Pueblo Libre, and day two stays in the centre. Order taxis through an app and agree the price before you get in.
  • Most museums close one day a week, often Monday. Check the hours for the Larco and MALI and, if you can, book ahead.
  • At night in the centre, stay on busy streets and go home by ride-hailing taxi. The legends route ends at dusk, so keep close to the lit-up squares.

Questions

Lima in 2 days: your questions

Is 2 days enough for Lima?

Yes, it is the most sensible length for a first visit. You have time for the coast, the historic centre, a museum or archaeological site or two, and several unhurried meals. A third day would add markets and parks.

How far do you walk in two days?

About 8.5 km on the routes: 6.6 km on day one, between the coast and the legends route, and 1.9 km on day two in the historic centre. Add museum visits on top; the long transfers are by taxi.

Should I do the coast or the centre first?

Start with the coast: day one ends with the legends of the centre at dusk, and day two is for history at an easy pace. You move from ocean to viceregal city smoothly, with the museums in the afternoon.

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