Delight and wellness

Some destinations can be used for both long stays and short visits. Lima and Paracas are perfect opportunities to combine work and pleasure, extend your trip and enjoy new experiences of relaxation, entertainment and gastronomy.

Bleisure in Lima
Seeking a better balance between work life and general well-being is one of the best health trends in recent years. The concept of bleisure reflects this well: part corporate travel, part vacation. The desire for balance has led to the extension of business travel to have a couple of days of leisure instead of a quick return home.

Business and pleasure
The word “bleisure” is a combination of “business” and “leisure” (business & leisure). The term has become increasingly popular over the past five years. Bleisure travel combines work or business commitments with tourism or leisure activities on the same trip. These types of travelers may be corporate, group or conference guests who add a few days of vacation to their business trips, or business travelers who bring along a partner, family or even friends.

The trend allows for a bit of relaxation or sightseeing at the destination before or after work. Today, about 40% of business travelers opt for bleisure, extending their business trips for leisure purposes, according to a study by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA).

This is an interesting and beneficial phenomenon. Corporate travelers spend an average of 22 days on business trips, and 81% of them engage in at least some bleisure activity. According to the latest figures gathered by TravelPerk, they include bleisure activities in their itinerary or extend their stays to have some time off.

This vision of personal wellness, curiosity for surprising destinations and a desire for new experiences continues to grow. Seventy-nine percent of bleisure travelers said they would take more work trips if they could extend their time and enjoy them. Many corporate workers eagerly seek job opportunities and positions that include business travel; they are even willing to forgo other benefits for the opportunity to travel.

Enjoying Lima

For travelers, bleisure can allow them to visit a destination at a lower cost and using fewer vacation days than if they were to take a purely leisure trip. After all, if the business trip is away from home, it is very efficient to extend it instead of planning another vacation trip.

Because of its strategic location, Lima is a great venue for national and international meetings and events. In addition, it has a series of attractions that make it an ideal city to enjoy. The starting point is to find an accommodation whose location allows us to make the most of the destination. San Isidro and Miraflores meet this key point, as they are safe, cosmopolitan districts surrounded by a varied and extensive commercial and cultural offer.

If visitors stay at The Westin Lima Hotel & Convention Center, in San Isidro, or at Aloft Lima Miraflores or AC Hotel Lima Miraflores, they can start or end their day running along the boardwalk that accompanies both districts and enjoy one of the best views of Lima: the sea.

Just as close and easy is booking a space for relaxation, wellness and connection at the Heavenly Spa by Westin, the largest urban spa in South America. Its 3,000-square-meter space features 17 treatment cabins, four whirlpool rooms and a full-service salon. There, you can choose from its extensive list of Peruvian-inspired treatments, which incorporate local and natural ingredients, and give a unique character to its proposal.

Lima is a world gastronomic capital in its own right, and spending a few days in the city merits establishing a culinary route in the nearby districts of Miraflores, Barranco and San Isidro, where you can find many of the restaurants with signature cuisine that make up the world’s top lists. Lima also boasts novelty bars, such as the recently opened Alphonse, a new speakeasy located at The Westin Lima Hotel & Convention Center, inspired by the Prohibition era and the life of Alphonse “Al” Capone.

Although the Historic Center is full of old mansions, republican architecture, monuments and institutions of great cultural value, it can be a tour that demands time, precisely what many times is not available on a business trip with an agenda to be fulfilled. However, cultural alternatives in Lima can also include interesting and timely visits to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC), in Barranco, or the unmissable Amano textile museum or the Huaca Pucllana (a pre-Columbian remains in the residential heart of the city), both in Miraflores.

Finally, if the traveler can combine his work commitments with an extra weekend in Peru, a short trip to the bay of Paracas, two hours south of Lima, will ensure a wonderful return home, with the certainty of having experienced a fruitful trip on a professional and personal level.