San Isidro and Miraflores

Both districts of Lima, contiguous, are characterized by their modern constructions, beautiful parks, small and big plazas, offering the best security and protection to their visitors.

These are the most cosmopolitan areas in Lima. Miraflores and San Isidro are a pleasant enough places if you like these kinds of things. San Isidro and Miraflores have become a major financial quarter in recent years, as many banks, businesses centers, travel agencies, embassies and consulates.

This is Lima's "garden' district, as it stands out for its green zones and exclusive residential areas. San Isidro also features many of the city's finest restaurants, hotels and concert halls. Despite the building boom, San Isidro has kept something of the aristocratic atmosphere for which this suburb was known for at the beginning of the century. This can be still felt clearly seen in the area of El Olivar, the centuries-old olive grove that has kept many of its original trees that stud this popular park. In recent years, the district has become a major financial quarter as many banks and businesses left downtown Lima to set up their headquarters in modern office blocks. The district features a pre-Hispanic temple, Huallamarca, where concerts and exhibitions area held occasionally.

At the moment they concentrate the biggest quantity of hotels, apart-hotels and inns, preferred by the tourists that arrive to Lima. Numerous excellent international and Creole restaurants, North American franchise restaurants, commercial centers, art galleries, cafes, casinos, theaters and cinemas, night shows, pubs, discotheques, residential areas, etc.

"El Olivar": Declared Historical Monument, is a beautiful park that conserves a colonial plantation of olive trees, with an antiquity of more then 450 years. Good place for birdwatchers (garden birds)

The Huaca Huallamarca: Intersection of Avenida El Rosario and Avenida Nicolás de Rivera. Tel. (511) 222-4124. Visiting hours: Tues. – Sun. 9:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. (Site Museum). A pyramidal temple that chronologically corresponds to the beginning of regional development. The place is a result of a series of cultural superimpositions, the three most important being the Lima, Wari, and Inca cultures. The SiteMuseum houses pieces found during the excavations of the area.

• San Isidro Photo Gallery
• Garden Birds in Lima Photo Gallery

Lima's foremost tourist and hotel district is without a doubt Miraflores. This district features spacious modern shopping areas, well-manicured parks and gardens. Miraflores is known for its many flower-filled parks, but is also famous for its beaches, that are part of the "Costa Verde" area, which draw thousands of beach-goers and surfers in summertime. The district also puts on many cultural events at theaters, cinemas and art galleries, and boasts a pre-Inca mud-brick temple called the Huaca Pucllana, one of many archaeological sites still found in Lima. The district teems with cozy cafés, pubs, restaurants and shops, while its freshly remodeled parks and gardens attract thousands of Lima inhabitants every Sunday who congregate to visit art exhibitions, take in open-air concerts and browse through flea markets.

Miraflores is Lima's modern suburb with good views over the sea. It gets a bit more lively in the evenings, and the place has thriving night-life. A tourist district full of hotels. There are large and modern malls, theaters, cinemas, and art galleries. Its green areas are beautiful, like the Kennedy Park where artists, painters, and folklore groups meet.

Central Park of Miraflores 7 de Junio: (Also called Parque Kennedy) Beautiful park of charming gardens, has a small amphitheater in which diverse cultural artistic shows are presented. Rotondes for the exhibition and sale of crafts and arts. This is the place for a very good weekend art and crafts market at lunchtime, especially on Sundays.

Parque del Amor: (Love's Park) Located between the Cisneros and Balta's dikes, beautiful natural mirador of the marine bay of Chorrillos, with romantic view during the sunset. It has a small amphitheater and a gigantic sculpture of an Andean couple in eternal kiss, made by the famous Peruvian sculptor Víctor Delfín. In the last years a tradition has been made, many couples when concluding the religious ceremony of their marriage, immediately visit this park, dressed with their bride and groom clothes. This happens specially on Friday and Saturday between 6 and 9 p.m.

Huaca Pucllana: Gral. Borgoño, block 8 (Near Avenida Angamos Oeste, block 4 and Avenida Arequipa, block 45). Visiting hours: Wed. – Mon. 9:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. It is a pre-Inca pyramid of adobe bricks. It was one of the most important administrative and ceremonial centers of the Lima culture, settled in the areas of the Chancay, Chillón, Rimac, and Lurín valleys from 200 A.D. – 700 A.D. Sometimes, events or musical shows take place there. You can also find a site museum that exhibits pieces found in the excavations. (Photo Gallery of Huaca Pucllana)

Larco Mar : Gathered in one of the nicest stops to hang around in Lima is the largest variety of entertainment oriented in services: You will find 12 cinemas, pubs, bars, discotheques, many restaurants and a bowling.

Beaches: In the months of summer (December to March) you can take advantage in taking a bath in the beaches of Miraflores, or only go for a walk in any time of the year, just to appreciate the beautiful landscape of "Costa Verde" (an important ravine), a contrast between the beaches and the high ravine on which Miraflores is located. Some beaches have medium waves for the practice of surfing.

On this ravine it will be frequent to see paragliding and hang gliding suspended in the air, or if you prefer you can also participate of this experience.

• Miraflores Photo Gallery
• Huaca Pucllana Photo Gallery