Callao Monumental

Callao is Peru's main port, founded in 1537, and its historic centre - streets of republican and early twentieth-century buildings around the Plaza Matriz - had fallen into serious decay by the 2000s, with the surrounding area among the more dangerous in the Lima metropolitan region. From 2015 a private-led regeneration called Monumental Callao began restoring buildings in a few blocks, most visibly the Casa Ronald, and filling them with galleries, studios, design shops, bars and restaurants, with large murals painted across facades. It is genuinely interesting and it is also a contested project: critics describe it as an enclave of galleries in a neighbourhood whose residents were not the beneficiaries, and there have been disputes about displacement. Visitors are advised firmly to take a taxi in and out and stay within the regenerated blocks, because the surrounding streets remain risky.

What you actually see

• The Casa Ronald - the flagship restored building at the centre of the project.
• The murals - large-scale painting across the facades of the block.
• The galleries - studios, design shops, bars and exhibition spaces.
• The argument - a regeneration criticised as an enclave rather than a benefit locally.

When to go

Year-round. Daytime and weekends are when venues are open; the area is busier and safer then. Two to four hours.

Honest expectations

The surrounding neighbourhood is genuinely unsafe - take a taxi to the door and do not wander outside the project blocks. Many venues open only Thursday to Sunday. The regeneration is limited to a few streets, and the contrast beyond them is stark.

Nearby

The Real Felipe fortress is close in Callao; central Lima is east.