Miraflores, the tourist district of Lima.

Hello everybody! I hope that you are all well. I want to take this opportunity to continue telling you about another district in Lima, this time it is the most visited district in the city.

The Miraflores district! A district that has the benefit of being along the green coast which has access to our sea, like other districts such as Magdalena, San Miguel, San Isidro, Chorrillos and Barranco.

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We are going to see that Miraflores has almost everything, and that is why you have to visit it if you are in Lima. You can find a lot of top restaurants here as well as a lot of tourist attractions and places to go shopping.

The interesting thing is that Miraflores has become an important area in the development of tourism in Lima, which in the middle of modernity, also has its archaeological part in the centre of Huaca Pucllana, . We are going to see the points of interest to get to know more about the history and the places which you can pass on your journey through the Miraflores district of Lima.

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I will also confess that before, I knew almost nothing about Miraflores and the knowledge I had was very basic but right when I finished university, I started to get to know more and more about Miraflores with a friend from my class. I started to become familiar with Kennedy park and then Malecón and little by little, I became more interested in getting to know more about this tourist district in Lima. As I have mentioned before, my life revolved more around the centre of Lima where I have being travelling around each one of its monuments. This area of Miraflores has another context and another reality that we are going to see as I am writing these lines. I hope that you enjoy it.

The archaeological centre of Miraflores: Huaca Pucllana

The oldest points of origin of the district are in the interesting archaeological area of Huaca Pucllana. I have had the opportunity to be there on more than one occasion and to be able to see all of the wonders that have been developing, with my own eyes. Huaca Pucllana is without a doubt, one of the most interesting points about Miraflores and Lima, it is like going to a prehispanic past without leaving the city.

However, on the other hand, it is a little contradictory to see this, or perhaps it is better to say that it depends on each persons view of it, since between the modernity and ancient, you can see things at the same time. When you come to Huaca Pucllana you will realise that basically all of the archaeological area is surrounded by buildings from Lima and the district of Miraflores.

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The history of Huaca Pucllana is a history that has touched my heart many times because to tell the truth, today when you visits it, you cannot understand how it was able to remain without being taken care for many years. How good is it that there is a place of this much value in Miraflores, which makes it an obligatory place to visit when exploring Lima.

Being in Huaca Pucllana will take you around 40 minutes to do the walks and the explanations through a guide of the museum which helps you understand each one of the points on your route in an interesting way. On the other hand, I will tell you that in Huaca Pucllana there are different things like ceramic mummies and the art or way of building the walls into the shape of a book case. As if that wasn't enough there is also a five fork restaurant that has a privileged view of the archaeological centre.

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To be in Huaca Pucllana and it's restaurant, you will need to invest a good amount of money since it is not a cheap restaurant but you could say that you are paying for the experience and that the food is delicious. One of the dishes that I loved the most was the lomo saltado (stir-fried loin) o un aji de gallina (chilli chicken). As you can see they are both Peruvian dishes and in Lima the creole food is to our taste. In my opinion it is one of the most delicious dishes of the different options that you can eat in Lima.

Also, if you go at night, you will find the archaeological centre of Huaca Pucllana lit up, which gives a much more romantic and special touch to the terrace where you can eat. I can assure you that it is an experience that will stand out in your life, Don't forget to bring your camera to take the best pictures of this tourist spot in Lima.

When you take a tour of Lima city in general, a lot of the time you will go around the archaeological centre of Huaca Pucllana. Although you will only be able to look at it from outside after continuing on course to San Isidro in the olive grove park and then to our dear historic centre of Lima which is a World Heritage site by the UNESCO.

How was the district of Miraflores created?

Now that we have looked at the archaeological part of this district, it is time to look at the colonial part. For this we have to look at the distance on the map, between what is known today as the historic centre of Lima and the current Miraflores. In doing this we notice that this was an area of agricultural production and that in those times, Miraflores was basically not part of the colonial area of Lima.

Miraflores was created as a settlement by indigenous people who worked as labourers on the Surquillo farm. Their first outbreaks of development as a city or town came about in the 19th century. In their search for a place away from the noise of the centre, the people of Lima found Miraflores, the perfect place to start their new social and architectural development in the district.

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In the middle of the 20th century, is when the golden age of Miraflores began and in those years Miraflores was strengthening its presence against the traditional Lima.

As I was telling you previously, in Miraflores, you can find the Costa Verde. To get there, from the centre of Miraflores, you need to take the road down to the fishermen that live in the area. There for example, we have the road Bajada Balta, which links what would be the main park in Miraflores with the Park of Love, which has some steps that lead to the beach. Either simply walk or go surfing to see the sunset and take a few photos to remember it. The sea can be seen from the top of the city which is a special and unique characteristic of Miraflores.

A lot of things in Miraflores:

What we can see is that in Miraflores, there are many places to visit such as restaurants, clothing stores, Peruvian souvenir shops, the sea and many things for tourism.

Throughout this post, we are going to see the following characteristics of the Miraflores district:

Why is this district in Lima named, Miraflores?

Perhaps the name is common in so many parts of Peru and South America. The tradition comes from a town in Spain and from there, the name Miraflores started spreading into Spanish America.

The Indian market

If you want to buy souvenirs from Peru, the Indian market in Miraflores is known as the the place to buy souvenirs from Lima and other parts of Peru. There you can find polo shirts, key rings, paintings, home decorations among many other things for everyone. Do not forget that if you go there you have to ask for your discount.

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Kennedy Park

This is the main park in Miraflores, where you will find the most interesting points on the weekend, to start or finish your journey around Miraflores. This park is also known are the Cat park in Lima because there is an infinite amount of cats here, sitting under the trees. In this same area, you can also see the Matriz church of Miraflores as well as a lot of different accommodation at different prices and Pizza street which doesn't only sell pizza, and Berlin street, which has different valued bars like in the centre of Miraflores.

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Since I havn't mentioned my favourite points about Miraflores... the sangucheria (Peruvian sandwich bar) which is 100% Peruvian, called "La Lucha". En my opinion this is where you can find the best sandwiches in Lima. They have different types such as turkey, pork, chicken and a lot more. While we are at it, the juices that the sell there are also delicious.

In the central park in Miraflores, you can also find different sellers of Peruvian paintings with Peruvian motifs which attract the attention of many tourists who pass through this area every day. Not to forget to mention that the church here is called el Milagro.

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Also, if you like to eat sweet things, you are in luck! Since here in Miraflores, you can get the delicious chocolates that they sell from red carts. You can also find places where they sell the delicious butifarras (a Peruvian sandwich).

The Park of Love

The park of love is definitely one of the most visited points of Miraflores because there is the famous monument 'El Beso' in the middle of the Costa verde (Green coast), where you can the sun setting on this monument. Also, from here, you can see the descent to the beach and the pier which has the restaurant Rosa Náutica.

Raimondi Park

This park is very close to the park of love is really located practically next to it. From this part we can find the place to do one of the extreme sports that they do in Lima, I am talking about paragliding. When it is windy enough, it is amazing to be here because you can see everyone doing it and having an incredible view of Lima from that height. Although this tour doesn't last long, it is long enough to create a lot of adrenaline.

Costa Verde (the Green coast)

Costa Verde runs along the whole coast of Miraflores in front of the sea, and for example here we can find the parks and the Larcomar shopping centre.

Larcomar shopping centre:

Larcomar shopping centre has one of the most privileged views of Lima. From here you can see the sunset as well as find what you would normally find in different shopping centres around the world such as restaurants, cinema, theatres, bar and Peruvian souvenir shops. Larcomar shopping centre is one of the most visited in Lima by locals and foreigners.

The shopping centre is located in what would be the Salazar park and I will also tell you that this part of Miraflores is also thinking of building a hotel inside this shopping centre.

María Reiche Park:

This park is interesting and beautiful due to having the green areas as well as being decorated with the fabulous Nazca lines. It gets its name from the researcher Maria Reiche since she did a lot of research into the Nazca lines up until she died.

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Things to take into account when coming to Miraflores:

• Miraflores is connected to the centre of Lima by Arequipa avenue, which the blue buses pass through and have bus stops along this avenue.
• Another way to quickly get from the centre of Lima to the heart of Miraflores, is with the Metropolitano bus which has a special separate route. The stop in Miraflores in near the cat park and is called “Ricardo Palma”
• Miraflores has the best restaurants in Lima
• If you come to Miraflores don't forget to go along the seafront because the view from there is incredible and the most interesting in Lima.
• In Miraflores you can also find a large number of clubs and bars which both locals and foreigners go to.
• The red tourist buses from the companies Turibus and Mirabus leave from Miraflores.
• Miraflores also has a black and white lighthouse on the pie, where you can find a good place to take pictures.
• If you are someone who likes sport, in Miraflores you can ride a bicycle, you can do parasailing on its coasts, you can also surf in its waters at any time of the year. You can even find people who give lessons to those you want to learn how to in just one day. Finally, you are just into running or hikes then you can make the most of Miraflorences and its interesting points.
• The avenue that connects Larcomar with the main park of Miraflores is called Larco Avenue. It is a commercial avenue where you can find some restaurants and also shops for visitors.
• Each year in July, the national holidays are held in Miraflores at the Corso de Wong which is a supermarket where people dance in the streets and today it has become something very popular with foreign and local visitors.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this post about Miraflores which is one of the most beautiful and touristic districts in Lima. It is where you will find that majority of Lima's accommodation, in all categories and stars.

Miraflores has the sea, life and uniqueness, and it's restaurants are very well established but I think if I started talking about them I would never be able to stop.

Thank you very much for reading this reference and I hope that you have enjoyed it! Don't doubt to visit Miraflores and see another part of the city of Lima for yourselves. A really busy and beautiful city that you need to walk around, to explore it and see every side to it. See you soon!

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