Lima

Some forty five thousand ceramics are held here, with the store rooms visible behind glass. Its garden is thick with climbing plants, so people step out between rooms.

A district of old summer houses where a wooden bridge crosses a narrow ravine. Murals cover the walls, and a stairway drops through the cliff to the sea.

Parkland runs seven kilometres along the cliff with the surf breaking below. Gliders are hired here and launched straight off the edge.

The presidential palace and the cathedral face this square, and the guard changes at midday. Carved wooden balconies hang from the buildings around it.

Beneath the monastery the remains of some twenty five thousand people are stacked and sorted by bone. The passages run low and narrow, and taller visitors stoop the whole way.

An adobe pyramid from the sixth century occupies a block among the flats. Its bricks were set upright so the structure could flex through an earthquake.

Thirteen fountains stand in one park, lit and set to music after dark. Several of them can be walked into while the water is running.

Forty minutes out in the desert lies a temple complex older than the Inca. It was built in earth, and the lack of rain is why the shapes survive.

A working market where fruit and potato varieties are piled by type. Dozens of potatoes appear, and asking gets each one named for you.

A pebble shore under the cliff where the waves come in evenly and beginners learn to surf. It is stone rather than sand, so shoes stay on.

A Dominican convent a block from the main square. The remains of Saint Rose of Lima and Saint Martin de Porres are kept here. The Seville tiles lining the cloister walls are the draw, and during Mass only the church side is open.

Lima's art museum fills the Palacio de la Exposicion, built for the 1872 exhibition. Ancient textiles and ceramics, colonial painting and modern art hang in roughly chronological order. Pair it with the Exposition Park out front and half a day is gone.

A national museum in Pueblo Libre, housed in the mansion where San Martin and Bolivar both stayed. It gathers Peru's cultures period by period under one roof. Follow the blue stripe on the sidewalk and the Larco Museum is about 15 minutes' walk.

A memorial museum documenting the armed conflict of 1980 to 2000. Its concrete building is set into the edge of the Miraflores cliff. Much of it is filmed testimony, so it rewards an unhurried visit rather than a quick pass.

A hill in Rimac, just over the river from the historic centre, crowned by a large cross. The view takes in downtown and reaches toward the sea. The streets on the way up are unsafe on foot, so most people ride a tour bus from downtown.

Lima's Chinatown, centred on Calle Capon beside the Central Market. Nineteenth-century Chinese migrants settled here, so chifa restaurants line the street. A red gateway marks the entrance, and lunchtime is when it is busiest.

A square with an equestrian statue of independence hero San Martin at its centre. The pedestrian Jiron de la Union links it to the main square. The bar of the Hotel Bolivar on the plaza claims a part in the pisco sour story, and people drop in for that.

Rocky islets out from Callao, home to thousands of South American sea lions. In a wetsuit you can slip into the water and the young ones come close. The Pacific here stays chilly all year, so summer swimmers suit up too, and the boat passes San Lorenzo Island.

A five-sided fortress raised in the 1700s to guard the port of Callao. It went up after the earthquake and tsunami of 1746 swept the old port away. The army still runs it, so visits go round in guided groups.

An olive grove left in the middle of residential San Isidro. It traces back, by tradition, to an orchard planted in 1560 from saplings brought from Spain. Paths wind between the gnarled trees, and locals walk them in the mornings.

A coastal wetland reserve beyond Chorrillos, recognised under the Ramsar convention. Dozens of bird species, including migrants from North America, can be seen from boardwalks and towers. Early morning, when the birds are active, is best.

A museum of colonial art in an old Barranco mansion. It holds Cusco School religious painting and worked silver. The house and garden are a sight in themselves, and the courtyards between rooms make a good pause.

A city founded around 5,000 years ago, one of the earliest in the Americas, UNESCO-listed in 2009. Stone pyramids and sunken round plazas stand in the Supe Valley desert. Lima lies three to four driving hours south, so day trips set off before dawn.

Each October hundreds of thousands of devotees in purple fill the streets. It began with an image of Christ painted on a wall by an Angolan slave in the 17th century, which survived earthquakes. Stalls along the route sell turron de Dona Pepa.