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Welcome to the NomadonFIRE guide to Lima for Digital Nomads
This will be a comprehensive guide to Lima for digital nomads. If you missed it, you can check out my Lima First Impressions here.
I spent the month of September 2019 living in Lima, Peru, as a digital nomad.
Lima isn’t on any lists I’ve seen for digital nomad hotspots. As of writing this, Lima currently sits at #123 on the list of top digital nomad cities according, to Nomadlist. Lima is by no means a perfect digital nomad destination. However, once I got past a few negatives, I really started to enjoy Lima. It could definitely be a great option for certain digital nomads depending on your preferences.
Check out below for my thoughts on Lima for Digital Nomads!
NomadonFIRE Score: 5.9/10
Quality of Life (QOL)
For QOL, Lima received a score of 5.75/10. Lima ranked high for me in terms of safety, quality of accommodations, and neighborhoods. Lima has an enormous amount of history and culture with plenty of side trips and a world-class food scene.
It ranked low for me in terms of weather and air quality.
Cost of Living (COL)
For COL, I ranked Lima as 6/10 as my spending totaled $2,720 this month. You can see a full breakdown in my September 2019 Expense Report.
Categories, where I spent the most were on food and travel #remoteyear .
Flights to Lima, Peru
There are plenty of options to get to Lima from the US. You can get to Lima direct from the following US cities:
- Dallas DFW
- Atlanta ATL
- Los Angeles LAX
- New York JFK
- Newark EWR
- Houston IAH
- Miami MIA
- Orlando MCO
- Fort Lauderdale FLL
Travel hacking is the only way to go!
Visa Requirements
No visa is required for US citizens. You are automatically granted a tourist visa with a maximum stay of up to 183 days once you enter Peru with a US Passport. This tourist visa is a single entry only and cannot be extended once you enter Peru.
Safety
Lima is currently ranked 95th on the list of safest cities in the world according, to SafeAround.
I felt safe the entire time in Lima but basically stayed in the bubble of Miraflores, Barranco, and San Isidro.
Driving through the city on the way to the airport, there were some areas where I wouldn’t feel safe. But, if you stay in the popular digital nomad neighborhoods mentioned below, you shouldn’t have an issue as long as you follow proper precautions.
Pay attention to where you are using your phone, and avoid walking alone at night.
Accommodation
I recommend using Airbnb to book monthly accommodations.
A comfortable 1-2 bedroom apartment can be had in the best areas for digital nomads for between $800-$1,400. See below for more details on the recommended neighborhoods.
Neighborhoods
What are the best neighborhoods in Lima for digital nomads? I would recommend staying by the ocean in any of the three areas below.
Miraflores
I lived in Miraflores, two blocks from the ocean, and loved it. The boardwalk and parks along the ocean are beautiful and excellent for a pleasant stroll or morning run. There’s also paragliding and surfing in this area. There are also so many amazing restaurants in Miraflores you will absolutely not go hungry.
Barranco
I spent some time walking around Barranco, which has some amazing street art and great restaurants. It’s just not as big as Miraflores and doesn’t have a wide range of coworking options.
San Isidro
San Isidro is the upscale business district. I had a free hotel night that I needed to use and spent the night in San Isidro. There are many very nice bars and restaurants in this area, but some areas are a bit further from the ocean if that would be a dealbreaker for you.
Co-Working
You can find a reliable co-working space in Miraflores for between $100-$250 per month USD. With Remote Year, we used the Comunal network of coworking spaces, which is basically like the Peruvian version of WeWork. They were nice, had everything you needed to be productive but nothing to rave about.
Things to Do
I thought Lima had plenty of fun things to do. Most notably, eating all of the delicious food was the top highlight for me!
For more details on the Peruvian food, check out that section below.
Other fun things to do include:
- Enjoy some beautiful cliff views
- Paragliding off the cliffs
- Doing a bike tour of Miraflores and Barranco
- Surfing
- Shopping
- A million other options. As a megacity with a population of over 10 million, there is no shortage of things to do in Lima.
Side Trips
There are so many amazing and varied side trips that you can take from Lima. I was amazed. Many of these are with a few hours drive or a short flight <2 hours from Lima.
Peru is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world and is home to 28 of the world’s 32 climates.
The country also has a rich history of ancient civilizations and Incan ruins, if that is more your style than Peru is the place to go.
Here are just a few things I did this month that show the diversity of Peru’s climates and varied offerings.
Ica
If you had told me that just a four-hour drive south from rainy/gray Lima there was a sunny desert oasis, I wouldn’t have believed you. But, that’s precisely what Ica is. A desert town in Southern Peru.
We went here for a Remote Year day trip and had a great time. The first part of the day was spent relaxing at the pool at Waranqu BnB. I would highly recommend this place, the pool area was beautiful and the food and drinks were terrific. It was the best lunch I had the entire month and was all authentic homemade Peruvian food!
Huacachina Oasis
The most popular destination here is the Huacachina Oasis- a beautiful lagoon in the Peruvian desert. The most popular thing to do here is going on dune buggy rides and sandboarding on the massive sand dunes. It also looked like an amazing place to relax, stay at a hostel, or grab a drink at the many bars with beautiful desert and oasis views.
Cusco, Peru
If you are visiting Peru, going to Cusco is an absolute must.
As a digital nomad, you could take a long weekend trip there from Lima or spend a few weeks working and seeing all that the city and surrounding areas have to offer. If you plan to work in Cusco, I highly recommend the Selina franchise. Selina has two very nice locations in Cusco.
I would recommend spending as much time in Cusco as you can, there are so many day trips you can do from there. Here is a quick list, and I’m sure I’m forgetting some.
- Machu Picchu
- Rainbow Mountain
- Lake Humantay
- Pisac Ruins
- Ollantaytambo
- Moray and Maras
I spent five days in Cusco and had an epic visit, but I could have easily stayed for another week or two. We did a hike to Lake Humantay and then did a Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu tour!
Lake Humantay
A 3-hour drive from Cusco by bus and then a pretty challenging, uphill, hour-long hike up to 14,000ft, but totally worth it for the amazing views.
Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu
We did a Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu tour with Southern Peru Explorers and had a blast! We visited the Awanakancha llama farm, the town of Pisac, Pisac ruins, stopped for a delicious lunch at Tunupa Lodge, then checked out Ollantaytambo and caught the train to Aguas Calientes to see Machu Picchu! I even got to try some cuy (guinea pig) as a snack 😳
Check out the pictures and video below:
Nightlife
Lima has no shortage of bars and clubs if that is your thing. I would highly recommend Ayahuasca in Barranco as they have awesome cocktails and a really cool outdoor area. If a club is more your style, you can’t go wrong with Bizzaro in Miraflores.
I liked the bar scene in general in Miraflores off of Calle Berlin. Wahios Miraflores and Molly’s Irish Bar were two other bars with good vibes that I would recommend.
Working Out
Staying healthy is an essential part of being a digital nomad.
I tried various Crossfit gyms around Miraflores but eventually purchased a monthly membership at Vanna Miraflores. I would highly recommend this gym. The workouts were challenging circuit training type workouts. And, they have either strength or resistance classes pretty much every hour of the day.
Food
Peruvian food is fantastic and lives up to all of the hype. I probably gained ten pounds last month, but it was worth every bite 😋.
Definitely try some Ceviche, Lomo Saltado, any Amazonian dish, and Alfajores for dessert. Don’t forget about Pisco Sours either, these are probably my favorite cocktail in the world, but be careful they’ll sneak up on you.
A few favorites:
- La Preferida
- Amaz
- Tanta
- Osso (San Isidro)
- Punto Azul
- Isolina (Barranco)
- Mercado 28
Internet
I had no issues with internet speeds in my apartment or the workspace. Frequently I got download speeds > 50 Mbps.
Phone
I highly recommend Google FI for US digital nomads. LTE was available almost everywhere in Lima, and I frequently got download speeds of >100 Mbps.
English Speaking
There was a decent amount of English spoken in Miraflores, however, I highly recommend brushing up on your Spanish before visiting Lima.
My Spanish is very limited, however, and I got by just fine. Just make sure you download Google Translate, and you should be all good.
Weather
I did visit Lima during winter (May-November), but I was not a huge fan of the weather there. It was absolutely a no for me dawg. The constant gray skies definitely affected my mood, and the cold/humid combo is also not a favorite of mine.
I’m sure it’s beautiful in the summer (December-April). I would recommend visiting Lima in the summer if you have the option.
If you’re looking for perfect year-round weather as a digital nomad, I cannot recommend Lima.
Transportation
Besides the heavy traffic, I thought Lima had plenty of transportation options.
Ubers were cheap and plentiful. Lima City Bike was a cool option for cheap bike rentals throughout the city. And there are electric scooters to rent everywhere.
Or just walk around and check out the ocean views and colorful street art. Be careful on those Lima sidewalks though, not sure why, but they’re like walking on ice if it rains.
Downsides
Cost
$2,720 USD is a lot of money. Now there are savings to be had there and if I didn’t go out to eat as much could have saved a significant amount of money.
But, even if I didn’t go out to eat as much, there are still cheaper digital nomad destinations out there.
Weather
I mentioned it above, but I was not a big fan of the Lima weather.
Air Quality
Air quality in Lima is not the best. It did bother my sinuses a bit when I first arrived there.
Final Verdict
The final verdict on Lima for digital nomads.
Overall I gave Lima a NomadonFIRE score of 5.9/10, meaning I can’t wait to go back and visit!
Lima ranked highly for me in terms of quality of accommodations and neighborhoods, it has an enormous amount of history/culture with plenty of side trips to do and fantastic world-class food.
It ranked low for me in terms of weather, air quality, and cost. It also has some minor inconveniences such as not being able to flush the toilet paper or drink the tap water if that is a deal-breaker for you.
Let me know your thoughts on Lima for digital nomads in the comments below!
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