Lima, Peru with Kids: The Best Playgrounds + Parks in Santiago de Surco
Seven awesome spots for wonderful (and free!) adventures with the littles in the heart of Lima
We’ve lived in Lima for almost a year, first in the very urban coastal Miraflores neighborhood (where parks abound) but we’ve now settled closer to the foothills of the Andes Mountains. We’ve found that most of the info online for things to do with kids focuses on the coast (Barranca & Miraflores). We’ve taken the time to scout out a number of parks in our never-ending quest to keep the kids burning off their bountiful energy, and wanted to make it easy for other families in the future to find these gems for their littles.
Here we’ve pulled together our favorite playgrounds and parks in and around the neighboring (and generally more central) area of Surco, which is over a “hill” (read: mountain) from us but a quick drive. We’ve linked each park to its Google Maps page for easy navigation. We hope you love these parks as much as we do! As ever in Lima, we highly recommend hats, sunscreen, and lots of water for any outdoor adventuring!
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Beyond having a great 3-tier playground with tons of slides, Amistad is almost like a miniature theme park with many things to do including a train to ride, Moroccan-theme arch to climb, duck pond with paddle boats and many happy ducks (and pigeons) to feed, roaming peacocks, bridges and trails, restaurants and snack stands, and neighboring attractions including Infinity Park, Fun Jungle, and the Museum of Natural History. If you go at the end of January/early February, check out the many Monarch butterflies and caterpillars near the arch hedges.
Parque de la Felicidad (technically San Borja, but borderline!)
We think of this as The Long Skinny Park - it stretches for miles, giving tons of space for kids to run. There is a pond with a fun bridge as well as three separate playgrounds - none of them are particularly fancy, but our kids don’t care. We recommend starting at the pond and walking north.
What is not to love about a 3 story playground structure with some wicked slides AND a water feature with hippo statues! The playground area is fenced as well to help keep your littles safe.
Three separate colorful play structures (my kids love claiming a “base” as their own), see-saws, and swings. Like Parque Fruendt above, there’s a nice little fence all the way around to at least delay any escape attempts by little runners.
Known to my kids as “The Pirate Ship” playground, Casuarinas is a hit every time we visit. They love the “rock” to climb and the transparent sections of the super tall slide. The fence around the play area gives me peace of mind as well.
Slides, slides, and more slides as well as lots of green space for the kids to run around. I remember from when mine were little and still crawling everywhere that I deeply appreciated the rubber mat footing (to dull falls and reduce dirtiness!) they have here.
This one is pretty southerly for Surco, but its such a cool and relatively new play structure that its worth the trip. This might not be for you if you have a runner - there isn’t a fence around and there is a deepish drainage ditch (with a bridge over it for pedestrian access). Our kids especially love playing tag on this park as you can run through the contiguous structure escaping your captors!
P.S. If you’re looking for even more great options nearby, we put together a very similar post for our 4 favorite parks in our own neighborhood of La Molina.
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Consider buying us a coffee as thanks!
We write to help others. We have no ads getting in the way of that. Please consider buying us a coffee if you find our posts useful - its quick and easy, and we’re endlessly grateful!
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