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Museo del Oro (The Gold Museum, Monterrico) –
If you only have time for one museum, this is the one. Room after room of
every imaginable item of gold, artifacts from the Inca, Mochica, Chimu,
and Nasca peoples, plus gorgeous textiles. Your kid's eyes will glaze over
with daydreams of Indiana Jones-type adventures. |
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 Museo
de Armas del Mundo – In the same building with the Gold Museum
is the "Weapons of the World" museum, a collection of arms dating
back to the 1500s. And what a collection – guns, knives, daggers, battle
axes, blunderbuses, swords, pistols, armor, spurs, saddles and military
uniforms from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America! Highlights
of the collection include the sword made for Pizarro and sword of the Marquis
de Lafayette. |
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Convento de San Francisco – The convent is a time
warp into sixteenth century colonial Lima. Beautiful both inside and out,
with grand medieval style and lovely Sevillana hand-painted tiles and a
magnificent library. |
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But to really spook the kids – lead them down
to the 400 year old catacombs below the Convent, where you'll wind
your way through corridors stacked with ancient bones from the colonial
period. |
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Catedral de Lima (Lima Metropolitan Cathedral) – Get up close and personal with
history, for this is where the colonial conquistador is buried: Francisco Pizarro who, with only a few hundred soldiers, subdued
the great Inca Empire. The cathedral is quite grand and
dates back to 1555. |
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Parque Japones – A small
Japanese-style park with a lovely koi fish pond, local children like to
feed the enormous fish, while parents relax in the tranquility of the spot
(you can buy fish food there). Located on 28 de Julio Avenue (Parque de
la Exposicion). |
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Museum of Anthopology and Archeology (Museo
Nacional de Arqueologia, Anthropologia e Historia del Peru, Plaza Bolivar) – The museum has wonderful exhibits from pre-Inca and Inca cultures,
including Paracas mummies and skulls with trepanning, Moche ceramics (thematically
organized by food, transportation, music, etc.), a detailed model of Machu
Picchu, a recreation of the frozen Inca girl from Mt. Ampato, dioramas of
prehistoric scenes. |
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Parque de las Leyendas (Park of the Legends) – This park is situated amidst the ruins of pre-Inca Maranga "huacas"
(holy sites). The zoo is oriented towards Peruvian plants and animals.
It's divided into the three principle climatic regions of Peru: coast, mountains,
and jungle. This is the place to see Andean condors, llamas, vicunas, guanacos,
pumas, great horned owls (mountains) jaguars, green anacondas, toucans,
parrots, coatis, spider monkeys, owl monkeys, caymans, (jungle) and Galapagos
tortoises (coast). If you can't get to all three zones in Peru, this is
a nice way to get a taste of these areas. |
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Don't
miss the Mina Modelo, a replica of the interior of a mine, with mining
cars piled high with minerals such as quartz, phosphates and galena. |
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The
park has a big picnic area, where you'll see Lima school kids playing
soccer. The picnic area is next to the ruins of two huacas from 700
years ago. |
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Kids
will enjoy the huge playground with swings, slides, teeter totters,
a maze, train to climb on and circle roundabout. There are also amusement
rides for little kids, and a go-kart track, Chachikart, for bigger
kids. |
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Miraflores – |
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El Malecon – Parks, cafes, playground, coastal path that extend for miles on cliffs above the beach. |
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At Parque Chino is children's playground with climbing structures, and big boat to play on. |
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Parque
el Faro – Watch the paragliders sailing on the wind currents coming
off the cliffs above the beach. |
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Parque
Kennedy (also called Parque 7 de Junio, Parque Central)
– In central Miraflores this pleasant park has swings, slides, and an excellent kids'
playground. Around the park are cafes where you can find snacks. |
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Parque de la Amistad (Santiago de Surco) – Looking for a
park to relax, the Parque de la Amistad has miniature steam train and
typical Andean train station, artificial lake, Cultural Center and lots
of grass to run around. |
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Beaches – If you need a beach day, El Silencio, San Bartolo and Santa Maria are good family beaches. Spend
the afternoon relaxing and building sand castles. |
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However, if you come in summer, days can be gray and overcast in Lima. |
