Reply With QuoteThe Atacama is pretty amazing and great for star gazing. Also enjoyed going over the Andes from Argentina to Chile by bus and going up the coast from Patagonia to Puerto Mont on the ferry.
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I have been working for my current employer for 20 years next May so planning on taking a 3 week holiday around South America as a present to myself (and wife!).
Looking for advice on which countries to visit, locations, hotels etc and in which order.
Peru is definitely on the list with a visit to Machu Picchu but being reasonably close to Chile, Argentina, Brazil et al I want to fit in as much as possible!!
I love red wine so perhaps a trip to some wineries?
Anyone done it?
The Atacama is pretty amazing and great for star gazing. Also enjoyed going over the Andes from Argentina to Chile by bus and going up the coast from Patagonia to Puerto Mont on the ferry.
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Lake District area of Chile is some of the most unspoilt scenery I've ever seen.
Might not be what you are looking for but my parents have done a few cruises around South America. They will fly to somewhere likes Buenos Aires and have a few days there, then do a couple of weeks cruise and end up somewhere like Brasil or Peru and have a few more days there. That way you get to see a couple of places really when and a few places just a day, but it does mean you see quite a bit.
Not sure if the link below works:
http://www.princess.com/find/searchResults.do
If not look at Princess cruises to give you an idea.
Edit: link doesn't work, but go on find a cruise and under South America :-)
I've done most of it more than once and have a few contacts so feel free to drop me a PM with any specific questions.
Flying in and out of Bogotá on the direct (overnight) Avianca flight from Heathrow is becoming a popular route in, as it is relatively short at just over ten hours and El Dorado International is an excellent flight hub.
From here you can fly directly to Guayaquil, gateway to the Galapagos or Cuzco for Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca. La Paz is just three hours away, Bolivia offers a real high altitude South America experience but is a bit off the beaten track. There's also the Amazon region a short internal flight away.
From Peru or Ecuador you can head on down to Santiago for Chilean wineries, Andean scenery, the Atacama and even a side trip to Easter Island. Then across to Buenos Aires for more wine and possible trips down to Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego for wildlife watching, Patagonia and spectacular glaciers.
Montevideo can be done in a couple of days as a side trip from BA and offers a more sedate pace, I really like the place.
From BA up to the spectacular falls at Iguazú is a two hour internal flight, cross to Foz do Iguaçu on the Brazil side where you can fly on up to Rio de Janeiro. Then it's a direct flight back to Bogotá!
Obviously an itinerary like that would take more than three weeks to do properly but I just wanted to give an idea of the kind of possibilities.
If you do pass through Bogotá I'll have a cold beer waiting
My advice: Don't try to do too much, slow down the pace and you'll enjoy it more. If you want to see Peru there's easily enough variety to spend all 3 weeks there with careful planning.
If you want to see multiple countries, go for smaller ones. We spent 3 weeks just doing Yucatan, Guatemala and Belize and even then there's places we'd have liked more time.
Yep South America is vast, I did a 22 hour coach trip through some of Chile and I'd barely moved on the map
...particularly at altitude. Places like Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Quito, La Paz and Bogotá are all at significant heights and it can take days to acclimatise. Plenty of pauses to watch the world go by are essential.Originally Posted by Scepticalist
To be honest, you could spend three weeks in most South American countries and barely scratch the surface. Two locations are quite possible however, so maybe Argentina and Peru would cover most areas of interest
Check out LLama Travel for inspiration. https://www.llamatravel.com/
Well, Patagonia is my standout memory from a trek around Chile & Argentina. Simply stunning
Thanks everyone. Lots to look at and consider. Sounds like it is going to be amazing!
How about buying a cheap Porsche and head South, could be interesting.
If you go to Rio, go to Buzios... it's where Bridgette Bardot used to holiday and has amazing diving... great seafood and generally pretty and nice town to be in
Stay in a Poussada
I stayed at Solar do Peixe Vivo which was quite a cool place
Best districts in Rio are Impanema and Leblon... the beach is amazing and some nice food, architecturaly it's nothing to write home about
Ben
I'd say Igauzù Falls is a must, from the Brazilian or the Argentinian side.
Aconcagua, San Antonio, and Colchagua valleys of Chile are all within driving distance of Santiago. I did this with a start in Buenos Aires a few years back, loved the wine, the travel was easy and the wines were fantastic. I'd skip BA if I did it again, and go right to Mendoza. I much prefer wine country to the realities of the overburdened city.
Here is a popular destination map used by a number of the tours in the area. Covering this much ground, you're likely to fly between destinations.
Cartegena is a lovely place - great beaches, people, food etc. And days out to the Rosario Islands. Worth a few days.
Isn't the Zika virus still a bit of an issue? My partner and I were looking to go last year to do a two or three stop trip with an idea of visiting Panama, Venezuela, Colombia.
The FCO site suggested all were still suffering from the problem so we went to Iceland instead in December. Yes I know, couldn't have been more the polar opposite.
Zika is only really of concern if you are pregnant (or planning to be). There are plenty of better reasons for not visiting Venezuela.
Cheers.
Personally, I am not and would be alarmed if I were to, but at some point there's a possibility between my partner and I - that was really the concern at hand. Other stuff bothers me less, I just hate mosquitos.
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