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Old Jun 24, 2017, 11:19 pm
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RustyC
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Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
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I've become a real fan of Lima and have done four trips now where that's the only Peru stop. The longest was 6 days.

I'll always stay in Miraflores because it's a nice section, well-patrolled and the chain of parks + Larcomar atop the cliffs is an attraction in itself, a bit reminscent of Malibu. Food is really great and I always hit Punto Azul a time or three, or La Mar for a splurge, and there are lots of other places in and around Miraflores. The "sangucherias" (like La Luna) and rotisserie-chicken places like Pardo's are so good they'd be exportable to the U.S.

There are also bus daytrips on double deckers leaving Kennedy Park that can be kinda neat, including one out to the big ruins complex in Chorillos. All can be done independently as well.

I'll also sometimes take the Metro from Miraflores to downtown and go around Plaza San Martin and the Quilca-Jiron axis, which is a great spot of you collect postcards, records or certain other antiques. Basically lots of sellers of used items in run-down but low-rent buildings. That theme kinda continues all the way to plaza 2 de Septiembre, a crowded circle and epicenter of traffic problems, but with a certain downscale old-world charm. Food is also inexpensive generally downtown, and the Gran Hotel Bolivar has a pisco sour catedral that's supposedly one of the best anywhere (or there's Roky's next door for volume at lower cost.

As for touristy things, the Museo Larco is worthwhile, you've got Inca ruins in both Miraflores and Chorrilos (though they can't substitute for MP), downtown and the cathedral and presidential palace outside might be worth a look (bus tours also go there), you can go paragliding in Miraflores, there's a chocolate museum (also one in Cuzco), some mediocre casinos, and maybe something like soccer at the national stadium which is also on the metro.

I once took a taxi to get in at the noon opening at La Mar (it's very popular) and walked back to Larcomar via the chain of parks atop the cliffs overlooking the Pacific on a nice day. Hard to beat.

The practical reason for the Lima trips, BTW, involved cheap access via Spirit (I think Jet Blue also goes there). Last year if you timed it in May and hit a sale like one of their 99 PCT ones, it dropped the one-way airfare from ATL to $86, plus $21/30 for the bag. From LIM I flew Sky Airline (a Chile-based LCC) to Santiago for $90 and then used miles to fly SCL-ATL on AA (Being quite a bit heavier on bags flying back vs. going out).
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