Lima on a budget
Plaza Mayor, Lima is the ceremonial heart of the historic centre, and the right starting point for any walk of colonial Lima. Most of the picks for budget travelers in Lima sit in Costa Verde and San Isidro. Lima has 40 budget-tier hotels in the Trip.com pool from US$7 a night.
Lima for budget travelers, in numbers
- Picks on this page
- 22 places across 2 lists, led by Tierra Viva Miraflores Larco, Novotel Lima San Isidro, Centro by Casa Andina
- budget-tier hotels
- 40 in the Trip.com poolfrom US$7 a night
Questions budget travelers ask about Lima
-
Cost per day
Lima runs about S/. 100 ($30) per day on a hostel-and-menú-del-día budget, S/. 270 ($80) at midrange with a Miraflores hotel and sit-down cevicherías, or S/. 745+ ($220+) for Belmond-tier stays and tasting menus at Central. The menú del día, a two-course lunch for S/. 8-12 at any neighborhood comedor, is the single biggest savings lever in the city.
Read the full answer → -
What to avoid
Skip unlicensed taxis from Jorge Chávez Airport, overpriced Larcomar food court spots, and 'free' walking tours that pressure heavy tips. Avoid Callao and La Victoria after dark. Lima's garúa, a damp grey fog from May through November, catches visitors off guard. Use Cabify instead of street cabs, eat ceviche before 2pm at dedicated cevicherías, and keep your phone pocketed in Centro.
Read the full answer → -
Getting around
Uber and InDrive handle most visitor trips in Lima at 6-18 soles between Miraflores, Barranco, and Centro Histórico. The Metropolitano BRT runs a north-south spine through the city for 1.50 soles per ride. Walking works within Miraflores and Barranco but not between districts. Avoid unregulated street taxis, and use the app-based pickup zone at Jorge Chávez airport.
Read the full answer → -
Airport to city
From Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM), take the Airport Express Lima bus to Miraflores. It costs 25 PEN (about $7.40), runs every 30 minutes from 7am to midnight, and takes about 50 minutes. After midnight, pre-book an Uber from the departures level. Budget 25-40 PEN ($7-12) to Miraflores. Avoid the taxi touts inside the terminal.
Read the full answer → -
Food culture
Lima's food culture runs on a clock. Ceviche is a lunch-only tradition because the fish arrives at dawn and has a shelf life measured in hours. Anticucho carts fire up beef-heart skewers after dark. Two fusion traditions, Chinese-Peruvian chifa and Japanese-Peruvian Nikkei, set Lima apart from every other food city in South America.
Read the full answer →
Curated for budget travelers
-
Best hostels
Lima spreads along the Pacific coast in a grey urban sprawl that hides its neighborhood character behind concrete facades and highway overpasses. The hostel belt runs from the cliffside districts of Miraflores and Costa Verde south into the gallery streets of Barranco, where a $10 dorm bed puts you closer to the city's best street art and live music than most hotel rooms in the business core. Inland, the historic center around the Plaza de Armas trades ocean views for colonial architecture and market noise, while the financial blocks of San Isidro offer the quiet that comes from streets designed for office workers, not tourists. Lima's cheapest rated beds start near $10 a night in Barranco and climb past $72 in the historic center, where chain hotels charge more for the colonial address. The Metropolitano bus rapid transit connects most of these neighborhoods on a single north-south spine, so your choice of area matters more for what is within walking distance than for citywide access. Miraflores is the default for first-time visitors, but travelers who already know they want nightlife, history, or silence should look at the neighborhoods that specialize in each.
See the picks → -
Best free attractions
Lima's best free hours are spent outdoors, in public squares and parks you can walk into without a ticket, a guide, or a reservation. Several of the places below carry the national Cultural heritage of Peru designation, so this is more than a list of benches, and the hours vary enough that they are worth reading before you set out. Plaza Mayor is listed as open 24/7, while Park of the Reserve opens only from 14:30 to 21:30, Tuesday to Sunday. Two of the parks have dates attached: El Campo de Marte from 1924 and Park of the Reserve from 1929. A medicinal-plant garden also made the cut, for anyone tired of lawns. The list is for walkers, runners, parents with restless children, and anyone between paid museum visits who wants to see the city without paying for it. Each entry says what is true of that place and when to go, and gives an honest view of whether it deserves your hour.
See the picks →