Prepare your eyes to see from the beautiful baroque to the vertiginous colors of the desert...

Prepare your smell to the scent of strange and unknown spices...

Prepare your tongue to the taste of the most seasoned dishes of the criolla cuisine...

Prepare your touch to the soft feeling of the Alpaca wool that warms and protects your body in the highlands...

Prepare your hearing to the blow of the enchanted Andean flutes and accompaniments...

and finally...

Visiting a land, with a huge natural and cultural diversity as Peru, is a privilege that is worth enjoying many times in a lifetime: Snow top mountains, desert valleys, crystal clear rivers, amazonian jungles, extreme temperatures, inheritance of many pre-hispanic and hispanic civilizations, are just a few of the many attractions you will find in this fascinating journey.

The journey begins in Lima

The front door of Peru: "Lima", is a beautiful post card. The modern and the ancient style contrasts all the time in all places. The hispanic colonization engrave a gothic, renascent and baroque atmosphere in all the constructions, not only religious but also administrative ones, and the downtown area reflects this architectonic beauty.

Interesting highlight that many of the important construction of the conquerors in all Peru, where made on top of the natives (Inca’s) temples or places where the local aristocracy once lived.

As it is a city of contrasts, the downtown area, heart of the Spanish culture in the new world, with its palaces, museums, squares and baroque churches , preserves precious treasures, while modern districts aside the ocean, like Miraflores, Barranco and San Isidro, offer to visitors commercial areas, restaurants, bars, pubs, art galleries and a very active nightlife. It is worth surfing in these two worlds with the sympathy and hospitality of the Limeños.

Some places you have the obligation to visit, like Plaza Mayor (Main Square) also know as the Plaza de Armas (Weaponry Square) where Francisco Pizarro founded the city. There you will find the Government Palace, The Cathedral and the Archbishop Palace and you can walk to the house of Aliaga (one of the first houses of Lima and still occupied by the same family since 1535) and the convent and the church of San Antonio before the Osambela Palace. For those who like to visit churches there are more than 15 in the downtown area, and you can find one in 3 or 4 blocks apart. Do not forget to visit the San Francisco, La Soledad and El Milagro churches that together forms the extraordinary group of the colonial buildings of the city. The San Francisco Church has the peculiarity of not only having an incredible library, but also of storing, in the impressive catacombs, the bones of thousand of peoples that wanted to be buried close to God.

If you have more time, may we suggest you to visit the Casa del Oidor (House of the Listener), Casa de Pilatos (House of Pilatos), the Palacio Torre Tagle (Torre Tagle Palace), the Casa de Riva Aguero (House of Riva Aguero), the Museo Nacional de Arqueología (National Museum of Arqueology) and the Archeological Museum Rafael Larco Herrera. There are more than 10 museums. Explore Lima downtown, and for sure you will find many more things in this fascinating area.

In the evening or at night, enjoy the modernity of the city on the Miraflores district at the Larcomar shopping mall, with a fantastic view of the Pacific ocean, beautiful people, modern shops and good restaurants. Barranco district has a nice view of the Costa Verde (Green Cost), the favorite area of the artists, writers and intellectual people. One of the hottest spots of this district is the “Puente de los Suspiros” (Sigh Bridge). Visit also San Isidro District, that during the day is the financial, commercial and diplomatic district, but at night it transforms into a good restaurants, movies and pubs place.

Where to go...

As Lima is a city by the sea, may we suggest seafood for your meals. The variety is incredible. Try as an appetizer the “Cebiche” or “Sebiche”, a very typical dish that is sole fish marinated in lime, coriander, onions and rocoto (Peru's very exquisite pepper), that is served with “Choclo”(giant white corn) and “Camote”(a delicious orange sweet potato). As a first dish try the “Parihuela” a thick fish and seafood soup and if you still have room for more food, try the “Pescado a lo Macho” ( Fish on Macho stile), fish with sea food sauce and aji amarillo (a kind of yellow pepper for real machos) that gives the taste and the name of the dish. In another occasion try the “Aji de Gallina (chicken) or “Lomo Saltado” (beef steake).

Although there is plenty of restaurants to be explored and to chose from, may we suggest 3 good options: “Alfresco”, “Segundo Muelle” and “Jose Antonio“, which not being the expensive ones, they do deserve a visit. A very good and inexpensive place to eat can be the “Pollerias” (chicken places) where you can eat “Pollo a la Brasa”, a very delicious marinated fried chicken, accompanied with french fries and salad for a very cheap price.

A very interesting place to shop for Peruvian products is the “Mercado Indio”. Do not miss this place, because you can find there incredible things. You cannot leave Peru without a shirt, a purse, a silver jewelry, an Inca cap, a poncho, a ceramic, bronze or silver piece or an Alpaca quilt. The gifts to take home, cause the prices are very reasonable there. Let us give you a hint on this place: “negotiate”, and always bargain as much as possible because the prices can come down on as much as 50%.

Lima has incredible Archeological sites like Pachacamac that is worth seeing.
An important hint for the ones that visit Peru for the first time is to contact a local travel agency, cause Peru is an itinerary very much appreciated by the Europeans and Americans and arriving there without a hotel reservation, internal flight and local orientation could be risky.

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