How to Tackle Lima

While planning our trip to Peru, I started discovering people I knew that had visited Peru themselves. And there seemed to be a resounding consonance, don't even bother with Lima. There's so much to do in this country that Lima will underwhelm.  After being there myself, I would like to politely disagree.

Lima was originally inhabited by indigenous groups and was incorporated into the Inca Empire in the 15th century. The Spanish then settled there in 1536. Today, the large city is made up of many neighbourhoods; Lima Centro, Miaflores, San Isidro, Barranco, and Chorrillos to name a few of the more commonly visited ones by tourists.

Lima definitely can be overwhelming with it's size, the crowds, and even the traffic. There's no way you're going to see it all and that's normally how I try to see a city--by seeing it all. Lima cannot be conquered this way, instead it must be broken down to smaller bits and tackled on a smaller scale.

After a little research we decided to focus our attentions on 3 of the main districts: Miaflores, Barranco, and Lima Centro. Before arriving, we weren't entirely sure how we were going to get about, but discovering that there was Uber we weren't too concerned.

We booked a hotel in the commercial district, Miaflores. Checking off walks to the ocean, learning about the pre-Inca culture at the Huaca Pucllana, and being close to other exciting neighbourhoods, like Barranco.

Barranco is a bohemian, relaxed district with great restaurants and nightlife. We often found ourselves drawn to this district and did a food tour here.

Lima Centro is the old downtown area where there are large squares and colonial buildings and lots of people. We took the Metropolitano there one afternoon, wandered a bit, grabbed some lunch and felt we had our fill.

Like I said, we didn't see nearly everything there and didn't even step foot into a museum, but having broken Lima down into smaller pieces, exploring a few neighbourhoods as independents, I feel like I now know what Lima is about and I like it very much.

This capital city has been given a bad rep for being so big and different then the rest of the cities in Peru, but it really does have it's own unique charm as it fights to be a modern city in a modern world. Go on, give Lima a shot.

Have you been to Peru or Lima? What did you think of it?

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