ROTW-South America leg

The Buster

I have just booked a 6 month "semi" round the world trip leaving in May and back in November. The first 4 months I am happy with my plan. Mostly covered by south east Asia, Australia and NZ

My original plan was to return home after that but after talking to people I decided to spend some time in South America. So basically I have 8 weeks in South America from late sept to mid November. I booked it before researching but have since done some research and have another six months to finalise.

So just looking at plan. I have flight booked to arrive to Lima, spend 2 weeks in Peru covering inca trail etc. Make my way down to Santiago and surrounding area for approx 5 days and see some of north chile, travel into Argentina make my way down the chile border (Patagonia) which I think takes me close to 2 weeks, back up to B. Aires, inguza falls another 10 days. So I have approx 10 days left.

Open to suggestions for what is must see. My flight home is from BA but I can make my way back to there or leave BA region til end

What would you suggest as possible destination for these 10-12 days I don't mind moving around for that time but ideally I would like to work out of a maximum of two bases

gercoral

woa, thats a lot of moving and travelling for such a short space of time. south america is a big enough continent!

may i ask why you have chosen not to touch bolivia?

The Buster

gercoral wrote: »

woa, thats a lot of moving and travelling for such a short space of time. south america is a big enough continent!

may i ask why you have chosen not to touch bolivia?

Haven't really considered it- no reason why. As I mentioned I kind of booked this leg without planning. Is Bolivia worth adding? Any suggestions what to do?

I am open to changing my plans if I think there are better options.

Kevcol

It kind of depends what you're looking for. I came back from a RTW trip last Summer and my favourite part of the whole trip was possibly Patagonia. You could all of that extra time to do things down there like the W Trek and visiting El Chalten.

Bolivia has Death Road in La Paz and the Salt flats in the south. You can also visit the Amazon from La Paz while you're there. I climbed Huayna Pichu, a mountain that's over 6000m in La Paz too. Amazing worthwhile experience but not for everyone

gercoral

yes, as previous poster said! spent 4 weeks here, wasnt enough time. possibly my fave things were in bolivia, namely the salt flats, lake titicaca, death road (loved it!!), isla del sol.
you need to bear in mind how you will travel around from city to city. many a day/night is taken up on a bus. did a few 22hr trip, 26 hour trip on bus. nice buses, but still a day when you think about it.

i did a salt flat tour and was on the road for 4 days with that. if i remeber correctly, there is a bus that runs to santiago from ere. think someone on our trip was going there after bolivia.

but something to definitely consider!

The Buster

thanks for the replies. I am not getting there for another six months so have time to think, but it definetly sounds like I should be considering putting Bolivia on the list and maybe reducing where i am trying to get to

dory

I'd say do a Google image search of salt flats Bolivia and Patagonia and go with whichever you prefer. You could squeeze in both, and maybe get a flight afterwards. I can't see where you're flying out of but the usual would be Lima - down to Huacachina for some sandboarding, maybe down to the Nazca Lines and Arequipa - I'd go back to Lima and fly to Cuszo - then Puno, islands - into Bolivia down to do salt flats - finish in Tupiza and head down to Argentina then. International flights are expensive there but internal are cheaper. Internal means within Argentina etc. not within South America. If I went again I'd fly down to Patagonia, I spent about 48 on buses one way, and then back again. From Buenos Aires then up the falls and then an overnight bus to Sao Paulo. It's a bit rushed but I've seen many people do that in a summer.

gercoral

^^ more or less did this route but the reverse..
if i was to go back again i would do patagonia for sure

BArra

Leave out lake titicaca, its not a very pleasant town that surrounds it and the lake itself being nice and all, the inhabitants are pretty pushy about selling things, didn't have a nice experience there, far too tourist trap.

Definitely do the salt flats and get a jeep tour, don't pay full price, there are several jeep tour operators in sal de uyuni. A salt flats tour you will remember this for the rest of your life.

Another beautiful town in Bolivia would be Tarija, nice vibe, great central markets, lots of wine tours available if thats your thing

5p9arw38djv2b4

The Buster wrote: »

I have just booked a 6 month "semi" round the world trip leaving in May and back in November. The first 4 months I am happy with my plan. Mostly covered by south east Asia, Australia and NZ

My original plan was to return home after that but after talking to people I decided to spend some time in South America. So basically I have 8 weeks in South America from late sept to mid November. I booked it before researching but have since done some research and have another six months to finalise.

So just looking at plan. I have flight booked to arrive to Lima, spend 2 weeks in Peru covering inca trail etc. Make my way down to Santiago and surrounding area for approx 5 days and see some of north chile, travel into Argentina make my way down the chile border (Patagonia) which I think takes me close to 2 weeks, back up to B. Aires, inguza falls another 10 days. So I have approx 10 days left.

Open to suggestions for what is must see. My flight home is from BA but I can make my way back to there or leave BA region til end

What would you suggest as possible destination for these 10-12 days I don't mind moving around for that time but ideally I would like to work out of a maximum of two bases

8 weeks is hardly enough to touch even Peru. Oct is excellent hiking season so if you like outdoors plan your Inca trail (rem book way in advance for the official trailer, it may already be sold out, but you can hike other routes also and still end up at Matchu P. ). If you like outdoors and hiking I'd go north of Lima to Huaraz and go trekking from there.

The Irish owned Peru Hop and Bolivia Hop buses are ace, really liable in countries where taxis are often scams. They will let you do an ace itinerary of Peru really quickly if you are trying to cram stuff in (nazca lines, sand dunes, Arequipa (do spend a few days doing the volcano canyon). And you can hop off anywhere you like for as many days as you like.

Having spent 5 months last year in a few countries in south America honestly the distance is so long you will struggle to get place, and places like Bolivia take forever to get around as transport is rubbish/ regular bus strikes (but Bolivia is great, Sucre is great, towns like Tupiza and Potosi are just great).

That said the overnight buses in Chile and Argentina cover ground quickly if you do try to do a lot. But to try do some of what your doing I'd say you need to book flights.

You really need min 3 weeks in Patagonia alone, don't rush it.