San Cristobal Hill

Hello everyone!

I hope that you are all well. Today I would like to tell you about an iconic location in my city: the San Cristobal Hill. You can see this hill even from the centre of the town of Lima, as well as from the Plaza de Armas in the city or looking from the Chabuca Granda Avenue and the Muralla Park to see it in all its glory.

San Cristobal Hill can be found in the Rimac district of Lima, one of the Colonial districts in the city which also has its own centre with its monuments and plazas. Here is a picture of the San Cristobal hill in my town of Lima:

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How to get here?

Every single day there is a tourist bus known as the "Urbanito" that is found on the edge of the municipality of Lima and only costs 7 soles. It will take you to the highest point of the hill from where you can get a great view of the centre of Lima (if and when the sky is clear). The first circuit includes passing through some parts of the centre and then climbing the hill afterwards, which is a bit steep, but don't worry or be scared.

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My advice...

Please, you are not going to want to climb the hill yourself without taking the Urbanito bus as it can be dangerous, especially if you are foreign.

Don't open your window during the drive up the slope as it can be a little risky... Take into account that the trips are only in Spanish as well (I'm sorry for those of you who don't speak it, the Urbanito service has its flaws but it is the only option of climbing the hill).

Truthfully, every time I have been here I have used the Urbanito bus, I have never walked up the side of the hill, sometimes you can run the risk of an attack.

If it is cloudy or misty on the day that you arrive, it is better for you to go up at night so that you can see the city better as it is illuminated and you can enjoy a lot more of the view and take some great photos.

There is a little museum on the hill where you can enter for 3 soles and see photos and the history of the hill.

This hill is the "apu" of Lima, it is like saying it is a Godly protector of the city and it is named in honour of San Cristobal, who is the Saint that, according to history, helped the Spanish retain the city in a war during the beginnings of the city of Lima.

Here is a fact for you, the cross that you see illuminated overnight is not the original, it has been replaced.

Without a doubt, this hill is a symbol of Lima, here you can make a trip around the hill so that you can appreciate the districts that are a part of Northern Lima, San Juan de Lurigancho and the Colonial district of Rimac where the hill is located.

Now, another fact for you is that during Christmas, Believers arrive on Pilgrimage to the highest point of the hill as a way to prove their faith, as well as each one of them placing a small stone during their walk as another act of faith.

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The municipality of Lima is thinking about making a cable car that runs from the Muralla Park all the way to the top of the San Cristobal Hill, however with so many negotiations and administrative procedures to go through it is still waiting for evaluation.

This hill is naturally the highest part of the centre of Lima with an altitude of 400m above sea-level, and the cross on top doesn't only represent religion, but also a way of showing the Spanish defeat of the Indigenous people of Peru during the Colonial period.

Here I have shared a photo with you of me and my friends from San Marcos in 2007:

As you can see, the hill has a lot of history and I hope that the Government places more value on this place as it should be, in my opinion, much more valued.

The first time I went to this hill was when I was a student studying Tourism, my teacher told us to take some photos of more than 100 monuments in the city. She told us to visit them and to learn about their history for an exam in class, and I am a lover of my city and so I learnt everything, as well as doing my internship as a tour guide and teaching a lot of my friends about places each time we visited them.

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