When researching for our trip I spent a lot of time trying to budget for different locations around the world. Cost of living varies dramatically between each country that we are visiting, however, we still try to set an average daily budget of $75.00 USD. We know if we stay around this amount that we can visit all of the locations we hope to. In this post I am going to break down all of our expenses and answer the question, how much does it cost to travel in Lima, Peru? Hopefully this is helpful if you are planning a trip there and wondering whether it’s possible with your budget!
*Disclaimer: We are attempting to travel more on the budget side of things so obviously costs can vary dramatically. You can easily spend significantly more or less than we did depending on your preferences.
Check out our How Can you Afford to Travel for a Year post for more information about how we picked our daily budget of 75 USD and ways we plan to stick to it in order to keep traveling!
Lima
Our total expenses in Lima from the time we landed in the airport to the time we boarded our flight to Cusco were…….. $172.77 USD for an average of $57.59 USD per day. The only caveat with Lima is that our first “day” we arrived extremely late due to flight delays so we had no meal expenses, only our accommodations and transportation from the airport.
Accommodations – $87.58 USD total / $29.19 per night
In Lima we spent $87.58 USD for 3 nights in a budget hostel in the Miraflores neighborhood. This amounted to $29.19 USD per night. There are many budget friendly options for accommodations in Lima!
- Staying in the Miraflores neighborhood meant we could easily walk to restaurants, grocery stores and things we wanted to see within the city.
Transportation – $36.37 USD total
We walked almost everywhere in Lima aside from to/from the airport, and four Metropolitano rides to visit other neighborhoods in the city.
Taxi
A taxi from the airport was 60 soles or $18.18 USD. We booked the taxi with a stand inside of the airport as the area immediately around the Lima airport is not the safest, especially when we arrived late at night. We probably could have gotten a cheaper option had we gotten in earlier. A less expensive option is the Airport Express Shuttle which only costs 50 soles, or $15.15 USD for 2 people.
Metropolitano
Lima, like most South American cities, doesn’t have a subway system. They implemented a bus system called El Metropolitano, which acts as their mass transit system. The buses run in their own lane on the highway thus never are stuck in traffic. The cost for 1 way is 2.5 soles per person, or $0.76 USD. We paid for 4 rides (2 each) and spent $3.04 USD on this.
- We took the Metropolitano from the Centro Historico to Barranco. This is a cheaper option than taking a taxi as well as usually saves a bit of time from the Lima traffic.
Airport Express Lima
The Airport Express Lima is a coach bus system that runs from the Lima airport to multiple stops in the Miraflores and Barranco neighborhoods. It is clean, safe, has wifi, and is a great way to get where you need to go. It costs 25 soles per person per ride. We used this when going to our flight to Cusco and spent $15.15 USD.
Read More: How to Spend 2 Days in Lima, Peru
Meals – $34.64 USD total
In Lima we ate out for every meal. Our hostel came with a complimentary breakfast at a restaurant next door. While extremely basic (toast, eggs, coffee, juice) it worked just fine!
- As you can see food in Lima was extremely affordable. We were able to find many different restaurants that were more of a fast, casual type of restaurant where you order at the counter and then get your food. We found these to be very reasonably priced and more align with our budget than a more traditional sit down meal.
Breakfast
On our first day we slept in too late to go to breakfast so we got two coffees at a nearby cafe for 10 soles, or $3.03 USD.
Lunch
We ate a real lunch on our 2nd day at La Lucha Sangucheria which is a well known sandwich restaurant in Lima. This cost us 21.50 soles or $6.52 USD. On our 3rd day we were too busy exploring the different neighborhoods with the walking tours to stop for food so we had snacks that we picked up at a local stand.
Dinner
We found a few restaurants that we absolutely loved in Lima, one was actually a hybrid Asian and Peruvian restaurant that was fantastic. For our two dinners we spent a total of 82.80 soles, or $25.09 USD.
Grocery – $2.06
There are many grocery stores in Miraflores, the neighborhood we stayed in while in Lima. We found they had absolutely everything you could have wanted and were very clean and well stocked.
Water
Tap water in Peru is not drinkable therefore we spent 4.30 soles, or $1.30 USD on water. We found that on average water cost between 1.8 soles to 2.5 soles for a 2.5 Litre bottle.
Snacks
We spent 2.5 soles, or about $0.75 USD on snacks.
Excursions – $12.12 USD total
Our only “excursion” in Lima was the two walking tours we went on. We highly recommend them because they are free (they operate on tips) and are a great way to learn more about the city. We went with Lima by Walking and spent 40 soles on tips, or about $12.12 USD.
Overall Budget in Lima
Overall, we came in under budget every day while in Lima which we were very happy with. Lima, Peru is a very budget friendly city. We found many food options that were very affordable for both lunches and dinners. You can easily spend time in this city and enjoy the food and culture while still sticking to a reasonable budget!
