Huaca Pucllana

Pucllana was built by the Lima culture between roughly AD 400 and 700 as a ceremonial and administrative centre, and the city has since grown around it, so the pyramid now rises out of a block of flats and traffic. The construction is what makes it worth an hour: the adobe bricks are set on end with gaps between them, like books on a shelf, a technique thought to let the structure shift rather than crack in earthquakes. Excavation has been running since the early 1980s and continues in view of visitors. The circuit climbs the terraces to the top platform and takes in a small museum, a garden of pre-Columbian crops and a pen of Peruvian hairless dogs.

What you actually see

• The upright brickwork - adobe set vertically with gaps, visible in the cut sections.
• The top platform - the ceremonial level with Miraflores tower blocks all around.
• The working excavation - open trenches with archaeologists at work on weekdays.
• The crop garden and hairless dogs - pre-Columbian plants and the native breed.

When to go

Any time of year; Lima's weather here is a question of grey or bright rather than hot or cold. Evening visits with the pyramid floodlit run on most nights and are cooler and more atmospheric than the daytime slot. Groups leave at fixed intervals, so arriving on the hour saves waiting, and the last tour is well before closing.

Honest expectations

You cannot walk around on your own; entry is by guided group on a fixed route and a fixed pace, and groups can be twenty or more. The whole visit is about an hour and a quarter. Surrounding apartment blocks are in every photograph, which for some people is the charm and for others ruins it. The museum is small and the site is expensive for its size.

Nearby

Miraflores clifftops, Barranco and the Larco Museum are all short rides away.