The Peruvian capital is much more than a gateway to ancient wonders, Helen Raine writes, and it can be cheaper to get there than you may think.

Peru is such a big country that it’s easy to let the capital city slide off the itinerary as you rush towards Macchu Picchu, the Nazca Lines, the Canyon of the Condors and the Amazon region.

Travel by bus! They are generally packed, blasting upbeat Peruvian music, and the driver is likely to be speeding

The charms of Lima can be slow to assert themselves too; it’s a busy, noisy, sometimes dirty city, and has perhaps more than its fair share of pickpockets.

But if you keep your wits about you and go to the right places, Lima can offer everything from haute cuisine to ancient erotica. Hit these spots to get the most out of a couple of days there.

Stay

It’s always disorientating arriving in a new city after a long flight, so the Miraflores/San Isidro district is a good area to decompress. It’s the five-star-hotel-shopping-mall district rather than a typically Peruvian area, but it feels safe and welcoming and it’s a good place to start from.

If you’re flush or you need a dose of luxury after roughing it on the Inca Trail, stay at the five-star Novotel Lima. It is ultra modern, with crisp white decor interspersed with flashes of colour and some cutting-edge designer furniture.

They temper the fact that you could be anywhere by offering a free Pisco Sour at the bar. This is effectively Peru’s national drink, and although it includes raw egg white, it is surprisingly delicious.

A double room starts at around €110 a night. Located at Victor Andrés Belaunde 198, San Isidro; tel: +51 1315 9999; www.novotel.com.

If your budget won’t stretch that far, try the Miraflores Inn. This little, family-run hotel has Wi-Fi and a good breakfast, They’ll pick you up from the airport for about €15, which is a worthwhile investment as it cuts out the likelihood of getting fleeced by a taxi driver the minute you arrive. A double costs €35. Located at V. Diez Canseco 626, Miraflores; tel + 51 1241 2706; www.mirafloresinn.com.

Travel

By bus! They are generally packed, blasting furiously upbeat Peruvian music and the driver is likely to be speeding. Just a 15-minute drive on a sunny day is an experience that will have you grinning for the afternoon. You can even do your shopping on board, as vendors regularly jump on and off.

Shout “baja” (ba-ha) when you want to get off, and do so quickly because the driver will race off as soon as your feet touch the ground. Buses have official routes and stops (supposedly), but the micros, or minivans, will stop for each and every passenger.

Eat

Pedro Miguel Schiaffino is one of Lima’s leading chefs and he has created Amaz, a fabulous restaurant offering a culinary tour of Peruvian classics, with inspiration from the jungle to the highlands.

It’s obligatory to try the ceviche, a tangy blend of raw fish, peppers and citrus, but you can also sample everything from mashed green bananas to dried pork. This is the hautest of cuisine for less than haughty prices; about €35 will get you a decent meal. Located at Avenida La Paz 1079, Miraflores; tel: +51 1221 9393.

For lunch on a backpacker budget, get a menú, or set meal. Many restaurants offer this kind of deal for as little as €1.50. If they offer papa a la huancaína, snap it up. This dish of potato in the tastiest cheesy-chilli sauce is utterly delicious (the same sauce is also amazing with fried yucca).

Humitas is also an unmissable dish cooked here since ancient times; they usually have a centre of chicken with a boiled egg, olive, peanuts or chilli, with an outer layer of soft cornmeal, and they are steamed or baked in a banana leaf or corn husk.

For dinner, the restaurant Mama Olla has good portions of great seafood and fish. Dishes include imaginative concoctions such as quinoa breaded chicken fingers or chicken with a creamy spicy corn sauce served with yucca croquettes. Located at Jr. Tarata 248, Miraflores; tel: +51 1445 2947.

Shop

Miraflores makes shopping easy with a gigantic market, Mercado Indio, on the Avenida Petit Thouars/General Vidal. It’s obviously very touristy, but a nice place to while away a few hours shopping for everything from silver jewellery to wicker baskets. It is well worth bargaining, although stall holders here are more reluctant to go down than in some of the other markets.

For a genuine Peruvian market experience, go to the Mercado Central (Central Market) just south of the Plaza Mayor. It’s open daily until 5pm and is a fascinating hub of activity. Be aware that as a tourist, you’ll stand out and will be targeted accordingly unless you keep your valuables very close to you (or better still, leave them in the hotel). Distraction techniques are particularly good at parting you from your belongings.

If you want to see and be seen, try the Centro Comercial Larcomar in Miraflores. It’s actually built into the cliffs overlooking the sea on the Malecon (coastal path) near Parque Salazar and the Marriott hotel.

There are plenty of places to eat with fabulous ocean views, a cinema and a number of cute but overpriced shops. Locals enjoy hanging out here too and it’s a nice place to get into conversation with the neighbouring table over a glass of wine.

Visit

Catacombs of the church of San Francisco

At first glance, the circular arrangements in the catacombs look like abstract patterns. And they are... it’s just that instead of stucco or plaster, the circles are made of hundreds of femurs.

In some, a small pile of skulls forms the centrepiece; elsewhere, the skulls are arranged in concentric rings. Entire walls of bones have been created, with skulls inserted near the top like some sort of gothic wallpaper border. Shinbones form a herringbone pattern in makeshift wooden boxes.

The catacombs are home to over 25,000 bodies, and for reasons which remain opaque, many of the skeletons have been stacked in these bizarre formations.

If corpse art sounds like your thing, then the church is located near the Plaza de Armas and entry costs just over €1.

Malecon

The malecon is effectively a coastal path which runs for nearly 10km along the cliffs of the Pacific. It’s punctuated with parks, statues by local artists and a parasailing location (you too can jump off a cliff for around €40).

Rent a bike from Bike Tours of Lima in Miraflores (Bolivar 150) to explore the area.

Plaza de Armas

This is Lima’s central square, and the biggest draw here is probably the changing of the guard at Government Palace, which happens at midday every day with an appropriate amount of pomp and ceremony (there always seems to be one soldier slightly out of kilter which is more entertaining than it should be).

You can also visit the cathedral of Lima. It’s the heart of the city and once you’ve visited the official sights, it’s fun just to wander along the adjoining pedestrianised mall and experience the city in action.

Larco Museum

There are lots of reasons to visit the Larco Museum. It has Incan mummies, entrance into the store rooms to see what is behind the scenes and plenty of ancient Peruvian artefacts. But human nature being what it is, most of us will probably head there for the exhibition of ceramic pots depicting people in various compromising positions.

It’s been described as a ceramic Kama Sutra, all the more remarkable because the invading Spaniards tended to get all prudish about these kinds of items so they were mostly destroyed.

Located at Av. Bolívar 1515, Pueblo Libre. Admission costs $11.50 (€8.90).

Nature

The Pantanos de Villa Nature Preserve is located in an unpromising suburb of South Lima. It’s worth it when you get there though, offering some excellent views of around 150 species of water and shore birds, including the puna ibis, slate-coloured coot, roseate spoonbill and Peruvian pelican.

You can combine it with a visit to the Pachacamac Ruins, which as well as being interesting Incan ruins in their own right, also offer a chance to see the odd-looking Peruvian thick-knee.

A taxi is by far the easiest way to do this; negotiate a price for both sites and ask the driver to wait. Alternatively, www.adventureswithinreach.com offer a tour to both locations.

Getting there

Brazilian airline TAM often has cheap deals on return flights from Europe to Lima via Sao Paolo – sometimes even below €350. Try searching from Paris, London Heathrow and Frankfurt, all of which can be reached directly from Malta.

Tip: It is often cheaper to use the multi-destination booking feature on the TAM website, departing from one European city but returning to another.

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