Peru Shopping and nightlife
Shopping in Peru
Shopping in Peru ranges from established artisan markets and heritage craft traditions to modern shopping centres in Lima and a small number of upscale designer boutiques selling contemporary Peruvian fashion and craft. The most rewarding purchases tend to be directly connected to what makes Peru distinctive: textiles, ceramics, silver jewellery, traditional musical instruments and locally produced food products.
Textiles are among the finest things to buy in Peru, and the quality and complexity vary considerably. Machine-produced items sold as "alpaca" in tourist markets may contain synthetic fibre; genuine handwoven pieces from producer cooperatives in the Sacred Valley, Chinchero, Puno, or the communities of southern Cusco are identifiable by their texture, weight, and colour. Baby alpaca, the finest grade of the fibre, is notably softer than standard alpaca and commands a premium.
The Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco is a cooperative that guarantees the handwoven origin of its pieces and provides context on the communities and traditions behind each piece.
Silver jewellery is produced in several centres, particularly in Lima and Cusco, with both pre-Columbian and colonial design traditions informing contemporary workshops. Ceramics and pottery from the Sacred Valley, wooden carvings and retablos, the small three-dimensional tableau boxes depicting everyday or religious scenes, are distinctive craft forms specific to the country. Lima's Artisan Market in Miraflores, on Petit Thouars Avenue, brings together a large number of craft vendors under one roof and allows comparison across a wide range of product types and quality levels.
Food products worth bringing home include quinoa and other Andean grains, dried chillies and aji amarillo paste, cacao from the Amazon region, Maras pink salt, instant pisco and Peruvian coffee from the highland growing regions. Pisco, the Peruvian grape brandy central to the national cocktail culture, is the most popular bottled souvenir and is available at supermarkets, specialist shops and directly from producing bodegas in the Ica region south of Lima. A pisco tasting in Ica or in the Barranco district of Lima is a worthwhile investment before buying.
Bargaining is expected at markets and from street vendors, but not in shops with fixed prices, supermarkets or dedicated artisan cooperatives. Starting below the asking price by about 30% and settling somewhere between is a reasonable approach at market stalls. Card payments are increasingly accepted in Lima and tourist-oriented shops in Cusco and Arequipa, but cash in Soles is advisable for markets and smaller transactions.
Shops in Lima and major cities are generally open from 10:00 to 21:00 daily, with shopping centres keeping these hours seven days a week. Smaller shops and market stalls typically open earlier, around 08:00 or 09:00, and close by 19:00 or 20:00 on weekdays. Sunday markets in towns such as Pisac and Chinchero in the Sacred Valley attract the highest concentration of vendors and are best visited in the morning. Artisan markets in Lima are generally open seven days a week during daylight hours.
Nightlife in Peru
Nightlife in Peru is concentrated in Lima, where the Miraflores and Barranco districts offer the widest range of bars, restaurants and clubs. Barranco is the more characterful of the two, with a concentration of independent venues, music bars and peñas, live folk music venues featuring Afro-Peruvian and Andean music performed for largely local audiences. Larcomar, a shopping complex built into the cliffside overlooking the Pacific in Miraflores, features several bars and restaurants with ocean views that are particularly atmospheric at sunset. The bar and restaurant scene in both districts runs late, with many venues filling up only after 22:00 and staying busy well past midnight.
Cusco has a lively after-dark scene shaped largely by the large volume of international travellers passing through. The area around the Plaza de Armas and Calle Procuradores concentrates the highest density of bars and clubs, from Inca Kola and craft beer to pisco cocktail bars and electronic music venues that run until dawn on weekends. The altitude is a factor: alcohol hits harder at 3,400 metres than at sea level, and visitors in their first day or two of acclimatisation should approach Cusco's nightlife with more caution than the availability of options might encourage.
Alcohol is widely available throughout Peru and is served in bars, restaurants and licensed premises. The national spirit, pisco, is the base of the Pisco Sour, a cocktail of pisco, lime juice, egg white and bitters that is both the country's most iconic drink and genuinely good in well-made form. Craft beer has grown significantly in Peru, particularly in Lima, with several local breweries producing ales, IPAs and stouts alongside the dominant national lager brands Pilsen Callao and Cristal. Alcohol is not sold in most supermarkets after 11:00 pm and licences for on-premises venues include serving-hour restrictions that vary by municipality.
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