The legacy of Lima’s poor surrounded us, skeletons from some 75,000 souls stacked beneath the Church of St. Francis. After Francisco Pizarro christened Lima “City of Kings” in 1534, Spanish missionaries recruited the destitute to help build the church, with the promise of a Christian burial their final reward. Our tour guide warned us catacombs weren’t for the squeamish or claustrophobic.

Clearly, our evening was off to an eerie start. Yet in many ways the church’s story is inseparable from the cultural mélange that is Lima today. Like any metropolis, this hub of 9 million isn’t so much a singular city as it is a collection of distritos, 49 neighborhoods in all.

Get your bearings before the sun sets in downtown El Centro, a walking-friendly area jammed with historic sites and affable street merchants. If catacomb tours don’t sway your entertainment sensibilities, pay a visit to the Plaza de Armes and the stately Government Palace, where Pizarro held court and the elaborate 1651 bronze fountain still remains.

The top-tier areas for lodging and dining are contemporary suburbs San Isidro and Miraflores. Overlooking paper-white Pacific beaches and sprinkled among shiny high-rises, the art galleries, ritzy boutiques, bars and great restaurants buzz into the night along José Larco Avenue, the city’s most modern commercial street. Lima’s openly gay community favors the lax attitudes of Miraflores in particular. Best area to comingle is Legendaris, billed as the “hippest, classiest gay and lesbian disco” in Lima.

Lima is awash with excellent restaurants — just don’t miss the unsurpassed experience of Restaurant Huaca Pucllana in Miraflores. The outdoor setting is jaw-dropping, on the site of a 1,500-year-old archaeological compound with exposed excavations (yes, more skeletons), adobe walls and a pyramid illuminated by dazzling lighting. Also dazzling is the spectacular Peruvian Creole seafood — the city’s best? — harvested in fertile local waters.

Night owls can carry on in Barranco, a bohemian district of discos and bars luring hipsters until the wee hours. There’s no better perch for cocktails, conversation and contemplation than Chala. This sleek restaurant overlooks the charming wooden Bridge of Sighs that’s picturesquely positioned in the foreground of the Pacific Ocean panorama.

Try to spend a couple of hours at Larco Museum. Housed in a striking 18th-century vice-royal mansion, it feels Smithsonian in caliber, built over a seventh-century pre-Columbian pyramid and home to 45,000 classified artifacts — the largest pre-Columbian assortment anywhere.

There’s nothing showier at night than Lima’s Magical Water Tour. In downtown’s Parque de la Reserva, 20 acres of gorgeously lit fountains form the largest public water complex in the world. Some are choreographed to music while others are interactive, meaning visitors run a gauntlet of water rings that are timed randomly. Naturally, you’ll get wet (brochures recommend a change of clothing). Folly? Perhaps. But after a prelude of creepy catacombs, the frivolity of fountains is a perfect finale to a night in Lima.