Visa, immunization, security, climate, payment

Do I need a Visa for Peru?
A tourist visa allows you to stay legally in Peru for 183 days in a row. Usually you get a visa for this period when entering the country (e.g. at the airport). Sometimes it's only issued for 90 days, the practice here is quite licentious. For every day your stay exceeds the allowed time, you just pay $1 when leaving the country, which means that also longer stays are possible and unbureaucratic. Another option is to cross the border and re-enter the country. When travelling to a neighbor country before the visa ends, you automatically get a new tourist visa.

Which immunizations do I need?
When travelling to Peru you should possess the usual immunization protection of your home country (tetanus, diphtheria, mumps, measles, rubella...). Immunization protection against hepatitis A, hepatitis B and typhus is also recommendable. If you travel to the Amazonas region, you should also consider to be protected against yellow fever and malaria. In general, we recommend to turn to your family doctor in sufficient time before you travel.

How safe is Peru?
During the last years Peru has become much safer. Anyway, there are still problems with small crime delicts. Especially in buses, crowded places and tourist hot spots there is a lot of pickpocketing going on.

Serious traffic accidents occur quite often on interurban bus trips, and also tourists are among the victims. That's why we absolutely recommend only to travel with bigger and well known bus companies. They might be slightly more expensive, but they are also safer. Smaller providers - often without license - often contract unexperienced drivers and don't respect rest periods. Moreover, some small companies don't conduct the necessary technical revisions on their buses. Also this leads to grave accidents!

Being a “gringo” you call the attention if you want it or not. Because of that, we recommend you to pay attention to the following precaution list:

• Don’t visit poor districts or only go there with locals you know and trust and who know the place.
• Don’t show your belongings like money, cameras and watches when walking around.
• Be careful with distraction tricks in crowded places, for example when you get off a bus or when you leave a bar, restaurant or a crowded event.
• Always keep an eye on your belongings like bags and wallets. In cafés and restaurants, don’t put your belongings on the backrest; keep them close to your body.
• Keep important things like your credit card, flight tickets, passport or huge amounts of money in a safe place or at least keep them on your body.
• Make a photocopy of your passport and keep it in a safe place, separated from other belongings.
• Only take official taxis.
• In intercity buses, always keep an eye on your hand luggage. Try to travel with big and well known companies also when it costs more – they are safer.

You can find more security advices on the website of your country's Department For Foreign Affairs.

How is the climate in Peru?
Since Peru is located in the Southern Hemisphere, it has – speaking in general – reverse seasons compared to those in Europe. This means, if there’s summer in Europe, there’s winter in Peru. Anyway, Peru’s special geography offers a broad range of climate zones. The northern coast, close to the equator, has a mild and warm climate during the whole year, so the beaches there can be visited in any month of the year. The rest of the coast has a quite moderate climate. The Peruvian Amazonas has a warm and wet tropical climate. The Peruvian highlands on the other hand, la sierra, have a dry climate, with a strong sun during the day and intense cold by night, with precipitation from December to March. From May to August, temperatures fall, producing a cold climate especially in the very high regions.

The climate in Lima is very humid, with a 100 % of air humidity on some days. The four seasons are not easy to distinguish here, you could even say that there are only two “real” seasons in Lima: spring and autumn, considering that temperatures in the hottest months (December to May) stay around 25 to 30 degrees, while in the coldest months (June to November) the average temperatures are around 13 to 16 degrees. Although temperatures never get very low, winter in Lima feels very cold, because of the high humidity and because on most days the sky is clouded here.

In general, flats and offices in Lima don’t have radiators, so in any case we recommend to bring warm clothes! On the other hand, in the hottest months many restaurants and offices have air condition. In these months the humidity is also slightly lower and the chance to have days with blue sky is higher. On the few rainy days in Lima you only get soft drizzles. This happens above all in the coldest months.

Below the average temperatures in Lima:

How do I pay in Peru?
Most things are paid in local currency, the Nuevo Sol. Things of a big value though, like cars or apartments are still calculated in dollars.

You can take traveller cheques to Peru, but often it’s a very bureaucratic act to change them in banks since they are not very known in Peru. The easiest way is to take out money with your bank card (Maestro) or your credit card on the cashpoints of the different banks. You can take out a maximum amount of 700 Soles (210 €) daily (in some banks less). Your bank charges you an amount of approx. 3 to 4 € for every transaction. Commissions for taking out cash with your credit card are usually higher. You should check this with your bank before you travel. You can pay in almost any place like in restaurants and supermarkets with your credit card. To change Euros or Dollars to getNuevo Soles, the best places for this are the money exchanges (“casas de cambio”); they charge less than the banks. You also find persons, who offer ambulant money change outside of almost any bank. Anyway, we don’t recommend to use their service!.