San Isidro – Lima’s Garden District and Financial Center

San Isidro is not only characterized by its green areas and exclusive residential areas. San Isidro is home to many of the best restaurants, hotels and concert halls in the city. Despite the construction boom, San Isidro has retained part of its past aristocracy.

The atmosphere for which this district was known at the beginning of the century is still evident in the area of El Olivar, the old olive grove where many of its original trees have been preserved to this day.

In recent years, the district has become an important financial district as many banks and companies have left downtown Lima to establish their headquarters in modern office buildings.

However, San Isidro managed to combine this modernity and progress with its cultural and traditional past, and today it is a beautiful, modern and traditional district that has not lost any of its former elegance.

In San Isidro there are unique colonial houses (especially around the famous olive grove “El Olivar”) and beautiful old houses from the early twentieth century that gave San Isidro its personality.

The district of San Isidro was officially founded on April 24, 1931. San Isidro has an area of 11.1 km². The district is linked to the center of the city and Miraflores by Arequipa Avenue and Via Expresa (also called Paseo de la República or Zanjón). The district of San Isidro has the highest human development index in Peru.

San Isidro limits to the north with the districts of La Victoria, Lince and Jesús María, to the east with the district of San Borja, to the south with the districts of Miraflores and Surquillo and to the west with the district of Magdalena del Mar. and the Pacific Ocean

One of the main attractions of San Isidro is the archaeological site “Huaca Huallamarca”, also known as “Pan de Azúcar” (carrot). During the Lima culture, it was built and inhabited by the “Hualla” of the Lima Valley and was also the home of the “Ishma” (around the 11th century) and the Incas (15th and 16th centuries).

In each period, “Sugar Loaf” had a different purpose. It was first used as a temple, then as a cemetery and later as a human settlement.

The “Huaca Huallamarca” is beautifully preserved. It is a stark contrast to the surrounding area, the modern district of San Isidro, and is a tangible witness to the highly developed prehispanic communities. The museum on the site shows artifacts from “Huallamarca”.