I'm looking to travel to South America in the new year.

usheenm

Any tips for where best to go, what to see???

Bruz82

1.Puerta Iquazu (brazil/Argentina border) is unmissable
2.Football match (Maracana in Rio / Boca-River in Buenos Aires)
3.Worlds most dangerous road in La Paz in good craic
4.Salt flats in Bolivia
5.Trekking to Macchu Picchu in Peru
6.Indigenous people in the amazon

to name a few......

Be warned tho, SA is so good it not easy when its time to go home!!!

usheenm

Cheers man, anyone else have any help??

darrenh

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Wanderly-Wagon/Trips/2613

Try that for info. South America is amazing.

sinjin_smythe

Mendoza also rocks. Do the Mr Hugo wine tour.

usheenm

Thanks folks, really looking forward to it, how much cash do you think i'd need for around a half a year travelling, i don't mind working if need be...

dory

Very difficult to find paid work in SA, so I wouldn't reply on it. I spent about 1000 Euro a month there but I never went crazy. Chile, Argentina and Brazil are more expensive than you'd think.

v.e.r.b.a.l

Yeah, Ecuador, Peru and (especially) Bolivia are very cheap, but Argentina, Chile are quite expensive comparatively speaking. Brazil, Rio at least, is almost as expensive as Ireland!

South America is the most amazing place to travel in the world. Some unmissables:

The Galapagós Islands, Ecuador
This is the most amazingly unique place on Earth. Expensive, yes, but unforgettable. Swimming with sea-lions, penguins, sharks, through huge shoals of multi-coloured fish, trekking on volcanic landscapes past giant lizards and strange birds that aren't scared of you and seeing giant tortoises in fields instead of cows. Amazing!

Cotopaxi, Ecuador
Huge volcano in the countryside. You can do an unforgettable trek up to 5000m on this volcano, or if you're fit enough, a summit climb overnight. Trekking across the snow as your guide points down the side of the ice and shouts "Peligrossa!" is something you'll remember! The Secret Garden hostel in Quito can organise transport out and their sister hostel is one of the reasons I loved the place so much.

The Inca Trail
Doubt I have to say much. If you can't do the original Inca Trail, then get to Cusco and try to find an alternative like Salkantay (spelling?), but don't listen to any Bull**** some people will try to tell you about the Inca Trail being too popular and crowded. It's not true. It's the original and best trek.

Colca Canyon, Peru
Arequipa is a gorgeous town and the Colca Canyon can be such an amazing experience if you do it full-on. Lots of people just go to the outskirts and see the condors fly overhead (which, don't get me wrong, is very impressive). But if you do the 3 day trek, you'll have an amazing experience. Second only to the Inca Trail! You descend from the top of one of the world's deepest canyons to the bottom and back up again staying in local villages. It's tough, but great. Couldn't recommend Land Adventures enough. Ask for Carlitos - he's a bit crazy, but he's great!

Lake Titicaca
You can do both the Peru and Bolivia side of the lake. On the Peru side, you can see the floating reed islands and stay with a family on another (Amantani) island. It's all a bit staged, but good craic all the same. Most people prefer the Bolivia side. You visit Isla Del Sol, see some pre-inca ruins and do a trek. Try to avoid altitude sickness - this is where I got it. Ugh!

The World's Most Dangerous Road
If you do only one death-defying stunt in South America, make it this one! Fly down the scariest downhill road in the world through waterfalls, past monkeys and gorgeous scenery and survive! It really is as dangerous as people make it out, but just take it easy and you should be fine. I loved every second of it!

If you go, there's only one or two companies that will have proper bikes with brakes and stuff. Gravity is one of them and I can personally recommend them. Plus you end up at a cool wildlife reserve at the bottom called La Senda Verde. Stay a night or two here. The animals are amazing. You're just walking along and a monkey hops on your shoulder or steals your watch! I got to feed a peanut to a bear!!

Potosí
A harrowing place. Watch "The Devil's Miner" before you get here. Do a tour of the mines with Koala. It's tough, killer work crawling through the mines and made tougher by the fact that you're at 4,400m altitude! It's quite depressing, meeting all the young kids working in the mines 12 hour days breathing in toxic minerals and knowing that they'll probably die by the age of 40. Tough, but necessary. Plus you get to blow up a stick of dynamite afterwards!

Salar De Uyuni
The famous Salt Plains of Bolivia. Hop in a jeep and drive around the alien landscape of salt, desert, toxic lakes and volcanoes. Go with Aides Salt Expeditions. Recommended.

San Pedro De Atacama, Chile
A desert full of huge orange rock formations and huge sand.dunes. an amazing place to spend a couple of days. Quite expensive, but worth it for the experience of sand-boarding on a huge dune in the middle of the desert and then watching the moon rise with some Pisco sour on a cliff top. Magical.

Iguassu Falls
Do both the Argentine and Brazilian side of the falls. The Argentine side for a great close-up look at the falls and a boat ride under some of the falls to get soaked!! Then the Brazilian side for an overview. 275 giant waterfalls booming around you and toucans flying above, you have to feel happy.

Rio De Janeiro
The only city I'd list as a sight itself. Rio has it all. Gorgeous beaches, a huge statue of Christ, great football, great food, rainforest, slums, millionaires, artists, trams, cable-cars, hang-gliding, surfing, street parties. I ended up staying more than 8 days! Recommend staying at the Mango Tree in Ipanema.

Buenos Aires, Argentina
Another great city. Parks in Palermo, tango on the streets, great music, a giant flower and lots of cafes everywhere. An enjoyable place to rent an apartment and chill for a week or two and eat your own bodyweight in steak in amazing La Cabrera!

Puerto Madryn, Argentina
Only worth going to if you're there during the season that the huge Southern Right Whales come in to mate. The bay is quite deep, so these huge whales come right in near the beach! Hop on a boat and the whales come over, very curious! An exhilarating experience! You can just walk long the beach and see a huge whale jump out of the water!!

El Calafate, Argentina
Home of Perito Moreno, the world's most spectacular glacier. Bright blue ice. Hop on a boat to get a close-up look andif you're lucky a huge 60m tall wall of ice will smash down beside your boat!

Mendoza, Argentina
If you like your wine, you'll love Mendoza! Do a wine tour, learn how to taste properly and get tipsy! Plus you get to shout "Mendozaaaaaa!" like in The Simpsons. Cross the Andes to Chile by bus. Spectacular bus ride. Make sure you get the front two seats on the upper level.

If I've left anywhere out, its cos I didn't go there (or cos I'm typing this on my phone in work!!) Good luck in South America, now back to scheming some way I can afford to go back... :rolleyes:

doriansmith

Some great tips from Verbal! I'm in South America at the moment but I've only been here a few weeks so have only been to Brazil (just Rio & Iguazu) and Argentina so far. Agree that Rio is crazy expensive but it's a beautiful city. Go up to the Cristo statue for amazing views.

Argentina rocks, it has everything - cities, beaches, glaciers, mountains, lakes, etc etc!
Agree that Perito Moreno glacier in Patagonia is amazing. I've seen glaciers before but this one is something else! Loads of people here aren't bothering to go cos it's winter but we had great weather. Cold but sunny & clear, I'd recommend it no matter what time of year it is.

Bariloche is another place in Argentina I'd recommend. I'm here at the moment, we had a few days of terrible weather but it cleared up yesterday and we went up to Cerro Campanario viewpoint. Don't miss it if you're here, it's awesome. The skiing here is supposed to be great in winter too.

Personally I didn't see what the fuss is about with Buenos Aires, I thought it was just another city, nothing special. I'd say it's nicer in summer though

Really excited to go to some of the other places Verbal mentioned I'm heading to Mendoza next & it looks great.

Balmed Out

been to peru, bolivia and venevuela all of which are really good.
Venezuela and columbia have a lot to offer and worth looking into.
Ecuador supposed to be very good too.

Been to central america too and liked a lot,
gluck

dory

This should be made a sticky or something, gets asked a lot. And the regular posters keep saying the same places. And maybe one for Thai/Cambodia/Vietnam too.

darrenh

I agree, I love to help people by answering their questions but it becomes a broken record. Is it time South America and South East Asia got a home of their own?

dory

Not even a whole home of its own, just a single thread with everyone's ideas. I feel a bit groundhog dayish here.

donfers

what's the best site for cheap flights to south america, ideally hoping to land in buenos aires or rio de janeiro but flights seem quite expensive, south east asia flights are cheaper...so any idea where to get decent deals for flights to south america, 500-600 euros return would be nice if at all possible.....flying from london is best i presume

cupthehand1

What sorta route did you guys take, I was thinking of flying to Brazil, heading South in a clockwise loop for about three-ish months, taking in pretty much most things that have been mentioned in this thread.

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

dory

Flying in to Brazil and out of either Lima of Quito would be good.

As for cheap flights, there's not really such a thing, but you could try Spain - Quito, I know my bro got a cheap flight on that route but I'm not sure which airline.

cupthehand1

I was thinking about taking in some of the beaches along the coast of Northern Brazil as it will be the height of their Summer on my return to Rio/Sao Paulo. Would love to take in the Galapogos Islands but don't think funds would allow it, Im budgeting for ~€1,000 a month

jebusmusic

I'm heading to South America in January for about 3 months, en route to Australia. Doing a similiar route to the one DarrenH took, but not going down south of Argentina/Patagonia. His blog is great btw, linked earlier in the thread, loads of useful info.

Flying into Rio, then Iguazu (both sides), Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Tucuman, Cafayate, Salta, San Pedro, Uyuni, Sucre, Cochabamba (three weeks volunteer work), La Paz, Copacabana, Puno, Cusco, Pisco, Arequipa, Arica, Antofagasta, La Serena and Santiago.

Planning on about 5 nights each in Rio, BA and Cusco, then 2-3 nights in most other places but want to be flexible, as you never know what you'll end up doing!

Budgeting for about 1000 euro's per month, but doubting wether I'll be able to keep it that low! It seems that to stick to this you have to be pretty strict with yourself, stick to dorms ($US 15 per person a night on average), market/street food (especially in Rio!) not too many expensive side trips and activities. But the main trips such as Machu Picchu and Salt Flats are included in this budget.

Trying to learn some Spanish in the meantime, save money on doing a language course in Buenos Aires!

Thats my two cents anyway!

darrenh

There isn't that much 'market' food in South America. Its more and Asian thing. What you do have in South America is hostels with excellent kitchen facilities and this is where you can save money. They are also the best place to meet people imo.

With regard Pisco, I dont know if you can go and visit there yet after the earthquake a few years ago. I did meet people who went the volunteering though. Thats a year ago so things could be very different now.

We found the norm for hostels was around €10 per night to a s little as €5 per night, depending on country.