South America trip

jobless

hey all,

I'm planning on heading to South America for roughly a month in June, thing is i've no idea where to start. We were looking into taking in maybe four countries....say fly into Argentina and leave from Brazil and maybe see Chile and Peru in between, or something along those lines.
Has anyone travelled around SA for a month before?...if so could you advise me on what site is the best to book flights with (including internal ones?)... any suggested routes etc would be welcomes because i'm really only starting to research it..

thanks

Meathlass

You are being far too ambitious I'm afraid. A month is such a short space of time. Brazil on its own is the size of Europe. Also as it's June you won't be able to go to the south of Chile/Argentina where the most spectacular scenary is and will probably be hindered crossing the andes as well because of the weather. I'd recommend flying into Buenos Aires and out of Rio and spending your month travelling between the two. You can go to Mendoza in Argentina, over into Uruguay to Montevideo on the ferry from Buenos Aires. Stop at Igazu Falls and the Missions close up. spend a few days in the Pantanal and a relax on the beaches and islands between rio and Sao Paulo. Trailfinders are good to go to to plan things but if you stick.

jobless

thanks Meathlass...
was planning on doing some internal flights but you're probably right in saying that a month is too short... i'll have to figure some way of getting some more time off work

Neamhshuntasach

With a name like that i didn't think getting time off work would be a problem.

Anyways as Meathlass was saying, trying to travel around each of those countries with only a month would be very ambitious and tiring. Not much runs on time in South America, journey's take longer than they are supposed to, places are a lot further away than they look due to mountainous roads and plus you'll get sick of being on buses and want to stay an extra day here and there which puts you behind schedule. Internal flights within a country can be cheap enough although make sure you check safety records. Flights between countries within SA are expensive.

HankScorpio1985

two very good posts there about argentina and brazil which i totally agree with. i spent 8 weeks in south america last summer and it was nowhere near enough. do not miss the pantanal or isla grandhe(home to one of the top 10 beaches in the world) in brazil.if you are going out in rio dont miss any of the street parties in lapas but watch out for your wallet

Neamhshuntasach

Best not to bring your wallet. When i'm going out in crowded places all i have on me is enough money i think i'll need and maybe 5-10 dollars extra just in case. And i put it in different pockets. Years of traveling and except for a kidknap by Farc i've never had any problems at all.

p to the e

was there for 6 weeks last summer. don't leave out Bloivia if you can. it's the cheapest country in SA and La Paz is a great city. lots to do for people with money. Loki hostel is where to stay there. try to get to Machu Pichu in Peru. it's rightly one of the modern wonders of the world. Rio in Brazil is great fun. We got an internal flight from San Tiago in Chile to Rio de Janeiro. Shop around but often the cheapest way to travel is on a bus. they're pretty comfortable in the wealtier countries and they usually give you time to recover. Iguazu falls is on the Argentinian Brazil border and is definitely worth a visit but it's cheaper from the Argentinian side. also form that side you can visit Paraguay for a day. it's a crazy place. make sure and get a motorbike taxi for 2 dollars. you'll wet your pants