The Metropolitan region of Lima and Callao and its Districts

The central place "Plaza de Armas" in the center of Lima with its historical buildings.

While talking about Lima one has to remind that Lima consists of two seperated governmental districts, which are Lima Metropolitana and the province city of Callao. Basically both are independent cities, but mostly are named together when talking about Lima. Correctly one would have to say Lima or Lima/Callao. I don't want to be that rigid in this introduction, because I want to talk about both. Though I mean mainly both as long as not especially seperated.

Lima itself consists of 43 districts, which are divided in historical central districts, south, north and east districts. The province of Callao includes 6 districts. The whole list you can see in the following table. The whole population of the Lima and Callao megacity is around 10 million inhabitants. The last official count was in 2005, though there are actually no correct counts available. But the metropolitan region is growing very fast, especially in times with decreasing economy, which happened during the 'Humalla' government between 2011 and 2016.


The districts of Lima and Callao:

Lima	~ 2.500.000 inh.	Central districts
La Victoria	Rimac	San Miguel
San Borja	Miraflores	Surquillo
Breña	Pueblo Libre	Jesus Maria
San Isidro	Lince	Magdalena del Mar
Cercado de Lima (Lima centro)
	~ 1.900.000 inh.	South districts
Villa Maria del Triunfo	Villa El Salvador	San Juan de Miraflores
Santiago de Surco	Chorrillos	Pachacamac
Lurin	Barranco	Pucusana
San Bartolo	Punta Hermosa	Punta Negra
Santa Maria del Mar
	~ 2.300.000 inh.	North districts
San Martin de Porres	Comas	Los Olivos
Puente Piedra	Independencia	Carabayllo
Ancón	Santa Rosa
	~ 1.800.000 inh.	East districts
San Juan de Lurigancho	Ate (Vitarte)	Santa Anita
El Augustino	Lurigancho (Chosica)	La Molina
San Luis	Chaclacayo	Cieneguilla
Callao	~ 1.900.000 inh.	The city of Callao
Bellavista	Callao (Airport and Harbour)	Carmen de la Legua
La Perla	La Punta	Ventanilla
Lima and Callao total inhabitants:	Aprox. 10.400.000	The listed population numbers are a conservative estimation based on the demographic developments during the last 10 years.

To see each of the districts of Lima and Callao please refer to Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_districts_of_Lima

With the links in the table above you can directly jump to each district (as far as already listed) and back to the table.

Here is a graphical overview of all districts of Lima and Callao.

I will tell you about my personal experiences in this megacity. Some things may not be compliant with other sources, but this is how I personally felt and experienced life in Lima when I was living there. I am already out of the city for a few years now, but I still love Lima. And this while I am really not a city person. Grew up and lived most time outside medium sized cities and countryside. The only big city I ever was and felt in love with. I don't know all the districts, but many of them more or less good and some of them even better than most taxi drivers. I was exploring big parts of the central districts by foot. Though let me give you some personal basics of almost all districts. Some of them I don't know and I will skip them.

People who come as “normal” tourists to Peru arrive at the international airport Jorge Chavez in Lima. They usually stay a few days in Miraflores, which is the tourist district of Lima. Most big hotels are there and also most backpackers hostels. Most tourists are travelling to Cusco, Puno, Macchu Picchu and the Titicaca lake. The south part of Peru is quite well developed for tourism, but the rest not really. Most of the tourists follow in Lima some guide trails into the historical center, but thats mostly all they see in Lima. If you want to see more then usual, you have to do your own investigation in internet and locally with asking around the locals. Lima is an exceptional city in my eyes and there are so many unforgetable things to see, to experience and to learn.

You always should be aware that such big cities are always kinda dangerous. Some districts or parts more, others less. Best is always carry with you what you really need at this time and not more and especially no valueable things like juwels, passport and so on. Only carry a copy of your passport or any other ID card, which is not needed for further travelling. If you move in poor and dangerous areas always hide your camera and carry everything as close and connected to your body as possible. Lima is defenitely not more dangerous than other cities in the world. Most of the people have to blame themselves if they get robbed. Follow simple rules and always be aware where you go, when, with whom and how and you can save yourself a lot of trouble.

Though, don't be afraid of visiting Lima and for sure you will have a great time in this city.

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