1

As an Aussie we have 2 main options. Fly into Santiago with Lan Chile, Air New Zealand and Qantas. Or fly to BA with Aerolineas Argentinas or Qantas.

My Colombian friends actually fly to the US then back down to Colombia to get there.

So fly to BA and do some tango and spanish lessons. But this will take valuable time from your 2 months. Then you would need to buy an internal flight to Quito and another to the Galapagos.. That is probably 2 weeks out of your itinerary. Only leaving 6 weeks to travel through Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. It is doable but no ideal.

I am assuming you will be flying back to OZ via BA again which will mean another internal flight from La Paz.

I would consider skipping BA and flying into Santiago (but not staying there) and flying straight up to Quito. See the Galapagos straight away and travelling overland to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, just over the Bolivian border near the Salar de Uyuni. You can then either fly to Santiago and then home or take a bus for about 20 hours (sorry, was a few years ago when I did this bus trip, could be slightly longer or less) back to Santiago. That extra week on the West Coast of South America rather then BA will make your journey noticeably more relaxed.

2

From Perth you have another option. Fly through to Rio or São Paulo with South African Airways. It's a more direct option but usually works out a bit more expensive and IIRC requires an overnighter in Johannesburg. Option 4 would be with Emirates, best service of the lot but usually much more expensive and a very, very long trip.

Once you are there domestic flights with a local carrier. The other advantage to LAN is you can buy one of their South American air passes and they code share with Qantas. That's handy because when things go awry as they occasionally do with LAN, at least you can call Qantas to help resolve your issue.

3

I know this is not the question that you asked, but 2 months for those three countries is not a lot of time, unless you only want to see the most touristy places on the gringo trail. I spent 2 months in Peru alone, and nearly the same in Bolivia and we were not taking it slow. I met quite a few people who had such a rushed itinerary due to already booked flights out of places. For the most part, the people I met wished they had spend more time in less countries.

Just my two scents.

4

Solution is pretty simple: fly to Santiago, fly / bus to Calama and later on to San Pedro de Atacama, enter Bolivia via SE Circuit Tour (Salt Flats), spend as much time in Bolivia as you want, go via Titicaca to Peru, do whatever you like in Peru going north and get to Ecuador.
Now is the tricky part: how will you go back to Santiago? Flights can run at $800 one-way and it's much too far to go by bus.
You have two options:
1. Skip Ecuador altogether, 2 moths is too short for 3 countries anyway and Peru and Bolivia are far more superb. If you choose that option you can just travel along the coast either by bus, or by domestic flights that are usually much cheaper (Fly Lima-Tacna, transfer to Arica, fly Arica-Santiago)
2. Look to open-jaw ticket to fly out of Quito

5

If you want to go to Buenos Aires, take a look at Emirates (changing planes in Dubai) and at South African Airways (changing planes in Johannesburg).

Flights within South America aren't cheap. I'd suggest to look for the price of flight from Buenos Aires to Lima or La Paz so you can get an idea of prices and you can decide if to go to Buenos Aires would be a good idea.

If you get to Santiago de Chile, Sky Airline can be a good option for good fares for international flights (to Lima or La Paz) but you would need to purchase a return ticket.

As an Aussie we have 2 main options. Fly into Santiago with Lan Chile, Air New Zealand and Qantas. Or fly to BA with Aerolineas Argentinas or Qantas.

Air New Zealand doesn't fly to Santiago de Chile.

6

I recently found Sky Airline to have quite reasonable fares in and out of Santiago to a variety of destinations.

7

Thanks for the Air New Zealand correction Anillos.

I believe the reason why OP wants to go to Ecuador is so they can go to the Galapagos. OP, correct me if I am wrong. If that is the case, is there another way for them to get to Galapagos without having to go to Ecuador? Flights from Chile or Peru?

8

Wow, this is really helpful, thank you so much everyone! Yes I really want to go to the Galapagos, & the otovalo markets sound pretty cool too. I know it is probably a lot to do in 2 months, but ill be lucky to get that many weeks holiday! it sounds like people agree more time is better in bolivia than ecuador? thank you for your help, flights are still tricky but should have some idea!
cheers,

9

Well you can get to Galapagas from Guayaquil and to Guayaquil from Piura or Tumbes accessible by affordable (about $100 one-way) flight from Lima. Then you can simply backtrack that way. I would that's the only destination it's worth your time in Ecuador, save rest for Peru and Bolivia

10

is there another way for them to get to Galapagos without having to go to Ecuador? Flights from Chile or Peru?

AFAIK, the OP will need to go to mainland Ecuador. The option quoted by banjanti_respawn in #9 could be a good one: domestic flight from Lima to Piura or Tumbes and overland from there to Guayaquil from where you can fly to the Galapagos. Flights to Piura will probably be cheaper than to Tumbes but it's more far away from Guayaquil.