Barranco Lima – A Funky Bohemian Art District

When planning our trip to Lima many months ago, several districts were on our shortlist for places to live. Miraflores won out for reasons we already have explained, but a close second was Barranco Lima’s bohemian art district. As Barranco is directly south of Miraflores and we have been in Lima for over 2 weeks now, it was well past time to pay the district a visit.

So What’s Up With Barranco Lima?

Barranco Lima is an interesting place. It is a hub for the local artist community and has been for over two centuries. The Barranco district has a bohemian reputation for being less manicured than Miraflores, although this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Still, Barranco is widely reported to be safe for tourists and has almost as many Pacific coastline amenities and convenient shoreline access as Miraflores. And the streets of Barranco are said to have more character, swapping high-rises for more quaint residences and storefronts that have retained their aesthetic from the 19th century.

Honestly, when it came to choosing what district to live in while in Lima it was a toss-up. And without being able to visit both Barranco and Miraflores before we committed, we erred on the side of safety.

We made the right decision.

But now that we have explored Barranco, we know we could have easily lived here.

Let us show you what we mean!

Off to Barranco…By Foot of Course!

We set off to Barranco last Monday at around 10 am. We made a beeline to the Pacific coast and headed south along the walking paths that connect the parks from Miraflores to Barranco.

We plodded southward until we reached Parque Bicentenario, found at the very southern border between Miraflores and Barranco.

We spent a couple of hours exploring the streets, alleys, and parks of Barranco. We had a great time! But it was well past lunchtime and we had errands to do.

We took the long way out of Barranco by going back down to the street that runs under the Bridge of Sighs and made our way upward back towards the shopping areas of Miraflores.

But Barranco still had more to show!

After we entered the commercial district of Miraflores, we were getting really hungry and started to fantasize about getting a good hamburger for lunch. This is actually pretty easy to find in Lima!

So we ducked into the local Juicy Lucy and indulged. I got the Benedictine Burger and Rhonda got the Spicy Mexico. Check the Juicy Lucy link for details!

We splurged on the meal at 90 Soles ($23.41 USD including tip). But we hadn’t spent any money yet that day and weren’t going to shop for much while we were out. So at the end of the day, we were still well under budget since we ate in for dinner.

We had a great day! We put in 10 miles of walking (~16 km) so we earned our calories. And Barranco Lima was really nice! It had more character than Miraflores for sure, and we could definitely see ourselves living there for a month at some point in the future.

Barranco’s one downside is that it is a little further away from the Historical Center of Lima, but if you don’t mind slightly higher Cabify fares, then it should be no problem. Airbnb rates suggest that Barranco is a bit cheaper than Miraflores to stay in, so the cost would likely be a wash.

But Miraflores is great too! You really can’t go wrong in either location if you are looking to stay in Lima.

Until next time…

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