Lima Cooking Class 2026: Class or Food Tour?

Booking choice: The Miraflores cooking class, from $48 per person. Check dates Tour details

Lima does both formats well, and they cost about the same. The difference is the shape of the day. A class keeps you in one kitchen with a chef for 2 hours 30 minutes to 4 hours. A tour moves you through a neighbourhood and its stalls, with far more dishes and less hands-on work.

This guide lines them up: what you make, what you taste, which include a market, which pick you up and which work for vegetarians.

The quick answer

Pick a cooking class if you want to make ceviche and a pisco sour yourself: the Miraflores cooking class runs 2 hours 30 minutes in a chef's home from $48, and the cooking class with market tour adds hotel pickup and the Surquillo market from $67. Pick a food tour for range: the Barranco food tour serves a full lunch with cooking demonstrations from $105. With three days or more in Lima, do one of each.

Is a cooking class or a food tour better in Lima?

A food tour for your first day, because you taste far more. A class later in the trip, once you know which dish you want to master.

Food tours serve 10 to 15 tastings across a neighbourhood. Classes go deep on two or three dishes and let you do the cutting, squeezing and shaking. Prices overlap, so choose on the experience, not the cost.

	Cooking class	Food tour
What you do	Cook 2 to 3 dishes and a pisco cocktail	Walk and taste 10 to 15 items
Length	2 hours 30 minutes to 4 hours	2 to 4 hours
Price (2026)	From $48 to $67	From $39 to $105
Group size	Up to 8 or 10	Varies; Criollo Nights takes 8
Pickup	Included on the market class	Meeting points
Vegetarians	On request at the Miraflores class	Only some tours

What do you cook in a Lima cooking class?

Ceviche on every class, plus causa or a tuna tartare, and a pisco sour or chilcano to finish.

At the Miraflores cooking class each guest makes 1 ceviche, 1 tuna tartare with soy sauce, sesame oil and avocado, and 1 pisco sour or chilcano, then eats a dessert. The hosts produce pisco and pour 17 flavours to taste. You also get photos and an edited video.

The cooking class with market tour teaches ceviche, causa and a pisco sour, served as a 2-course meal with recipes and a certificate. Causa is the one people take home, since the potato and ají amarillo are easy to find abroad.

A tall causa topped with egg — Causa: yellow potato, lime and ají amarillo, pressed into a ring.

Miraflores Cooking Class: Ceviche and Pisco Sour

Cook ceviche, tuna tartare and a pisco sour in the owners' home, taste 17 pisco flavours and take home photos and a video. 4.9 stars from 278 reviews.

★ 4.9 · 2 hours 30 minutes · from $48

Explore the Miraflores cooking class Tour details

Does a Lima cooking class include a market visit?

The market class does: a chef takes you through the Mercado N° 1 de Surquillo before you cook. The Miraflores class starts with a fruit tasting at the table.

The cooking class with market tour picks you up from Miraflores hotels and hostels between 12:00 PM and 12:30 PM. The market visit starts at 12:30 PM, you move to the class at 1:30 PM, and the listing says it ends at 4:30 PM. Guests name the class venue as a bar called Saha.

Surquillo is the market Lima's chefs use, next to Miraflores, piled with ají, potatoes and Amazonian fruit. If you want the market without cooking, the Surquillo market tour starts there with a fruit tasting.

Hands pressing causa into a ring mould among ingredients — From the market bag to the ring mould in one afternoon.

Hotel pickup in Miraflores, the Surquillo market with a chef, then cook ceviche, causa and a pisco sour. Up to 10 guests.

Check dates for the cooking class with market tour

What does a food tour give you that a class cannot?

Range and a neighbourhood. You taste more dishes, meet the cooks and see a part of Lima you would not find alone.

The Barranco food tour stops at small restaurants, a bakery, a bar and a café over 4 hours, with ceviche, lomo saltado and a pisco sour prepared in front of you and a workshop on fair-trade Peruvian chocolate. It includes lunch, coffee, soft drinks and pisco. Guests say it is more restaurants than street food.

A street tour such as the historic centre tour goes the other way, with carts, the big market and Barrio Chino. Either one shows you where to eat for the rest of your stay.

A wooden footbridge among colourful houses and palms — The Barranco tour walks past the Bridge of Sighs between stops.

A full lunch in Barranco with ceviche, lomo saltado and a pisco sour made in front of you, plus a chocolate workshop. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.

★ 4.9 · 4 hours · from $105

Explore the Barranco food tour Tour details

Which is better for vegetarians?

A cooking class. The Miraflores class makes a vegetarian version on request, and the Surquillo market tour is the food tour that caters for it.

Miraflores cooking class: vegetarian option on request; tell them about allergies.
Surquillo market tour: vegetarian, lactose-free and gluten-free menus if you say so when booking; not vegan.
Barranco food tour: give restrictions at booking; the operator says vegetarian and vegan options are limited.
Street tours: the historic centre, two-hour, tuk-tuk and Criollo Nights tours are not for vegetarians.

Vegetarian, lactose-free and gluten-free menus on a 10+ tasting walk from the Surquillo market into Miraflores.

Check dates for the Surquillo market tour

How long do they take, and can you do both?

Classes run 2 hours 30 minutes to 4 hours, food tours 2 to 4 hours. Both fit in one trip if you give each its own day.

Both are meals. Guests often say they skipped lunch or left too full for dinner, so do not stack a tour and a class on the same day. A good split for three days in Lima: a food tour on day one to find your bearings, a class on day two or three to take a recipe home.

Short on time? The two-hour street food tour fits into a morning, and the Miraflores class offers a free transfer to Huaca Pucllana or El Olivar park afterwards.

Three frothy pisco sours on a dark bar — Every class ends with a pisco sour you shook yourself.

Is a pisco sour class worth it?

Yes, if you like cocktails. It is short, fun and gives you the one Peruvian recipe you will make again at home.

The pisco sour was born in Lima at Morris' Bar, opened in 1916 by the American bartender Victor Morris. The modern mix is pisco, lime, sugar, egg white and a few drops of bitters. Several tours build a class into the walk. The ceviche, pisco and pollo a la brasa tour teaches it in 5 flavours from $39, and the two-hour street food tour makes one live with fruit flavours.

The tuk-tuk tour serves no alcohol, which suits families and non-drinkers.

Pollo a la brasa, causa, desserts, a ceviche lesson and a five-flavour pisco sour class downtown, from the lowest price on the site.

Check dates for the ceviche and pisco tour

Which should you book?

First visit and one free afternoon: the Barranco food tour. Want a skill: the Miraflores class. Want both the market and cooking: the market class.

Best value hands-on: Miraflores cooking class, from $48.
Market plus cooking, no taxis: cooking class with market tour, from $67 with pickup.
Most food in one afternoon: Barranco food tour, from $105.
Street food on a budget: ceviche and pisco tour, from $39.

All of them cancel free up to 24 hours before. Our food tour guide compares every tour in one table.

Frequently asked questions

How much is a cooking class in Lima?

From $48 for the Miraflores class (2 hours 30 minutes) and $67 for the class with market tour and hotel pickup (4 hours), in 2026. Tips are not included.

Do Lima cooking classes include pickup?

The cooking class with market tour picks up from Miraflores hotels and hostels. The Miraflores class meets at Alameda Jorge Chávez and takes you to the hosts' home.

Can I learn to make a pisco sour in Lima?

Yes. Both cooking classes include one, and the ceviche and pisco tour runs a five-flavour pisco sour class.

Are Lima cooking classes good for vegetarians?

Yes. The Miraflores class makes a vegetarian version on request. Tell the operator when you book.

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