9 Best Sights in Lima, Peru

Rising out of a nondescript residential neighborhood is Lima's most-visited huaca, or pre-Columbian temple—a huge, mud-brick platform pyramid that covers several city blocks. The site, which dates from at least the 5th century, has ongoing excavations, and new discoveries are announced every so often. A tiny museum highlights a few of those finds. Knowledgeable, English-speaking guides will lead you through reconstructed sections to the pyramid's top platform and, from there, to an area that is being excavated. This site is most beautiful at night, when parts of it are illuminated. Thirty-minute partial tours are available during this time.

This cobbled walkway leading down to the "baths"—Barranco's beaches—is shaded by leafy trees and lined with historic architecture. Once the route local fishermen took to reach their boats, it's now a popular promenade at night, when boleros and ballads can be heard from the adjoining restaurants. At the bottom of the hill, a covered wooden bridge takes you across a busy road, the Circuito de Playas, to a promenade containing beaches and restaurants. A short walk to the north is Playa Barranquito; Playa Agua Dulce is half a mile south.

Constructed in 1900, this little lighthouse at the north end of Parque Antonio Raimondi, a short walk north from the Parque del Amor, has guided ships for more than a century. On sunny weekends, the large park that surrounds it is one of the most popular spots in Miraflores, with paragliders floating overhead and bicyclists and skateboarders rolling along the ocean-view malecón. Children of all ages play on the lawns and playground.

Head down the path to the left of La Ermita church and you'll come upon El Mirador, a scenic lookout with a splendid view of Lima's coastline all the way out to the port of El Callao. It's especially attractive at night, when you can see an illuminated cross and Christ statue on the promontory in Chorrillos to the south. There are also several good bars here, plus local criollo musicians who'll sing you "La flor de la canela" for a small tip.

This mud-brick pyramid, thought to be a place of worship, predates the Incas. Painstakingly restored on the front side, it seems out of place among the neighborhood's upscale homes and apartment buildings. Here you'll find a small museum with displays of objects found at the site, including several mummies. From the upper platform you can take in views of San Isidro.

The country's most extensive collection of pre-Columbian artifacts can be found at this sprawling museum. Beginning with 8,000-year-old stone tools, Peru's history is narrated through the sleek granite obelisks of the Chavín culture, the intricate weavings of the Paracas, and the colorful ceramics of the Moche, Chimú, and Incas. A fascinating pair of mummies from the Nazca region is thought to be more than 2,500 years old. They are so well preserved that you can still see the grim expressions on their faces. The exhibits occupy two colonial houses, in one of which the Venezuelan general Simón de Bolívar, who led South America's wars of independence, lived while helping to organize a newly freed Peru.

Much of the museum is currently closed for remodeling, but the exhibits are slated to reopen before Peru's bicentennial in July of 2021. Meanwhile, the areas having to do with the country's post-independence history can still be visited.

You could be forgiven for thinking you're in Barcelona when you stroll through this lovely park designed by Peruvian artist Victor Delfín. As in Antoni Gaudí's Park Güell, which provided inspiration, the benches here are encrusted with broken pieces of tile. In keeping with the romantic theme—the name translates as "Park of Love"—the mosaic includes sayings such as Amor es como luz ("Love is like light"). The centerpiece is a massive statue of two lovers locked in a passionate embrace. The park affords a sweeping view of the Pacific, and on windy days, paragliders take off from an adjacent green.

Across the bridge from the park, you can see the Intihuatana by Fernando de Szyszlo, a huge concrete sculpture inspired by an Inca astronomical clock.

For years, this rambling olive grove was slowly being eroded, as homes for wealthy limeños were built in and around its perimeter. The process was halted in the 1960s, in time to save more than 1,500 gnarled olive trees. Some of the trees are four centuries old and still bear fruit. A network of sidewalks, flower beds, fountains, and playgrounds makes this 20-hectare (50-acre) park a popular spot on weekend afternoons.

What locals call Parque Kennedy is, strictly speaking, two parks. A smaller section, near the óvalo, or roundabout, is Parque 7 de Junio, whereas the rest of it is Parque Kennedy proper. On the park's east side stands Miraflores's stately Parroquia La Virgen Milagrosa (Church of the Miraculous Virgin), built in the 1930s on the site of a colonial church. The equally young colonial-style building behind it is the Municipalidad de Miraflores (district town hall). Several open-air cafés along the park's eastern edge serve decent food and drink. At night, a round cement structure in front of those cafés called La Rotonda fills up with handicraft vendors, and the park becomes especially lively. Street vendors also sell popcorn and traditional Peruvian desserts such as picarones (fried donuts bathed in molasses), mazamorra morada (a pudding made with blue-corn juice and fruit), and arroz con leche (rice pudding). This park is the most popular meetup spot for the entire district.