Lima, Peru, 2019

Trip

My first trip to Lima was in October, 2019. I flew KLM via Amsterdam and the flight to Lima took approximately 12 hours over the Atlantic and South America. KLM was ok, two meals and a sandwich mid flight, nothing worth mentioning. The Schiphol airport in Amsterdam is one of the largest international hubs (4th at the time of writing this) with over 68 million international passengers annually. It is a well organized one with proper signs and includes smoking areas.

When we landed at Jorge Chavez airport by 18.00 local time it was already dark outside. Jorge Chavez is located in Callao, just 11 kilometers away from Lima and has integrated transport connections with the capital.

There was a taxi waiting for me at the airport and the trip to Miraflores (one of the 43 regions in Lima, if I remember the number correctly), which was 17 kilometers, took us almost 2 hours due to the heavy traffic.

On my way back I flew Air France to Paris, CDG, and stayed at the Novotel Paris Charles De Gaulle as I had almost a day till my second flight. The hotel is really nice and very contemporary, even the sockets on the wall provide for USB charging. Breakfast was truly fantastic!

The weather

In terms of temperature, it was between 10 and 20 degrees Celsius throughout my stay, so again a shirt and a light jacket. What is worth mentioning is almost never sunny in Lima, with low clouds and very often thick fog and drizzling. This is due to a cold current under the surface of the Pacific ocean. You may notice that none of the pictures in this article has proper light.

Cash or CC

You can pay with a credit card almost everywhere in Lima, yet it is worth holding on to some cash as prices may differ depending on whether you pay cash or with a card - this happened to me in one of the local markets for souvenirs. They were also unwilling to provide any discounts if I wanted to pay by card. 

While preparing for my trip I read on the internet Visa was hardly accepted in Peru, just MasterCard - it turned out not to be true by the time I visited the country and my Visa was accepted everywhere.

ATMs here charge withdrawal fees so I would suggest paying by card everywhere you can and getting the amount of cash in PEN (soles) before your trip if possible.

Is it safe?

At no point during my stay I felt threatened in any way. I was however warned by hotel staff I needed to take the necessary caution, which I took as a standard warning. Of course, I never roamed the city at night nor visited remote areas.

Police presence is visible, I noticed that the lights on the police vehicles were always on, even when they were parked for a long time in front of a building or at an intersection. Officers however were not heavily armed like in Mexico city.

Accommodation

I stayed at Casa Andina Select in the heart of Miraflores. I really liked the hotel, and it is worth mentioning as I rarely do so.

Casa Andina was a modern place, with decent sized rooms and it was very, very clean. Service was amazing, and so was breakfast.

The hotel is situated central to Miraflores and is perfect for those who want to see the local city hall, the cathedral and the souvenir markets. 

There was a welcome pack with tea and coffee, which was refreshed on a daily basis together with a couple of bottles of mineral water.

Is water drinkable?

No. Or at least this is a strong repetitive advice all over the internet. I took no risks and only used bottled water which is available throughout the city and does not cost a lot (approximately 0.75EUR for 2 litres bottle). The hotel also provided 2 x 0.5l bottles on a daily basis.

Vaccines

Certain types of vaccines are recommended by the World Health Organization when you travel to Peru. I was not subject to inspection upon entering the country though - no one asked me for my yellow vaccination passport. Those vaccines are:

Hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid, yellow fever, rabies, meningitis, polio, measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis), chickenpox, shingles, pneumonia and influenza.

General impressions

Lima is a unique and picturesque place. 30 of the 43 districts there constitute the urban area of the district. My personal impressions are from the districts of Miraflores and San Isidro.

Miraflores is the touristic focus with plenty of places to visit. The local souvenir markets offer a wide variety of goods, including the famous alpaca clothing (Peruvian hats are so nice!).

The City hall and the Kennedy Park nearby seem to always host some kind of public events and create a unique atmosphere.

Traffic is pretty jammed, though. With a population of about 10 million people, the infrastructure available in Lima provides for a never-ending flow of vehicles of all kinds. Popular brands seem to be Toyota, Nissan, Kia and most of them bear the consequences of the traffic - scratches and damaged paint work.

I hardly noticed any patches on the asphalt, and this is strange. It seemed to me that it was either or when it came to asphalt on the roads - it was either very good or damaged, but never repaired. I may be wrong on that, it's just my impression from my week stay there.

People are extremely open and friendly and I felt so sorry for not speaking the language. Not a lot of people speak English so I had to use the signs language on plenty of occasions. 

San Isidro seems to host a lot of offices and it looks different incorporating tall office buildings.

Electrical plugs

Type A:

I hope that you have found this information to be of use for your trip!