The Best Hostels and Cheap Hotels to Book for Backpackers in Miraflores, Lima

Loki? There’s nothing low-key about this pumping party place. Stays here are more sleepless than snooze-inducing. But there are no Miraflores hostels better at helping you break the ice, over cocktails at the bar (before shaking your stuff into the night at one of the many DJ-driven parties). Brightly colored counterpanes liven up super-compact rooms and dorms with bunks in tight ranks (that’s how popular this place is). There are cheap cafe-style-eats on site, and the hostel can even organize tours.

Despite the name, you’re a long way from a llama in Lima. But, at Llama Brothers, you’re only three blocks from the sea. And there are great restaurants and bars on the doorstep. There are no dorms, just a handful of doubles and triples. All are simple white cubes with tiled floors, dominated by beds and given dabs of color by bright, fresh bedspreads and cushions. Making friends is easy – there’s a shared space with complimentary tea and coffee and a communal kitchen. With no party bar, tranquillity reigns.

On a quiet, leafy backstreet, this small guesthouse and hostel is a 10-minute cab ride from the ocean, right off the main road Avenida Arequipa. Its popularity means that dorms pack in the guests, who like this place for its affordability and simplicity. What they also love are the big buffet breakfasts thrown in with the accommodation price – easily enough to keep you powering through until the evening. On top of all that, the airport-shuttle stop is just a two-minute walk away.

Despite the name, there are no ocean views from this modern, modest little hotel. That said, the setting is great – it’s only a minute from Parque Salazar, where benches are perched on the clifftop, affording fantastic Pacific Ocean sunset views. (Look out for the statue of Paddington Bear, wearing a Union Jack duffle coat.) Step inside Bayview, and you’ll appreciate the cozy, contemporary rooms with beds in pinstripe linens against cream walls and church pew fittings. The whole thing sits nicely around a small central courtyard. Top tip: pick a suite, and you’ll get a whirlpool tub.

Regular guests choose this one for its location, on a quiet, safe residential street a 10-minute walk from Waikiki Beach (yes, Lima has one, too). Kennedy Park is also practically next door. There are restaurants, cevicherías and bars within a block or two, and the hotel has genuinely personable service. Rooms are simple but cozy, with warm wood fittings, Peruvian-textile tablecloths and counterpanes and modern ensuites with walk-in showers. TVs have English-language channels, and there’s plenty of light flooding in through large windows.

This is a hostel made for meet-ups and hook-ups more than serene stays – note the big games rooms and bar, where table football and pool are the incentives to linger. The large communal areas are dotted with patent leather sofas and vibrant red decor throughout. It’s well-kept, with light dorms brightly painted against clean wood-laminate floors. Rooms come with poster art, wall mirrors, bedside lighting and modest work-tables. There’s a flower-filled park and plenty of places to eat close by.

With its unfussy, airport-hotel-style interiors, the Faraona is hard to beat for value or location: the lush 7 de Junio Park is a short walk away, and you’re spoilt for choice with restaurants and bars lining the surrounding streets. Spacious rooms have a moody palette of 1990s dark beiges and taupes and come with ensuites. Breakfast is included. The BRT rapid transport line is right on your doorstep – hop aboard for speedy access downtown, as well as to the principal tourist sights in Lima.

The best thing about the Andesmar? The location – it’s next to fountain-filled Óvalo Bolognesi Park and a five-minute walk from clifftop Parque Antonio Raimondi, where views take in the Pacific Ocean. With all kinds of restaurants and shops in its vicinity, it’s a relaxing place: rooms have the clean simplicity of a budget business inn, with purple bedspreads draped over white duvets, fitted workstations and airy print artworks on the walls. Ask for one of the spaces with a kitchenette and floor-to-ceiling windows – and don’t miss the buffet breakfast, which is included in the room price.