Pisco sours
 

The travel guide warns against drinking the water in Peru. But it recommends the pisco sours in lots of restaurants. Are they safe to drink? Don' t they use ice?

We loved sampling Pisco Sours in Peru and didn't have any "tummy trouble."

Yes they use ice, but that is made with purified water in all but the most basic places. During many, many month travel in Peru, I have never experienced a problem with food borne illness. Just take the usual precautions you would anywhere. The greater risk is possibly form the raw egg white they use!

Pisco sours are great, but I prefer the Chilcano, Pisco, Ginger Ale and lime. Do try to sample a few different brands of Pisco, they are all very different.

Thanks. That's reassuring.

Or if you are in the north, the algorrobina~!

They only trouble I (nearly) got into with Pisco Sours was that they are strong... getting disoriented and wandering in the wrong direction from the Hotel Bolivar..toward Hooker Central!

So my advice is only drink them at places withing visual distance from your hotel.

Good advice mlgb! That's why I like El Cuadra de Salvador - it is right opposite where you suggested we stay at 3B Barranco. Hard to get lost, even after a few piscos...

LOL.. Also the Sofa Cafe, on the other corner, the discount afternoon "lonche" special includes a (small) Pisco Sour.

And OP by all means look at https://www.3bhostal.com/ if you have never been to Lima, they are a friendly, secure modestly priced inn (not hostel) in the artsy Barranco 'hood. The staff is so great at getting first timers oriented to Lima, that I've overheard so many telling the staff they wish they'd allowed another day, which is not something you usually hear people say about Lima (until they get to know it better).

Fine, select, elegant and versatile, pisco is a sample of Peru's rich heritage.

Pisco, flag liquor of Peruvian history, fragrance and culture.

If you're in Cusco, try the Museo de Pisco (hint - it's a bar/restaurant not a museum, although you can learn a lot about pisco while sitting there).