One Day in Lima Peru Itinerary
With a population of almost 11 million people Lima, the capital of Peru is the second largest city in the Americas. There are endless things while you spend your day in Lima. This one day itinerary will guide you to explore the bright vibrant city during your visit to Peru.
The city is also home to the largest airport in Peru, serving as a stopover for those traveling to Machu Picchu or other inland cities throughout the country. I recommend including at least one day or two in Lima during your visit to this incredible country.
This one day guide to Lima will provide you all you need to know, including where to eat, where to stay, and the best attractions for your adventure!
How to Get to Lima
Lima has one major airport, Jorge Chavez International Airport. It was bustling at 9:30 p.m. like you would expect to see at 7:00 a.m. back in the states so expect to spend some time there after landing. When we arrived in Peru- it was late, it was dark, and we’d been traveling for over 14 hours. Fortunately for me, I had slept the entire flight like I do most flights, so I was awake and ready to take on this new city!
As we made our way through the crowd (I say crowd but it was more like a sea of sweaty humans) of cab drivers to the exit. We were immediately approached by several men screaming TAXI! My travel partner spoke about 3 words of spanish– but looks like he could be of Latin American decent- so as I responded to them in broken but decent spanish- they answered back in spanish… to my partner, completely ignoring me, despite his attempt at “no hablo espanol”.
The whole interaction was frustrating and humorous at the same time. Eventually we “bargained a deal” (we totally got hosed) and we were loading our backpacks into the cab to check in at our AirBnb in Miraflores (along with a Swedish backpacker hitching a cab with us).
Ground Transportation
You can either take a taxi or rent a car from the airport. If you are planning on road tripping I would recommend renting a car. We had one day in Lima so we decided to take a taxi to and from the airport for our Cusco flight. To get around the city we mostly walked, but used the occasional Uber or Lyft for longer distances.
Take it from a couple travelers that learned the hard way- DO NOT pay more than 50 soles for a cab from the airport, I’m not even going to tell you how much we paid because it will just upset me. Thank goodness we had an incredible AirBnb waiting for us to do some cheering up 🙂
Where to Stay in Lima
There are several neighborhood options for you to stay in. We chose to stay in the popular Miraflores neighborhood which is located along the ocean shoreline. The area is about a 45 minute drive from the airport and offers beautiful parks and vistas to walk around. There are also plenty of cafes, museums, restaurants, and shopping areas.
Don’t know what to pack for your trip to Peru? This packing list from Vida de Polilla has a free checklist so you don’t forget anything for your trip!
Where to Eat in Lima
Pan de la Chola
Starting my morning with coffee is a must, so the first stop of the day is almost always somewhere with coffee. This adorable shop was a perfect first stop to fuel up for the day. From tasty treats to savory sandwiches, Pan de la Chola of Miraflores is said to be Lima’s best panaderia.
The sandwich breads are baked from local grown grains like kiwicha and my personal favorite- quinoa! Get anything with avocado- you can’t go wrong, I’m pretty sure the avocados in Peru are all magical. I had this sugary, soft croissant type pastry and a Peruvian latte (I also sampled off my friends plates) everything I had was delicious.
Amoramar
Barranco was my favorite district for many reasons, and the food was just one of them. Amoramar has an outdoor bar and dining area with a mix of peruvian and mediterranean type dishes (yes they have Ceviche and pisco sours).
Dine like royalty, for an affordable price. We went family style- and just ordered a ton of random dishes to pass around the table so everyone could try a little bit of everything. It’s a little on the fancier side so I wouldn’t recommend showing up in your yoga pants (even though you’ll eat so much you’ll wish you had). In the order in which we ate them, check out all the deliciousness we ate.
Cebiche clasico… S/.66 
So. Many. Pisco Sours. 
Duck, with cilanto rice 
Isla de frutos del bosque … S/.26
Things to do in Lima Peru
El Malecon
This six mile stretch of parks winds you along the coastline with breathtaking views the entire way. The parks are so pretty, and the fitness vibes of the city are abundant along here- there’s paved running and biking paths surrounded by beautiful flower gardens and built in workout equipment.
Locals were in the park working out, walking their dogs, or just enjoying the day. There was even a local soccer game we stopped to watch as we made our way to the lighthouse. As we passed through the parque del amor i’m not sure what I liked more, the colorful mosaic walls, or the romantic love quotes they were covered in?
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo
Angle 1
Same Art Piece – Different Angles
Angle 2
Catch a Coastline Sunset
After you wrap up your day in Lima, you can walk down to the water to watch the sunset. There’s really no bad spot along the coast to watch the day come to an end.
Day Trips From Lima
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Have more time in Peru?
Visit the famous rainbow mountain for your next stop!
This city looks facinating and I do like the look of that Pan de la Chola. Yum!
We were very sad to miss Peru this year when our cruise ship was turned away at Lima for our last port stop. We planned to spend 4 days in Lima. We planned to use Uber for most of our longer trips around Lima but planned to walk where we could in the Miraflores area. I am sure sorry we missed all that great food.
One day doesn’t seem like enough! So many amazing things to do. I’m not normally an art person but I love the image of the bricks. Of course, no trip is complete without the coast!
It wasn’t! Two would be better if you have the extra time (does anyone ever though?) hah
Peru is top of my bucket list – thanks for your recommendations these will definitely come in useful!
Alright I know I should pretend to be all cultured and talk about all the awesome things there are to do in Lima. But that crossaint-ish pastry caught my attention, and then I started thinking about quinoa-based baked goods. And I need to try an avocado in Peru, obviously. I travel with my stomach it seems.
Hahahahah this is one of my favorite comments ever. Every time I see that delicious sugary goodness of a picture everything else fades away- so I get it 😉
Your one day in Lima, Peru looks wonderful and one day I would hopefully visit Peru. Peru is in my bucket list and your tips on Lima are very useful to me. Saving your post.
Thanks girl! I’m glad you found it helpful!
This brought back memories! I once had to spend seven hours in the airport in Lima. It was absolutely heaving and there was no where to sit. I should have ventured out into the city as you did, but I was completely by myself and worried about getting lost/reports of crime. It looks like a fascinating city so I clearly missed out. Would love to stroll around El Malecon and check out those mosaic walls. And by the way, I also fell into the trap of vastly overpaying for a taxi from the airport in Cusco!
You’re amazing for solo traveling. Lima was one of the safest cities in SA I’ve been to, so no worries for next time. Plus now we BOTH will remember the taxi tricks 🤣
Great photos and itinerary. Certainly helped add some stops on my trip to Lima.
This brought back memories from my visit to Lima back in 2017. I was surprised by how good the food was & it’s true, you really did pack a lot in to 24 hours! I headed to the main square & was lucky to catch the fascinating parade of changing of the guards at the presidents house. It was a huge performance with lots of bands & marching & the president even came out to get involved. I would have imagined he had more important things to do, but apparently not!
I’ve never thought of Peru as a culinary destiantion before … I don’t know why. But it looks like Lima has plenty of delicious food to get my teeth into. I’d love to start my day with a coffee and one of those sugary buns, I’ve never been much of a breakfast person, but you need a little something in your stomach before the first spark of caffeine hits it!
The right approach when you get hosed! You’ve just got to chalk it up to experience and move on. These things happen and are the price we sometimes have to pay for independent travel.
very nice!!!!