Two Days in Lima
Most international travelers flying to Peru will arrive in Lima. It’s the country’s capital, and its largest city, with a population of more than 11 million (about one third of the country’s residents). In all of South America, only São Paulo, Brazil, is more populous than Lima.
This was our first visit to Lima, and I was surprised to learn about its unusual climate, which is full of contradictions:
It’s a tropical city, so humidity is high, but temperatures are mild, averaging 60-74℉ throughout the year.
It’s a desert city, so it receives very little rainfall, but it also receives very little sunshine. Seattle receives nearly twice as much sunshine as Lima!
For us, Lima in mid-March (late summer) was comfortably warm at midday and comfortably cool in the evening. Skies were almost always gray, with the sun showing itself for a few hours at midday.
We stayed in Milaflores, an upscale district of Lima popular with tourists. If you see a photo of Lima with glass towers atop steep cliffs overlooking the PanAmerican Highway and the Pacific Ocean, you’re probably looking at Milaflores.
At the Courtyard by Marriott Lima Miraflores, we were given a spacious and beautiful suite. We didn’t have a view of the Pacific Ocean (the waterfront hotels were way above our budget), but our floor-to-ceiling windows afforded plenty of light and some nice views of the neighborhood. Yes, Courtyards outside North America are often like 4-star hotels!
On Day 1, we took a guided walking tour of Cercado, the Historic Centre of Lima, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The most memorable part of this tour was walking through the Catacombs, the former cemetery of the city. Read more about our tour of Cercado HERE.
On Day 2, we took an Uber to the Larco Museum, an 18th century mansion with beautiful gardens and an impressive collection of ceramics and other artifacts from pre-Columbian Peru. The most unexpected part of this museum was the Erotic Gallery. Read more about our visit to the Larco Museum HERE.
We’re glad we limited ourselves to just one short excursion per day. Lima traffic was VERY congested. There were many forms of public transportation: bus, train, micro/combi (minibus), taxi, and mototaxi (tuk-tuk). However, with such a short stay, we stuck with Uber.
During our rides, we were able to see the oceanfront cliffs up close. The distinctive, rocky formations were heavily wrapped in mesh netting to prevent landslides. The landscape might have been wrapped by Christo.
The cliffs in Milaflores are popular places for tourists to gather and watch the sunset. On Day 1, we glimpsed a beautiful orange sunset while riding in the tour van. On Day 2, we walked to Larcomar, a shopping center on the cliffs near our hotel, for a better look. Unfortunately the garúa (moist fog) was heavy that evening, so the sunset was disappointingly gray. But we enjoyed the walk, and the views, and the people-watching.
With just 48 hours in Lima, we could barely scratch the surface of the city’s excellent restaurant scene. But I think we made good use of our limited time. You can read about the foods we tried in Lima HERE.
