What to do with two unexpected extra days in Lima?
 

Unexpectedly, we will have two extra days in Lima that we did not plan for. We will be completing 10 days tour with Gate 1 Lima – SV- Cuzco –Tititcaca- Lima, and after that, last two days were reserved for Ica/Nazca Lines/ Paracas/Ballestas Island. Due to earthquake damages, this tour is no longer possible, so we are stuck for two days in Lima (this is addition to one day we have on arrival, and one day with the tour group). I can not change the tickets to fly home earlier.

Do you have any suggestions on what to do in Lima, so we don’t waste our precious vacation days? Are there any side trips from Lima?
I would love to see Arequipa, but I don’t think we have enough time to fly there.

Arequipa is a short flight from Lima and if you could go there even for 1 night, 2 days, I would prefer that to extra time in Lima.

Hi Helen! too bad you are stuck in Lima... Where were you when the quake started?

If you didn't spent time there before, I would recommend you to visit Larco Herrera Museum and Gold Museum. I also did the ruins of Pachacamac (30 min ride from Lima).

In the city you can enjoy going to different restaurants... there is very good food: Jose Antonio, Astrid y Gaston, La Mar, Costa Verde, Rosa Nautica...

Also you can go shopping to the Indian Market and LarcoMar Mall.

Good Luck!

P.S. Arequipa is a good option too, beautiful scenery and lots of things to do, like Colca Canyon...

I think I posted a confusing message. We are not currently stuck in Lima, we will be stuck in Lima on September, 30 (English is my second language, so sometimes it creates misunderstanding, I guess :):)).
Our Gate1 tour will end in Lima on September, 29 (we will do a city tour with them), and then we will have two more days (09/30 and 01/10).

So, if we fly to Arequipa on Sunday morning, and come back on Monday afternoon, is it still worth it? I think, I need at least one more day to visit Colca canyon.

Thank you for suggestions so far!

Yes, I agree that trying to go to Colca Canyon from Arequipa would be a bit of a rush given your timeframe. But as you said, u could fly to Arequipa the morning of the 30th and come back the afternoon/evening of October 1. Arequipa is a lovely colonial city that you could easily explore in the time you have.
We stayed at a nice B&B, Casa Arequipa, http://www.arequipacasa.com/
about a 10 minutes walk to the main plaza.
BTW-your english is great!

Yestravel, thank you for the suggestion and for the compliment (I am reading so many trip reports on Fodor’s , that it really should improve my English :) )