More than just a zoo, this vast city park also contains a botanical garden, numerous museums and a set of ancient pyramids.
Leyendas Park is a sprawling nature park in the San Miguel area, to Lima’s southwest. It is best known for its zoo, which is home to a thrilling array of local animals, but as you explore its grounds you will also find a series of museums, botanical gardens and historical monuments. This unique park, vast and varied in its contents, makes for a perfect day out with the kids.
Head to the informative, evocative Leyendas Park zoo. The animals in the zoo’s collection are mostly native to Peru, although a few exotic imports are also on display. Take your kids to the petting zoo to interact with a range of playful creatures, or look at the tigers and bears wandering around their special large enclosures.
Explore the different areas of the zoo, which are divided according to the geographic origin of the flora and fauna. Check out the pumas in the highlands section, then head to the coastal landscape to see penguins, turtles and sea lions.
Leave time to explore the rest of Leyendas Park. Its sprawling grounds include a variety of other interesting attractions. The transformation process of crude oil is front-and-centre at the Petroleum Museum, whilst the Celestino Kalinosky Museum is home to a lovely collection of butterflies. Elsewhere in the park, visitors will also enjoy the so-called "butterfly hedge", a display of brightly-coloured plants arranged in a butterfly shape.
Search the park for its ancient Huacas, pyramids made from clay and mud by indigenous Peruvian civilisations long before the arrival of settlers from Europe. The Huacas, which are scattered around Leyendas Park, were used as temples, burial grounds and meeting points for the local societies’ various activities.
Leyendas Park is located in San Miguel, 7.6 kilometres (4.7 miles) from Plaza Mayor in central Lima. It is easily accessible by bus or via a 15-minute taxi ride from the city centre. While in the area, head to the nearby Larco Museum to see treasures from Peru’s rich pre-colonial history, including a large erotic pottery collection).
