Lima car rental comparison

The sprawling capital of Peru and a celebrated gastronomic hub, Lima is an excellent standard bearer for its country. Brimming with history and culture, laid back but spirited, sometimes frenetic and unceasing, Lima will, if you let it, provide you with a wealth of experiences to take away with you. HAPPYCAR is here to help you find the best car hire Lima has to offer so you can take full advantage of this lively city,with a direct car hire Lima Airport also available. We check the prices of international and local providers so that you don’t have to check each website to provide you with the best deals to make your money go further.

General Information

With 9 million inhabitants, Lima is perhaps best referred to as a mega-capital and its contrasts are fascinating. With ultramodern skyscrapers jutting out over desolate hillsides, despite being one of the driest metropolises on earth it has earned the moniker, “Garden City,” thanks to one of the world’s largest fountain parks. Lima natives are proud of their food, having established a Boulevard of Gastronomy and an important annual food festival. With many monuments to Peru’s history dotted all over the city and tucked inside the characterful neighborhoods, a car hire in Lima is an excellent way to take it all in.

To Do

Aside from eating and enjoying the beaches nearby, there are some excellent cultural offerings in Lima, in the form of its museums. The National Museum in Lima is one of the best and largest museums in South America, showcasing the archaeological richness of ancient Peru. The Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology is one of the most exciting museums in South America, exhibiting a fantastic compilation of pottery and textiles from different cultures of ancient Peru.

Eating

Lima is where Peruvian culture returns to its gastronomic roots and for residents of Lima it is an essential part of living in the city. Specialties in Lima include a variety of criolla dishes, influenced by its port and influxes of Indian, Spanish, African, Asian and Italian signatures. Its novo andino cuisine is not to be missed, which pairs alpaca steaks with berries or sauces from Andean farms. The only thing that rivals Limeños' love of food is their passion for pisco, a grape brandy that is the main ingredient in the national drink, the pisco sour.

Attractions

Aesthetic attractions abound in Lima, and the Cathedral of Lima is for good reason one of the most popular destinations for travelers. The Palacio Torre Tagle is also considered a masterpiece of Lima's colonial architecture. Built around the early 18th century, it is perhaps the most stunning and magnificent Spanish colonial mansion in Peru. The Aliaga House is as old as Lima itself, earning its status as the oldest house in the Americas. Layers of history are present in the mansion, with many important artifacts including the sword Jerónimo de Aliaga used in the conquest of Peru. A little further out with a Lima car hire and you arrive at the Church of San Francisco, a beautiful Baroque colonial church that is well preserved with some eerie catacombs that are worth the visit.

Excursions

As a transport and communications hub, Lima also makes a good base for exploring the region and the immediate area offers plenty of reasons to stay before heading elsewhere like Cusco to the east. Within an hour’s drive south with a car rental in Lima is an attractive coastline, headed by the fortress-temple complex of Pachacamac. In the neighboring Rimac Valley you can visit the pre-Inca sites of Puruchuco and Cajamarquilla, and to the north, the oldest stone pyramids in the world sit abandoned in the desert of Caral. Of course, there is the looming spectacle of Machu Picchu around a day’s drive away, easily accessible with a Lima car rental, but Pucallpa, the only major river port linked by road to Lima, is also reachable with a car and from there you can head down the all mighty Amazon River.