South America Honeymoon
Hi,We are planning to put together an itineary for a 4 week honeymoon in South America. Ideally we want to start in Chile. Head to the Atacama Desert, on the the Salt Plains. From there to Le Paz, then over the border to Pere via Take Titikaka arriving in Cucso, 4 day inca trail and hopfully then on to Rio for some R and R before flying home to Ireland. Now we had a budget in mind of 4.5K euros and we've looked at things with travel agents and they keep going over. That's fine to a point as I know things can be inclusive on tours. But we want our own time also! Not has everyday planned out. Fine stay in nice hotels and have transfers organised, but we don't need this for the whole trip. We can do hostels also. I've previously back packed round Australia/NZ and indeed Argentiana so well used to it. Great way of meetin people but it is a honeymoon also so conscious of that.
Do people have some ideas. All for listening. One thing is we're going mid March so need to get moving. appreciate any input
Vin
1
For the first part all you need to do is book a flight to Calama for San Pedro de Atacama, book a transfer from the airport to San Pedro (transfer Licancabur) and book lodging. You can stay in everything from hostels to medium priced apartments to all inclusive luxury. 3-4 days should be fine. SKY Airlines will be cheaper than LAN. The bus is an option but takes 24 hours and I don't recommend it for a start in married life! All this you can easily book for yourselves. Plane tickets are cheaper the earlier you book but airlines can also change schedules between booking and flying so you need to stay on top of it.Most people just book a salt flats tour in San Pedro. Mostly the food isn't great, the lodging is basic and it is freezing but you will never forget the views. All tours can be booked more cheaply when you are there than from abroad.
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Yes, the first part is fairly easy to organize by yourself and going on from the saltflats to La Paz and on to Cusco is easy too. You will need to book the inca trail well ahead. A tour covering all this is often no good value and very expensive. Flying to Rio from Cusco will cost you quite a bit as you have to go via Lima and oneway tickets are often more expensive than a return. You would fly into Santiago and out...., from where?3
Thanks for the reply guys. Plan is to fly out of Rio home. Can see flying from Lima to Rio is expensive though. Any thoughts of an alternative after the inca trail. R and R for the last few days/week is in order4
If you definitely want to be in Rio then you'd rather start from there and drop Santiago entirely. That's especially that you'll be coming from the east (Ireland). Besides, weather in Rio will be better in March than the next month.The way you've been planning, Peru to Rio at the end of your trip, doesn't really make much sense logistically and financially. It's a very expensive way to see just one city.
You should rather finish your trip in Lima and fly to Ireland from there.
How much time are you going to have for your honeymoon? I gather, 4-6 weeks. That's what your funds would be sufficient for, depending on the kind of accommodation you stay in.
Are your flight tickets to/from South Am included in €4.5K?
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About Peru it is better you organized your tour to Machupicchu with advice ...:) Because all year is bussy ......
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Just FYI, I checked the availability of Inca Trail permits for April last night (am thinking of doing it when I visit), and it was booked up with 0 permits available.I did just try to recheck to confirm that, but the official site is down. And it goes down often.
You can use this site and click on the month. Though as I said its not working at the moment.
If that is the case, there are plenty of alternative treks and I'd be booking this once in Cusco.
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Thanks all for you advice. I suppose something that's struck me is time. We've really only got 3.5 weeks when u factor in flights over and back to SA.We're still intent on starting in Santiago and finishing in Rio. And I've seen we can get cheap flights from Liama to Rio via Iguazu so we're going to go for that and spend a couple of days in Iguazu.
My main concern is getting for the Atacama desert to La Paz via the Salt Plains and from there to Cuzco via Late Titicaca. Is this just rushing it all. Should we leave out one aspect. Would we be better to fly from Santiago to Lima or La Plaz and work from there. Would plan on doing the Inca trail lastly. Relaxing for a day or two and then onto the Brazilian part of things over the last week.............
What do people think?
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My bad, I was looking at 2012 dates, not 2013. However, it is recommended you book your Inca Trail before November as permits for the early months go on sale at the end of the year (december).So I suggest setting a date for this as soon as possible and then booking. Otherwise you might not get it.
