Lima rewards a thin wallet: the colonial core, its riverside parks and its national literature museum cost nothing, a Bib Gourmand ceviche combo runs S/16, and the city's biggest fountain park charges S/4. Three days on roughly S/60 a day.
Peru's founding square, laid out by Pizarro in 1535, costs nothing to walk. The Palacio de Gobierno changing of the guard happens at 11:45 daily, and Jirón de la Unión runs from here to Plaza San Martín past free-entry colonial churches.
A riverside park built over excavated fragments of Lima's 17th-century defensive wall, open 09:00–22:00 with no entry fee. The small on-site site museum is also free, and the Alameda Chabuca Granda alongside has picarones stalls from S/6.
Peru's national literature museum fills the restored Desamparados railway station beside the Rímac, and admission is permanently free. Open Tuesday to Sunday 10:00–19:00 with rotating rooms on Vallejo, Arguedas and Vargas Llosa.
Barranco's wooden Bridge of Sighs from 1876 crosses a ravine dropping toward the sea, and the Bajada de Baños walkway beneath reaches the Costa Verde shoreline in about 15 minutes on foot. Murals and buskers fill the lane at dusk.
Lima's best-value produce market sits ten minutes' walk from Miraflores across the Puente Villena footbridge. Upstairs stalls serve ceviche and chicharrón menús for S/12–18, and fruit vendors hand out free slices of lúcuma and chirimoya.
Tomás Matsufuji's stand-up counter on Avenida Angamos Este serves a combo of ceviche, chaufa and fried fish for S/16 — a Bib Gourmand kitchen with ten stools and no table service. Cash only, open 11:30 until the fish runs out.
The central market and the Calle Capón arch mark South America's oldest Chinatown, settled by Cantonese labourers in the 1850s. Chifa lunch menús run S/10–15, and the market's upper floor stacks alpaca knitwear far below Miraflores prices.
Grimanesa Vargas grilled beef-heart skewers on a Miraflores street corner for three decades before moving indoors on Ignacio Merino. A brochette with potato and choclo costs around S/28, doors open at 18:00 and queues form by 19:00.
The 400-metre hill above the Rímac district gives the widest view over Lima's sprawl to the Pacific, with a cross planted by Pizarro's men at the summit. Colectivo vans leave from beside Santo Domingo church, running roughly 09:00–20:00.
Miraflores' central park houses around 100 resident stray cats, fed and vaccinated by volunteers since the 1990s. Vendors sell picarones for S/6 and mazamorra morada for S/5, and craft stalls open along the north side each afternoon.
The sheltered municipal beach where Limeños actually swim, reached by Metropolitano bus to Bulevar station plus a ten-minute walk. Sunshade and mat rental runs S/10–15, and boardwalk shacks sell ceviche plates from S/15.
Thirteen illuminated fountains in the Parque de la Reserva for S/4, recognised by Guinness as the largest fountain complex in a public park. Open Wednesday to Sunday 15:00–22:30, with laser projections on the Fuente de la Fantasía.