South American Destinations

South America goes well beyond Peru. While the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and Lake Titicaca remain among the most rewarding travel experiences on the planet, the continent holds a remarkable range of destinations that deserve equal attention: the glaciers and towers of Chilean Patagonia, the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador, the colonial beauty of Cartagena in Colombia, the sheer scale of Argentina from Buenos Aires to Iguazu Falls, the surreal salt flats of Bolivia, and Brazil, with the wetlands of the Pantanal, and a coastline that stretches for thousands of miles. Few regions in the world pack this much variety into one continent.

Ecuador is a small country that delivers an outsized travel experience. Within a few hours of each other, you can walk through cloud forests, explore colonial Quito, and reach the Amazon basin. Add the Galapagos Islands, one of the most extraordinary wildlife destinations on earth, and you have a country that covers an unusual range of landscapes in a compact geography. Few places let you feel like you are visiting four different worlds in a single trip.

Ecuador

Colombia has changed dramatically as a travel destination over the past two decades. Cartagena offers one of the best-preserved colonial centers in Latin America, Medellin has reinvented itself into a city worth visiting for its food scene and energy, and the coffee region gives travelers a quieter, greener side of the country. Most travelers who go once start planning a return before they are even home.

Colombia

Chile runs the length of a continent, and that geography is the whole point. In the north, the Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on earth and one of the best for stargazing. In the south, Patagonia delivers the kind of scenery that makes the long journey to get there feel completely justified, with Torres del Paine as its most iconic landmark. In between, there is wine country, lake districts, and a string of coastal cities.

Chile

Argentina is a country that takes time to understand, and that is part of what makes it interesting. Buenos Aires rewards slow exploration, with neighborhoods like Palermo, San Telmo, and Recoleta each offering a different character, and a food and culture scene that punches well above its weight. Further south, Patagonia shares some of the same dramatic landscapes as Chile but with a different texture and far fewer crowds on the Argentine side. In the northeast, Iguazu Falls is simply one of the most spectacular natural sites on the planet, full stop.

Argentina

Bolivia is one of South America's least visited countries and one of its most rewarding. The Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat, produces landscapes that look genuinely unreal, especially during the rainy season when a thin layer of water turns the surface into a mirror. Beyond that, there is the high-altitude city of La Paz, the colonial streets of Sucre, and access to some of the most dramatic Andean scenery on the continent.

Bolivia

Brazil is too large to summarize easily, and that scale is part of its appeal. The Amazon rainforest alone accounts for a significant portion of the country. The Pantanal, less visited but arguably more rewarding for wildlife, is one of the best places on earth to see jaguars, giant otters, and hundreds of bird species in the open. Rio de Janeiro remains one of the world's most visually striking cities, and the northeast coast offers a string of beaches and colonial towns that most international travelers have not yet discovered.

Brazil