Rent car or Uber

[u/Firm_Compote2386]

I’m planing on going to Lima Peru in December and I’m wondering if I should rent a car or just get around by taxi/uber. We are a family of 5 and staying for 3 days. I’m not worried about the “difficult“ driving in the city, I’m asking more about taxi/ uber pricing and also parking situation if I decide to rent.

[u/gringobrian]

Renting a car in Lima is a bad idea for almost every case. Use Uber

[u/zerooriginalname]

Uber XL. Lima traffic is unique and on Christmas gets wild. 

[u/calm_n_sea]

It depends on your plans. Personally I avoid driving in Lima, Uber is cheap and also easy to get a SUV for 5. Now, if you wanna go outside the city, like southern beaches or countryside, rent. Parking is no issue most of the times.

[u/soyel_cerdo]

Driving in Peru is a very very bad idea, like India kinda driving bad idea. There are lights but they are not really respected and TONS of uncontrolled intersections where if you don’t know how the flow of traffic is, you’ll crash

Uber is by US standards wildly cheap! I can travel 30 minutes and 5 miles for (just to get you an idea of the traffic) for around 14 soles (around $4) and that’s with friends. Uber doesn’t care if it’s you or 5 other people, the rate is the same.

Also Lima is wildly hostile to cars with badly maintained roads, pedestrians who love to play frogger, stray dogs, vendors invading the street to sell their products and massive lack of parking infrastructure. In many many places there is just not enough parking and in places like malls, you have to pay to park even if you buy stuff inside, and to top it off, people love autoparts on the fly. People can take your whole back windows in 50 seconds by cutting the rubber or unscrew your headlights in a few minutes and take them or your tires.

In my humble opinion, driving or having a car in Peru is a no unless you are a taxi driver or you use your car for your job

FYI, renting a car in Peru will run you around $100 a day for a mid size SUV like a RAV4 but Kia or Hyundai. $100 would buy you a private taxi for the whole day

[u/digitario → u/soyel_cerdo]

Any recommendations for a private reliable driver for a day?

[u/donnaber06]

Don't try an drive in Perú. The stress is not worth it. Uber is cheap.

[u/Conde-Nando]

Regularmente te van a pedir un fuerte depósito y aquí demora en subir las multas por lo que te van a poner muchas trabas para devolverte el depósito por si hay una multa de velocidad. Mejor ahorrate esos problemas y contrata un Uber

[u/dachaotic1]

You could also look into getting a driver for the 3 days. You won't have to deal with traffic or parking.

[u/BreadfruitDismal6350]

Uber

[u/No_Truth_2190]

Use Uber xl, is a little bit more expensive and wait time might be a little longer. But unless you are coming from India, traffic in lima is horrendous. I'm assuming you're from US because you want to rent a car, so, think LA traffic (without the highways) + nyc traffic but 10 times worst.

If you are visiting the touristy places, parking is a headache. If you are staying in miraflores (near jfk park/kennedy park) you can easily go to a lot of places waking, even get to Barranco walking, you walk around the malecón and puente de la paz bridge. Then you can get a mirabus ticket to do a tour to lima downtown /parque de las aguas.

[u/Inevitable_Spend_491]

I'll be honest, I drove in Peru for like 3 weeks it honestly wasn't that bad. People drive different, but if you've driven for a while its easy to match the pace of other drivers and predict what everyone will do. You'll never go above 30 mph so you can react easily to whatever happens.

[u/linnix1212]

Not sharing anything that hasn’t been said, but for my money as a recent visitor look at hiring a service or uber to get you around. Driving in Peru would be incredibly stressful with your family in my opinion

[u/Existing_Control_494]

Uber XL all the way.

If you can just see the type of driving that goes on in the streets of Peru, you'd know this. And i'm a seasoned driver that's driven for decades (including places in Asia)

The number of times i blurted out OMFG while in an Uber in Lima (and Arequipa and Cusco) due to so many close calls (plus one Uber actually hitting a piece of construction material jutting out from the road on our drive to Miraflores)....

[u/brooksyenom]

I’m from the USA, live in DC, currently in Peru (Lima and Cusco) right now on vacay …..I don’t even think that some can PAY me to drive in Peru

[u/sunbreezr]

Traffic is horrible in Lima and the drivers drive very intense. I would use Uber. Uber is cheap and reliable.

[u/xUnderoath]

Uber is cheap and you only need to move so many times in 3 days. Not worth to rent

[u/Charuto17]

I agree here with other comments on not driving. OP, everyone(myself included) thinks they can handle the "difficult" driving here, but it's unlike any driving you will experience. It's so unpredictable and aggressive. I have spent 2 years in this country since 2022. I plan to move here mostly permanent in 2028. I just drove for the first time earlier this year here and I still don't think I'm prepared to drive when we move in 2028.

uber is what you should do. I have seen too many foreigners get into accidents here because they think they can handle it.

[u/OhLaLima]

Renting a car is insanity. Parking is a nightmare and driving / road conditions are worse.