Is Lima safe?

Extortion is the story dominating Lima's news, and it mostly misses visitors. Peru's government has put Lima and Callao under repeated states of emergency since 2024, and the gangs behind them tend to target bus companies and shopkeepers in districts such as San Juan de Lurigancho and Villa El Salvador. What reaches travellers in Miraflores is smaller and faster: a motorbike mounts the kerb on Avenida Larco, a passenger's hand closes on your phone, and the engine noise is gone before you turn around. In our judgement that snatch is the single likeliest thing to go wrong in Miraflores, so keep the phone in a front pocket and check maps inside a shop doorway. Lima's traffic is the other daily hazard, with combi minibuses braking wherever a passenger shouts and drivers on Avenida Arequipa rarely yielding at zebra crossings, so cross with a group of Limeños at the lights.

Where you sleep in Lima decides most of it. San Isidro is the calmest district in the city, and Miraflores between Parque Kennedy and the Malecón stays busy until about 11pm, with municipal serenazgo patrols on most blocks. Barranco is fine around Puente de los Suspiros and Avenida Grau, but the streets thin out quickly toward Chorrillos, so take a car home after midnight. The Centro Histórico is a daytime trip: Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral of Lima and the Government Palace are usually heavily policed, and Jirón de la Unión smells of frying churros and exhaust at 3pm. Leave by dusk, and skip Barrios Altos, a few blocks east, at any hour. We would not walk in La Victoria around Alejandro Villanueva Stadium or in Callao beyond the airport and La Punta. Estadio Monumental U in Ate is a taxi-only outing, and one to avoid on the days Universitario plays Alianza Lima.

Never hail a taxi on the street in Lima. Unlicensed cabs are the standard setting for the express kidnappings that Wikivoyage warns about, where a rider is driven between ATMs. Uber and Cabify both cover the city, and a ride from Miraflores to the Larco Museum in Pueblo Libre tends to cost S/18 to S/28, about US$5 to US$8. Arriving from Jorge Chávez airport, book the Airport Express Lima coach or an app car from inside the terminal, because the surrounding Callao streets are not for walking with luggage. The Metropolitano bus runs in its own lane from Miraflores to the Centro for roughly S/3.50, close to US$1. It moves quickly but gets hot, and pickpockets work the packed doors at Estación Central between 6pm and 8pm. Saturday 17 October matters this week: Iron Maiden play Estadio Nacional that night, so phone thieves will likely work the exits on Paseo de la República. Check the last southbound Metropolitano from Estadio Nacional station before the show, or set an app pickup a few blocks away in Santa Beatriz.

Solo travellers in Lima face one scam more than couples do. Peperas, the local name for people who spike drinks, tend to approach lone men in the bars around Calle de las Pizzas beside Parque Kennedy and on Barranco's Bulevar Sánchez Carrión. Order bottled Cusqueña, watch it opened, and leave with nobody you met that night. Women on their own report more catcalling in the Centro Histórico than in Miraflores, where the 6am Malecón fills with runners in damp grey garúa mist. At about 21°C and 85 percent humidity this week, the air feels clammy more than cold. We think a small-group Centro or Callao walking tour is worth paying for here: a guide covers streets we would not recommend alone and gives you company for lunch. Carry one card and S/100 in cash, leave your passport in the hotel safe with a photocopy in your pocket, and save iPerú's 24-hour tourist line, (01) 574-8000.