Lima
Peru
Cliffs above the Pacific and South America’s best food scene
Photo by Aarom Ore on Unsplash
Photos by Benjamin, Mike Swigunski, Jhordy Rojas and Willian Justen de Vasconcellos on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Peru
December to April
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 1mm in Jan
Where it is
12.05°S, 77.04°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Walk the Malecón cliffs at sunset
- Eat ceviche at a proper cevichería
- Explore Barranco’s street art and bridges
- Visit the Larco Museum
- See the Huaca Pucllana pyramid lit at night
- Paraglide over Miraflores
Lima travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Peru
Good valueLicensed street changers in Miraflores wear vests and IDs and give good rates, but use the established casas de cambio if you are unsure. US dollars are widely accepted but at a worse effective rate.
ATMs & cards
BCP, Interbank and BBVA machines are reliable. Use ATMs inside banks or malls rather than on the street. Choose to be charged in soles, never in your home currency.
Avoid these
- GlobalNet machines
- street ATMs in Miraflores at night
Use these instead
- BCP
- Interbank
- BBVA
- Scotiabank
GlobalNet is widespread and charges noticeably more than the banks. Withdraw inside branches or malls.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Peru
Stay alertMiraflores and Barranco are comfortable and well-policed; central Lima needs more care and outer districts should be avoided without local guidance. Use ride apps rather than street taxis. Tap water is not drinkable — stick to bottled.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Lima Centro — after dark
- Callao — and the port
- Street-hailed taxis — use an app
- The Costa Verde cliffs and the beaches below them, where the current is strong
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Peru visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Days granted are at the officer’s discretion and often fewer than 90. Machu Picchu entry is separately ticketed and capped daily — that is the booking that actually needs planning.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Peru
Good but costlyRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Yellow fever if you are going to the Amazon
- Rabies for rural or long stays
Getting treated
Private clinics in Lima are good and reasonably priced; outside the capital and the main tourist towns, facilities thin out quickly. Insurance with evacuation cover is worth having if you are heading into the Andes or the Amazon.
Altitude sickness is the most common problem for visitors heading to Cusco (3,400m) — ascend slowly and do not fly straight to a trek. Do not drink the tap water.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
OutstandingLima is a genuine global food capital. Ceviche is eaten at lunch, never dinner — the fish is that morning’s catch. Try it at a cevichería, then work through lomo saltado, causa and anticuchos.
Nightlife
The best cocktail bars in South America, several of them on world lists, plus a pisco tradition that predates all of it.
- Barranco — bars, live music and the bohemian half
- Miraflores — the polished version, and the clifftop
- Centro de Lima — the century-old bars, by day
Closing: 03:00.
A beer in a bar: PEN 10–20
Getting around
Workable- UberWorks here
- DiDiWorks here
- CabifyWorks here
- inDriveWorks here
- BoltNot here
- From the airport
- Lima airport to Miraflores S/ 50–80
- Against a taxi
- Much cheaper than a street taxi, and much safer than one hailed outside the airport — which is the standing advice in Lima specifically.
Time zone and your working day
America/Lima — 1 hour behind you
7 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 10:00–17:00 your time, 09:00–16:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 10:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 10:00–18:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Peru
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 1.5× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at about the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Peru, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Spanish (Latin American)
- HelloHolaOH-la
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youGraciasGRA-syas
- Yes / NoSí / Nosee / no
4 more phrases
- Excuse meDisculpedees-KOOL-peh
- How much is it?¿Cuánto cuesta?KWAN-to KWES-ta
- The bill, pleaseLa cuenta, por favorla KWEN-ta
- Cheers!¡Salud!sa-LOOD
The c and z are said as an s here, not the Spanish "th" — gracias is GRA-syas.
Religion
Catholic
Catholicism fused with Andean belief — the Inti Raymi festival and mountain apu spirits sit alongside the church calendar without contradiction.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Greet with a handshake, or a cheek kiss once you know someone
- Try the food seriously — Peruvians are proud of it and interest is warmly returned
- Ask before photographing people in traditional dress, and expect to pay a small amount
- Take altitude slowly if you continue to Cusco; coca tea genuinely helps
Don't
- Do not eat ceviche in the evening; the fish is that morning’s catch and locals eat it at lunch
- Do not drink the tap water
- Do not hail street taxis; use an app
- Do not call the country’s cuisine Mexican-adjacent, which will not go well
Where to stay in Lima
No Holistay rentals in Lima yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Lima on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Jorge Chávez LIM
40 minfrom the airport· 9 km as the crow flies
40 min to Miraflores.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
