A Culinary Tour of Peru: Lima, Arequipa and the Sacred Valley

Day 1 To 2: Lima

Lima is where Peruvian food made its name internationally, and two days here sets the context for everything that follows. The Surquillo Market is the starting point, a working neighbourhood market where chefs shop alongside locals and the full range of Peruvian produce is on display, from the 3,000-plus native potato varieties grown across the country to the chiles, tropical fruits, and fresh seafood that define the coastal kitchen.

A private guided visit followed by a hands-on cooking class covers the fundamentals of Peruvian technique, ceviche, causa, and lomo saltado among them, before sitting down to eat what you have made.

In the evenings, Lima delivers at the top end. Malabar, where chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino applies Amazon ingredients to contemporary Peruvian cooking, is the opening dinner.

Central, Virgilio Martinez’s flagship and one of the most ambitious restaurants in the world, organises its entire tasting menu around altitude, moving through ingredients from the ocean floor to the high Andes in a single sitting.

Day 3: Paracas

The drive south from Lima stops at Chincha, a city with deep Afro-Peruvian roots and a musical tradition most travellers never encounter. Lunch at a local restaurant here is the first indication that the food outside Lima operates on its own terms.

Paracas sits on a bay of exceptional natural beauty, its waters kept cold and productive by the Humboldt Current. The seafood is among the freshest in Peru, and the Paracas National Reserve protects one of the richest marine ecosystems on the Pacific coast.

Day 4 To 5: Ica

Ica is pisco country. The spirit has been distilled here from Quebranta grapes since the 16th century, and a visit to the Tacama winery, one of the oldest and most respected in the region, covers both the wine and pisco production in a landscape of vineyards set against sand dunes.

The other experience unique to this stretch of coast is scallop fishing in the bay, pulling the catch directly from the water before heading to a local restaurant where a chef prepares tiradito from what you have just caught. It is the most direct farm-to-table experience on the itinerary.

Day 6 To 7: Arequipa

Arequipa sits at 2,300 meters, surrounded by three volcanoes, and its cuisine is considered by many Peruvians to be the finest in the country. The city’s rocoto relleno, chupe de camarones, and adobo are dishes with deep roots in the surrounding valleys, and the San Camilo market is the best place to understand the ingredients behind them before lunch at Sol de Mayo, the restaurant that has defined Arequipeño cooking for decades.

The historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, its colonial architecture built almost entirely from sillar, a white volcanic stone quarried from the surrounding landscape. Dinner at Zig-Zag, set in a colonial house with a menu that applies European technique to Andean ingredients, closes the day well.

Day 8 To 10: Sacred Valley

The Sacred Valley brings the culinary thread full circle. The Andean agricultural terraces built by the Incas are still in use, and the native ingredients cultivated here, potato varieties, quinoa, and Andean corn, remain the foundation of the local kitchen.

A visit to the Awanacancha textile centre and a tour of the local food market cover the valley’s craft and produce traditions in a single morning.

The Sacred Valley Brewery, reached by bike from the valley floor, produces award-winning beers at altitude using local ingredients. A day on Lake Huaypo, kayaking and picnicking on the water with the Andean peaks above, closes the itinerary on the right note before the transfer to the airport.