Pachacamac

Pachacamac was an oracle, and successive cultures kept it going: the Lima people, then Wari, then the Ychsma, then the Inca, who added their own buildings without displacing the older ones. The result is a walled city several square kilometres across on the desert edge above the Lurín valley, with long straight streets, pyramid platforms with ramps, the Painted Temple, a compound usually identified as a house of chosen women, and the Inca Temple of the Sun on a terraced bluff with the Pacific directly below. A modern site museum at the entrance holds the finds, including a carved wooden post generally taken to be the idol itself.

What you actually see

• The Temple of the Sun - the Inca terraced platform above the ocean.
• The Painted Temple - traces of the red pigment that once covered the ramped pyramid.
• The pilgrim streets - long walled avenues running between the platforms.
• The site museum - the wooden idol, textiles and ceramics from the sanctuary.

When to go

The Lima coast sits under low grey cloud from about May to November, which flattens the light and the mood here; December to April is the sunny half. Morning is cooler and quieter. The circuit is long, so allow three hours minimum, and check whether the site vehicle is running if you would rather not walk all of it.

Honest expectations

It is huge, sandy and almost entirely without shade, and the walking circuit is a real hike in the sun. Much of the city is low mounds rather than standing architecture, and the Inca temple is the only part with an obvious silhouette. Coach tours often allow forty minutes and skip the museum, which is the best part. Under the winter overcast the whole site looks grey.

Nearby

The Lurín valley restaurants and the beaches of the southern coast road.