Lima introduction

Lima, capital city of Peru, has more than 4,000 years of history, with hundreds of monuments, pre-Columbian pyramids or “Huacas” located in the city. Lima was the political, administrative, religious and economic capital of the Viceroyality of Peru and the most important city of the Spanish dominations in South America, from 1542 until the XVII century.

The Lima Historic Center has many constructions of the viceregal era, all of them are important historical monuments, museums, churches, historical buildings and intangible heritage, reason why was declared “World Cultural Heritage” by UNESCO in 1991.

Located between the Pacific Ocean, as the only South American capital on the Pacific Ocean, and the western side of the central Peruvian Andes, at an average altitude of 154 m. a. s. l. making it a particular costal landscape with beaches, wetlands and valleys of the rivers Chillon, Rimac and Lurin.

With a population of 10 million people, almost a third of Peruvian population, Lima is the political, economic, industrial, artistic and commercial center of the country, where the customs and cultural traditions of Peru converge, creating a unique multicultural essence to the City, both in art and culture aspects, as well as in various festivities and popular costal traditions, Andean and Amazonian, preserved by the migrants and their descendants.

Lima is also on its way to become the Gastronomic Capital of the Americas, thanks to the gastronomic contributions of the migrants, especially the Chinese, whose descendants make up 10% of the Peruvian population, with a majority in Lima, where there are several “chifas” or Chinese food restaurants.

Lima is an ancient, historical and multicultural city with a special intangible heritage; Hub and point of entry and exit of tourists and the most visited city of the country.