South America Trip - 6 weeks - suggestions
Replies: 5 - Last Post: Feb 18, 2013 1:42 PM Last Post By: aniapoi
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South America Trip - 6 weeks - suggestions
HI folks.I am looking at planning a 6 week trip in mid April this year to several countries in South America. I am on a tight budget of about £2k - 2.5k and that needs to include flights there from Britain which I believe is about £800. So that leaves me about £1.2k - £1.7k to spend. Firstly the countries I really want to see above others are Peru and Bolivia. Thinking flying in to Lima, touring Peru via Iquitos, Cusco (Including Machu Pichu and possibly Sacred Valley) Arequipa, Lake Titicaca then in to Bolivia. Here looking at Solar de Uyuni, La Paz, Death Road. So I am trying to do Peru and Bolivia this in 3 - 3.5 weeks (the longer duration in Peru). That leaves me with 2.5 - 3 weeks in which I was thinking Chile and Argetina and fly back from Buenos Aires. I would like to take in Brazil but think this will need to wait for another trip. I suppose my question is firstly, is this manageable in 6 weeks and with the budget mentioned. Also any recommendations for Chile and Argentina. I understand people have different tastes and mine are quite diverse so any suggestions would be appreciated. Regarding travel through these countries I am happy with long road journeys if necessary as I travelled South East Asia and India last year and these were some of the best memories I took from the trip and in both places the buses were of questionable standard.
Thanks in advance
Nick
1
Your budget will give you lots of options in Peru and Bolivia. You have more than enough money to do a nice 6 week itinerary in this region of SA. But I urge you to not try to preplan yor trip going too fast. Especially if you are wanting to include time for the Peruvian Amazon region. You'd want a bare minimum of 3 weeks for the places you described just in Peru, and for Bolivia, just for lago de titicaca and La Paz, you'd want at least 6-7 more days. I can say this because I've been to all of the places on your list, and I actually like to travel relatively fast.And if your trip really is constained to only 6 weeks, why not just use the rest of the time for the rest of Bolivia? The Salar de Uyuni should be at the top of the list for any traveler to SA, and then there are beautiful cities like Potosi and Sucre.
2
Hello togetherGiven that you've only got 6 weeks, here is what I'd suggest:
one week for stuff. the Amazon
The Amazon river itself is amazing to see, The places furthest upstream tend to offer most biological diversity, if you want to see lots of animal species,I'm peruvian and live in Iquitos in the jungle and lived in the jungle all my life here and there, here you can find amazing experiences in the jungle. for more info , take a look at some of the entries as you can see here :
www.tahuayolodge.com
or e-mailing to : sacredleaves@tahuayolodge.com
if you're interested in the details, costs, route etc, Happy to answer any questions too.
4
Hi all, thanks for the feedback. To be honest after I posted it it seemed a little too much to do. I went travelling last year and saw people rush through New Zealand in 2 weeks and just couldn't understand why they did that, obviously they would not get a true flavour. So maybe I just stay for the 6 weeks in Peru / Bolivia or maybe squeeze a week in Argentina too. Or just extend the trip by a month (I wish!) I want to get more of the culture this time and I think 3 weeks in each country etc may give me a better taste rather than 1.5 in each. Will check out some of the suggestions as well. Anymore that you have please forward.5
As for cheap flights to Peru look here: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2295470
