Travel Guide to Lima Peru • Trans-Americas Journey

This post is part 9 of 9 in the series Lima, Peru City Travel Guide

We spent many weeks in Lima, Peru and we used that time to find the best hotels, restaurants, bars, activities, attractions, museums, and more in this seaside capital city. Use our travel guide to Lima to ensure you’re enjoying top places to eat, drink, sleep, and explore.

Lima’s first Government Palace (above) was built by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, who founded the city in 1535. It was constructed on top of an important site for the pre-Columbian people who originally lived here.

Travel guide to Lima: plan your itinerary

Peru’s capital city offers enough activities and attractions to fill many days of exploration, so don’t skimp on time.

These 9 top museums in Lima, including well-curated collections of textiles, artifacts, modern art, and more, are among our very favorite museums in all of South America.

It’s not often that you find archaeological sites within a major capital city, but Lima has archaeological sites to explore as well.

Activities in Lima include paragliding, exploring an emerging art mecca, neighborhood crawls, historic parks, and much more.

From Incan to colonial, this city also offers architecture galore.

And Peruvian and international street artists have turned many areas of Lima into canvases for creative street art.

Hotel B remains a top luxury boutique hotel option in Lima.

Travel guide to Lima: find the hotel for you

There’s a hotel for everyone in Lima from boutique finds to mid-range winners to a Relais & Chateaux chart-topper including Hotel B, Second Home, Atemporal, The Lot, and Quinta Miraflores.

Check out our post about eating in Lima to find out where you can enjoy dishes like this (and much more).

Travel guide to Lima: enjoy the city’s best food

Peru is famous for its chefs and cuisine. The capital city is home to the country’s most famous restaurants plus plenty of other winners to help you eat well in Lima. Count on budget bites to mid-range meals to very, very worthy splurges including Central, Merito, Al Toke Pez, La Lucha Sangucheria, Arlotia, Burrito Bar, Chifa Chung Yion, Restaurante Jeronimo, Canta Rana, Chinga Tu Taco, La Mar Cebichreia, Maido, Felix Comedor, Osso Carniceria, Isolina Taberna Peruana, Rafael, and Astrid y Gaston.

And here’s what to eat at the Mistura food festival, the massive gastronomic event held in Lima every year (food lovers should time their trip accordingly).

Carnaval Bar (above) is just one of the places that should be on your bar crawl hit list in Lima.

Travel guide to Lima: hit the best bars

From craft beer to acclaimed cocktails to a classic and beloved dive bar, there are also bars and bartenders offering great places to drink in Lima including Carnaval Bar, Juanito’s, Mayo Bar, Barranco Beer Company, Bar Maury, Museo del Pisco, Antigua Taberna Queirolo, and Barbarian Bar.