Peru's capybara cafe, in the Cayma district of Arequipa, with a second counter inside the mall. Waffles, desserts, Peruvian coffee, open until half nine, and no actual capybaras.
The addresses do not agree across sources. Google currently lists two branches, on C. los Arces 124 and Av. Ejército 795, with the first opening at 08:00 and the second at 10:00. Review sites still give Av. Cayma 606 and a counter in Mall Plaza Cayma. They may have moved. Check before you walk anywhere.
Cost
Around PEN 20-80 a head per Google. No entry fee, no booking.
South America's second capybara cafe, and the one nobody outside Peru seems to know about.
What it is
A friendly neighbourhood cafe in Cayma, in the north of Arequipa, done out in capybaras. Waffles, desserts, sandwiches, Peruvian coffee, free wifi. It has been running long enough to sit at the top of the district's restaurant rankings, which for a themed cafe is unusual — most of them trade on the theme and coast on the food.
There are two locations — the original on Avenida Cayma 606, and a second counter on the second floor of Mall Plaza Cayma. The street one is the room worth going to.
No capybaras, and Peru is complicated about that
No live animals. Worth stating because Peru genuinely has wild capybaras — but in the Amazon basin, roughly a thousand kilometres and an entire climate away from Arequipa, which sits at 2,300 metres in the desert highlands.
So this is a themed cafe in a city where the animal does not occur, which puts it in the same category as Buenos Aires's The Coffee Bara — a fan project, not an encounter.
What visitors actually say
Pulled from Google Maps, trimmed, and left alone otherwise — including the
complaints. We do not take the ratings as gospel and neither should you.
Google lists two branches under this name; the 4.3 is the busier one. We have not pulled quotes for this venue yet.
Open 08:00 to 21:30 Monday to Saturday and 09:00 to 20:00 on Sunday — the longest opening hours of any cafe in this directory, and genuinely useful in a city where a lot of places shut in the afternoon.
Cayma is a short ride north of Arequipa's historic centre, so it is an easy detour rather than an expedition.
Good to know
No live capybaras. Peru has wild ones, but in the Amazon, not in Arequipa.
Two branches, but the addresses conflict between Google and the review sites. Confirm which one is open before travelling across Arequipa for it.
Open until 21:30 Monday to Saturday, which is late for the neighbourhood.
Ranked top of the Cayma district cafes, which is more than the theme alone would earn.
Published on September 2, 2026By Grumpy Capy
FAQ
Are there real capybaras at Capibara Café Amigable?
No. It is a capybara-themed cafe. Peru does have wild capybaras, but in the Amazon basin, not in Arequipa.
Which branch should I go to?
Unclear, and that is the honest answer. Google lists C. los Arces 124 and Av. Ejército 795; review sites still list Av. Cayma 606 and a Mall Plaza Cayma counter. Check the Instagram feed before you set out.
When is it open?
Review sites say Monday to Saturday 08:00 to 21:30 and Sunday 09:00 to 20:00. Google shows one branch opening at 08:00 and the other at 10:00. Treat both as approximate.
Details change – always confirm hours, prices, and booking on the official site before you travel. Animal encounters are subject to each venue's welfare rules.
Keep exploring
More capybara cafes
Other real-world spots where you can be in the same room as a very calm rodent.
A plushie-buried Korean-style drinks counter on Sainte-Catherine with two or three seats, capybara merch, and nothing on the menu over eight dollars. Takeout in practice.
A capivara-themed cafe built into the Rio Pinheiros cycle path in São Paulo, funding the NGO that protects the wild capybaras living on the riverbank about thirty metres away.
A matcha and Vietnamese coffee bar in Folsom, California, built around capybara mascots and a lot of plushies. Open daily until nine, and there is not a live capybara in the building.
A capybara-themed boba and ramen house outside Chicago with fifty-plus claw machines and a photo booth. Chaotic, open until eleven, and entirely capybara-free in the animal sense.
A family restaurant in Querétaro that announced Mexico's first live-capybara sessions, got publicly taken apart for it, and appears to have quietly not done it. The food is fine. The story is the point.
Texas finally got one. Thirty minutes with Mickey and Minnie, an hour in a waterfall pool, and a cafe menu — reservation only, Monday to Thursday, an hour north of Dallas.
Guides worth the screenshot, mildly cursed finds, and the occasional
photo of a capybara in a hot spring. We email at capybara speed -
slow, occasional, unbothered.
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