Lima Things to Do Tips by thebeatsurrender

Paragliding off the cliffs of Lima was one of the best highlights of my Peru trip. It was $40 to go tandem with an instructor. You can take your camera up and get some awesome pictures. Or, if your going with friends, ask to go up all at the same time so you can take pictures of each other in the air!

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Directions: Parque Del Amor in Miraflores -- Look for a group of rugged extreme-sports looking guys on a lawn. One of these dudes will be able to take you up, and you can pay soles or dollars. You may have to wait around a bit if the winds aren't quite right.

Some people are dissapointed at the lack of a good beach, but I prefer a rocky, windy, cliff-lined coastline. There's something very majestic about it, and the views are nice.

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Pros: Makes for a pretty picture
Cons: Watch your head

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Address: Calle Ancash, At The Corner With Lampa
Directions: Just Next To The Plaza Mayor

Exquisite interiors and courtyards highlight San Francisco Monastary -- in my opinion the highlight of our day in Central Lima. There was no English tour when we went. We tagged along for a Spanish tour for a few minutes before giving up, but it was just as well. The best part was wandering the halls and stairways of the monastary by ourselves, discovering what was around the next corner. Down a long hallway, the light filtering through rows of arches... up a staircase to overlook the richly colored church interior... down into the darkness of the catacombs...

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Address: Calle Ancash, At The Corner With Lampa
Directions: Just Next To The Plaza Mayor

Stacks of human bones and dark, narrow passageways make this creepy trip to the San Francisco Catacombs a must-do. There's a spanish language tour for the convent, but if you don't speak spanish anyway, it's fun and much creepier to wander here by yourself. Just don't forget to look out for the large round six foot high round thing in one room -- climb up and take a closer look at the circle of skulls!

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Address: Calle Ancash, At The Corner With Lampa
Directions: Just Next To The Plaza Mayor

You don't really notice how pretty it is until you look back and notice the modern meets neoclassic arched glass ceiling. There's also a postage museum, but we didn't go in. The souvenier stands that line the back are a little different from the other ones around Plaza Mayor -- I got a kitschy pack of postcards showing traditional Peruvian fashions as 50's-esque illustrations.

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Address: Centrum of Lima

Pachacamac was a nice half day trip from Lima. We saw ruins of ancient pre-Incan pyramids. We negotiated a taxi ride to Pachacamac with a company our hotel used. I can't remember exactly how much it was, but it was pretty damn cheap for how far we went. English speaking tours are available, but you may have to wait for a while. The cab driver actually drove us and our tour guide around the ruins. There are these weird looking but cute hairless dogs that live there and are fed by the tour guides. They especially loved our tour guide and ran along side the car whenever she was in it. Those dogs are super fast and often beat the car to the next site.

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Address: District Of Lurin, Pachacamac Archeological Site.
Directions: Go South Panamerican Higway 31 km South Of Lima, Before The Lurin Valley.

Lots of ancient artifacts and fun stuff to see at the National Museum, including mummy heads!

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Directions: We just told the cab driver to go the National museum, but the website says: Location: Plaza Bolívar s/n Pueblo Libre

This place was kinda lame. There's an English speaking tour available and you get to see some wax figures and go down into an area that used to be like a dungeon or something. Our guide sounded like she was trying to justify the inquisition (Yes, they killed Jews, but only the ones that lied about secretly practicing"), which was really weird. The torture museum in San Francisco has more wax figures than this place. And yes, this place is so lame I just compared it to the torture museum in San Francisco. Skip this and go to the National Museum or one of the many other museums in Lima instead.

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Address: Central Lima

There is a lot of police and military presence here. I saw a big weird looking truck with a thing that looked like a nozzle on it. Me to armed guard standing by truck: "Para Fuego?" Armed Guard: "No, ... is for.. how you say?... the people". So the moral of this story is: if you ever find yourself in Plaza Mayor during a riot, be prepared to get wet.

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Address: Centrum of Lima