Roots EarthAll cities

Peru · Latin America

Roots Earth in Lima: audio stories about 50 places

Roots Earth has audio stories about 50 places in Lima, Peru, in Latin America. The Lima stories are in all seven Roots Earth languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The app needs no account: open Lima, pick a place on the city's map of places and play. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection. The stories are written by local people.

The 50 places are listed below in the order the app shows them, and again further down with their coordinates. The lists were taken from the Roots Earth catalogue on 15 September 2026.

Published 16 September 2026. Markdown: lima.md

The 50 places in Lima with audio stories

In the order the app shows them.

  1. Plaza Mayor of Lima
  2. Metropolitan Cathedral of Lima
  3. Government Palace of Peru
  4. Basilica and Convent of San Francisco
  5. Plaza San Martín
  6. Basilica and Convent of Santo Domingo
  7. Larco Museum
  8. Basilica and Convent of La Merced
  9. Torre Tagle Palace
  10. Archbishop's Palace of Lima
  11. Huaca Pucllana
  12. Lima Art Museum
  13. Magic Water Circuit (Parque de la Reserva)
  14. National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History of Peru
  15. Casa de Aliaga
  16. Basilica and Convent of San Pedro
  17. Church of San Agustín
  18. Plaza Bolívar
  19. Catacombs of Lima
  20. Historic Centre of Lima
  21. Casa de Osambela
  22. Casa Goyeneche
  23. Sanctuary of Saint Rose of Lima
  24. Teatro Municipal de Lima
  25. Desamparados Station (House of Peruvian Literature)
  26. Plaza de Toros de Acho
  27. Park of the Exposition
  28. National Stadium of Peru
  29. Plaza Dos de Mayo
  30. Jirón de la Unión
  31. Huaca Huallamarca
  32. Larcomar
  33. Real Felipe Fortress
  34. Museum of the Nation
  35. Barranco District
  36. Bridge of Sighs
  37. Kennedy Park (Miraflores Central Park)
  38. Barrio Chino (Chinatown)
  39. Mercado Central de Lima
  40. Barrios Altos
  41. Presbítero Matías Maestro Cemetery
  42. Alameda de los Descalzos
  43. Paseo de Aguas
  44. Rímac District
  45. El Olivar (San Isidro Olive Grove)
  46. Museo Pedro de Osma
  47. Parque de la Muralla
  48. Parque de las Leyendas
  49. National University of San Marcos
  50. Mercado N.1 de Surquillo

Is there an audio guide for Plaza Mayor of Lima?

Yes. Plaza Mayor of Lima has its audio stories in the Roots Earth app: a short introduction and a deeper story, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian.

It is place 1 of the 50 Lima places in the app, at -12.04583, -77.03056. Every one of the other 49 places in the list above has the same two stories.

Roots Earth is not a guided tour: you choose the place on the city's map of places and play its story yourself.

How to use Roots Earth in Lima

Open Roots Earth and choose Lima. The city has its own map of places with all 50 of them on it. Tap the place you are standing in front of, or any other, and play its short introduction or its deeper story. You decide what to listen to and in which order.

You can listen in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian, and there is no account. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection.

In full

All 50 places in Lima, in the app's order, with their coordinates.

All 50 places in Lima, with coordinates

Every place below has a short introduction and a deeper story in the Roots Earth app, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The names, the coordinates (latitude, longitude) and the one line descriptions are the app's own catalogue values of 15 September 2026; a place without a line here has none that this page can print.

1. Plaza Mayor of Lima

Coordinates
-12.04583, -77.03056
In one line
The founding square of Lima, laid out by Francisco Pizarro in 1535 as the heart of the City of Kings. Arcaded palaces, a bronze fountain from 1651, and four centuries of Peruvian history ring this colonial plaza.

2. Metropolitan Cathedral of Lima

Coordinates
-12.04694, -77.02972
In one line
Lima's principal church, begun by Francisco Pizarro in 1535 and rebuilt repeatedly after earthquakes. Blending Renaissance, Baroque, and Gothic elements, it guards carved choir stalls, richly decorated chapels, and the tomb of the conquistador who founded the city.

3. Government Palace of Peru

Coordinates
-12.0448, -77.0298
In one line
Peru's presidential residence and seat of government, standing where Francisco Pizarro built his house in 1535. The grand Neo-Baroque building seen today rose between the 1920s and 1938, famed for its gilded halls and the daily changing of the guard.

4. Basilica and Convent of San Francisco

Coordinates
-12.0455, -77.02739
In one line
A Franciscan complex of Limeño Baroque splendor, rebuilt from 1657 after an earthquake. Beneath its tiled cloisters and historic library lie vast catacombs holding the remains of tens of thousands of colonial dead, one of Lima's most haunting sights.

5. Plaza San Martín

Coordinates
-12.0515, -77.0345
In one line
An elegant Beaux-Arts square opened in 1921 for the centenary of Peruvian independence. Ringed by white Belle-Époque facades and centered on a bronze equestrian statue of the liberator José de San Martín, it remains a gathering place for celebration and protest.

6. Basilica and Convent of Santo Domingo

Coordinates
-12.044, -77.0319
In one line
A Dominican church and convent founded in the 1530s, where the University of San Marcos was born in 1551. Its Rococo bell tower rises in pink and white above cloisters of Sevillian tile, and it guards the relics of three Peruvian saints.

7. Larco Museum

Coordinates
-12.0725, -77.07086
In one line
A private museum founded in 1926 by Rafael Larco Hoyle, set in an 18th-century viceregal mansion built over a pre-Columbian pyramid. It holds a vast collection of ancient Peruvian art, including Moche gold, fine textiles, and a famous gallery of erotic ceramics.

8. Basilica and Convent of La Merced

Coordinates
-12.0483, -77.0327
In one line
One of Lima's founding churches, begun in 1535 and devoted to Our Lady of Mercy. Its carved stone facade is a masterpiece of Liman Baroque, fronting three cloisters and a venerated silver cross of the Conquest.

9. Torre Tagle Palace

Coordinates
-12.04884, -77.02931
In one line
Completed in 1735 for the Marquis of Torre Tagle, this is Lima's finest surviving viceregal mansion. Its carved cedar balconies, Sevillian tilework, and arcaded courtyard now house Peru's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

10. Archbishop's Palace of Lima

Coordinates
-12.0462, -77.0296
In one line
Standing on the Plaza Mayor beside the cathedral, this Neo-colonial palace opened in 1924. Designed by Ricardo de Jaxa Malachowski, it is famed for the long carved cedar balcony running across its facade, and remains the residence of Lima's archbishop.

11. Huaca Pucllana

Coordinates
-12.11111, -77.03389
In one line
A great adobe pyramid built by the Lima culture between roughly 200 and 700 CE, rising 22 meters from seven stacked platforms. This pre-Inca ceremonial and administrative center now stands surrounded by the modern district of Miraflores.

12. Lima Art Museum

Coordinates
-12.06045, -77.03697
In one line
Housed in the iron-framed Palacio de la Exposición of 1872, Lima Art Museum spans roughly 3,000 years of Peruvian creativity, from pre-Columbian ceramics to contemporary works, within the green expanse of the Parque de la Exposición.

13. Magic Water Circuit (Parque de la Reserva)

Coordinates
-12.07083, -77.03333
In one line
Opened in 2007 within the 1929 Parque de la Reserva, this circuit of 13 illuminated fountains holds a Guinness World Record as the largest in a public park. After dark, water, light, music, and lasers combine in dazzling shows.

14. National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History of Peru

Coordinates
-12.07722, -77.06194
In one line
Founded in 1822, Peru's oldest and largest museum fills a colonial mansion in Pueblo Libre where the liberators once lodged. Its galleries hold the Raimondi Stela, Paracas textiles, and the Tello Obelisk, tracing thousands of years of Andean civilization.

15. Casa de Aliaga

Coordinates
-12.0444, -77.0303
In one line
A colonial mansion begun in 1536 beside the Plaza Mayor, the Casa de Aliaga has housed the same family for seventeen generations. Its gilded salons, carved balconies, and tranquil courtyards make it among the oldest continuously inhabited homes in the Americas.

16. Basilica and Convent of San Pedro

Coordinates
-12.04944, -77.02868
In one line
Completed in 1638 as the church of Lima's Jesuit college, San Pedro preserves one of the city's richest colonial interiors. Behind a sober facade glow gilded altars, blue-and-white azulejo tiles, and intricately carved pulpits surviving from the seventeenth century.

17. Church of San Agustín

Coordinates
-12.0466, -77.0333
In one line
Founded in the 1570s by Augustinian friars, this Lima church is famed for its deeply carved churrigueresque stone facade, completed around 1710. Inside waits the haunting wooden sculpture of Death, a skeleton archer attributed to Baltasar Gavilán.

18. Plaza Bolívar

Coordinates
-12.0476, -77.026
In one line
A historic square in central Lima named for the liberator Simón Bolívar, dominated by his equestrian statue and faced by the Legislative Palace of the Congress of Peru. Beside it stands the former Tribunal of the Inquisition, now a museum.

19. Catacombs of Lima

Coordinates
-12.0454, -77.0275
In one line
Beneath the Convent of San Francisco lie Lima's colonial catacombs, where bones were arranged in geometric patterns. Begun by Franciscans in 1546 and used until 1810, this underground cemetery is thought to hold the remains of approximately 25,000 people.

20. Historic Centre of Lima

Coordinates
-12.05139, -77.04306
In one line
Founded by Francisco Pizarro in 1535 as the City of the Kings, the Historic Centre of Lima preserves the grid, churches, palaces, and famed wooden balconies of the Viceroyalty of Peru. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.

21. Casa de Osambela

Coordinates
-12.0439, -77.0326
In one line
Built after Martín de Osambela acquired the site in 1807, with the first part completed in 1808, this indigo-blue Lima mansion is famed for its five Louis XVI balconies and octagonal rooftop lookout. Its four storeys made it among the tallest homes of late colonial Lima.

22. Casa Goyeneche

Coordinates
-12.04875, -77.02956
In one line
Casa Goyeneche is an elegant two-story mansion built in 1771 in Lima's historic center. Remodeled in 1863 with French-inspired touches, this colonial residence faces the Torre Tagle Palace and now belongs to a Peruvian bank.

23. Sanctuary of Saint Rose of Lima

Coordinates
-12.0426, -77.0353
In one line
The Sanctuary of Saint Rose of Lima rises on the site of the saint's family home. Established in 1728 by the Dominican Order, it preserves the famous wishing well and draws pilgrims to the first canonized saint of the Americas.

24. Teatro Municipal de Lima

Coordinates
-12.0454, -77.0349
In one line
The Teatro Municipal de Lima opened in 1920 as the Teatro Forero, designed by Manuel María Forero. Devastated by fire in 1998, it was faithfully rebuilt and reopened in 2010, and now hosts Peru's National Symphony Orchestra.

25. Desamparados Station (House of Peruvian Literature)

Coordinates
-12.04444, -77.02861
In one line
Desamparados Station, designed by Rafael Marquina and completed in 1912, served Lima's central Andean railway. Crowned by an Art Nouveau stained-glass skylight, the Beaux-Arts building beside the Government Palace reopened in 2009 as the House of Peruvian Literature.

26. Plaza de Toros de Acho

Coordinates
-12.0414, -77.0233
In one line
Opened in 1766 in the Rímac district, the Plaza de Toros de Acho is the oldest bullring in the Americas. Designed by Francisco Graña Garland, the adobe-and-wood arena seats around 14,000 and still hosts Lima's autumn bullfighting fair.

27. Park of the Exposition

Coordinates
-12.06139, -77.03667
In one line
Opened in 1872 for Lima's International Exhibition, the Parque de la Exposición rose where the old city walls once stood. Its Neo-Renaissance palace, ornamental pavilions, fountains and lake make it one of the capital's most cherished green spaces.

28. National Stadium of Peru

Coordinates
-12.06728, -77.03372
In one line
The National Stadium of Peru, rebuilt in concrete from 1951 to 1952, is the home of the national football team. Seating over 40,000, it carries the memory of the 1964 disaster, one of football's deadliest tragedies.

29. Plaza Dos de Mayo

Coordinates
-12.04639, -77.04278
In one line
A grand traffic circle in central Lima built around a French-cast bronze column inaugurated in 1874. The monument honors the Battle of Callao of May 2, 1866, and stands ringed by elegant Beaux-Arts buildings.

30. Jirón de la Unión

Coordinates
-12.0499, -77.034
In one line
Lima's historic main street, laid out by Francisco Pizarro in 1535 and pedestrianized in 1982. Running between Plaza Mayor and Plaza San Martín, it once hosted the elegant promenades of the city's elite and still bustles with shops and crowds.

31. Huaca Huallamarca

Coordinates
-12.0974, -77.0405
In one line
A stepped adobe pyramid in the San Isidro district, raised by the Lima culture around 2,000 years ago. Once a ceremonial center and later a cemetery, it rises some 19 meters and now shelters a small site museum amid the modern city.

32. Larcomar

Coordinates
-12.13111, -77.03083
In one line
A clifftop shopping and entertainment center in Miraflores, built into the bluffs above the Pacific and opened in 1998. Designed by Eduardo Figari Gold, its terraces of shops, cinemas, and restaurants look out over the ocean below.

33. Real Felipe Fortress

Coordinates
-12.06278, -77.14917
In one line
A vast pentagonal stone fortress guarding the port of Callao, begun in 1747 to the designs of Louis Godin after a devastating earthquake. The largest Spanish fort in the Americas, it was the crown's final stronghold here and now houses the Army Museum.

34. Museum of the Nation

Coordinates
-12.0868, -77.0019
In one line
A national museum in San Borja housed in a vast Brutalist concrete building, inaugurated in 1990. Once home to a sweeping survey of Peru's ancient cultures, it now hosts temporary shows and the Yuyanapaq photographic memorial to the country's internal conflict.

35. Barranco District

Coordinates
-12.14167, -77.01667
In one line
Lima's bohemian seaside district, founded in 1874 and once a fashionable summer resort. Known for its old mansions, the Bridge of Sighs, and a path down to the ocean, it remains the artistic heart of the city, home to painters, musicians, and writers.

36. Bridge of Sighs

Coordinates
-12.14914, -77.02262
In one line
A slender wooden footbridge in bohemian Barranco, opened in 1876, that spans a leafy ravine running down toward the sea. Tradition says first-time crossers who hold their breath the whole way may make a wish come true.

37. Kennedy Park (Miraflores Central Park)

Coordinates
-12.1211, -77.0298
In one line
The lively central park of Miraflores, laid out in the 1920s and named for John F. Kennedy. Famous above all for its colony of well-fed street cats, it gathers painters, food carts, and crowds around an open-air amphitheater.

38. Barrio Chino (Chinatown)

Coordinates
-12.05096, -77.02577
In one line
Lima's Chinatown, rooted around Calle Capon since the 1850s and one of the oldest in the Americas. A red Chinese archway marks its entrance, and chifa restaurants serve the fusion cuisine born from Chinese and Peruvian kitchens.

39. Mercado Central de Lima

Coordinates
-12.05, -77.0253
In one line
Lima's downtown food market, rebuilt in 1967 after a fire and spanning some 12,000 square meters beside Chinatown. Hundreds of stalls heap fruit, fish, meat, and produce, feeding the historic center every day of the week.

40. Barrios Altos

Coordinates
-12.049, -77.021
In one line
The old eastern quarter of Lima's historic center, rising on slightly higher ground beyond Abancay Avenue. Once home to convents, theaters, and markets, it flourished for centuries and remains a dense, deeply traditional corner of the colonial city.

41. Presbítero Matías Maestro Cemetery

Coordinates
-12.041, -77.008
In one line
Lima's first civil cemetery, opened in 1808 and designed by the priest Matias Maestro in neoclassical style. Its marble mausoleums and sculptures hold presidents, war heroes, and writers, making it an open-air museum of Peruvian history.

42. Alameda de los Descalzos

Coordinates
-12.038, -77.0278
In one line
A tree-lined promenade in the Rimac district, laid out in 1611 and modeled on a Seville garden. Marble statues of the zodiac and an English iron fence line its 450-meter walk, ending at the old barefoot Franciscan convent.

43. Paseo de Aguas

Coordinates
-12.0376, -77.0283
In one line
An ornamental water promenade in Lima's Rímac district, built between 1770 and 1776 by Viceroy Manuel de Amat y Juniet. Its arched colonial centerpiece and fountains were famously linked to his romance with the actress Micaela Villegas.

44. Rímac District

Coordinates
-12.03528, -77.02722
In one line
A historic district across the Rímac river from central Lima, formally established in 1920 on the old San Lázaro neighborhood. Home to the Acho bullring, the Alameda de los Descalzos, and San Cristóbal hill, its monumental zone forms part of Lima's World Heritage core.

45. El Olivar (San Isidro Olive Grove)

Coordinates
-12.09917, -77.03472
In one line
A 10-hectare olive grove in San Isidro, grown from cuttings Antonio de Rivera brought from Seville in 1560. Around 1,670 ancient olive trees remain, ringed by a lagoon and modern Lima. It was declared a national monument in 1959.

46. Museo Pedro de Osma

Coordinates
-12.1505, -77.0218
In one line
A museum of colonial Peruvian art in Barranco, set in a French-style mansion built in 1906 by architect Santiago Basurco. Opened as a museum in 1988, it holds Cusco School paintings, viceregal silver, and sculpture across elegant galleries and gardens.

47. Parque de la Muralla

Coordinates
-12.0442, -77.0268
In one line
A riverside park in central Lima, opened in 2004, built around excavated sections of the old colonial city wall. It runs along the Rímac near the Church of San Francisco, with a site museum displaying artifacts unearthed during its creation.

48. Parque de las Leyendas

Coordinates
-12.06764, -77.08671
In one line
A sprawling zoo and park in San Miguel, founded in 1964 by conservationist Felipe Benavides Barreda. Its animals are arranged by Peru's three regions, coast, mountains, and jungle, and its grounds hold the ancient huacas of the Maranga archaeological complex.

49. National University of San Marcos

Coordinates
-12.05833, -77.08333
In one line
The oldest continuously operating university in the Americas, founded by royal decree on the 12th of May, 1551. Born in a Dominican convent in Lima, it now spreads across a modern University City and counts Mario Vargas Llosa and many Peruvian presidents among its alumni.

50. Mercado N.1 de Surquillo

Coordinates
-12.11722, -77.02056
In one line
In Surquillo, a district carved from Miraflores in 1949, this beloved food market draws cooks and chefs for its produce, fresh fish, and herbs. Its gastronomic variety has made it a working-class culinary landmark.

Roots Earth in short

Roots Earth has audio stories about 5,665 places in 130 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions, written by local people.

  • No account
  • Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection
  • Audio stories in English and German in every city, and in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 of the 130 cities

Roots Earth for Android is available on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsearth.app.