Fodor's Expert Review Mercado Central

Its official name is El Mercado Municipal Gran Mariscal Ramón Castilla, but limeños refer to this sprawling market as simply "El Mercado Central." Here hundreds of vendors display the ingredients of the city's varied cuisine, from hooks hung with slabs of meat to trays piled high with seafood. There are also wheels of cheese stacked above tubs of olives, open sacks full of dried potato chunks or ají peppers, and bundles of spices that double as natural remedies. If you want the see the real Peru, this is it.