South America travel tips

29 guides across 9 countries — when to go, how to get around, which ATMs not to use, and what a fair price looks like.

aerial photography of cityscape near sea

Rio de JaneiroBrazilBeaches, samba, and Christ the Redeemer

blue and brown concrete building under blue sky during daytime

Buenos AiresArgentinaEuropean grandeur, tango, and extraordinary steak

city on island during day

LimaPeruCliffs above the Pacific and South America’s best food scene

The Machu Picchu citadel below Huayna Picchu

Cusco & Machu PicchuPeruAn Inca capital at 3,400m, and the citadel below it

The granite towers of Torres del Paine above a glacial lake

Torres del PaineChileGranite towers, wind, and the emptiest sky in Patagonia

Colourful colonial balconies in the walled city of Cartagena

CartagenaColombiaA walled Caribbean city in permanent colour

A Galápagos sea lion on a volcanic shore

Galápagos IslandsEcuadorAnimals that never learned to be afraid of people

The falls at Iguazú spilling through rainforest

Iguazú FallsArgentinaTwo hundred and seventy waterfalls, and a walkway over the biggest

Medellín filling its valley between the hills

MedellínColombiaEternal spring, cable cars up the hillsides, and a city that reinvented itself

Bogotá spread below the Andean hills

BogotáColombiaA capital at 2,600 metres, with a mountain at the end of every street

A rainbow over the falls at Iguaçu, seen from the Brazilian side

Foz do IguaçuBrazilThe panorama side of the falls, and the biggest dam ever built

La Mano, the sculpted fingers emerging from the sand at Punta del Este

Punta del EsteUruguayThe Atlantic on one side, the river on the other, and a hand coming out of the sand

The bare sand and rock of the Atacama Desert under a cloudless sky near San Pedro

Atacama DesertChileThe driest place on earth, at 2,400 metres, under the clearest sky anybody has measured

Snow on the jagged peaks of the Martial range above Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego

Ushuaia & Tierra del FuegoArgentinaThe southernmost city in the world, where the Andes finally run into the sea

a group of boats that are sitting in the water

Santa MartaColombiaWhere the Sierra Nevada falls into the Caribbean, an hour from the jungle

aerial view of city buildings near body of water during daytime

SalvadorBrazilBrazil’s first capital, and the most African city outside Africa

The letters spelling Fortaleza on the Beira Mar promenade, between the palms

FortalezaBrazilTwenty-five kilometres of city beach, and the windiest coast in Brazil

Praia Brava on the north of the island of Florianópolis, seen from the headland

FlorianópolisBrazilAn island with forty-two beaches, and a different one for every mood

bird’s eye-view photography of cityscape during golden hour

ManausBrazilAn opera house in the rainforest, and two rivers that refuse to mix

Montevideo from above, the white apartment blocks running down to the River Plate

MontevideoUruguayA capital of half a million on a river so wide it looks like the sea

Asunción spread out below a low hill, with the Paraguay river beyond

AsunciónParaguayThe least visited capital in South America, which is most of its appeal

Cable cars crossing above the brick houses of La Paz, stacked up the canyon wall

La PazBoliviaA city in a canyon at 3,600 metres, with cable cars for buses

A vehicle reflected on the flooded mirror surface of the Salar de Uyuni

Salar de UyuniBoliviaTen thousand square kilometres of salt, and a rainy season that turns all of it into a mirror

The white walls and red roofs of Quito’s colonial old town from above

QuitoEcuadorThe best-preserved colonial centre in the Americas, at 2,850 metres, on the equator

The Santiago skyline at dusk with the snow line of the Andes behind it

SantiagoChileA city with the Andes at the end of the street, and vineyards forty minutes the other way

Bottles and chalkboard vintage markers in a Mendoza bodega cellar

MendozaArgentinaMalbec, and the highest mountain outside Asia standing behind the vineyards

A wooden jetty on a Bariloche lake with the Patagonian peaks behind

BarilocheArgentinaAlpine Patagonia: chocolate shops, glacial lakes and a ski season in July

white and brown concrete building near green trees and mountain during daytime

ArequipaPeruA white volcanic-stone city under three volcanoes, and the deepest canyon most people have never heard of

brown wooden houses on green grass field during daytime

Lake TiticacaPeruThe highest navigable lake on earth, with islands of woven reed and villages that still weave their own history