Christmas in Lima: panetón and hot chocolate

How do people in Lima celebrate Christmas?

With a big family dinner on the night of 24 December. Some families sit down at about 10 PM, and at midnight everyone hugs, toasts and opens presents while fireworks go off across the city.

The Noche Buena is the heart of it. Andina, the state news agency, describes neighbours greeting each other at midnight with hugs and handshakes, children gathering round the tree for their gifts, and the sky filling with fireworks. Many Catholic families go to the Misa de Gallo, the midnight Mass, before or after dinner. The next day is slow: leftovers, family visits and, for plenty of people, the beach.

December is also a month of holidays. Two fall early, back to back, and Christmas Day lands on a Friday in 2026, which makes a long weekend for locals. Shops and markets are busy in the run-up, with turkeys, pigs and stacks of panetón boxes everywhere.

What do Peruvians eat for Christmas dinner?

Roast turkey above all, often with lechón, Arab-style rice, apple purée and a Russian salad. Panetón with hot chocolate comes after, and a sparkling toast at midnight.

The turkey is the centrepiece, roasted whole, and Andina names roast suckling pig and pollo a la brasa as the other mains on many tables. The sides are a Lima mix. Arroz árabe is rice with fine noodles and raisins, a nod to the Arab influence in Spanish cooking. Puré de manzana, a sweet apple purée, goes with the meat, and the ensalada rusa of potato, beetroot and peas sits beside it. Some families add a sweet potato purée.

A plate of all of it is heavy, and nobody minds. The panetón and hot chocolate can come out at midnight or the next morning, and the feast carries on into Christmas Day.

Why do Peruvians drink hot chocolate at Christmas in summer?

Habit with colonial roots. Hot chocolate was allowed during the fast before the midnight Mass, the custom took hold in cold Cusco, and it spread across Peru, heat or no heat.

The Lima newspaper El Tiempo traces it back to colonial times, when a cup of chocolate did not break the fast of 24 December. In the Andes it also kept people warm. Lima kept the habit even though December there averages a high of 24.4 °C, and families make it thick, with milk, spices and plenty of sugar.

The panetón came later. It started out as Milan's panettone, arrived with Italian immigrants, and in the 1950s the D'Onofrio company reshaped it into the tall dome Peruvians know today. Peru now eats more panetón than anywhere else, about 1.1 kg per person a year according to the farm news site Agraria. In December supermarkets stack the boxes as high as the shelves allow.

What is a chocolatada in Peru?

A Christmas hot chocolate party, usually for children. Parishes, schools, companies and neighbourhood groups pour hot chocolate, hand out panetón and often small toys.

Chocolatadas run all through December, in offices, school yards, church halls and on the streets of poorer districts, where volunteers bring the chocolate and the panetón to families. For many children it is the Christmas treat of the year, and for companies it is the office party.

You do not need an invitation to see the spirit of it. Bakeries and cafés across Lima sell hot chocolate and a slice of panetón in December, and the boxed panetón makes an easy gift to take home.

Can you take a food tour in Lima at Christmas?

Yes, on most December days. Check the calendar for 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January, and book early for the week between Christmas and New Year.

Each tour shows its open dates when you pick a day, and every option here cancels free up to 24 hours before. The days around Christmas are a good time for a tour: you get the summer weather, and the guide can explain what you see in the markets. The sweeter tours suit the season. The ceviche, pisco and pollo a la brasa tour includes suspiro a la limeña, arroz con leche, mazamorra morada and a chocolate tasting class, from $39. The two-hour street food tour ends on picarones, mazamorra morada and rice pudding.

Travelling with someone vegetarian over the holidays? The Surquillo market tour offers vegetarian, lactose-free and gluten-free menus, and the Miraflores cooking class has a vegetarian option on request.

Pollo a la brasa, ceviche, three Lima desserts and a chocolate tasting class, the most sweets for the price.

★ 4.8 · 3 hours · from $39

Explore the ceviche and pisco tour → Tour details

What is Lima like in December?

Warm and getting sunnier. Summer begins on 21 December, the grey winter sky breaks up, and limeños head for the beaches on the Costa Verde.

From June to November Lima sits under a low grey cloud. In December it starts to lift, with about 130 hours of sun in the month and more in January. Nights stay mild at around 18 °C, so a light jacket covers the midnight walk home.

Summer also brings out the ceviche crowd. Cevicherías fill at lunchtime, the fruit stalls in the markets pile up, and the Malecón in Miraflores is busy until late. For a seasonal day, take a market tour in the morning and save the evening for family-style Christmas food. More on the dish in our ceviche guide.

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