Travelling Overland in South America

v.e.r.b.a.l

Help!

I'm going to be travelling across South America from April until August and want to do as much as possible overland (bus or train). But I'm having a lot of trouble finding info online as to how long bus trips take and how much they cost... Anyone have any resourses?

I'll be travelling:

• Quito to Lima
• Uyuni / Potosi to Santa Cruz
• Santa Cruz to Rio de Janeiro
• Rio to Sao Paolo
• Sao Paolo to Iguassu
• Iguassu to Montevideo
• Buenes Aires to Santiago

I've found info on tours or other transport ideas for the bits in between, but can't find any info on buses or trains for these trips?

I know a good idea is to travel by plane within the country and then hop across the border and then plane again - but I'd like to find out how long / how much it'd cost to do it by bus?

Any help welcome!

darrenh

im going in march to south America and found getting information very hard too.

the travel forum on www.travelblog.org is very good in my opinion.

www.omnilineas.com will tell you buses, times and prices for argentina.

south america is very hard to research i've found, so i've given up and decided to just go with the flow! there is way to much information to know for a trip like that and not enough places to find it. trevelblog is good though. happy hunting!

Neamhshuntasach

The best thing to do is just figure everything out when you get there. A lot of the bus companies don't have online websites. So there's no point in looking. Just turn up and you'll always find someone who'll help you out. Just avoid the touts who do it for a tip unless you are really stuck and in that situation they are handy. It's also worth checking if there is anything worth stopping off for inbetween when on long bus journey's. Divides up the 20 odd hour ones.

* Quito to Lima (Will be lucky to find one less than 40-50 dollars. It's about 30-40 hrs depending on the bus you take or the route you take. The Mancora one is nicer and more relaxed, but takes longer. So it's usually cheaper)

* Uyuni / Potosi to Santa Cruz (Uyuni to Potosi is about 6 or 7 hrs, not expensive. Less than 5 dollars. From Potosi to Santa Cruz it's about 12-14 hrs. Probably around the 12 dollar mark. Think you change buses in Sucre.)

* Santa Cruz to Rio de Janeiro (You can take a train in Santa Cruz to Quijarro/Corumbá. About 20 odd hours and is around 15 dollars for a reclining seat ticket. It's called the death train but that's only because it moves so slow. There are faster trains but it's pretty much luck with them as they don't really publish a scedule. But it is really worth trying to get them. They have A/C and are just more comfortable. Most buses don't go direct from Corumbá to Rio. They go to Campo Grande or Sao Paolo first. It's about 7 hours to Campo Grande and roughly 20 odd dollars. Brazil is expensive for traveling around in. From Campo Grande it's about 20-24 hrs to Rio. Probably in the 50 dollar region for that. Could be cheaper to fly with Gol from Corumbá to Rio)

* Rio to Sao Paolo (Around 6 hours. About 30-35 dollars)

* Sao Paolo to Iguassu (To Iguazú it's around 14-18 hours. Think it's around the 40 dollar mark)

* Iguassu to Montevideo ( You'd have to go to somewhere like Florianopolis or Porto Alegre first. That's gonna be around 20 hours to Porto Alegre and possibly over 50 dollars. From Porto Alegre you can go to Montevideo. Think it's around 12 hrs and not sure of the price. Probably expensive though.)

* Buenes Aires to Santiago (About 20 odd hours and proabably in the 50 dollar region)

MrJones

v.e.r.b.a.l wrote: »

Help!

I'm going to be travelling across South America from April until August and want to do as much as possible overland (bus or train). But I'm having a lot of trouble finding info online as to how long bus trips take and how much they cost... Anyone have any resourses?

I'll be travelling:

• Quito to Lima
• Uyuni / Potosi to Santa Cruz
• Santa Cruz to Rio de Janeiro
• Rio to Sao Paolo
• Sao Paolo to Iguassu
• Iguassu to Montevideo
• Buenes Aires to Santiago

Any help welcome!

I travelled some of this route early this year all over land.
Quito to Lima would take 20 -30 hours on a bus. I did it inm stages by changing buses alot. Didnt get a direct bus from Quito to Lima.
I travled through Bolivia as well and its hard to estimate anything there because the bus more than likey will get a puncture because roads are so bad. Cost of travel is Peru depends on if you get a private bus co or use the public service. Its cheap if you go to the public bus terminals. Cost of travel in Bolivia is really cheap. Its an experience!
Buenos Aires to Santiago took about 8 hours i think. Cost of travel in Agentina more expensive. Think it was something like 30 dollars US for that trip. Comfortable travel, alot more so than bolivia :-)
Be careful in places where you change buses. Easy to get robbed there.
Guide books such as lonely planet and footprint are really good for accurate information on travel. Good few journeys i took they were spot on in their estimates of the bus journey.

Neamhshuntasach

BA to Santiago is definitely in the 20 odd hour bracket because it is only 7 hours from Mendoza to Santiago. I'm pretty sure it's 24 hours.

v.e.r.b.a.l

Yeah it's something like 20-23 hours (it's the only part i know!) - it's like 690 miles or something and if you think that Galway to Dublin is a 3 hour drive (without traffic!) for 120 miles (or close enough!) then 6 hours isn't really that realistic!

I can't believe how deceptive maps are!!! Especially when dealing with Brazil. Guy in Trailfinders told me Brazil is bigger than Europe and I couldn't believe that! I honestly thought Rio to Sao Paolo would be like an hour, 2 max!

Any good links on internal flights? I know realistically I'll be going mad if i do all of that by bus and i'll prob want a flight if i can afford it.

I'm gonna play it by ear when i get there of course, at the moment i just want to calculate a rough estimate of how much time i'll need in each place, so that i can have a rough date to book two tours that will run out of places soon (Galapagos and Inca Trail)

Neamhshuntasach

www.voegol.com.br for brazil
www.lade.com.ar for Argentina
www.skyairline.cl for Chile
www.aerocondor.com.pe for Peru
http://www.aerosur.com/ for Bolivia

Yeah definitely don't trust maps. The distance they look are never how long you think it would take. Especially in mountainous areas.

friedice

How long and how much would the bus trip from Montevideo to Sao Paolo or Montevideo to Rio be?

dory

Neamh said pretty much everything I was going to. I spent about 15 nights altogether on buses in South America and that was all in a two month period and I survived! It becomes second nature to get on, snuggle up and sleep. So don't worry about that.
I heard of people going from Buenos Aires down to the tip of the country for $120, same as we paid on buses. Not sure what they used but you might as well check that out. I went Lima-Cuzco for $57 with LAN, and that was in August at two days notice so def check out the internal ones.

dory

friedice wrote: »

How long and how much would the bus trip from Montevideo to Sao Paolo or Montevideo to Rio be?

I did Punte Del Este to Sao Paulo. Can't remember but I'm pretty sure it was around the $50 mark.

I just did a check the on LAN. Buenos Aires - Santiago in two weeks time (short notice, high season) is £156 return, £265 one way. Infuriating but that's how they do things. I remember I had a load of return flights I never took in South America. With the exchange rate on the sterling the return price is pretty good.

friedice

Dory,

How long was that trip from Punte Del Este to Sao Paolo?

dory

I really have a terrible memory. I know it was an over nighter to Porto Alegre. All the buses seemed to stop there and then had to get another bus to SP. Can't remember how long the second leg was at all.

v.e.r.b.a.l

The main reason i'm trying to figure out how long it'll take to travel in SA is because i'm trying to work out when to book my Inca Trail for...

Here's my plan so far:

• Leaving Quito, we're gonna bus to Cuenca. Spend a night there.
• Then bus to Mancora on the coast of Peru and spend a night there.
• Then bus through Trujillo onto Lima. Spend two nights there.
• Travel to Ica and see the Nazca Lines from a flight there. Might need to spend a night there, not sure?
• Travel by bus to Cusco. 4 nights here (we have to check in 3 days before the Inca Trail, so we're giving ourselves an extra day's grace)

Can someone tell me if this is realistic or not? I just want to make sure i don't miss the Inca Trail!!!

Is 4 days travel from Quito to Lima realistic with the above stops?
Will we need to stay a night in Ica or would we be able to keep going onto Cusco after seeing the Nazca Lines?

Cheers!!!