How much does Lima cost per day in 2026?

Budget S/. 100 ($30), midrange S/. 270 ($80), luxury S/. 745+ ($220+). The budget tier breaks down to a Miraflores hostel dorm at Pariwana or Kokopelli for S/. 30-45 ($9-13) per night, 2 meals of street food and menú del día for S/. 20-25 ($6-7.40), and 3-4 Metropolitano bus rides at S/. 2.50 ($0.74) each. Midrange means a 3-star in Miraflores like the Ibis Larco for around S/. 200 ($59), a cevichería lunch for S/. 35-45 ($10-13), a sit-down dinner with a pisco sour for S/. 55-70 ($16-21), and Uber rides averaging S/. 8-12 ($2.37-3.55) across town. Luxury lands you at the Belmond Miraflores Park from S/. 850+ ($252+) and a tasting menu at Central or Maido for S/. 500+ ($148+). The midrange is where most Lima trip reports land.

The menú del día is Lima's great equalizer. Walk 3 blocks off any tourist street and a handwritten sign reads 'menú S/. 10.' That gets you a sopa de entrada, often a thick wheat-and-chicken broth that fills the room with steam and cilantro, then a segundo of lomo saltado or arroz con pollo, plus a glass of chicha morada, the cold purple-corn drink that tastes like cinnamon and clove. That same lomo saltado on Calle de las Pizzas in Miraflores costs S/. 45-55 ($13-16). A 4x markup for the same cut of beef. For ceviche, skip Larcomar mall. La Mar on Av. La Mar charges S/. 55 ($16) for the classic preparation. Canta Rana in Barranco serves a bigger portion for S/. 28 ($8.30) at a plastic table under fluorescent tubes with cumbia rattling from a wall-mounted speaker. Both plates use fish from the same Chorrillos dock.

Jorge Chávez International Airport to Miraflores is your first budget test. Official taxi counters inside arrivals quote S/. 60-80 ($18-24). The Airport Express Lima bus covers the same 11 km for S/. 25 ($7.40) and drops you on Avenida José Larco. Uber from the departures level, walk upstairs to dodge the arrivals surcharge, runs S/. 20-30 ($6-9), though drivers sometimes cancel on airport pickups. The Metropolitano has no day-pass. You pay per ride, and it only beats a taxi when you're making 4+ stops in a day. Watch for hostels in Barranco and Miraflores that add a S/. 15-20 ($4.45-5.90) nightly linen or cleaning surcharge, invisible on the listing page until checkout. Pariwana and Kokopelli post all-in pricing. Airbnb in Lima routinely tacks S/. 50-100 ($15-30) in fees onto a 2-night stay, pushing an S/. 80/night studio past the price of a proper 3-star.

Lima's free and cheap tier is worth mapping out. The Malecón boardwalk from Miraflores to Barranco runs about 3 km, takes 40 minutes, and you'll hear the Pacific slam against the cliff face 80 meters below while paragliders catch thermals off the edge. Parque de la Reserva's Circuito Mágico del Agua charges S/. 4 ($1.18) for a nightly fountain show. The Cathedral of Lima on Plaza Mayor, standing since 1535, costs S/. 10 ($2.96). The Larco Museum, open since 1926, charges S/. 30 ($8.90) for one of the better pre-Columbian collections on the continent. ATMs are the sneakiest drain on a Lima budget. Interbank and Banco de la Nación machines take S/. 18-22 ($5.30-6.50) per withdrawal on top of your home bank's foreign-transaction cut. Pull the maximum, S/. 700 ($207), each time to spread that fee thin. Tap water is not safe here, so budget S/. 3-5 ($0.90-1.48) daily for bottles, or bring a filtered Nalgene and skip the recurring cost.