Lima Off the Beaten Path Tips by christian99

Lima is by excelence, a city of museums. With more than 50 museums in the city, the best ones in Peru are located here. From public to private and from general to specialized museums, visiting them can be a good experience to know the different processes in topics like history, archaeology, anthropology, nature, culture, technology, art, religion, costumes, collections and crime. Although it is difficult to visit the majority of them in few days, I recommend that you visit the Museo de la Nación, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Arqueología e Historia, Museo de Oro, Museo Larco Herrera and Museo Amano.

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Archaeology and History

Museo Amano
Calle Retiro 160, Miraflores. Tel. 441-2909.

Museo de Arqueología y Antropología de la Universidad de San Marcos (UNMSM)
Centro Cultural de la U.N.M.S.M. Av. Nicolás de Piérola 1245, Lima. Tel. 427-8155 Fax: 428-0052.

Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera
Av. Bolívar 1515, Pueblo Libre. Tel. 461-1312.

Museo Arqueológico del Colegio Juan XXIII
Calle Castilla 842, San Miguel. Tel. 461-9333.

Museo Arqueológico "Josefina Ramos de Cox" (Instituto Riva-Agüero, Universidad Católica)
Jirón de la Unión 554, Lima. Tel. 427-4961.

Museo del Banco Central de Reserva del Perú
Jr. Ucayali 299, corner with Jr. Lampa, Lima. Tel. 427-6250 ext. 2657

Museo del Centro de Investigación Arqueológica de Ancón
Prolongación Jorge Chávez s/n, Ancón.

Museo de los Combatientes del Morro de Arica
Jr. Cailloma 125, Lima. Tel. 427-0958.

Museo del Convento de los Descalzos
Alameda de los Descalzos, Rímac. Tel. 481-3433 / 481-0441.

Museo del Convento de San Francisco
Plaza San Francisco, Lima. Tel. 427-1381 / 426-7377.

Museo Histórico Militar del Real Felipe
Av. Saenz Peña s/n, Callao. Tel. 429-0532.

Museo de la Nación
Av. Javier Prado Este 2465, San Borja. Tel. 476-9875.

Museo Nacional de Antropología, Arqueología e Historia
Plaza Bolívar s/n, Pueblo Libre. Tel. 463-5070.

Museo de Oro del Perú y Armas del Mundo
Av. Alonso de Molina 1100, Monterrico, Surco. Tel. 435-0791.

Museo de Sitio Huaca Huallamarca (Pan de Azúcar)
Av. Nicolás de Rivera 201, San Isidro. Tel. 222-4124.

Museo de Sitio Huaca Pucllana (Juliana)
Calle General Borgoño 700, Miraflores. Tel. 445-8695.

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Museo de Sitio Huaca Puruchuco
Km. 7.5 Carretera Central, Ate. Tel. 494-2641.

Museo de Sitio del Mirador del Cerro San Cristóbal
Cruz del Cerro San Cristobal, Rímac. Tel. 943-8918.

Museo de Sitio de Pachacámac
Km. 31 Antigua Panamericana Sur, Lurín. Tel. 430-5607.

Museo de Sitio del Parque Reducto N° 2
Calle 15 de Enero and Calle Ramón Ribeyro, San Antonio, Miraflores. Tel. 242-0260.

Museo Taurino de la Plaza de Acho
Jr. Hualgayoc 332, Rímac. Tel. 482-3360.

Museo del Tribunal de la Santa Inquisición
Jr. Junín 548, Lima. Tel. 428-7980.

Museo Universitario de la Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal
Jr. Cañete corner with Av. Nicolás de Piérola s/n, Lima. Tel. 423-7007.

Museo del Virreinato
Quinta de Presa. Jr. Chira 344, Rímac. Tel. 481-3867.

Art and Popular Art

Museo de Arte
Paseo Colón 125, Lima. Tel. 423-4732.

Museo de Arte Colonial Pedro de Osma
Av. Pedro de Osma 421, Barranco. Tel. 467-0915 / 467-0019.

Museo de Arte Italiano
Paseo de la República 250, Lima. Tel. 423-9932.

Museo de Arte Popular (Instituto Riva-Agüero, Universidad Católica)
Jr. Camaná 459, Lima. Tel. 427-9275.

Museo de Arte Religioso de la Catedral
Plaza Mayor, Lima. Tel. 427-5980 / 427-9647.

Museo de Arte de la Universidad de San Marcos (UNMSM)
Centro Cultural de la U.N.M.S.M. Av. Nicolás de Piérola 1245, Lima. Tel. 427-4870.

Museo Comunitario Inti Raymi
Av. Los Suspiros, Mz. N, Lote 4, Km. 40 de la Panamericana Sur, Lurín. Tel. 430-5633.

Museo Nacional de la Cultura Peruana
Av. Alfonso Ugarte 650, Lima. Tel. 423-5892.

Museo del Teatro
Jirón Huancavelica 240, Lima. Tel. 427-7437.

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Lima has not been aparted from the precolumbian history. Certainly, it has 4,000 years of presence, when nomads and fishermen settled in this area, specially in the valleys of rivers Rímac, Chillón and Lurín. There are more than 30 recognised sites inside the city and another similar quantity in th surroundings. Others, dissapeared under the urban pressure of this century. From the former El Paraíso to the late Inca site Pachacámac, the archaeological testimonies in Lima are wide and not all are studied yet. As a comment, the Plaza Mayor is built over the temple of Taulichusco, the last sovereign before Pizarro´s arrival to Lima.
Inside the city, we can find the excavated Huaca Pucllana (Juliana) in Miraflores. This was a pre-inca ceremonial and administrative centre of the Lima Culture built with millions of mud bricks (adobe). There is a site museum with some ceramics and artifacts. Free entrance and guide available. Located at 8th block of Av. Gral. Borgoño, near Av. Arequipa, 45th block. Near to it, in the suburb of San Isidro, there is the Huaca Huallamarca or Pan de Azúcar, a Maranga Culture adobe temple built by the 200 AD. There is a site museum. Entry fee. Corner of Av.Nicolás de Ribera and Av. El Rosario, near the Swisshotel (Hotel Oro Verde) and Camino Real shopping center.
There is a complex of huacas, ceremonial sites, belonging to the Maranga Culture in the Parque de las Leyendas Zoo (San Miguel and Pueblo Libre). You can visit them by entering this place. In all that residencial area there are more archaeological sites of the same culture, but not as preserved as them.

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Outside the metropolitan area you will find the most important archaeological sites of Lima. By the east, in the Central Highway (Carretera Central), is Puruchuco (km7.5, district of Ate). This is a restored site which that housed to the area's chief. There is a site museum and a fee must be paid. By the km 12.5, there is an entrance (to the left) to Cajamarquilla zinc refinery. 5km inside you will reach the Cajamarquilla site, a pre-inca citadel from Wari Culture, built with big adobe walls. It is said to be one of the most important adobe complexes in the coast. There is an interesting group of holes of 3m depth that were used as granaries. The site is worth seeing, although it is a bit difficult to find it. Some kilometres more from the turn-off to Cajamarquilla (km16) are San Juan de Pariache and Huaycán Tambo, two archaeological remains from precolumbian times.

30 km. south of Lima, by the Panamerican Highway, in the left turn-off to Lurín is located the "king" of all the Lima's archaeological sites, Pachacámac. This was a pre-inca and Inca group of temples, plazas and urban zones, which dominated the Lurín valley and then all the area of present Lima. At the entrance there is a site museum which explains you the development of this area. From here you can take a long circular dirt road to visit the different pyramidal buildings ending at the Temple of Sun, in the top place of Pachacámac. You need half a day to visit this major site. Do not forget to visit the Acllawasi or Mamacona (House of the Chosen Women), a house built by the Inca where is notable to see the mixture of mud and stone in the walls, now excavated and rebuilt. A must. Entrance fee. Outside the site, there are buses to/from Lima every minute.

Unless stated, archaeological sites and on-site museums are closed on Mondays.

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Outside the metropolitan area you will find the most important archaeological sites of Lima. By the east, in the Central Highway (Carretera Central), is Puruchuco (km7.5, district of Ate). This is a restored site which that housed to the area's chief. There is a site museum and a fee must be paid. By the km 12.5, there is an entrance (to the left) to Cajamarquilla zinc refinery. 5km inside you will reach the Cajamarquilla site, a pre-inca citadel from Wari Culture, built with big adobe walls. It is said to be one of the most important adobe complexes in the coast. There is an interesting group of holes of 3m depth that were used as granaries. The site is worth seeing, although it is a bit difficult to find it. Some kilometres more from the turn-off to Cajamarquilla (km16) are San Juan de Pariache and Huaycán Tambo, two archaeological remains from precolumbian times.

30 km. south of Lima, by the Panamerican Highway, in the left turn-off to Lurín is located the "king" of all the Lima's archaeological sites, Pachacámac. This was a pre-inca and Inca group of temples, plazas and urban zones, which dominated the Lurín valley and then all the area of present Lima. At the entrance there is a site museum which explains you the development of this area. From here you can take a long circular dirt road to visit the different pyramidal buildings ending at the Temple of Sun, in the top place of Pachacámac. You need half a day to visit this major site. Do not forget to visit the Acllawasi or Mamacona (House of the Chosen Women), a house built by the Inca where is notable to see the mixture of mud and stone in the walls, now excavated and rebuilt. A must. Entrance fee. Outside the site, there are buses to/from Lima every minute.

Unless stated, archaeological sites and on-site museums are closed on Mondays.

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