This whitewashed seafront villa is a popular long-running hostel with ultra-basic rooms, but all the toys backpackers crave, including cable TV and a DVD collection, free Internet access, pool and ping pong tables, and a shared kitchen. The staff are only too willing to act as...

In a renovated mansion with sea views, this friendly hostel has light-filled dormitories with big windows and attached bathrooms with 24hr hot water. Rates include free Internet access and a continental breakfast. There's a common kitchen and TV lounge, too.

In the pulsing heart of Miraflores, the Flying Dog is run by laid-back, youthful staff who speak fluent English. There's a common kitchen, Internet access, cable TV and a billiards lounge. Cheap rates include the works: free continental breakfast, local phone calls, luggage...

While there may be more popular backpacker guesthouses in town, this spic-and-span place on the edge of Miraflores is a notch above average. Clean dorms, super-modern facilities and a secure entrance, make for a comfy crash pad, especially for travellers seeking a more restful...

An amiable Dutch-Peruvian guesthouse in the barrio of San Miguel, Mami Panchita's is a secret gem. Its golden reputation relies on word of mouth and repeat visitors, as well as convenient proximity to the airport. A safe, familial atmosphere and reliable hot water are big draws.

Tucked away on a residential street, this renovated hostel is an excellent choice for its spotless dorms, though the private rooms aren't such a bargain. The Albergue also offers a large lounge, good kitchen facilities, plentiful travel information and a spacious garden with...

Popular with overseas tour groups, this secure, smart and relatively modern hotel has clean, comfortable rooms. Rates include breakfast, and English and French are spoken. For the location, it's an exceptional value, especially during the off-season when discounts are available.

This sophisticated Barranco guesthouse goes yards beyond the competition in service and style, with boldly painted walls and quality rooms. Its artistic flair is perfect for both the neighbourhood and the clientele.

Though the narrow corridors look pretty helter-skelter as you stand waiting in the cramped lobby, the varied rooms are actually in very good nick. A few on the top floor have wooden-beamed ceilings, red tiling and fireplaces. The amenities, especially for business travelers,...

In a converted early-20th-century mansion, the Hotel Antigua Miraflores is situated in a quiet spot. Its elegant lounges are decorated with colonial and modern Peruvian art. The rooms, while sporting all the expected modern facilities, also have intriguing antique flourishes.

Standing apart from the main drag in Miraflores, this upscale chain hotel offers more comfort than you'd expect, with high-tech modern perks that are otherwise hard to find in Peru. If you're lucky the affable, multi-lingual staff will even have warm chocolate-chip cookies...

Nostalgia strikes at this venerable 1920s hotel on the Plaza San Martin. Sadly, the hotel has had persistent plumbing problems and its rooms, though retaining a rare finesse, are increasingly musty from disuse. Yet for anyone chasing the retro atmosphere of the early...

This top-quality, five-star hotel garners rave reviews for its impeccable service and accommodations that have almost all the luxury you would expect for the price tag. Best of all, no other Miraflores hotel can claim to be as primely positioned as this one.

The newest luxury high-rise in Miraflores, the Marriott is perhaps the flashiest of them all, with a superb seafront location and a glam casino that's always hustling. Guest rooms are beyond comfortable, and have every amenity going.

Housed in a colonial-style villa, alluring La Castellana offers pleasant, if slightly dark rooms with private bathrooms, cable TV, direct-dial telephones and dual-voltage outlets. There's a grassy interior garden and a terrace for partaking of a continental breakfast, which is...

Assuredly the finest of Lima's luxury hotels, the Miraflores Park Hotel has glorious ocean views and all the frills expected of a five-star establishment. Gracefully situated on a tree-lined avenue along the Pacific Coast, it's a favorite with wedding parties and executives.

Over 400 spacious rooms and suites are contained in this vertigo-inducing tower that overlooks the venerable Palacio de Justicia. Abstract designs and muted desert tones unify the public and private spaces, with convenient amenities geared for business travellers. The free...

Among Lima's most polished hotels, the Sonesta Posada del Inca chain's El Olivar is a low-rise beauty with a modern country club atmosphere. The property sprawls beside a park planted with olive trees, after which the hotel was named. The service is flawless, especially for...

The five-star Swissôtel Lima ranks high among the city's top hotels. A gleaming high-rise in suburban San Isidro, this business-friendly chain property has elegant European flair and a trio of more than respectable restaurants. Despite having an out-of-the-way location, even...

Housed in a characterful, lofty-ceilinged colonial building, Belén has basic but good rooms and very hot water, though the popular bar downstairs gets rowdy at weekends.

This gay-friendly Dutch-Peruvian-owned hostel has well-maintained rooms that have bathrooms with hot water. It is located on a quiet street in an atmospheric, high-ceilinged casa antigua (old house) with colorful tiling and a glass ceiling.

The long-running Hostal España is in a rambling old mansion full of classical busts, birds and paintings. It's an established backpackers' scene with basic, but not unlovely, accommodation. Service can be abrupt, however it's the most social spot in central Lima to meet other...

Some rooms are better than others at this popular hostel, which has a tranquil internal lawn and a novel visitors' book scrawled on the walls. The good-sized rooms include cable TV, plus there's a solarium.

The clean and secure Hotel Alemán has exceptionally spacious rooms with colonial furnishings, private bathrooms, cable TV, telephones, large desks and minifridges. It gives discounts for long stays and to business travellers; rates include an excellent buffet breakfast.

This time-warped hotel, which attracts a fair quota of jazz musicians and writers, is a quirky place to stay in the haute neighborhood of Miraflores. The decent rooms partially pull off a woody, country charm.

Rooms in this high-rise hotel have cable TV, minibars and small sitting rooms plus that all-important double-glazing fronting onto one of Miraflores' busiest streets. There's a very small open-air swimming pool and bar on a high terrace, and rates include breakfast.

Worn budget alternative with flimsy and dark rooms but friendly service.

It's a good value but nondescript choice. Rooms are tidy and comfortable, and windows have double glazing.

This vaguely Swiss, odd-looking hotel has a cozy atmosphere and comfortable rooms with TV; four of the rooms have balconies overlooking a nice little garden. You may get a 20% discount if you show this book.

This is a popular and pleasant hotel set back from the road. It has grassy gardens and comfy rooms with cable TV and phone, and offers free airport pickup with advance notice.