🇵🇪Peru

How your entry route is decided

1. Visa-free for tourism: EU and Schengen passports, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and most of Latin America.
2. Chinese and Indian nationals are exempt if they hold someone else's visa. A valid visa or residence permit from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia or a Schengen state allows visa-free entry for up to 180 days.
3. Everyone else needs a consular visa in advance. Peru operates no visa on arrival of any kind, so arriving without one means being refused entry and flown back.

Passport rule: valid at least 6 months from the date of arrival, with at least one blank page.

The number of days is not up to you

Peruvian law allows a tourist up to 183 days in any 365, but the officer at the desk grants 30, 60 or 90 days and writes it on the stamp by hand. Two things follow:

• Read what they wrote before you walk away. People plan a 90-day trip and are given 30.
• There is no extension from inside Peru. If you need longer than you were given, you must leave the country and re-enter within the annual allowance.

Entry formalities

• The entry record is digital, the Tarjeta Andina de Migracion (TAM Virtual). The officer scans the passport, logs the entry and stamps you in - there is no paper card to keep. You can look your record up later on the Migraciones Agencia Virtual portal.
• Proof of onward travel is checked, and airlines enforce it at the gate. They will deny boarding without a verifiable onward ticket.
• Declare cash or instruments over the equivalent of USD 10,000 to SUNAT.

Overstaying

• The fine is 0.1% of the UIT tax unit per day - about S/ 5.15 a day on the 2024 UIT value of S/ 5,150, and it moves each year as the UIT is reset.
• Fines are paid online through the Migraciones portal before you fly. They are not payable at the gate.
• Entering overland without getting a physical stamp is illegal. An unstamped entry that is never regularised, or an unpaid overstay, leads to refusal of exit, formal deportation and a re-entry ban of up to 15 years.

• Archaeological objects may not be exported. Anything Inca or pre-Inca is state property; the replicas sold in Cusco need a receipt saying so, and the airport asks for it.
• Coca leaves and coca tea may not be taken out. They are legal and everywhere in Cusco and illegal on arrival almost everywhere else.
• There is a hard cap on cash, not just a declaration. Amounts over the declarable threshold must be reported, and carrying more than a higher fixed limit through the border is prohibited outright rather than merely taxed.
• The allowance is a carton of cigarettes and a couple of litres of spirits per adult, plus a value cap on other goods.
• Wildlife products are prohibited, which covers the items sold as condor feather or cat fur in tourist markets.

Altitude is what will actually affect you. Cusco sits at 3,400 m and Puno at 3,800 m, and altitude sickness (soroche) hits fit people as readily as anyone.

• Give Cusco a full day before doing anything. Most itineraries fly Lima to Cusco and start a trek the next morning, which is the single most common planning mistake here.
• First 24 hours: drink a lot of water, eat lightly, no alcohol, no exertion.
• Remedies: acetazolamide (Diamox), started before ascent, is the medical option; local Sorojchi pills and coca tea are what everyone in Cusco uses. Hotels often have oxygen.
• If a headache becomes severe, or you get confused or breathless at rest, descend. That is not ordinary soroche.

Water and food

Tap water is not drinkable anywhere in Peru. Bottled, boiled or purified only. Avoid unpasteurised dairy, raw street food and unpeeled fruit washed in tap water. Busy established restaurants are low risk.

Vaccinations and tropical disease

• Yellow fever is recommended for the Amazon departments - Loreto, Madre de Dios, San Martin - and a certificate may be required for onward travel to other countries.
• Routine: hepatitis A, typhoid and tetanus.
• Dengue is present on the low coast and in the rainforest, peaking December to April. Malaria risk is limited mainly to rural northern Amazon (Loreto).

Hospitals and pharmacies

• Private clinics have English-speaking staff and good standards: Clinica Delgado and Clinica Anglo Americana in Lima, Clinica Pardo in Cusco.
• Public hospitals (ESSALUD and MINSA) are overcrowded and under-resourced.
• Travel insurance including emergency evacuation is strongly recommended - evacuation from the Andes or the Amazon is expensive and sometimes the only option.
• Pharmacies: InkaFarma and Mifarma are everywhere and sell painkillers and altitude medication over the counter. Controlled drugs need a prescription translated into Spanish.

Do not pay the 18% VAT on your hotel room. Under Decree Law 919, non-resident foreign tourists are exempt from IGV on accommodation. To claim it you must show, at check-in:

• your physical passport, and
• proof of legal entry through the TAM Virtual system, showing a continuous stay of under 60 days.

Reception will not always volunteer this. Ask. On a two-week trip it is real money. Note that some high-end hotels add an optional 10% service charge separately.

Platforms: Booking.com, Airbnb, Hostelworld and the South American portal Despegar.

Where to stay for a first visit

• Lima: Miraflores is the default - secure, walkable, on the coast, and where the airport bus goes. Barranco next door is the bohemian option with the best food and bars. San Isidro is quiet, upmarket and financial.
• Cusco: the Centro Historico around the Plaza de Armas, or San Blas on the cobbled hillside above it. Note that San Blas is steep, which matters more than you expect at 3,400 m with luggage.
• Arequipa: the Centro Historico near the Plaza de Armas, or quieter Yanahuara.

In Andean hotels, ask whether rooms have heating - many do not, and Cusco nights are cold all year. Better hotels offer supplemental oxygen.

Wait until you are in town. The airport markup here is roughly tenfold.

• At Jorge Chavez airport, kiosks in international arrivals sell tourist packages at S/ 60 to S/ 120 for limited data.
• In a city store in Miraflores or central Arequipa, the chip is S/ 5 to S/ 10 and a 30-day package with 5 GB to 15 GB is S/ 15 to S/ 30.

The networks

• Claro has the broadest national footprint - the coast, the Andean highways and the population centres. The right choice if you are going to Cusco, the Sacred Valley or anywhere mountainous.
• Movistar has a strong urban network and wide national reach.
• Entel is fast in Lima and Arequipa and reliable in the big cities.
• Bitel is the budget option and surprisingly good in rural provinces, at S/ 10 to S/ 20 for 3 GB to 10 GB.

Registration

OSIPTEL requires passport registration and biometric capture for every SIM activation. You must go to an authorised operator outlet in person with the physical passport and have your fingerprint taken. There is no way around this for a local SIM, which is the main argument for an eSIM.

eSIM

• Claro, Movistar, Entel and the local tourist provider PeruSIM all support eSIM. PeruSIM rides on Claro at S/ 50 to S/ 90 for 10 GB to 25 GB - more than a local SIM, less than the airport, and no biometric queue.
• An international eSIM - Saily, from USD 4.99 for 1 GB over 7 days - roams on Claro or Movistar and works the moment you land.

Download offline maps before you go up into the Andes. Coverage on the highways is decent but the trails are not.

Sockets in Peru are Type A, B and C at 220 V, 60 Hz - American plug shapes carrying twice the American voltage.

• This is the mismatch that kills appliances. A US hair dryer or shaver fits the socket and receives 220 V. Check every label for 100-240 V.
• Most sockets are hybrids taking flat American pins and round European ones, so a Europlug usually fits too.
• British and Australian plugs need an adapter.
• Earthing is patchy outside newer buildings, and highland towns run supplies that dip when the evening load comes on.
• 60 Hz at 220 V is an unusual pairing shared with the Philippines and South Korea, and matters only for mains-timed motors.

• Power is a trap here. Peru runs at 220V, 60 Hz, but sockets accept both flat two-pin Type A (North American) and round Type C plugs. A 110V American appliance will physically fit and then be destroyed. Check your device says 100-240V before plugging anything in.
• Time: UTC-5 all year, no daylight saving.
• Tap water: not drinkable.
• Language: Spanish, with Quechua and Aymara official in their regions. English is spoken in hotels and tour agencies and almost nowhere else.

Hours and holidays

• Shops 09:00 or 10:00 to 20:00 or 21:00, daily. Banks 09:00 to 18:00 weekdays and 09:00 to 13:00 on Saturdays.
• Public holidays: 1 January, Holy Thursday and Good Friday, 1 May, 28 and 29 July (Fiestas Patrias), 30 August, 8 October, 1 November, 8 December and 25 December. Fiestas Patrias is the big one - the whole country travels and transport and hotels sell out.

Small things

• Toilet paper goes in the bin beside the toilet. The sewers cannot process it. This applies everywhere, including good hotels.
• Cover shoulders and knees in historic churches.
• Do not question whether pisco is Peruvian. It is a genuinely sensitive subject, and the joke about Chile is not funny here.
• Nights are cold in the highlands all year. Cusco in July drops below freezing at night while being pleasant at midday - pack layers rather than warm-weather clothing.

Money and paying for things

Peru uses the Peruvian sol (PEN, S/).

• Cash is still the default for street food, combis, taxis, craft markets and anywhere outside a city centre. Cards work in hotels, supermarkets and formal restaurants in Lima, Cusco and Arequipa.
• MultiRed ATMs (Banco de la Nacion) are the ones to find. No local terminal fee on a foreign card and a single withdrawal limit of S/ 2,000.
• Commercial banks are much worse: BCP, Interbank and BBVA charge S/ 15 to S/ 35 per foreign-card withdrawal and cap single withdrawals at S/ 400 to S/ 700. That combination is punishing.
• Never use a standalone street machine - skimming risk plus the worst fees.
• Decline dynamic currency conversion and choose PEN; the markup for accepting is 5% to 12%.
• Airport exchange is 10% to 15% below market. Change a minimum there and use a casa de cambio in Miraflores, or a licensed librecambista in an official numbered vest, for anything larger.

Check your notes

Counterfeit note swapping is a routine scam here. A taxi driver or vendor takes your genuine S/ 50 or S/ 100, hands back a fake and says yours was no good. Two habits defeat it: pay with small notes where you can, and look at any note handed back to you - real ones have a clear watermark and a raised, rough feel to the printing.

Tipping

Not customary in picanterias or chifas. 10% in a mid-range or upmarket urban restaurant for good service. Hotel porters get S/ 2 to S/ 5 a bag.

What things cost

Jorge Chavez International Airport (LIM)

One safety point comes before everything else: do not leave the airport perimeter on foot. Combis are barred from airport property, and the walk out to Avenida Morales Duarez to catch one crosses an area with a real risk of violent robbery. The saving is a few soles. It is not worth it.

• Airport Express Lima - S/ 15 per person, 45 to 70 minutes. The official bus to Miraflores, hourly from 07:00 to 22:00, booked at the counter inside the arrivals hall near exits 2 and 3. In peak traffic it can take 90 minutes or more. Touts inside arrivals will tell you the bus is cancelled. It is not.
• Official airport taxi - S/ 60 to S/ 75 off-peak, S/ 80 to S/ 95 at peak. Taxi Green, Taxi Directo and Taxi 365 all have staffed counters inside arrivals and escort you to the car. Agree the total at the counter: the recurring complaint is drivers adding tolls and parking surcharges on arrival.
• Uber, Cabify or DiDi - S/ 40 to S/ 70, subject to surge. Pickup is in parking zone E1. If the driver rings to propose a cash fare off the app, cancel and rebook - that is the setup for an overcharge and it removes the trip record.
• Pre-booked private transfer - S/ 75 to S/ 110, met inside arrivals with a name board.

Metro Line 2 does not serve the new terminal. Its "Aeropuerto" station sits near the old terminal site and is still under construction, so ignore anything that routes you there.

International transit passengers: since 7 December 2025, an international-to-international connection through LIM carries a Transfer TUUA fee of about USD 11.86 per connection, paid online or at counters and mobile card terminals along the transit route. Budget the time for it.

Use an app, not a street taxi. Unlicensed taxis are the setting for express kidnapping in Lima, and the apps cost about the same.

• Uber, Cabify, DiDi and inDrive all operate in Lima, Arequipa and Cusco. Uber and Cabify bill a foreign card directly; inDrive runs on fare bidding and expects cash or a local transfer.
• Lima has two separate transit cards. The Metropolitano BRT needs its own card at S/ 4.50 with a flat S/ 3.20 fare; Metro de Lima line 1 needs a different card at S/ 5.00 with a S/ 1.50 fare. They are not interchangeable. Moovit handles routing.
• Yape and Plin, the payment apps everyone uses, are closed to you. Both require a Peruvian DNI or foreigner ID card tied to a local bank account. Foreign visitors pay cash or card.

Between cities

• Long-distance coaches are the backbone. Cruz del Sur, Oltursa, Civa and Movil Bus run proper reclining overnight services; Peru Hop is the hop-on tourist network. Book through RedBus.pe or CheckMyBus.
• Trains to Machu Picchu run from Cusco and Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, operated by PeruRail and Inca Rail. Book these well ahead - they sell out and there is no alternative road.
• Andean highways close in the wet season. From January to March, huaicos - mudslides - regularly block roads and damage rail track. Build slack into any January-to-March itinerary that crosses the mountains.

Traffic does not yield to pedestrians, including at marked crossings. Treat every crossing as unprotected.

• Uber - https://www.uber.com/pe/ - Works in Lima, Arequipa and Cusco, takes foreign cards.
• Cabify - https://cabify.com/peru - Often the better-regulated option in Lima.
• DiDi - https://web.didiglobal.com/pe/ - Usually the cheapest of the three.
• RedBus - https://redbus.pe/ - Intercity coach tickets across all the main operators.
• PeruRail - https://www.perurail.com/ - Trains to Aguas Calientes for Machu Picchu. Inca Rail at https://incarail.com/ is the alternative.
• Moovit - https://moovitapp.com/ - Lima bus and Metropolitano routing.
• Maps.me - Offline maps, worth having for Andean trails where there is no signal.
• Google Translate - Download the Spanish pack; English is rare outside hotels and tour agencies.
• Rappi and PedidosYa - Food and pharmacy delivery in the cities.

Frequent peajes on the Panamericana, hard city traffic, and roads that climb above 4,000 m.

• Toll booths are frequent on the coastal highway and take cash and cards.
• Lima traffic is among the worst in the Americas and the informal buses make lane discipline theoretical.
• Altitude affects engines as well as people. Naturally aspirated cars lose power above 3,500 m, and the passes to Huaraz and Cusco go higher than that.
• The alcohol limit is 0.05 %, and penalties above it are severe.
• Night driving between cities is discouraged by the official advice: unlit vehicles, fog on the passes and robbery on some routes.

Peru sits at Level 2, exercise increased caution, for street robbery and periodic social demonstrations. Roadblocks during protests can close highways and rail lines at short notice, including around Cusco.

The scams

• The mustard or spill scam: something is squirted on your clothes, a helpful stranger cleans you up, your bag goes.
• Counterfeit note swapping: your genuine S/ 50 or S/ 100 is exchanged for a fake and handed back as "no good".
• Express kidnapping in unlicensed taxis: driven between ATMs and made to withdraw daily limits. This is the reason to use Uber or Cabify rather than a street taxi.
• Bag theft in restaurants: a rucksack hung on the back of a chair is gone in seconds. Keep it on your lap or between your feet.

Areas to avoid

• Lima: Callao outside the secured airport corridor, La Victoria, Rimac, El Agustino, and the peripheral settlements after dark.
• Cusco: the streets around San Pedro Market late at night.

Nature and roads

• Peru is seismically active.
• Huaicos - mudslides - from January to March regularly block Andean highways and damage railway track.
• Traffic is aggressive and does not yield to pedestrians, marked crossings included.

Law and social climate

• Drug sentences are severe: 8 to 25 years for possession, purchase or trafficking.
• Coca is a special case. Chewing coca leaves and drinking coca tea is entirely legal and normal in Peru, and it is offered everywhere in the highlands. Taking raw coca leaves or products out of the country is illegal, and they will also show on a drug test at home.
• Solo and female travellers: catcalling is common in cities; the standing advice is not to walk alone after dark in unlit areas and to use Uber, Cabify or hotel transport.
• LGBTQ+: same-sex relations are legal; attitudes are conservative nationally and considerably more relaxed in Miraflores and Barranco.

Emergency numbers

• 105 - Policia Nacional del Peru
• 106 - SAMU medical emergency and ambulance
• 116 - Cuerpo General de Bomberos, fire
• +51 1 460 1060 - POLTUR, the tourist police, also on WhatsApp at +51 980 122 335
• +51 1 574 8000 - iPeru, free tourist assistance in English, 24 hours a day

iPeru is the number to save. It is a national tourist assistance service, staffed in English, and it handles the things that are wrong but not life-threatening: a dispute with an operator, a theft, a cancelled train, not knowing where to go.

If your passport is lost or stolen

1. File a denuncia policial at the nearest police station immediately.
2. Contact your embassy in Lima for an emergency travel document.
3. Update your TAM Virtual record online or at a Migraciones office before you go to the airport. Skipping this causes a problem at departure, because your exit has to match a valid entry record.

Embassies in Lima

• United States - Avenida La Encalada, cuadra 17, Surco - +51 1 618 2000
• United Kingdom - Avenida Larco 1301, floor 22, Miraflores
• Canada - Avenida Bolognesi 850, Miraflores - +51 1 319 3200
• Australia - Avenida La Encalada 1388, Surco
• Czech Republic - Baltazar la Torre 398, San Isidro