Can any of you that traveled to South America recommend any good travel sites that you used?

I want to do Peru/Brasil/Argentina in 15 days. Machu Pichu, Iguazu Falls, Rio, BA...kind of combination. Any advice appreciated.

thanks

9/29/2012 10:27:41 PM

I spent 2 weeks in Peru. Do the 5 day hike to Machu Picchu.

Go check out the Amazon, too.

15 days wasn't enough to even do everything in Peru... I would personally rather see fewer places, but do them justice.

9/30/2012 12:42:19 AM

message_topic.aspx?topic=600727

Peru is covered quite well in there for what I would assume would amount to less than a week of travel for you which would barely scrape the surface. I never replied back in that thread but getting to Machu Picchu is extremely expensive from April to September relative to everything else in that country. Foreigners pay a lot more for everything officially and in general if you can't barter well. Literally everything can be negotiated to some extent, not just products or taxis. You could spend literally two to three days worth of time roundtrip among the flights from Lima or anywhere you are coming from to Cuzco (hello possible altitude sickness), taking the bus/train/taxi to Ollantaytambo or Aguas Caliente and nearly an entire day up at Machu. Pisco/Ica wasn't too far from Lima, enjoyed the true oasis-in-the-desert style resort of Huacachina and especially the dune-buggy rides/sandboarding. They've got a lot of wineries in that area as well if you're a vino. Watch your stuff as well, the locals tend to have sticky fingers.

IMHO I'd try to stay in one of those countries and explore as much locally and try to make other trips so you aren't spending as much time travelling. That's a huge area to cover in two weeks.

9/30/2012 12:58:09 AM

Quote :

"That's a huge area to cover in two weeks."

This. Pick a country and stick with it.

If you pick Brasil, go to Rio of course and do all the tourist things.. Sugar loaf, christ statue, ipanema, copacabana, and some other places i cant remember of the top of my head.

After that there is an island that is pretty awesome to stop for a few days.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Ilha_Grande

You can take a bus from Rio to the port that the island boats sail out of.

And you might be able to fit in Iguazu falls after Ilha grande and Rio but like I first said that is a huge area to cover..

9/30/2012 10:15:31 AM

I went to Iquitos, Peru for a week. That is more of the rainforest area, there are guided tours there and you can walk on the canopy walkway very cool especially if you want to see wildlife.

I also went to the Pantanal of Brazil

specifically I went to Caiman Ecological Refuge http://www.ladatco.com/PAN-CEF.HTM

I stayed there for 1.5 months, very nice and lots of wildlife as well. very nice lodgings for guests and the staff are very nice.

9/30/2012 11:07:46 AM

Thanks for all the input. What travel agencies you used to get there?

9/30/2012 10:55:41 PM

Save Argentina & go on another trip to South America to Chile & Argentina.

I went to Chile in April this year for 6 days & felt like I blinked & it was over. I'm trying to plan another trip in Jan/Feb to go to Patagonia. I'd love to tack on the Atacama Desert but doing that & Patagonia in the same trip would be like trying to do NYC & LA on the same trip. Possible but exhausting!

I'd love to go to Argentia & get a leather jacket custom made while there. I have a friend who did it, it was like $125 & fits her perfectly & has all kinds of great details she picked out.

I don't have travel sites to recommend, I have a friend who lives there for work & hosted me.

10/1/2012 2:53:03 PM

i was in chile for 10 days a couple of years ago...but it was for research, so i didn't get a whole lot of time to just site-see

anyone who goes should definitely go for a hike in the andes...there some gorgeous treks that aren't TOO bad

and if you're there, you should DEFINITELY check out geométricas hot springs in villarica national park (about 30 miles outside pucón)...it's absolutely awesome



damn, i want to go back to chile

10/1/2012 3:21:40 PM

Quote :

"I'm trying to plan another trip in Jan/Feb to go to Patagonia."

That's on my list.

[Edited on October 1, 2012 at 8:36 PM. Reason : Along with [our] summer skiing in Chile/Argentina, Germany, 'stralia, Russia, AK, HI...]

10/1/2012 8:34:48 PM

Go to Ecuador and stay above 9000 feet so you never see a single mosquito.

Hike around on the volcanoes and such.

Eat everything in sight.

10/1/2012 9:01:52 PM

I did BsAs to Iguazu back in 2010. I spent 10 days in BsAs and 3 in Northern Argentina/Southern Brazil. Highly recommended.

To save money, you can take an overnight bus from Recoleta in BsAs to Puerto Iguazu. It cost around $55 one way and had wine, a light dinner, and they played movies. I left around 9PM and got there the next day around noon. Drink a bottle of Fernet and you'll be there in no time.

I stayed in Puerto Iguazu at an awesome hostel for like $13 a night. It had a great pool and kitchen and was filled with interesting travelers from all over the world. The town of Puerto Iguazu is actually a fun little town with great bars and nightlife. The locals are great and love to party. The Brazilian side is way less safe and sketchier- wouldn't recommend staying there.

As for the park itself, it's pretty amazing. We did it in less than a day and did the boat cruise that goes underneath the waterfalls. Honestly, you can do the park in less than a day, but I kinda felt like I rushed a lot. Flying back the BsAs was about $175 and took less than an hour. In hindsight, it might be better to just fly there, but half the fun of South America is finding ways to stretch your money. It's cheaper the further you get from the main cities. As in $10 steak/wine dinners.

10/1/2012 9:37:35 PM

What's your budget? Peru and Argentina are cheap compared to Brazil and especially Chile. Personally I don't think 15 days is enough for three countries. Consider trips where you can keep travel overland. Peru/Northern Chile, Rio/Iguazu/Buenos Aires, or Southern Argentina/Chile i.e. Patagonia. Remember you need a tourist visa in advance to go to Brazil. Rio is an amazingly electric place with the friendliest people anywhere.

When are you going? Most tourist services shut down or scale way back in winter if you are considering Patagonia. Keep in mind their winter is our summer and tourist season doesn't really start til mid-September. Iguazu Falls are less than spectacular in their winter as well.

I've been all over the world and hold firmly to the belief that Patagonia is the most beautiful place on Earth. Buy a round-trip ticket on Aerolineas Argentinas from Buenos Aires to El Calafate, check out the Perito Moreno Glacier, el Chaltén and the Fitz Roy, bus over into Chile through Rio Turbio to Puerto Natales and catch a shuttle straight to Torres del Paine. Hike the W. Bus back to El Calafate and fly back to Buenos Aires. 15 days would be just about right.

10/2/2012 9:03:01 AM

$5k budget
no worries with visa. not a US citizen. im free to enter all SA countries.
going for thx giving break.

10/2/2012 5:59:08 PM

YOU GONNA GET DAT 190% MALARIA

10/2/2012 7:22:08 PM

No malaria south of the Amazon, and hot damn with $5k for 15 days you can pretty much do whatever the hell you want. If I had that much to spend I'd take two days and buy a round-trip from Santiago to Easter Island and check out the Moai statues.

10/3/2012 10:14:47 AM

Yeah that 5k could take you to the Galapagos or other crazy places.

10/3/2012 10:42:43 AM

get a lonely planet guidebook

10/3/2012 11:56:22 AM

im yet to get an answer. did you guys use any of the travel booking sites with tours or just travel independently?

$5k is not enough if you price it out with tours and travel agencies. more like $6k.

flight to lima and out of rio alone is $1600.
hotels $60x15=$900
flight lima to cuzco=?
flight cuzco to iguazzu=?
flight iguazzu to rio=?
food
tours
transportation to and from airports

i used all major SA travel agencies that google spat out and most are 5-7k

that is:

lima, cuzco, machu picchu, iguazzu, rio and BA.
if i throw out BA out of the equation i get $5k.

never been to SA, speak a bit of gringo spanish, traveling alone, thats why im asking is independen travel smart or not? hostels decent?

10/3/2012 1:35:26 PM

I traveled with my Argentinian step-family and did the trip to Iguazu pretty much solo, so I'm not the best person to ask. I was a grad student at the time, so I had a budget of about $2500 and most of it was spent on airfare.

If your Spanish isn't great, I'd recommend taking a class and brushing up on it. I speak Spanish pretty fluently, but they speak different Spanish down in SA than they do in North America.

10/3/2012 1:44:19 PM

For my Peru trip I didn't use any travel company, and neither has anyone I know that's gone there. It is extremely simple to get around Peru and book your own stuff. In addition, a lot of the things are much cheaper if you book there.

However, I did not go to Iquitos, which I have heard can be a bit more difficult once you get there. Not that you can't book there, but you need to have a good idea of what you are looking for and it can be easy to be ripped off.

But for the rest: I did Lima, Cuzco, Manu, Cuzco, Aguas Calientes (Macchu Picchu), Cuzco, Puno (Lake Titicaca), Arequipa, Huacachina, Ica, Lima (in that order)

Yes, you have to fly from Lima to Cuzco, but everything else can be done by bus. The most expensive bus ticket I bought was $85 for an overnight "cama" ticket so I could go to sleep. I would highly recommend these buses if you're short on time.

I think my trip came out to less than $2000 including all the flights

10/3/2012 2:42:21 PM

independent travel is the way to go. so many options. easy to get ripped off though, so go with reputable companies (thus my recommendation of a lonely planet guide book).

6,000 is a ton for ten days, though i'm used to traveling by bus, not plane, so that will certainly be more expensive. but i agree with the posters who said it's better to stick to one or two countries and explore them in depth, rather than zip all around.

i've done two different trips- each a month long- and never spent more than 1500. closer to 1000. we stayed in hostels. hostels are nice in latin america.

[Edited on October 3, 2012 at 3:05 PM. Reason : ]

10/3/2012 3:03:50 PM

^Agree with everything he said.

No travel agency as my wife is Peruvian. Also, just know that the majority of nice hostels won't run anywhere near $60, more like $30 and most times even less. One way ticket for tourists from lima to cuzco will be around $60-90. Second the Lonely Planet books, the most current revisions for each country are about 10-15 bucks and are very helpful for tourists, they sometimes spec out common taxi fares and fees for a given location.

One of my biggest takeaways was that if you enjoy exploring and doing your own thing you'll want to set up everything yourself and can save a lot of money. If you want to really relax, not worry about reservations, and book through a travel agency (which sounds like that's what you want) you'll find there's no shortage of tour kiosks and booths in the airports, museums, and any tourists traps with English-speaking translators/guides.

10/3/2012 8:52:00 PM

I always travel independently and with Lonely Planet. Go to Barnes and Noble, grab South America on a Shoestring, and start figuring out where you want to go. Worry about the in-between travel after you've decided where you want to go and how long you want to stay at each place. Read hostel reviews and take Lonely Planet's hostel suggestions with a grain of salt (as there are usually kickbacks from the book) and then book hostels through hostelworld or hostelbookers, it's very simple and only requires a small deposit. Travel agencies are for traveling with wives and families, screw that noise. It's much more fun and rewarding to do it yourself. Plane ticket aside and especially if you're not going to Chile, you'd be hard pressed to spend more than $100-$150 a day if you're going the backpacking route. Also I think it's usually cheaper to buy your round-trip ticket to and from the same city. I would fly in and out of Rio, buy a one-way to Lima, and work your way back to Rio overland or with one or two flights.

Also the LP books have travel dictionaries in the back which will be helpful if you're not very good at Spanish or Portuguese. A word of caution, unless you are fluent in Spanish, it won't help very much in conversational Portuguese, especially in Rio where few speak English and they have a difficult accent distinct from the rest of Brazil. I was vastly underprepared when I went to Brazil because people told me "oh you know some Spanish? You will be fine in Brazil." Maybe for reading signs but not for conversing. That aside though, I think Portuguese is the most beautiful language and listening to two Brazilian women converse is mesmerizing.

I think Lima, Cuzco, Machu Piccu, Buenos Aires, Iguazu, and Rio is way too much for 15 days. Cut out at least one of those (Lima or BA) if not both. But whatever you do, don't miss Rio. I don't know what your comfort level is but Rio is a dangerous city, and you shouldn't let your guard down (which can be tough cause all the city does is party all the time). Don't ever walk anywhere at night, avoid Copacabana, don't wear any jewelery, and don't carry your passport on you or any more money than you immediately need. If you are robbed, surrender everything immediately. Especially if you are robbed by a kid with a gun. Kids are used by the gangs as thugs because they can't go to jail in Brazil and there is no consequence for shooting you and taking your belongings anyways. That's not meant to detract you, again it's my favorite city, but I thought you should know.

10/4/2012 10:01:48 AM

really appreciate all the detailed advice guys. i think i have decided to take your advice and do completely independent and cut down on number of places.

time frame still stays the same. i will focus on machu picchu, ifalls and rio. 15 days.

definitely checking out lonely planet!

will post up pics after the trip.

10/4/2012 5:14:06 PM

I would highly recommend BA. I used to go there once a month or two for work and loved every bit of it. Cheap and incredible. Make sure you see a futbol match with the boca juniors. You can get a guided trip for 30 bucks.

10/5/2012 12:06:50 AM

I spent 2 full weeks in Peru, flying in and out of Lima. I also flew within the country from Lima to Cuzco, then to Puerto Maldonado, and then back to Lima. We stayed in pretty decent hotels, bed and breakfast, and lodges, partied hard, and did everything we wanted to do, without any particular regard for how much it cost. I think I spent a little over $2000 for everything, not including food (which I don't count, because I'd be paying for food regardless, even if I just sat at home).

...and that said, we ate at the nicest places we could find for the most part, and it still wasn't expensive. Everything there was about 1/3 of what it would cost in the States.


Also, we didn't use any travel agency...it was easy to just get online/on the phone and book everything ourselves.

^^^ Yeah, I wouldn't waste a bunch of time in Lima. Maybe fly in and out of there, and spend a little time there down by the water in the nice district on those travel days, but I'd much rather hang out in Cuzco.

[Edited on October 5, 2012 at 12:32 AM. Reason : ^^ do the 5 day hike to Machu Picchu. The hike up is the best part.]

[Edited on October 5, 2012 at 12:34 AM. Reason : ]

10/5/2012 12:31:26 AM

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

for the flight.

10/5/2012 9:01:57 AM