(Approximate reading time: 7 minutes)

The only valuable information regarding “Playa El Silencio” I found at tripadvisor.com. Here most information are in Spanish language. Although it is semi-interesting, to read the experiences from several people, there is only a total star rating from 1 – 5 available. Categories like the above mentioned hard factors (accessibility, value for money, security) are not visible on first glance. They might be written in the contribution of the users from tripadvisor.com, but all in all it is a high effort to collect all valuable information together. squeezing out an orange for a glass of juice can be more easy. I didn’t find amongst all the opinions of the user not a detailed report.

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So I thought to write about the beach and check the quality, at tripadvisor.com the beach received a four star rating. But how should I know, if the beach is suitable for families with small children? Are dogs allowed at the beach? How expensive is it to access the beach. Read now the first beach report about “Playa El Silencio”.

Accessibility ☀☀☀
It’s not difficult to access the beach, but you have to take quite some time in consideration, regardless if you drive with an own car or use the public transport. Both the traffic in Lima is everywhere awful, in my case I was heading from the centre to the south on a Friday noon and that was quite exhausting. It seemed like the half of Lima wanted to take the highway to go for a long weekend outside of the town. I took a bus from “Mall del Sur” to the closest station of the beach.

That took maybe 30 – 40 minutes and cost 3.00S/. ($0.93 or 0.75€). Arriving at the middle of the highway you have now the option to take a taxi or go by feet the rest of the distance. I chose to go the rest of the distance.

Bullshit! It took half an hour maximum. How does Google calculate the walking distance? With old people on crutches?

For me it was kind of funny to see billboard of Uber. I can’t remember, that I have seen any advertisement of Uber before in my life.

Anyway, unfortunately I underestimated the force of the sun on 11:30am and walked these 30 minutes without putting sunscreen earlier. Quite naive, so I got burned a little bit, but didn’t feel it, when I arrived. But when I arrived, I put on sunblock as I should. Lesson learned!

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All in all, it took 70 – 80 minutes until I arrived. And I think, that this is quite a lot but still bearable for a Friday traffic chaos in Lima.

Value for money ☀☀☀
Good and low are the costs for the public transport to access the beach. The entrance is free, because it’s a public beach. All the rest is far off consideration and quite exclusive. Lending two beach chairs and an umbrella cost 30S/. ($9.30 or 7.50€), regardless for how many hours you want to have it. Avarice is a vice, but in my perception, this is quite a lot to not lay in the bear sand and get a stiff bag. To avoid these vexations, I had to bite the bullet. At least the usage of the sanitation facilities of one of the restaurants was included. Everything else to buy and consume was quite expensive in my opinion.

Supply system ☀☀☀☀
Wow, although it’s a public beach, there was no lack of everything. The beach is definitely well equipped with restaurants and beach vendors. It was actually a little bit annoying to enter the beach and get directly molested from five different people who want to bring you inside of one of the restaurants or sell you the beach chairs. Only on bazars in Arabistan it might be more annoying and a pain in the arse than at this beach.
At the beach itself I felt very oversupplied of all the beach vendors. You can’t sit quietly for 30 seconds in your chair, because then the next expert wants to impose you his products.

I was quite surprised, that irrespectively of the ratio of 1:3 (one tourist and three vendors) their business was still successful. No cannibalization, even if you could ice cream every minute of the same company. Even if you would erase the half of these nuisances, it would have been still enough to make every guest at the beach happy.

 

 

 

 

Not sure, if selling books is a good idea at the beach…At least this beach vendor doesn’t need a gym membership, if he is carrying these heavy books in his hands all day long.

Surface quality ☀☀☀☀☀
Wonderful gritty sand with just a few shells or stones. Not too hot, not too cold.

Safety ☀☀☀☀
There might have been sufficient lifesavers and other security guys walking around. At least I didn’t feel insecure of any threats like thefts. But the only thing that made me wonder was the yellow flag, although there were some crazy intense waves. Some people, especially young fellas, had their little problems to swim and get back to the shore.

Tranquility factor ☀☀
The beach is called “El Silencio”, but the last thing you can expert there is silence. You can’t take a nap, if all 30 seconds someone yells at you to buy a cold beer. The good level of (over)suppliance gets down the tranquility of the beach. I simply can’t eat an ice cream and drink a beer every minute. That’s not possible, even if I wanted to or had enough money for it.. At least there wasn’t any loud music to hear from the restaurants or other tourists.

Activities ☀
Maybe the only thing, that was really missing. There weren’t any extrinsic activities possible at the beach. Nobody wanted to teach me how to surf or hire out a jet ski. Neither were there any beach volleyball pitches or other activities possible. I wasn’t bored because of that, but expected at least something when going to a beach.

Level of cleanness ☀☀☀☀☀
Wonderful! In combination with the fine sand, there wasn’t anything to complain here. No glass, plastic or other garbage to evade to walk on. The beach was very clean and even every beach vendor picked up the garbage from the tourists along their walking paths. Were they obliged from someone to do that or proceeded with it on own motivation? No matter, but at least the beach was nice and clean.

Suitable for Families with children?
Yes it is. Maybe a bit boring, but definitely suitable for families with children. Parents might be not able to take a nap because of missing activities for the children, but that’s the price you have to pay when going to the beach. But keep always an eye on your youngsters when you let them inside of the water. Remember the crazy waves when showing only the yellow flag?

First I was laughing and wondering about someone who tries to sell a swimming pool at the beach. But offering it to a family for little children is a good idea.

Dogs allowed?
I don’t remember that I saw any signage regarding a ban of dogs. Neither did I see a dog. I think, that’s a ‘Yes’. Well, actually a ‘No’ then. I suppose, that dogs aren’t allowed.

Well, I can just recommend to go and make a visit at Playa El Silencio!