Parque Central De Miraflores in the heart of the Miraflores district of Lima, Peru

Would you like to have a little tour of the Miraflores district of Lima? Miraflores is a very touristic district and there are many hotels. If you are going to stay here as many tourists do on their way in and out of Lima and Peru this is a circular walk from the centre that will show you some interesting scenes.

Parque Central De Miraflores and Parque Kennedy are two parks next to each other in the centre of Miraflores. They are well tended by the park keepers who keep it full of flowers all year.

It is a nice place to sit and ‘people watch’, you will see couples together, kids in the play area, sometimes women coming to feed the stray cats (you can find cats stuck up a tree sometimes). Very early in the morning you can hear the birds morning chorus in the trees, even a few parrots.

Pizza Street in Miraflores, Lima. It is lined with Pizza restaurants!

Just off Parque Kennedy you can find what locals call ‘Calle de las pizzas’, literally Pizza Street! It’s real name is San Ramon, but because it is completely full of Pizza Restaurants from end to end it is batter known by it’s nick name. It is a lively place at night and it has some pubs and night clubs as well and it’s  popular with tourists. They sometimes dress the place up during events like halloween, with fake spider webs all over the place!

Larcomar leisure complex on the cliffs in Miraflores, overlooking the Pacific.

Larcomar can be found by simply follwing Avenue Larco until you come to the coast. It is a complex of shops, bars, restaurants, cinema, theatre and nightclubs. It has amazing views over the Pacific Ocean and the beaches. It also now has a gold museum which claims to now have the best collection (sadly many of the exhibits in the main Gold Museum in Lima were discovered to be fakes, with the real ones smuggled out of Peru).

La Rosa Nautica, a very posh restaurant with seafood and fine Peruvian cuisine

Turning right from Larcomar, you can walk along the costal path on the cliffs, which gives you a great view of the beaches. This is a popular route with many health fanatics who you will see running along. One thing that you cannot miss is the pier from the beaches below. It is a very posh restaurant mainly serving seafood, fine Peruvian dishes and international styles. Very exclusive and expensive by local standards but not out of the price range of many tourists, but you had better look smart or security might not let you in

Parque del Amor, on the Costa Verde cliffs in Miraflores, Lima

Continuing along the costal path you will see a sculpture ahead, just over a bridge that was once a popular suicide bridge for heart broken people! This is Parque Del Amor a nice park dedicated to love. I have more details on the Parque del Amor in Lima here >>

After seeing the park, head away from the coast up MC Balta, a main road just opposite. You can follow this road all the way back up to central Miraflores. Now you can have a rest in Haiti, a cafe popular with local people and have a coffee.

D'Onofrio Tea Room, an interesting Ice Cream Parlour

If you think you have earned a treat you can go to the D’Onofrio Tea Rooms just off Parque Kennedy for one of their delicious ice creams. See more about Peruvian Ice Cream Culture >>

Links to some of these places (opens in a new window):
www.larcomar.com
www.larosanautica.com 
www.heladosdonofrio.com

An Oltursa Bus just arrived in Arequipa. Note the hostess helping a passenger.

Bus travel is the most common way to get from city to city and there are many bus companies that travel all over the company. I would recommend you select Cruz Del Sur or Oltursa who have the best safety records. Buses have a reputation for having accidents, especially in the winding mountain roads.

It’s very confortable to travel in one of those big buses, you get served quite decent food during the journey by a bus attendant ( there is also a vegetarian option that you can choose when you buy your bus ticket) and in the best class they have very big reclining seats where you can sleep very well. To keep you entertained they play films, and in first class you might even get a cocktail with Orltursa. On Cruz Del Sur they even play Bingo (in Spanish so learn your numbers!) where you can win a free bus ticket. They are definitely very different from National Express buses in the UK!

LAN Peru, one of several air lines inside Peru

Peru is a big country, so travelling by air is a good idea if you have only a short time to get around the country. I have flown with LAN Peru several times and found they had a very high quality service, their planes were all new (unlike many European companies!) and had fold down flat screen televisions that played ‘Just for Fun’ which is a hidden camera show playing  jokes on people. This means that all the way to your destination people are laughing!

There are other airlines like Star Peru and Taca Peru, but I have never travelled with them.

Train from Cusco to Machu Picchu, owned by a British company.

Trains cover just a few routes in Peru, but if you are going to Machu Picchu you definitely will have to take ther train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes (‘meaning ‘Hot Waters’ a little town very close to Machu Picchu with hot spring baths) . This train is operated by Peru Rail, which partly owned by Orient Express company.  You can choose from three classes; Vista Dome, Backpacker and the most expensive called Hiram Bingham (the man who discovered Machu Picchu) is a real luxury train.

Taxi in Arequipa, Peru. There are more than 20,000 Taxis in Arequipa.

Inside the cities the most confortable way of transport is by taxi, but you have to be careful to take a safe one that belongs to a large taxi company, hotels can give you information about the safest taxi companies. Licensed taxis have a number often painted on the side and they have ID in the cab so you can ask to see it. If they only have a sticker in the window saying taxi don’t use them. Tourists always attract the attention of taxi drivers, they cannot believe you might want to actually walk somewhere…  so they will beep their horn or drive slowly and give you the special ‘do you need a taxi?’ look. My advice is choose your taxi, don’t let them choose you, because some criminals will be pretending to be taxis and looking for people with cameras, cash and luggage. Take your time, check for these details and you will be fine.

In my city Arequipa the most popular taxis are ‘Ticos’ by Daewoo, which are very cheap. Another type of transport inside towns and cities are buses or “Combis” that there are minivans but I wouldn’t recommend one if you are not adventurous

Ticos are very economic cars because they are very small, it’s a bit unconfortable for a tall person to fit into one. I heard that they were popular in some countries in Eastern Europe as well.

Some taxi drivers personalize their Ticos painting them in different colours, adding lights, funny bumpers, stickers, fairy dashboard covers, pictures of the Virgin Mary and different Saints to protect them, etc.

Tico drivers are very noisy and they are reckless drivers as well, they can squeeze into anything because the size of their cars, but for 3.50 soles (about 0.80 pence) they can take you an a 20 minute journey.

Some Ticos  have been replaced by Daewoo Matiz, but Ticos are still very popular, I think there are more popular in Arequipa than in any another city of Peru.