r/SouthAmericaTravel

Hey everyone! I'm a 25-year-old Dutch guy heading out in September 2026 for a 7-8 month solo trip. I've put together a full visual plan which you can check out here: https://arthuraroundtheworld.lovable.app/trip

Here's the full route:

Peru (Sept - Oct) Lima → Huaraz → back to Lima → Paracas → Huacachina → Nazca → Arequipa → Chivay (Colca Canyon) → Cusco (including Machu Picchu and Sacred Valley) → Puno → Bolivia

Bolivia (Oct - Nov) La Paz → Sucre → Potosí → Uyuni

Chile (Nov) San Pedro de Atacama → Santiago

Argentina & Uruguay (Nov - Dec) Mendoza → Buenos Aires → Montevideo → Punta del Este → back to Buenos Aires → overnight bus to Puerto Iguazú

Brazil (Dec - Jan) Foz do Iguaçu → Florianópolis → São Paulo → Paraty → Rio de Janeiro (Christmas + NYE)

Colombia (Jan - Feb) Bogotá → Cali → Salento → Medellín → Santa Marta → Minca → Buritaca → Palomino → Barranquilla (Carnival) → Cartagena → San Blas sailboat into Panama

Central America (Feb - Mar) Panama City → Bocas del Toro → La Fortuna, Costa Rica → San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua → Antigua, Guatemala → San Pedro La Laguna → Mexico City → fly to Asia

Southeast Asia (Mar - Apr) El Nido, Philippines → Siem Reap, Cambodia → Koh Phangan, Thailand → Bangkok → fly home early May

About me and my travel style:

• Solo, staying in hostels throughout
• Priorities are nightlife and social scene, hiking and nature, meeting other travelers
• Not doing a structured itinerary day by day, happy to stay longer somewhere if I'm enjoying it
• Budget traveler but not counting every cent
• Big football fan, want to catch live matches especially in Argentina and Brazil

Specific things I'm looking for tips on:

• Best hostels along this route (bit of party is okay 😉)
• Hidden gems or underrated stops I might be missing
• Best way to travel from city to city (maybe also on how to best get from South America to Asia)
• Any general tips for this route

Added is also a visualisation of the planned trip:

https://preview.redd.it/w7occkwxv3zg1.png?width=1700&format=png&auto=webp&s=32f4735f32027562c44e5a51276684fbe2d94019

Happy to answer any questions and any advice is welcome!

Hey guys im looking to go to either bolivia or peru from august 19th-september 2. Im torn between huaraz peru (Primarily focusing on huayhuash mini and day hikes) or la paz (pico austria, valle de animas, maybe huyana potisi) and maybe uyuini. im mainly looking to hike and be out in nature. If i went to bolivia is it worth it to go all the way to uyuni or better to stay in la paz or for this time frame would you suggest staying in huaraz?

I am flying to Bogota from Mexico at the end of May and was planning a 2 week trip. But didn't realize there are presidential elections and there has been some terrorist attacks in the South towards Cali. I would like to visit the amazon in Leticia.

After Colombia I am going 2 weeks to Peru. But now I am considering skipping Colombia and fly to Peru instead.

Anyone who is in Colombia now knows the situation? how bad is it? will it get worse? last thing I want to be stuck between 2 guerrilla groups attacking buses etc

I mean we have shit here in Mexico but less aggressive

i just got back from a long trip across colombia, peru, and brazil, and honestly, the arrival at the airport is always the most chaotic and stressful part. here are a few things i messed up initially and how to avoid the day 1 panic.

1.airport taxis are usually a trap.

never just walk out and get into a random cab. always use uber or cabify (depends on the country). the catch is, airport wifi is usually garbage, times out after 15 minutes, or requires a local phone number to even log in. you need your own data the second you land to call a ride safely.

2. skip the airport sim card kiosks.

i used to buy physical claro or movistar sims at the airport, but they mark up the prices insanely high for tourists. plus, trying to register a sim card with your passport while dealing with a language barrier after a 14-hour flight is miserable.

3. sort your esim before you fly (and check their support).

i switched to just using esims this time. i tried a couple of different ones, but ended up sticking with superalink for most of the trip. it wasn't perfectly flawless everywhere (signal in the andes is spotty no matter what you use lol), but it was cheap. the main reason i kept using it was their whatsapp support. when my data glitched in lima at 11 pm, they actually replied and reset it. whatever esim you decide to use, make sure they have 24/7 support because the massive time difference will screw you if you need tech help.

4. cash and atms.

don't use the global exchange booths at the baggage claim, the rates are robbery. just find a local bank atm inside the terminal and decline the atm's conversion rate.

5. offline prep.

download offline google maps for your arrival city and the spanish/portuguese offline translation packs before you even board your flight.

hope this helps someone avoid getting ripped off or stranded on their first day!

Hey! Heading to Peru & Colombia in October, first time there. Would love some input from people who've done this and love some itinerary advice.

Quick context: 29M & 29F. Honeymoon trip. We like our trip to be a mix of active/packed days and some relaxation too.

Peru - for it's amazing landscape and hikes.
Colombia - Relaxed vibe, beaches, party

We don't want to just make this trip as a hectic/hiking focused trip but also add a chill/romantic vibe to it as well.

Our tentative plan is:
Day 1 - Fly London to Lima, stay overnight in Lima

Day 2 - Fly Lima to Cusco - travel to Ollantaytambo

Day 3 - Stay in Ollantaytambo, spend the day.

Day 4 - Machu pichhu circuit, travel to Cusco, stay in Cusco

Day 5 - spend the day in Cusco

Day 6 - Fly to puerto maldonado, stay in rainforest lodge

Day 7 - spend the day in puerto maldonado

Day 8 - check out, fly via Lima to Medellin

Dqy 9 - stay in Medellin

Day 10 - Fly to Cartagena, boat transfer to Rosario island, stay in Rosario

Day 11 - stay in Rosario

Day 12 - boat transfer to Cartagena

Day 13 - stay in Cartagena

Day 14 - Fly out to London

I'm aware this is an extremely packed/ambitious itinerary and also 2 weeks can be completely spent in Peru. The idea is to have a hectic trip in the first half and relaxed in the latter half. We would prefer to do 2 countries as flying to South America won't be a frequent trip for us.

Questions -

•⁠ ⁠How long do we need to stay in Lima / Sacred Valley to acclimatise?

•⁠ ⁠Colombia - should we skip Medellin?

•⁠ ⁠Is this too ambitious and hectic - open to suggestions.

Hello!
We have been on a 2 month trip through Chile, we are currently in the north and have 2 weeks left until we fly from Santiago to Australia.

We are toying with the idea of catching the night bus from Arica to La Paz and spending a week in La Paz and surrounds. After approx a week we would bus back to Arica. We don’t have much flexibility time because of our flight home.
We have been to Bolivia previously pre Covid and understand the general context of travelling in Bolivia (political unrest, protests, road closures, fuel shortages etc)

But I guess we need up to date advice on how travelling in Bolivia is currently - due to external world context! Any advice on the below would be appreciated..

-With the war in Iran- has the already tenuous fuel situation in Bolivia got a lot worse?
-Are buses in Bolivia running fairly consistently (noting Bolivia will always have cancellations etc) and can you rely on getting a bus out of there?
-In general are we at risk of getting stuck in Bolivia?

Thank you!

Hello,
I will be traveling in Colombia this year: To Pereira, Medellin,
Guatapé, and Doradal. I will be visiting a finca outside of Pereira also.
I plan on drinking bottled water but realize that it might not be available all the time.
Can anyone recommend a water purifier to use while traveling?
Except for Pereira and the finca, i will be staying at high-end hotels and resorts.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can provide.

Sorry this is so wordy. I am 40f solo traveler, unable to decide which country to go to for 3 weeks.

Things I like nature, culture, archeology (seems like Peru should be an obvious choice but it's not for some reason).

In like to travel slow, stay longer in a spot rather than a new accommodation nightly. I want to see a lot, but chill a lot.

I like hiking and also just walking around town, botanical gardens, museums, eating, drinking, reading a book in the park.

Making friends would be nice but I'm not traveling to party.

My spanish is mediocre. Ive traveled to several other spanish speaking countries and i manage. (On that note considering spanish school in medellin or cusco)

I am indecisive ( can't you tell from this post) Peru sounds like an easier itenerary to make with all the must sees.

Colombia

looks beautiful and the weather is perfect temperature. Not too hot not too cold. I would fly to medellin and mostly stay in that region of the country. Rio clara, guatepe, jardin, etc. Fly to bogota at the end and explore around that area of the country for several days.

Cons: I hear the food is meh, seems harder to get around??

Peru

either fly to Lima, stay a couple days, fly to Cusco. (Unless anyone would recommend a slow journey by bus to cusco staying in towns along the way, do not want to do one 20 hour bus ride)

Spend several days in cusco, sacred valley, Machu Piccu. I am considering the Inca trail, but a little worried about it. I am fit and a hiker but also my aging back might have something else to say about that journey)

Then I'm not sure what else in Peru. I would love suggestions. I'd like to keep it budget friendly and everything seems so spread out and thus needing to fly.

Cons: I'm a Texan, packing light and for cold weather is a struggle for me. That's actually a legit concern for me. Lol. Compared to Colombia, i will spend significantly more on accommodations over the entirety of the trip. I can do it, but as an underpaid teacher its more of a stretch to my budget.

Also i know this is very personal to everyone, but would you recommend solo or with a friend? I have done most of my trips solo, mostly because nobody ever commits to going, but I have a friend (easy going, easy to get along with) who wants to join. Im apprehensive as someone who is used to just doing whatever i want on my schedule, but solo traveling also can get lonely from time to time.

We're three friends planning a South America trip and honestly we want to know if we're being stupid or if it's actually doable. We've spent way too much time researching but we still have massive doubts, especially about altitude and whether we should actually be driving ourselves.

We have approximately 36 days.... here's what we're thinking:

THE ITINERARY:

1. ROAD TRIP PERU: Lima → Paracas → Ica → Nazca → Arequipa (BY CAR)
   • FLIGHT: Arequipa → Cusco
2. TREKKING: Cusco + Sacred Valley + Machu Picchu (Inca trail)
   • FLIGHT: Cusco → Puerto Maldonado
3. JUNGLE: Puerto Maldonado Jungle
4. BOLIVIA: Puerto Maldonado → Puno → La Paz → Uyuni (BY BUS)
   • BUS: Uyuni → San Pedro Atacama
5. CHILE: San Pedro Atacama → Santiago (BY CAR)

OUR ACTUAL CONCERNS:

Altitude sequence ?

Lima (sea level) → Arequipa (2,400m OK) → Cusco (3,400m) → Machu Picchu (2,430m) → Puerto Maldonado (sea level) → Puno overnight bus (3,827m) — JUMP of 3,800m in one night → La Paz (3,640m) → Uyuni (3,656m) → San Pedro Atacama (2,400m) → Chile (basically sea level ?).

So we're looking at roughly 17-18 days above 2,400m total, with like 5-7 days at 3,600m+. And that brutal overnight jump from jungle to Puno. We've read that spending 30+ days high altitude is a bad idea, but is our sequence actually sustainable? One of us is particularly worried about the Sep 7 jump (0m → 3,800m). Should we cut Puerto Maldonado entirely to avoid this?

Also one of us has a 10 minute PhD interview on the middle of the trip approximately when we'll be in San Pedro Atacama. But do you think we will feel like garbage by then or should we be okay after descending from Bolivia?

Energy/pace — are we going to be exhausted?

This is a lot of moving around. We're not just sitting in one place. Road trip one week, flights, hiking at altitude, jungle heat, overnight buses. By day 20-something are we going to be completely fried? Or is the pacing actually okay because we have days where we're just in one place?

Driving questions:

We want to drive the coast (Lima → Arequipa) ourselves and drive in Chile because we want the freedom. We've read that Peru driving is genuinely stressful (aggressive trucks, night driving dangerous, parking chaos in cities, police).

Should we just use the bus for the coast instead of renting a car? Is it worth it?

Is this just too much for 36 days trip?

Also: Inca Trail or bus to Machu Picchu? The trail sounds epic but after a road trip and flights are we just going to be knackered?

Should i be pre booking bus tickets online or if I should just get them in person. Do tickets sell out?
My general route is Lima > Paracas > Huacachina > Arequipa > Copacabana > La Paz > Uyuni > La Paz > Cusco

I’m between **Santa Marta + Minca or Medellin + Cartagena.**

**Basically want a mix of city and beach time. Not too touristy, and I understand that’s Cartagena but it seems really nice anyhow. Any opinions? :)**

This is my last big summer before working full time. I have 3 weeks off then 2 weeks then 10 days with commitments in between. I’ve been looking at South America as a trip with g adventures Peru and Bolivia or a trip to Vietnam and then Hong Kong as a stopover for a few days. Which would you recommend as a solo traveller but with g adventures. I have done g adventure tours before

Hi guys,

I was wondering if anyone has had any trouble with getting transport from the airport into the centre of La Paz? Are the blockades impacting the roads on this route?

Thanks in advance.

Hola Amigos! My partner and I are travelling through Latin America and will be heading through Bolivia to Uyuni; doing a tour that drops us in San Pedro de Atacama; finally, after 4 nights we then need to head back to Uyuni.

We're a little perplexed by the bus availability online as it looks extremely limited and nowhere near the capacity I'd expect for such a popular tourist destination. Currently we can only see buses on Mondays and Wednesdays which unfortunately do not align with our stay.

Gemini tells me that many bus operators are semi online or not online at all and therefore I'm only seeing a fraction of the picture. It says on my first day in SP I should head to the bus terminal and arrange tickets there in person. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything online to corroborate this and I don't want to blindly follow AI.

Does anyone have any recent experience in SP who can guide me as to whether the AI advice is sound? Are there many daily buses available that can easily be arranged in person? If so do you know the approximate prices for this route?

Muchas gracias

Any and all help appreciated!

Hey, I’m going to Colombia with a friend for 25 days from 21 December - 15 Jan.
We’d love any advice on where to go and what to do.
We want to travel around but do less destinations and spend more time in each one, rather than just trying to tick off 100 things.
We are both men, 41 from uk. Interested in good food, nature, a mix of cities and nature/beaches.

A little bit of partying and mixing with some nice Colombian women (not p4p) but it’s not the main purpose of the trip.

We land and fly home from Bogotá, so our trip starts and ends there.
Any advice would be amazing, thank you!

I’ll be in Paraguay for about two weeks in late June. I love walking, nature, hitching rides, and non-touristy places.

Is it worth it to go all the way up to the Chaco region or should I stick with my initial plan of hiking throughout the southeast?

I’ve already been to Iguazu.

Les cuento: este año he viajado por varios países de Latam y cada vez siento más raro el tema del turismo. Soy mexicana, hablo español, y me impacta llegar a lugares donde ni el personal del hotel te habla en español porque todo está orientado a turistas gringos/europeos.

Y no es hate a la gente que viaja, qué bueno que conozcan nuestros países, pero sí se siente extraño ver cómo muchos lugares ya parecen hechos exclusivamente para extranjeros con dólares. Todo cuesta carísimo, los precios parecen pensados para turistas de EEUU y hasta la experiencia local empieza a desaparecer.

A veces siento que ya ni nosotros podemos disfrutar nuestros propios países sin sentirnos fuera de lugar o pobres en comparación

Y lo que más raro se me hace es que muchas veces ni siquiera hay intención de adaptarse a la cultura local. Más bien parece que todo el lugar termina adaptándose al turista: idioma, precios, comida, dinámicas, todo. Hasta da un poco de risa/impresión ver cómo poco a poco se va borrando la identidad local para hacer espacios “cómodos” para extranjeros. No sé explicarlo bien, pero sí me genera una sensación medio triste y frustrante.