Miraflores is an upmarket area of Lima

Once you leave the Amazon and the Andes, Peru dries up. The coastline is a hot and arid strip of desert, burnt white by a tireless sun.

The country's frenetic capital, Lima, is sprawled along the coast and is hot most of the year. It is home to almost a third of the country's population and is notorious among travellers for being dodgy, so lock up your valuables.

Downtown Lima is nothing to write home about. It is slightly run down and you have the feeling there are multiple drug deals going on around you in the large public squares and crowded cafes.

Still, Lima's churches and museums are worth visiting and if you're fresh off the boat, they provide a perfect crash course in Peru's indigenous and colonial history.

A good place to start is the Museo de la Nacion, an imposing concrete building which houses the most important archaeological artifacts and artworks from Peru's pre-Columbian history.

The free Museo de la Inquisicion provides a unique glimpse into the dark days following the Spanish conquest.   The museum - complete with the original dungeons and recreated torture chambers - is housed in the former Inquisition headquarters that saw non-Catholics throughout Latin America tortured and murdered between 1570 and 1820. 

Miraflores is the more upmarket end of Lima, and surprisingly pretty. It's built along a string of cliff tops with well-maintained walkways linking manicured gardens, colourful mosaic sculptures and almost-clean beaches.

In the heart of Miraflores there's a flash open-air shopping centre, which is the best place in Lima to have dinner or a beer. You can pull up a table on a balcony and watch the sun set over the Pacific. Not a bad way to end the day or your trip to Peru.