Lima

Lima is the capital city of Peru.

It is beside the Pacific Ocean. Millions of people live there. It is the biggest city in Peru.

Lima is the capital of Peru, a country on the western side of South America. It lies on the Pacific coast, in the valley of the Rímac River, and is Peru's largest city.

Peru's national statistics office, INEI, published the first results of the 2025 census in May 2026. They counted 10,129,708 people in Metropolitan Lima. That is 29.7 percent of everyone in Peru, so nearly three in every ten Peruvians live in the capital.

Lima lies on Peru's Pacific coast in the valley of the Rímac River. UNESCO notes that it was the political, administrative, religious and economic capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru and, until the middle of the 18th century, the most important city of the Spanish dominions in South America.

The first results of the 2025 National Censuses, published by INEI on May 29, 2026, gave Metropolitan Lima 10,129,708 inhabitants, 29.7 percent of Peru's 34,157,732. Lima also recorded the country's largest net migration gain, about 2.3 million more people who had moved in than moved out, and Peru's population grew faster between 2017 and 2025 (1.11 percent a year) than between 2007 and 2017.

In the middle of old Lima is a big square with palm trees and a fountain.

The buildings around it are bright yellow. Some have balconies. In another part of the city is a very old pyramid made of mud bricks.

The heart of old Lima is the Plaza de Armas, also called the Plaza Mayor, with the cathedral and the archbishop's palace beside it. Many old houses have closed "box" balconies. The Convent of San Francisco is one of the most complete groups of colonial convent buildings in Latin America. UNESCO lists the historic center as a World Heritage Site.

Lima is much older than its Spanish buildings. In the Miraflores district stands Huaca Pucllana, a great pyramid of adobe, or mud brick, built by the Lima Culture about 1,300 to 1,500 years ago.

UNESCO's World Heritage Site preserves the checkerboard plan of the 1535 foundation and its expansion to the 19th century, with old pre-Hispanic roads leading north and east. Its notable ensembles include the Plaza de Armas (cathedral, Sagrario chapel and archbishop's palace), the Plaza de la Vera Cruz with Santo Domingo and, above all, the Convent of San Francisco, one of the most complete colonial convent ensembles in Latin America. Many buildings, such as the Torre Tagle palace, are 17th- and 18th-century Hispano-American Baroque, with patios and closed box balconies.

Huaca Pucllana in Miraflores was one of the most important ceremonial centers of the Lima Culture (about A.D. 500–700): a great adobe pyramid of superposed buildings and staggered platforms, with figures of marine animals. By 2019, Miraflores Municipality and the Ministry of Culture had studied and conserved it for more than 35 years (Andina).

Ceviche is a famous dish in Peru.

It is made with raw fish, lemon, chili and salt. Families eat it at home and at special parties.

Ceviche is one of Peru's best-known dishes: raw fish marinated in lemon juice and seasoned with chili pepper and salt, served with vegetables grown nearby. People eat it every day and at celebrations, at home or in restaurants called cevicherías. In 2023 UNESCO added the traditions of making and eating ceviche to its list of the world's living heritage.

People from all over Peru have moved to Lima. The 2025 census found that about 2.3 million more people had moved into Lima than had moved away, the most of any part of the country.

UNESCO inscribed the practices and meanings of preparing and eating ceviche on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2023. The dish of raw fish marinated in lemon, seasoned with chili and salt and served with local produce is eaten daily and at festivities, at home and in cevicherías, where the work of traditional women cooks stands out; its knowledge runs from fishing and farming to cooking.

Lima has drawn migrants from every region: INEI's 2025 census results show a net migration gain of about 2.3 million, by far the largest in Peru. UNESCO notes that many newcomers came to live cheaply in the historic center's old buildings, crowding them, while San Marcos University (1551) continues the city's long role in learning.