Paracas and Ica day trip from Lima
Ballestas, an Ica winery and Huacachina in one day, leaving from Lima.
Travel guide
Things to do in Lima: the Historic Center, Miraflores and a day in Paracas
Lima’s highlights are in the Historic Center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in Miraflores, overlooking the Pacific. With half a day you can see both on a city tour, and with one more day you can go to Paracas and Ica and be back at night.
The Historic Center is home to the Plaza Mayor, the Plaza San Martín and the San Francisco Convent with its catacombs. In Miraflores, you have the Malecón along the cliffs, Parque del Amor and Huaca Pucllana. And in between, the food, which in Lima is part of the trip.
What is there to see in Lima’s Historic Center?
Francisco Pizarro founded Lima in January 1535, and until the mid-18th century it was the most important city in Spain’s South American dominions. UNESCO added its center to the World Heritage List in 1988 and expanded the listing in 1991. You explore it on foot, among churches and old mansions with colonial and republican-era balconies.
Plaza Mayor. It’s also called the Plaza de Armas. To the north is the Government Palace, to the east the Cathedral and to the west the Municipal Palace. The fountain in the middle dates from 1651, and it was in this square that José de San Martín proclaimed Peru’s independence on July 28, 1821.
Plaza San Martín. You can walk there from the Plaza Mayor along Jirón de la Unión. It opened on July 27, 1921, for the centennial of independence, and at its center stands the equestrian monument to San Martín, the work of Spanish sculptor Mariano Benlliure.
San Francisco Convent. It’s the largest convent of its kind in this part of the world, and its catacombs lie beneath the church.
What is there to do in Miraflores?
The Malecón. Miraflores looks out over the Pacific from the top of the cliffs, and below runs the Costa Verde, along the beaches. You can walk or bike along the Malecón, the clifftop promenade, and paragliding flights over the coast take off from there.
Parque del Amor. It sits at the edge of the cliffs, on Malecón Cisneros. Its central sculpture, El Beso (The Kiss), is by artist Víctor Delfín, and the park is inspired by Park Güell in Barcelona.
Huaca Pucllana. In the middle of the neighborhood, between buildings, rises a seven-level adobe pyramid made with millions of small adobe bricks. It was a ceremonial and administrative center of the Lima culture, long before the Incas, and later the Wari and the Ychsma left their mark on it.
What should you eat in Lima?
The dish you can’t skip is ceviche: in 2023 UNESCO added the practices and meanings associated with preparing and eating it to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. To toast, a pisco sour, and for dessert, picarones. Many of the city’s restaurants are concentrated in Miraflores, and you can also try traditional dishes at its markets.
How can you see Lima’s highlights in half a day?
If you have a free morning or afternoon, the Lima city tour covers Miraflores and the Historic Center in about 4 hours. You’re picked up at your hotel, if it’s in the central area of San Isidro or Miraflores, between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. or between 2:00 and 2:30 p.m.
The route passes Parque del Amor, Huaca Pucllana, which you see from the outside, the Plaza San Martín and the Plaza de Armas, and goes inside the San Francisco Convent and its catacombs, with the ticket included. The guide speaks Spanish and English, and at the end there’s a pisco sour tasting.
What can you do on a day trip from Lima?
If you have a free day, you can see Paracas and Ica without spending the night away. The Paracas and Ica day trip from Lima leaves before dawn from four pickup points in the city, and by around 8:00 a.m. you’re already on a speedboat to the Ballestas Islands. After that it stops at the beach town of Paracas, a wine and pisco winery in Ica, with a tasting, and Huacachina Oasis, with dune buggies and sandboarding included. You’re back in Lima around 10:00 p.m.
It’s a long day, and pickup is only at those points, not at hotels. If you’d rather stay overnight and take your time, read how to get to Paracas from Lima.
Pick your time and book the Lima city tour, or pick your date for the Paracas and Ica day trip from Lima.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Lima’s Historic Center a World Heritage Site?
Because it preserves the architecture and the grid layout of a Spanish colonial city of great political, economic and cultural importance in Latin America. The San Francisco Convent, for its size and the richness of its decoration, is one of its centerpieces.
What are the San Francisco catacombs?
They’re the former underground cemetery of the San Francisco complex, beneath the church. Burials took place there until 1808, when Lima opened a general open-air cemetery. You walk through them on the visit to the convent, whose ticket is included in the Lima city tour.
Does the city tour go inside Huaca Pucllana?
No, it sees it from the outside, on the way through Miraflores. To explore it inside, set aside another time for the guided visit of its site museum.
What’s in a pisco sour?
Pisco, lime juice, syrup, egg white, which gives it its foam, and a few drops of Angostura bitters. It was declared Cultural Heritage of the Nation in 2007, and the Lima city tour ends with a tasting.
Does the Paracas day trip leave from Miraflores?
Yes, one of its four pickup points is in Miraflores. The others are at Plaza Norte, at Javier Prado and Av. Arequipa and at Puente Próceres.
