My daughter and I are going to Peru in early October arriving in Lima late at night and flying to Cusco the next morning. Then we'll spend a little over a week in the Sacred Valley, MP, Cusco, and Puno. Our last day we plan to fly back from Puno (Juliaca) to Lima for our flight home that night at 11:30. I had thought we'd leave Juliaca in the morning and get to Lima early enough to have the afternoon and early evening there. But an early flight costs $230 more - there's a major jump in cost. And flights are either in the morning or late in the afternoon, arriving around 8 in the evening. So... is it worth the extra money to have a few hours in Lima? I could try rearranging the itinerary to get a whole day in Lima - but my interests are the other areas. Thoughts?
Karen

Hi Karen,
How about doing Puno before Cuzco?
Maybe you can get early flights from Cuzco to Lima at lower prices.

hiya, what about getting a slightly later flight from lima to cusco, then you could get a quick tour of lima on way to airport! Thats what I usually do with my groups. Otherwise for that money I wouldnt do it. Sure Lima is nteresting, has good museums and nice colonial arquitecture but not sure if worth that much. You'll see beautiful arquitecture etc anyway. The possibilty was mentioned of flying to puno from Lima, I wouldnt simply due to the fact of flying from sea level to 4000m above sea level all in one go, ive done that and it's not the best option, best to go in stages if you can so you're body can get accustomed. i'd dedicate that whole day to somewhere else.!

I wouldn't. Didn't particularly care for Lima.

I just came back from Lima and I definitely WOULDN'T DO IT! Besides a couple of museums and very good restaurants, Lima hasn't much to offer to tourist. also you might consider that the traffic it's awful in Lima...

I did check on the option of flying first to Puno and then doing Lima at the end of the trip - it's doable, but I'm worried about the altitude. Would like to acclimitize slowly and go to Sacred Valley first. And yes, I also thought about taking a later flight to Cusco that first day and spending the morning in Lima, but now I'm thinking maybe we should just skip Lima and make the most of our time at the other locations. Thanks.

I disagree with those who wrote that Lima has little to offer the tourist -- its center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the better urban centers (of large South American cities), certainly more interesting than Sao Paolo, Caracas or Santiago, to list a few. Plus it has some excellent museums (not counting the Museu de Oro, whose collection was proven to be mostly counterfeit) and some great ceviche restaurants in the small, artsy coastal district. I stayed at the Country Club Hotel, one of the nicest, historic hotels in South America (up there with the Copacabana in Rio and the Carrera in Santiago, the latter of which is sadly no longer a hotel). I intentionally spent two full days in Lima and was fully occupied, but I really enjoy visiting cities that UNESCO has added to their list -- I know that there will be lots of interesting sites.

Thank you! Until now, I was the only one extolling the virtues of Lima.