Peru - Day 10: Cusco to Lima: Miraflores and Barranco
On Saturday, June 22, 2024, we flew from Cusco to Lima and spent the rest of the day exploring Miraflores and Barranco.
Cusco to Lima
We left Union Hotel around 6:45am and arrived at Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport around 7:00am for our 9:25am flight to Lima. We landed at Jorge Chávez International Airport around 11:00am.
We had arranged for a driver from Hotel Antigua Miraflores to pick us up at the airport and take us to the hotel, where we would be staying while visiting Lima.
Larcomar and Miraflores
After getting settled in, we headed back out around 1:00pm to start exploring Lima. Our first stop was Larcomar, a large open-air shopping and entertainment center built directly into the coastal cliffs of Miraflores, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
We spent about two hours wandering around Larcomar and enjoying the views before stopping for lunch and a cocktail at Tanta, a Peruvian restaurant located within the complex.
After lunch, we slowly made our way back toward the hotel, taking some time to walk around Miraflores along the way. We stopped at John F. Kennedy Park, also known as Parque Kennedy or the “Cat Park,” which is famous for the many friendly, free-roaming cats that live there.
The cats were so adorable! At the time, I had a cat at home that I was missing terribly, so I was especially excited to spend some time with them. We wandered around the park for about an hour before continuing back to our hotel.
Once we got back, we freshened up before heading out again for the evening.
Drinks at Restaurant Huaca Pucllana
Around 7:00pm, we went to Restaurant Huaca Pucllana for drinks. The restaurant sits next to Huaca Pucllana, a pre-Inca archaeological site in the middle of Miraflores, and offers views of the illuminated adobe pyramid from its dining areas.
It was such a unique setting for drinks, especially once the archaeological site was lit up for the evening.
Dinner at Mérito
From there, we headed to Barranco for dinner at Mérito, a small two-story restaurant with an open kitchen. The restaurant combines Peruvian and Venezuelan influences and had become one of Lima’s most acclaimed restaurants.
We arrived around 8:30pm for dinner.
Sargento Pimienta Rock Bar
After dinner, we went to Sargento Pimienta Rock Bar. We had originally hoped to find somewhere to go salsa dancing, but quickly discovered that many of the places we had looked into held their regular salsa nights earlier in the week. Sargento Pimienta was one of them.
Since we were already there, we decided we might as well check it out anyway. It ended up being really fun!
After spending about 30 minutes there, though, we realized just how exhausted we were after such a long day. We called a cab and headed back to the hotel for the night.
