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Until recently, many visitors to Peru never saw more of Lima than its airport. They were not missing anything, given that as recently as a decade ago, residents referred to the city as “Lima la Horrible.” But now that the historic center has been cleaned up, and there is a vibrant restaurant scene, a day in Lima, particularly one spent with an insider who can navigate the highlights, will add immeasurably to one’s understanding of the country.

Read our Why Go Now and Strategies, including advice on crime and currency.

Also in this report: The city’s best hotels under Where to Stay, top restaurants under Where to Eat, advice on What to See and Do and a list of the best boutiques under Where To Shop. We work with wonderful local guides and operators should you want assistance with a customized trip.

INDAGARE TOP TEN

SLEEP…at the Miraflores Park or the Country Club Lima, but understand that neither is a top 21st century luxury hotel

EXPERIENCE…the cuisine of Gastón Acurio at his original Astrid & Gastón restaurant

SPLURGE…on finely crafted Peruvian silver house wares or jewelry at Ilaria or Cabuchon

EAT…seviche for lunch at Pescados Capitales or La Mer and taste fresh fish as you never have before

DRINK…a pisco sour, which Rudyard Kipling described as “compounded of cherubs’ wings, the glory of tropical dawn, the red clouds of sunset and fragments of lost epics by dead masters”

SAVOR…the view of the Pacific and the white christ fro the terrace at Cala restaurant

VISIT…one of the original conquistador’s houses, Casa Aliaga, where seventeen generations of the family have lived since it was built

SEE…the private collection of more than 45,000 pottery vessels, textiles and gold and silver objects amassed by Rafael Larco Hoyle at the Museo Larco Herrera

SHOP…for handmade Peruvian crafts, from fashionable handbags to carved wooden housewares and silver jewelry, at Dédalo and Indigo

KNOW…the historians who can bring the city to life and get you into private houses and collections