Part of: Paying in Peru
Almost all of a visitor’s Lima fits on one stretch of clifftop, where Miraflores, Barranco and San Isidro sit shoulder to shoulder, and inside that stretch you walk. The historic center is a ride away. The rest of the metropolis is something you see through a car window. That keeps the transit you need to learn short: one bus line, the card that rides it, and four ride apps for everything else. The metro isn’t your line yet.
Four ways around follow, in the order you’ll use them. The first needs a card, so read it before you’re standing at the turnstile.
The four ways around
The Metropolitano, with a Lima Pass card
The fast bus runs down the sunken expressway between the strip and the center, with stations for Miraflores (Ricardo Palma, Benavides, 28 de Julio), Barranco (Plaza de Flores, Balta, Bulevar) and the center (Estadio Nacional, Central, Jirón de la Unión). Buy a Lima Pass card at the station window; the turnstile takes nothing else. Ride route C while you're new, it stops everywhere and the expresses don't. Rush hour, morning and evening, is a crush, and no place for luggage.
Ride apps, door to door
Uber, Cabify, DiDi and inDrive all work, and they're the way to anything the bus doesn't reach and the way home after dark. inDrive has you propose a fare, which is a bad idea until you know the going rate. The habits are the same everywhere in the city: match the plate and the photo, back seat, bags on the floor, windows up at the lights, share the trip. Drivers mostly don't speak English; the in-app chat translates. Street taxis have no meters and the advice is to skip them.
The malecón, on foot
The clifftop parks from Miraflores to Barranco (Parque del Amor, Parque Salazar, Parque Raimondi where the paragliders launch) are linked by a path, with the beach road and a bike lane at sea level below. The full loop using both levels is about 10 km and a few hours; the lower road is loud on weekdays, so Sunday is the day. Miraflores has bike lanes along the coast and rental shops on the beach road.
The Corredor buses, and combis once you know one route
The Corredor Azul runs down Av. Arequipa between Miraflores and the center and the Corredor Rojo along Javier Prado, both on the Lima Pass card, both calmer than the Metropolitano at peak. The combis and old buses are cheap and go everywhere, in their own chaotic way: a cobrador shouts the route from the door, you pay cash on board, and stops are informal. Fine once you know your one route, but not the backbone of a month, and they're where bag theft happens.
The metro, plainly, is for later. Line 1 is elevated and runs the eastern districts north to south, on its own card, about an hour end to end, and not a line you’d ride daily from Miraflores or Barranco. Line 2, the automated east-west line, has a handful of stations open far from the coast, and no firm date for the rest. There is no metro for the strip yet, and a train to the airport is years away.
The malecón is the map. The Metropolitano is the way off it.
Miraflores, Barranco and San Isidro are walking districts by day and into the early evening. After dark it’s a ride app from door to door, with the quiet streets left for daylight; a night out in Miraflores or on Barranco’s busy blocks is still on foot. The one thing to internalize is the phone snatch at the curb, by motorcycle or through a car window. The Metropolitano and the metro are considered safe with ordinary crowd awareness, and the combis are where bags go missing. Callao, around the airport, is for riding through and nothing else.
Mistakes to avoid
Riding the Metropolitano at rush hour with bags
The morning and evening peaks are a crush. Ride it with luggage between them, or take a ride app the day you move apartments.
Hailing a street taxi at night
No meters, a fare you negotiate in the dark, and the rare fake-taxi robbery the advisories still mention. A ride app is the after-dark rule, matched plate and all.
Bidding blind on inDrive
Proposing your own fare works once you know what a ride costs. Until then, take a fixed-price app so a wrong guess doesn't become the going rate for the rest of the month.
Standing at the curb with your phone out
The roadside phone snatch by motorcycle is the one Lima crime to build habits around. Order the car from inside, check the plate from the doorway, and keep the phone in a pocket until you're in the back seat.
Common questions
Is there a metro in Lima?
Not one you'll use. Line 1 is an elevated line through the eastern districts, from Villa El Salvador in the south to San Juan de Lurigancho in the northeast, useful for Gamarra and not much else on a visitor's map. Line 2, the long-delayed east-west line, has a handful of stations open far from the coast and no firm date for the rest. For the strip and the center, the Metropolitano is the rapid transit.
Which ride app should I use in Lima?
Any of the four. Uber, Cabify, DiDi and inDrive all run, and all are authorized to pick up at the airport. inDrive has you propose your own fare, which is a poor idea until you know local prices, so start with a fixed-price app. Street taxis have no meters; the fare is agreed in soles before you get in, and the standing advice for visitors is to skip the street hail entirely, especially at night. Match the plate, sit in the back, bags on the floor, windows up at the lights.
Do I need a transit card?
Yes, for the Metropolitano. The Lima Pass card is sold at the station windows and reloaded there or at Tambo, Oxxo and pharmacy counters; the turnstiles take the card and nothing else, and tapping a bank card isn't live yet. The Corredor buses on Javier Prado and Av. Arequipa use the same card. Combis and old buses are cash to the cobrador at the door.
Can I walk between Miraflores and Barranco?
Yes, and it's the best walk in the city. The malecón parks run along the clifftop from Miraflores to Barranco, linked by a path, with the beach road and a bike lane at sea level below; the full loop using both levels is about 10 km and a few hours. Sunday is the day, when the lower road is quieter. Between districts farther apart, Barranco to the center say, it's a ride.
How do I get to the historic center?
The Metropolitano down the sunken expressway to Jirón de la Unión or Central, about the same trip from the Miraflores and Barranco stations, or the Corredor Azul bus down Av. Arequipa when you'd rather skip the crush. Go by day, do the Plaza Mayor, the catacombs, a chifa in Barrio Chino and Mercado Central in the morning, and ride back before dark.
