During my first visit to Lima, which was a short layover on our way to Machu Picchu 15 years ago, we spent most our time in the historic district wandering around the Plaza de Armas which features the Lima Metropolitan Cathedral, the Museo del Pisco, and the Palacio de la Municipalidad that includes a museum and the changing of the guards at noon daily.
While the historic district is interesting, it is not as upscale or safe as Miraflores, a district of Lima home to many shops, fine dining, luxury hotels, and a lovely boardwalk. Thus, during our next layover, this time on our way to the Peruvian Amazon, we spent a day exploring Miraflores.
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Skip Lima’s Historic District for Miraflores
While I don’t want to diss the historic district, should you visit Lima’s main square, definitely be aware of your surroundings as pickpocketing and petty theft are common in the daytime, and it can be dangerous at night.
I’m not sure if this still happens, but don’t fall for the college student survey scam. I had read about it, and it was tried on us as well as an attempt to snatch our bags at a lunch table by leisurely sitting down next to us and pretending to stretch way back!
Of course this can happen in every large city, so my words aren’t meant to scare, but only to advise caution. During our stay in Miraflores, however, we felt very safe, both day and night, and enjoyed our visit. A few things to do in Miraflores include the following:
Walk the Coast in Miraflores
We began our morning by strolling the malecon on the cliffs of Miraflores overlooking the Pacific Ocean. This is a popular area among locals and tourists for walking, jogging, and cycling. The boardwalk passes through many parks with flowers, sculptures, and religious icons. Don’t miss Larcomar Shopping Mall beneath Parque Salazar, or the Beso Frances Creperia which overlooks Parque del Amor. And keep an eye out for surfers below!
Admire the Murals
While exploring Miraflores on foot, check out all the street art. Colorful murals blanket the sides of buildings making the surrounding area eclectic and artsy. The expresso bar, Helarte, is decorated entirely in black and white, both inside and out. It is conveniently located across the street from our hotel, the Radisson RED which is black, white, and Red!
Take a Cooking Class
After our morning stroll, we met our guide for a cooking class. He took us to Terrua Cafe to taste Peruvian coffee, walked us through the nearby market, Mercado Surquillo No 1, and then led us to a place with three restaurants, a bar, and seating area all under one roof.
I expected that we’d pick out the food we were cooking at the market, but instead he selected some fruits for us to try including pacay, passion fruit, and cherimoya. While I’ve had passion fruit many times, the other fruits have eluded me until now. All were tasty, though a bit messy!
Fortunately, we didn’t try them until just before the cooking class at Maraparte which was fantastic! We learned to make causa, ceviche, and pisco sours, Peru’s national drink. And they were able to cater the class to our dietary restrictions.
Causa uses a mashed potato base and is topped with your choice of ingredients. We added avocado, tomato, shredded chicken, mayo, and yellow pepper salsa. More mashed potatoes cover the dish, and it is topped with some egg slices.
Taste a Pisco Sour
You can’t visit Peru without tasting a Pisco Sour. The recipe is simple. Anyone that knows the 3-2-1 rule for making margaritas will have an easy time remembering the Pisco Sour recipe.
3 ounces of Pisco
2 ounces of simple syrup
1 ounce of lime juice (they call it lemon)
1 egg white
The catch is shaking it up without ice to create the froth, and then shaking it again with ice to cool it. Then sip and enjoy!
Wind Through Mercado Surquillo No 1
While cooking generally isn’t my thing, one of the best meals I ever had was in the Andes on the Salkantay Trail, so I wanted to learn some Peruvian recipes. If cooking isn’t your thing either, no worries, you can roam the market yourself and enjoy some fine dining for lunch or dinner.
Roaming foreign markets is one of my favorite things to do, especially in Marrakesh, Istanbul and Patzcuaro. From fruits, to chickens, to herbs, to 3,000 types of potatoes, to corn prepared in countless ways, and every part of a cow and all sorts of seafood, there is lots to see!
Enjoy World Class Dining
Then imagine it going into some of the finest cuisine in the world. In fact, the number one restaurant in the world, Central, is in Lima! Our friends managed to score a table for lunch after talking to the hostess the previous day.
We on the other hand were in the mood for Chinese food after passing many “Chifas” as they call Chinese food restaurants in Miraflores. Having walked all day, however, we wanted something close and settled on Asian instead.
As a result of Google reviews, Maido crossed our radar. Little did we know it was a top 50 in the World Restaurant and an X Michelin Star rated restaurant. Just the outside and entrance was enough to make me really want to eat here, but we didn’t have a reservation.
They sent us down the street to Rafael which also required a reservation, but we eventually talked our way into bar seating with Peruvian fare. So much for Asian. Regardless, the modern restaurant’s menu featured excellent dishes.
While we found these hip Miraflores dining establishments on our own, I stumbled across a free walking tour of Lima website which also recommended them! Another popular restaurant that my friend ate at years ago and proved just as popular today is Huaca Pucllana Restaurant.
Tour Huaca Pucllana
The Huaca Pucllana Restaurant is next to Huaca Pucllana, an adobe and clay pyramid dating back to 200 AD. Possibly a Quechua sacred shrine, the complex served as an important ceremonial and administrative center. There is evidence of sacrifices to gods in various pits. It was once completely covered in dirt and used for motorcross. The fact that the vertical bricks withstood such activity is remarkable.
The site also includes a small museum, a few alpacas and guinea pigs, and has a light show at night which may be seen from the Pucllana Restaurant.
See the Cats at Kennedy Park
Another nearby attraction in Miraflores is Kennedy Park. The unofficial main square of Lima is named for John F Kennedy who provided $20 billion to Latin America countries through the Alliance for Progress to satisfy basic needs of Latin American People.
The park, filled with flowers and shade trees, sits among hip restaurants and is a short walk from popular hotels and the malecon. The park attracts locals and visitors alike and is known for its many cats. The cats are cared for by the City of Lima as well as the association, Gatos Parque Kennedy. They may even be adopted! In addition to the cats, there are many food vendors as well as an amphitheater where locals go to dance every Saturday.
In all, Kennedy Park and the nearby Church of Virgin Milagrosa are lovely places to visit in Miraflores. The Church of the Virgin Milagrosa is a historic Catholic church built in 1930. It features stained glass windows that tell the story of Jesus’s life as well as a figure of the church’s namesake.
Where to Stay in Miraflores
All of these places in Miraflores are rather close to the Radisson RED. The hotel walls are painted with graffiti style modern art in red, white, and black. The clean rooms include quirky do not disturb signs, a mini bar, and coffee station. I recommend a room on a low floor because the 8th floor features a club with loud music!
From the Radisson RED, a stroll along the malecon, through the market, around Kennedy Park, and to historic ruins makes a perfect one-day itinerary in Miraflores. ETB
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Peru has long been on my list- good to know about this lesser known gem of an area 🙂
Did you notice a large difference in Lima between the two trips? We sure did. Miraflores was popular, but seemed to be a lot more developed when we visited in 2022 from our first visit in 2007. Maggie
We didn’t visit Miraflores the first time in 2009, but I remember someone telling me it was a nice, new neighborhood, so I can only imagine the growth.
I also returned to Cusco, and I remember it being a sleepy town the first time I visited (though we weren’t there long) and it was a zoo!
We hiked the Salkantay Trail years ago, and we were the only ones on the trail. In talking with some trekkers, they said there were several tour groups.
Seems like tourism is booming! I know it helps their economy, but I sure hope they can keep the areas protected.
We got to walk all over Machu Picchu, but now I understand they limit each tour group to a certain area? Glad I went a long time ago. If only Rainbow Mtn was exposed in 2009!
Sometimes tourism helps the people but there’s a limit. I’ve actually met people who did Rainbow and said it was a huge disappointment.
Yeh, fortunately I knew what to expect. I signed up for a 4 day trek to arrive at sunrise and sunset to avoid the masses, but ended up being super sick, so I ended up joining the masses! I ended up riding a horse up, so the whole thing was more of a tourist event than a hard, peaceful hike, but based on how I felt it ended up being the best alternative!
That’s the worst. Being sick travelling and on a hike.