Brazil, Argentina & Peru.

Raekwon

Has anyone every done a trip like this? (Rio de Janeiro, Iguazu Falls, Buenos Aires, Cuzco/ Machu Picchu?).

I was looking at package deals online and they came out at around the €3k mark for 2 weeks (I would be going alone).

I saw a multicity flight from Dublin to Rio then home from Lima for €799 online and was wondering if it would be possible to do the trip myself (ie: book hotels & internal flights etc) or would it be too much hassle?

dory

It's absolutely possible! And you'd have a great time on the 3k you'd save. The only thing is distance - It's a fair hike from Argentina to Peru. You're leaving out Bolivia - and if you want to leave it out, grand. But just in case you have no idea about Bolivia - look into it. It's the place that made me want to go to South America, it's cheap and out of this world.

Internal flights are pricey. Buses are the way to go. No problem going from Brazil to Iguazu then onto BA. But getting to the capital of Peru on a bus takes 4 days or something. Then another 24 hours to Cusco. You'd be better off taking in Bolivia and stopping along the way.

Two weeks will be a mad tight schedule. If you don't eat or sleep you should be able to make it. I'd question any tour company who will bring you to those three countries in 2 weeks, especially seeing as the altitute in Cusco takes some getting used to.

If you want, check out my blog. I would recomment my Bolivia section if you want to see some photos of what you would be skipping over - http://blogs.bootsnall.com/cybersusst

darrenh

If you want to do all that in 2 weeks flying is your only option. Expensive as it may be you will be stuck in buses for nearly 30% of your time. Internal flights within countries can be reasonable, but going from one country to the next is very expensive by plane. If you have they cash though feck it. Fly as much as possible. You'll see far more. DIY is probably the best way to do it too.

Raekwon

Thanks for your replies. Yeah I agree 2 weeks would be really tight but then again I only have 2 weeks holidays from work so there is no way around that unfortunately. Here is a few of the package trips that I saw, the prices are really quite high though (especially for a single person trip) so I'm going to try and do it solo.

http://www.argentinaforless.com/packages/special8-world-wonders.php
http://www.beaconsouthamerica.com/highlightdetail.aspx?id=149&countryid=16
http://www.thetraveldepartment.ie/CMSTEmplates/ttd/resultsengine/individualresult.aspx?id=Arg0057941/individualresult.aspx

My plan is as follows: Fly to Rio, spend one or two days there. Head down to the Iguazu Falls (bus or train) for a day then onto Buenos Aires to spend a few days there. That would take me the guts of around 6 days (inclduong the flight......I think) so I would have another week to either go straight to Peru or fly to La Paz from Buenos Aires and make my way to Cuzco then fly home from Lima.

I'm only at the very early planning stage so lots of suggestions are very welcome, but staying 2 days in each place and giving a day to traveling could be enough (I hope so anyway).

Neamhshuntasach

That's a lot of ground to cover in 2 weeks. I don't think it's feasible by bus. Well technically it is but after i get off an overnight bus i don't wanna touch another one for at least a few days. Since you won't have that time to play around with you wouldn't have a choice. Flying seems like the only option if you don't mind being on buses all the time. You'd have a more relaxing time though if you just picked Brazil. You can visit Rio and the coast and still make it down to both sides of Iguazu. Or just pick Argentina. You can try do it all but it will be tiring.

Todd Gack

Seeing as how you've only 2 weeks you 'd probably be best either choosing Brazil/Argentina or Peru/Bolivia and perhaps taking two weeks to do the other option next holidays you have.

From Rio to Buenos Aires via Iguazu is about 40 hours by bus give or take and the Argentine buses are more luxurious and easier to get some sleep. You're bound to be pretty tired after a full days travel as mentioned above. Taking everything on will make a holiday seem more like work. Rio and Buenos Aires are definitely both worth a few days each as they're great cities.

Air travel is pretty expensive so buses are better value but more time consuming. If you do plan to fly to Peru definitely try go to Cuzco as Lima is about a 16 hour bus journey. The Inca trail if you wanted the whole thing is 4 days as well, can just get a train there from Cuzco too.

You shouldn't have too much hassle booking things yourself like hotels and transport. Always the net for that. With two weeks you wanna have a good time as well as seeing as much as you can.

I'd say pick one area or the other, Bolivia has plenty to see and do, probably more so you could combine that with Peru. Just my 2c as travelling can be pretty tiring and you wanna enjoy it which is the most important thing.