Coast, colony, ceviche.
Ballestas boats and desert dunes, colonial catacombs and clifftop paragliders, the ceviche counters locals actually queue for. What each tour is really like, what it costs, and where to book.
The seven that hold up a Lima trip.
First visit or fifth, these are the ones that fill up: the full day south to Paracas and the Huacachina dunes, the ceviche crawl through the old center, the fountain show after dark.
Full Day Paracas Ica and Huacachina from Lima All Included
Paracas wildlife boat, pisco tastings at Taqara 1856, and Huacachina dune buggies and sandboarding from Lima in one packed day.
From $85 per person
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★ 4.6Books out fastDay trip to Paracas, Ica and Oasis HuacachinaFrom $61409 reviews
★ 4.0Crowd favouritePrivate transfers from Lima Airport or to Lima AirportFrom $21359 reviews
★ 4.5Easy winParacas and the Huacachina Oasis Guided Day TourFrom $65354 reviews
★ 4.6Worth the early startFull Day to Paracas and Huacachina Desert OasisFrom $71301 reviews
★ 4.5Traveller favouriteParacas: Ballestas Islands Morning Boat TourFrom $17301 reviews
★ 4.6Coast classicPachacamac Ruins & Barranco Half-Day Guided TourFrom $59296 reviews
Lunch is where Lima shows off.
Lima cooks like nowhere else on the continent. Ceviche cured at the counter, causa stacked and cold, anticuchos off the coal, a pisco sour to finish. Go with someone who knows which market stall and which cevichería, and eat the city properly.
How far south do you go?
Almost everyone gives Lima one day trip down the Panamericana Sur, and the three that fill the buses are very different days. Pick the one that sounds like yours; every option behind it is already reviewed and priced.
Wildlife by boat
The islands run
18 hours · from $59 · 1,780 reviews
A morning boat out to the Ballestas: Humboldt penguins on the guano rocks, sea lions hauled onto the ledges, the Paracas candelabra cut into the cliff on the way. Calm water, back on land by lunch. The gentlest of the three, and the one families pick.
See the Paracas days →
Dunes and buggies
The desert oasis
18 hours · from $59 · 1,780 reviews
Huacachina is a real lagoon ringed by palms and enormous dunes, an hour past Ica. Dune buggies over the crests at speed, then sandboards down the faces as the sun drops. The most adrenaline for your day, and the best photographs of the trip.
See the Huacachina days →
Lines from the air
The overflight
19h 30m · from $600 · 117 reviews
The only way to read the Nazca Lines is from a small plane: the hummingbird, the monkey, the condor scored into the desert two thousand years ago. A long drive or an early flight south, and twelve minutes that stay with you. For the ones chasing the mystery.
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Lima saves its color for the evening.
The Magic Water Circuit throws thirteen fountains into colour and laser once the sun goes down. Barranco fills up behind it: pisco sours in the old bars, crióllo music behind unmarked doors, the Bridge of Sighs lit gold. Lima earns its evenings.
Lima lives on its coastline.
The Malecón runs for miles above the Pacific and the city plays along it. Paragliders step off the cliffs at Miraflores, surfers work the break at Costa Verde, Barranco leans over the sea at the bohemian end. Three ways onto the coast.
The pyramids hiding in the suburbs.
Lima was a city for a thousand years before the Spanish landed. Adobe huacas rise between apartment blocks in Miraflores and Pueblo Libre, the Larco keeps its gold and its ceramics, Pachacámac spreads across the desert to the south. Bring good shoes.
Downtown runs deeper than it looks.
The historic core is a UNESCO grid of colonial balconies and gilt churches, and under San Francisco the catacombs hold the bones of thousands. Plaza Mayor, the cathedral, the yellow-ochre facades, then the crypts below. Book the walk that goes underground.
Lima, one district at a time.
The capital works in pockets, and each is a half-day. Miraflores for the cliffs. Barranco for the bars and the art. The old center for the churches. Callao for the port and the sea lions.
Come for a certain kind of day?
Twelve doors into the same city. Pick the one that sounds like your afternoon and every option behind it is already reviewed and priced.
Down the coast and into the desert.
The Panamericana Sur runs past oases, wildlife islands and lines in the sand; north of the city sits the oldest settlement in the Americas. All of it is a day trip, and the driving is half the story.
First three days in Lima.
You can’t see all of Lima in one trip, but you can do the right three days. This is the order we’d give a friend landing at Jorge Chávez tomorrow.
Day 1
Land in the old center
Plaza Mayor and the cathedral while the jet lag is useful, the San Francisco catacombs, ceviche for a late lunch, the Larco Museum before it shuts. Colonial Lima in a day.
Plan day one →
Day 2
The coast and Barranco
The Malecón and Larcomar in the morning, a paraglider off the cliffs if you’re brave, then Barranco for the art walk and pisco sours as the sun drops into the Pacific.
Plan day two →
Day 3
The day trip south
An early start down the coast for the Ballestas boat and the Paracas reserve, or push on to the Huacachina dunes. Check the forecast and take the clearest morning.
Plan the day trip →
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