How to Travel in Lima, Peru

Lima like many large cities all over the world are reservoirs of cultural, historical, artistic, and visual wealth for the traveling photographer, yet one major pain about most large cities is figuring out how to get from point A to point B.  For many this could mean a ride in a taxi cab (of which there are many in Lima) or it could mean renting a car, but if your a traveler on a low-budget or a recent expat residing in Lima you probably need a more inexpensive form of transportation.  Luckily Lima has hundreds of bus and combi routes that are spread throughout the city like a spider's web, which is great except when you don't know which bus to take.

In the past, I have resorted to age old practice (often loathed by men and advocated by women) of asking for directions which usually worked well when you wanted to figure out which bus to take, granted it helps if you at least know in what direction your destination is.  This methods seems practical enough however for a tourist it can be to their disadvantage as it isn't usually safe to announce that "your not from here" (overlooking the fact that your thick accent doesn't help much either).

Unfortunately the public transportation in Lima is privatized which might not sound like a bad thing at first until you either see it in action or come to the realization that there exists over 600 hundred (roughly, could be more) bus and combi routes run by several syndicates companies.  Fortunately, now there exists an option for those who want to find the best route/bus line to take to get to their destination thanks to Jeroen Prinsen's useful website called Rutas Recomendables or Recommended Routes.

Rutas Recomendables is Prinsen's realized vision of a functional transit map for Lima similar to that used for the London Tube.  His website and map are the products of a project that took him over a year in field research to finalize, but is now available to the public and is well worth a look for those who are not familiarized yet.

I was recently contacted by Prinsen who had found my blog through an article I wrote earlier about public transportation in Lima, anyways he told about his project and website which i found amazing so I decided to post it here.  His website is put together well and is very easy to navigate with clear and concise information about some Lima's most important bus routes.  You can purchase a high resolution version of his map for ONLY $5 USD or download his low-res map from his site for FREE, either way you should check it out!

WEBSITE: RUTAS RECOMENDABLES