Surfing in Lima

While many people just use Lima as a connection city to Cusco, it has its own gems that are worth spending a couple of days exploring. One of my favorites was surf school. Lima sits atop cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The coast has rolling waves that aren't too big, aren't too small, and are perfect for beginning surfers. Without reservations, we went one afternoon with a dream to surf. Within an hour, Jimmy and I were standing up, haphazardly steering our boards, and riding waves. It was exhilarating! 

Surfing in Lima in 5 easy steps:

1. Go to the coast in Miraflores. It's the part of town that borders the coast and has the best restaurants in town. 

2. Find where the paragliding is. You can see paragliders all along the coast in Miraflores, so find where they take off and land. 

3. From the paragliding location, go north to find the stairs that lead down to the beach. Tents of different surf schools are set up at the bottom of the stairs.

4. Walk around the tents and talk to instructors. Get price quotes and ask to check the equipment. The equipment  included in the price should be a wetsuit, water shoes, and a surf board. 

5. Once you find a competent instructor, a fair price, and equipment in good shape, go surfing! 

For a private lesson lasting an hour and a half, we paid $16 USD per person. We talked to about six different surf schools before finding F Vidalf Surf School.