Tours in Lima

Lima sits on a cliff edge above the Pacific, and the first thing you learn is to look at the sky. In the cooler months a grey blanket settles over the city and stays there, soft and flat, and the locals just carry on under it. Walk the clifftop paths in Miraflores in the evening and you will see paragliders drifting past the apartment blocks, dog walkers, couples on the benches, and the ocean going dark below.

Then go inland. The historic centre around the Plaza Mayor is where the city shows its older face, with wooden balconies hanging over the streets, the cathedral on one side and the government palace on another. Nearby are the convents and churches, the Plaza San Martin, and the long pedestrian streets where everyone seems to be heading somewhere in a hurry. Barranco is the opposite pace. Its lanes run down towards the sea past galleries, old houses painted in faded colours and small bars, and the Bridge of Sighs is where people slow down and take photos.

Eat well here, because this is a city that takes food seriously. Start with ceviche at lunch, when the fish is at its best, and ask for a cevicheria rather than a restaurant that happens to serve it. Try anticuchos from a street grill, a pisco sour before dinner, and whatever the cook says is good that day. Markets such as Surquillo are worth an hour just to see the fruit you cannot name.

Lima is also the doorway to the rest of Peru. Many travellers pass through on the way to Cusco and Machu Picchu, and if you want a guide for those, or for a museum, a catacomb or a particular ruin in the city itself, you can ask and a local can arrange it. For those who want mountains, there is the Cordillera Huayhuash trek from Huaraz, a loop through high Andean country that starts and ends at hot springs. It is a very different Peru from the clifftop, and a good reason to leave the coast for a few days.