I migliori hotel a cinque stelle di Lima, quartiere per quartiere

Lima has six true five-star hotels, distributed across three districts —San Isidro, Miraflores and Barranco. All six are comparable in basic infrastructure: spa, pool, chef-led restaurant, butler on request. What distinguishes them is atmosphere and the traveller type each is built for. This guide compares them honestly so the traveller chooses by trip, not by ranking.

San Isidro: the power neighbourhood

San Isidro concentrates Lima's financial power and, consequently, institutional hotels. Three five-star options dominate.

The Country Club Lima Hotel, built in 1927 in neocolonial-Republican style, is the city's hotel institution. Eighty-three rooms in a mansion with first-edition library, restored chapel, two restaurants and a historic bar, the English Bar, one of the addresses where you drink the best pisco sour in Lima. The room is comfortable but secondary: what matters are common spaces, courtyard, 1940s private-club atmosphere. Recommended for travellers valuing atmosphere over pool —the hotel's is modest by current standards.

The Westin Lima Hotel & Convention Center occupies a thirty-storey tower, among the city's tallest. Three hundred and one rooms with panoramic Pacific views from the upper floors, Heavenly Spa, semi-Olympic pool, two restaurants, among them Maras. The most international option, with consistent Marriott service. Recommended for business travellers and those who value view over atmosphere.

The Swissôtel Lima, in the financial heart, is the intermediate option. Two hundred and forty-four rooms, cordial European service, restaurants of European cuisine. Less atmospheric than Country Club, less panoramic than Westin, but impeccable in operation.

Miraflores: the cosmopolitan neighbourhood

Miraflores has two five-star hotels that matter, both on the malecón.

The Belmond Miraflores Park is the Pacific hotel. A little over eighty ocean-view suites, eleventh-floor cliff-edge pool (Lima's only one), spa, Tragaluz restaurant with contemporary Peruvian cuisine. Difference from Country Club is timing: Belmond is contemporary, timeless, designed for the international traveller. Recommended for honeymoon and first Peru trip.

The JW Marriott Lima Hotel, a few blocks along the same malecón, is the international Marriott option. Some three hundred rooms, two restaurants, executive club on top floors, indoor pool. Less atmospheric than Belmond but with consistent Marriott service and a more measured rate.

Barranco: the bohemian neighbourhood

Barranco has a single five-star option, which makes it distinctive by default.

The Hotel B, in a 1914 Republican mansion reimagined around an art collection, is Lima's most intimate. Barely a score of rooms, curated library, rooftop pool, cocktail terrace, restaurant with contemporary Peruvian tasting menu. The masterpiece is the art collection —original works by Fernando de Szyszlo, Tilsa Tsuchiya, Gerardo Chávez— in corridors and rooms, no protective glass. The hotel is museum and residence simultaneously.

The hotel we most recommend for travellers returning to Peru —first trip usually prefers malecón Belmond, second discovers Hotel B and stays there.

Comparison by trip

For first Peru trip: Belmond Miraflores Park or Country Club Lima Hotel. First for Pacific view, second for historic-club atmosphere.

For honeymoon: Hotel B or Belmond Miraflores Park. Hotel B if intimacy and art are valued; Belmond if ocean view is.

For business traveller: Westin Lima or Swissôtel Lima. Full corporate services, financial location.

For returning traveller: Hotel B without discussion. Intimacy and art make the difference.

For families with children: JW Marriott Lima. Better family infrastructure: indoor pool and connecting rooms.

Lima has good hotels. It also has a handful of exceptional ones. The difference between good and exceptional is not price but atmosphere —which costs forty years of operation, not forty million dollars in renovation.

Kada Travel

What the difference in rate buys

The order of the rates follows the order of rarity, not of comfort. The Belmond Miraflores Park is the most expensive house in the city and the Hotel B follows close behind: in both cases you pay for something that cannot be duplicated — a cliff above the Pacific, a score of rooms around an art collection. The Country Club and the JW Marriott hold the middle; the Westin and the Swissôtel are the entry: impeccable rooms, steady service, a more neutral atmosphere.

Rates vary a great deal with the season and the room category, and they are negotiable. Write to us with your dates: we secure the terms at the time of booking, with Virtuoso benefits where they apply, and set them out for you in writing.

How to decide

We recommend the following formula. For the standard Peru traveller: two nights at the first-trip hotel (Belmond, Country Club or JW Marriott by preference), always at the trip's start. For return, one night at the Hotel B side before the international flight —gives different closure to the start.

For the three-Lima-night trip, the formula we most recommend: one Country Club night (historic atmosphere), two Hotel B nights (contemporary mansion-museum atmosphere). The most complete city reading: historic-Republican and contemporary-bohemian, in different districts.