Part of: Paying in Peru
Jorge Chávez opened an entirely new terminal on June 1, 2025, across the runway from the old building, which closed to passengers. Arrivals, immigration, baggage and every ground-transport counter are on Level 1. The roads to it haven’t caught up: prefabricated bridges over the Rímac and a single access road, so any pre-2025 arrival advice is wrong and the ride time is a guess. The first hour is mostly walking past the people in the hall who want to sell you something.
Choose your ride before the seatbelt sign goes off. Once you’re through the doors, the choosing gets done for you by whoever reaches you first.
Getting to the coast
Take a counter taxi
The official taxi counters sit in the arrivals hall between Exits 1 and 2, with a regular tier and a VIP tier, a fixed fare printed on a receipt, and staff who walk you to a boarding area of their own. It's the least-thought option and the one to take when you're tired or landing late, and the sensible one for Barranco or San Isidro with luggage. Ignore anyone in the hall or at the doors offering a ride who isn't behind a counter.
Or order a ride app once you have your bags
Uber, Cabify, DiDi and inDrive are all authorized to pick up at the terminal from a marked ride-app lot across the road from the arrivals doors; the app walks you to it. Wait until your bags are in hand before you order, and match the plate and the driver's photo before you get in. Drivers rarely speak English; the in-app chat translates. Have the counter as the fallback if the app cancels.
The Airport Express, if you're headed to Miraflores by day
The official airport coach has a counter between Exits 2 and 3 and runs roughly hourly through the day to four Miraflores stops: Larcomar, the tourist office on Av. Larco, Parque Kennedy and Hotel Boulevard. Wifi, a luggage hold, a restroom, and about the same ride time as a car. It's the budget option and the calm one for a solo traveler; it doesn't go to Barranco or San Isidro, and it doesn't run late.
Get online before the doors open
Install a travel eSIM at home and turn it on at the gate; the terminal has wifi throughout if you left it to the last minute. Peru's carrier stores now register a prepaid SIM against a fingerprint check, and tourists report being refused with only a passport, so the local-SIM plan most guides still describe is unreliable. A reseller in the arrivals hall sells passport packages at a markup. Claro for city speed and the widest reach; Entel and Movistar are fine inside Lima.
Past the doors, the only purchase worth making in the arrivals hall is the bus ticket. Everything else keeps until the city. In a car, give the driver a district and a landmark (Parque Kennedy, the Barranco plaza, El Olivar), since a street address read out by a first-timer means little on the far side of the bridges. Outside an app, confirm “todo incluido” before you get in. Before you land, screenshot the Metropolitano’s Lima Pass instructions so the first station window goes quickly. And land holding stablecoins: the airport ATM turns into a line you walk past, and the first coffee is a QR at the counter.
Choose the ride from your seat. Then walk through the hall like you've done this before.
Lima has been under rolling states of emergency since 2025. On paper they cover the whole metropolis; in practice they’re aimed at extortion gangs and the districts where that violence concentrates, not at Miraflores, Barranco or San Isidro, whose busy arteries carry visible security. The US State Department keeps Peru at Level 2 of four, with the higher levels far from Lima. What a visitor actually runs into is smaller: phone snatching at the curb, by motorcycle or through a car window, pickpockets on crowded transit, distraction thefts in markets, an informal taxi overcharging. Fake-taxi “express kidnapping” is rare, and it is the reason to prefer apps to street hails. The nomad sites score Lima poorly for women and LGBTQ+ travelers on their own.
Lima is a desert city that almost never rains. From June to October it sits under the garúa, a lid of low gray cloud that rolls in off the cold current, and the days are cool and damp with no heating indoors (the inland districts sit above the fog). December to April brings the sun back, and with it the beach below the cliffs and the surf. May and November are the shoulders. The World’s 50 Best Restaurants ceremony on November 4, 2026 squeezes that week.
Mistakes to avoid
Scheduling anything tight on day one
The bridges and the single access road make the ride time a guess, 45 minutes on a good afternoon and well over an hour in the evening rush. Give the first day nothing but the ride, the walk around your block and a lunch.
Taking a ride from anyone not behind a counter
Drivers who approach you in the hall or at the doors, and badges that look official, are the airport's oldest trick. The counter taxis, the marked ride-app lot and the bus counter are the three ways out. Anything else on offer is a version of it.
Counting on a local SIM
Most guides still say buy one at the airport. Carrier stores now run a fingerprint check, and tourists report being refused. A travel eSIM installed at home is the plan; the arrivals-hall reseller is the expensive fallback.
Standing at the curb with your phone out
Motorcycle snatching from the roadside is the Lima crime to plan around, on day one and every day after. Order the ride inside, check the plate from the door, and put the phone away before you step to the road.
Common questions
How far is the airport from Miraflores?
Farther than the map says. The new terminal sits on the far side of the runways in Callao, and the permanent bridge and expressway to it are still unbuilt, so the ride runs over temporary bridges and a single access road. Count on 45 to 75 minutes to Miraflores, Barranco or San Isidro, longer at peak, and don't schedule anything tight on day one. There's no walking anywhere from the terminal.
Is there an airport bus?
Yes. Airport Express Lima survived the terminal move: the counter is in arrivals between Exits 2 and 3, coaches leave roughly hourly through the day for four stops in Miraflores (Larcomar, the tourist office on Av. Larco, Parque Kennedy, Hotel Boulevard), and the ride takes about the same time as a taxi. It's the daytime option for a solo traveler heading to Miraflores; for Barranco or San Isidro with bags, or a late landing, take a counter taxi or a ride app.
Should I get a SIM at the airport?
Buy a travel eSIM before you fly and turn it on at the gate; the terminal has wifi if you need to install it on landing. Carrier stores now put a fingerprint check between you and a prepaid SIM, and tourists report being turned away with only a passport. A reseller in the arrivals hall sells passport-registered packages at a steep markup. Claro has the best city speeds and is the network most travel eSIMs ride on.
Is Lima safe to visit right now?
Lima has been under rolling states of emergency since 2025, aimed at extortion gangs and the districts where that violence concentrates; the visitor districts are not where they bite, and the US advisory keeps Peru at its second of four levels. What you actually plan around is phone snatching from the curb by motorcycle or through a car window, pickpockets on crowded buses, and informal taxis, so it's a ride app rather than a street hail after dark. The nomad sites rate the city poorly for women and LGBTQ+ travelers on their own; plan the evenings with that in mind.
When is the best time to come?
December to April, when the sun is out and the beaches below the cliffs work, and Makaha surfs at its cleanest through the summer months. From June to October the city sits under the garúa, a lid of gray cloud that rarely turns to rain but hides the sun for weeks, with cool, damp days and apartments that have no heating; it's cheaper and quieter, and fine if you're here for the food and the work rather than the beach. Lima hosts The World's 50 Best Restaurants ceremony on November 4, 2026, so that week's tables and hotel rooms are the year's hardest to get.
