Things to Do in Lima, Peru

Quick facts: Sunlight skims the ornate balconies and a central fountain chatters, while vendors' calls and camera shutters layer the square with a lively, lived-in rhythm. Surprisingly, the space has hosted countless political rallies and elaborate religious processions, so every cobblestone feels stamped with chapters of turbulent, colorful history.

Highlights: Founded by Francisco Pizarro on January 18, 1535, the main colonial square still centers on the cathedral that holds Pizarro's tomb, so you can stand on 500-year-old flagstones and feel the weight of parades, markets, and public gatherings that shaped the city. At noon the cathedral bells peel across arcaded balconies and a bronze fountain sprinkles while street vendors on the corners grill anticuchos and sell sweet churros, giving you a sensory mash-up of baroque architecture, ringing bells, and smoky meat aromas.

Quick facts: Stepping inside, the hush and warm scent of beeswax candles mingle with gilded altars and carved choir stalls that pull your eyes upward. Beneath the nave a dim crypt shelters the tombs of notable figures and a gleaming silver casket, offering a quiet, tangible glimpse of the city's layered past.

Highlights: Beneath the nave lie catacombs holding around 25,000 skeletal remains, and you can still see stacked skulls and bone-lined corridors that feel like walking into a sepia photograph of centuries ago. In the main chapel the ornate Baroque altar glows with gilt and silver, and the tomb of conquistador Francisco Pizarro sits under carved cedar beams, where the scent of beeswax and incense hangs in the air.

Quick facts: Step inside and you're greeted by airy Baroque arches, gilded wooden carvings, and a hush that turns sunlight into a kind of golden film over the cloister. Beneath the cloisters you can descend into catacombs that hold tens of thousands of bones and skulls, arranged in eerie, orderly stacks that feel like an underground ossuary museum.

Highlights: Beneath an ornate Baroque cloister lies a labyrinthine ossuary holding an estimated 25,000 skulls and bones, stacked in neat walls so low ceilings force you to stoop while the air tastes of dust and old incense. Upstairs, a tiny library packed with colonial-era manuscripts and a 17th-century choir book perches on carved cedar shelves, the faint smell of leather and lemon-scented wax clinging to the pages.

Quick facts: Walking along sun-warmed adobe terraces, you can feel the grain of mud bricks underfoot and imagine rituals echoing across stepped plazas. Excavations uncovered hundreds of tombs and offerings, from seashell necklaces to llama remains, revealing a coastal people who engineered canals to stretch scarce water.

Highlights: By night the 25-meter-high adobe pyramid glows under amber lamps, and you can smell dry clay while guides point out offerings like Spondylus shells and tiny jaguar-shaped beads discovered inside burial chambers. An on-site restaurant and ongoing excavations create the quirky scene of diners sipping ceviche within arm's reach of archaeologists brushing soil, and local staff will happily show you a faded ritual symbol carved into the outer bricks.

Quick facts: Stepping into dim galleries feels like opening a vibrant archive, with more than 45,000 pre-Columbian ceramics and textiles showcasing everyday life, ritual, and brilliant craftsmanship. Wandering fragrant courtyards and through the colonial-era mansion, you'll find a famously candid gallery of erotic pottery that reveals surprising views of ancient social and intimate life.

Highlights: Rafael Larco Hoyle collected more than 45,000 pre-Columbian objects, and the galleries are filled with vividly painted Moche ceramics that depict startlingly candid scenes of daily life and erotic acts. Wander into the small, dimly lit "erotic" gallery and you'll see 2,000-year-old stirrup-spout vessels posed in cheeky scenes, with clear explanatory labels and audio guides that turn initial giggles into fascination.

Quick facts: A cliffside promenade hums with paragliders, joggers, and vendors whose citrusy ceviche aromas mingle with salty sea spray. Miles of winding paths thread through sculptural parks and manicured lawns, creating dramatic sunset viewpoints and lively people-watching every evening.

Highlights: At dawn paragliders launch off the sea cliffs in clusters of bright canopies, drifting above surfers and fishermen while the salt spray and engine hum fill the air. Couples have a quirky habit of lining up on the colorful mosaic bench to reenact a kiss beside Victor Delfín’s bronze sculpture, and vendors pass around steaming black coffee and buttery alfajores so everyone can freeze the shot.

Quick facts: A riot of colorful mosaics and winding benches invites couples to linger and drink in sweeping ocean views, while a dramatic bronze sculpture draws daily photographs and stolen kisses. Visitors time their arrival for sunset to capture golden light against heart-shaped tiles, making the spot a surprisingly popular backdrop for proposals and portraits.

Highlights: A winding mosaic bench in bright red, yellow and cobalt blue tiles curls along the cliff edge in a Gaudí-style trencadís pattern, where you lean over the low wall to smell the salty spray and hear the gulls and waves crash on the rocks below. At the terrace center a larger-than-life bronze-and-concrete sculpture called 'El Beso' by Victor Delfín watches over couples, and every Valentine’s Day hundreds of locals turn up to kiss under the statue in a rowdy, camera-filled tradition.

Quick facts: An intoxicating blend of colorful street art, creaking wooden balconies, and salty ocean breezes turns the neighborhood into a living postcard where galleries and bohemian cafés crowd narrow cobblestone streets. Locals say couples who pause on the small wooden bridge and make a wish often return with stories of romance, so at sunset the spot fills with whispered promises and the echo of footsteps.

Highlights: Wander down a cobblestone street to a wooden footbridge that's more than 100 years old, where the air tastes of sea salt and fried fish and buskers strum Peruvian vals on battered nylon guitars. Locals still tuck handwritten love notes and postcards into the railings, dare one another to hold their breath while crossing to make a wish, and a postcard dated 1920 once set off a decades-long pen-pal exchange between two families.

Quick facts: Step into a glowing maze of choreographed jets and colored lights, where walkable water tunnels and sudden mist make every photo feel cinematic. Recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest fountain complex in a public park, the nighttime show blends sound, light and motion into an unexpectedly playful urban escape.

Highlights: At night 13 illuminated fountains dance in timed sequences of water, colored lights, and music, with jets forming archways and a mist that smells faintly of chlorine and grilled corn from nearby vendors. Locals have a playful ritual of daring friends to sprint through the laser-lit water tunnel while photographers wait to capture the moment their hair barely wets and neon reflections smear across the pool.

Quick facts: Walking among sunbaked adobe pyramids, you can feel a ritual hush as wind scours courtyards and desert light turns the walls a warm ochre. Guides point out ritual offerings and carved stone markers that hint at an extensive pilgrimage network, and aerial surveys keep revealing buried avenues beyond the visible ruins.

Highlights: An oracle called Pacha Kamaq drew pilgrims for over 1,000 years, with Spanish chronicler Pedro Cieza de León describing long processions and heaps of tiny votive figurines left at the bases of the enormous adobe pyramids. Walk among the sun-baked adobe walls and you can still spot flakes of ochre paint and hundreds of small shell and ceramic offerings underfoot, the salty air and the crunch of pottery dust making the ritual past feel oddly immediate.

Quick facts: The museum houses over 17,000 colonial art pieces including intricate gold and silver religious artifacts. Visitors find a serene garden courtyard that offers a quiet escape in the middle of the city.

Highlights: An unusual highlight is the detailed wooden pulpit carved with scenes from the Bible, which dates back to the 18th century. The collection features an extensive array of paintings by artists such as the Creole painter Marcos Zapata, known for his vivid depictions of Catholic saints blending Indigenous and Spanish styles.