Before anyone says I don’t have enough time to do this in 3 months I’ll be getting the odd flight so I think I can fit it in (plus I’d only be in Brazil and Bolivia briefly in option 2 and would fly between the two)

Well the odd flight will help, of course. Option 2 you can fly from Rio or Sao Paulo to Santa Cruz or La Paz in Bolivia. But it won't be cheap. Flights within SA countries can be cheap, but they charge top price for international flights within SA. I mean backpackers can spend 3 months just going overland from Panama or Costa Rica through to Mexico City, not seeing every part of Central America. It's easy to spend a month going between tourist sites in Mexico south of Mexico City, and ignoring the rest of that country.

So, Charlie, I won't say you don't have enough time to do this, because clocks move differently for everyone. I'll just say you wouldn't see much in 3 months trying to cover this much ground. You'd spend the majority of your days on buses, or going to/from airports, trying to cover this much ground on 2 continents in 3 months.

HOWEVER I am reallllllly worried I’d be going against the travellers route, and worried any people I meet will be travelling the opposite way!

Since almost no one has time to travel overland between Peru/Bolivia and Mexico City, there really is no "travelers route". There are portions of the route that attract a lot of tourists, like the Cusco, Peru to Uyuni, Bolivia gringo trail, which seems to have more tourists going north to south than the other way around.

There really isn't going to a huge difference in the weather for either direction going March to May. The Andes mountains will be drier most places in May than March, except not in Colombia.

The roads are certainly good enough for a self drive. I assume you'd need to rent a car in Tacna, Peru not in Arica, since I'm sure you can't take it across the border.

At least between Puno and Cusco, the tourist bus is the easier way to go. And it stops at tourist sites along the way. You don't need to plan it in advance. Just buy the bus tickets the day before you want to go.

What I mean is that its possible to go from Lima down south and stop at Ica, Nazca, Arequipa, Lake Titicaca without having to go back and forth.

That's quite a logical route. However, I'd suggest, after Salar de Uyuni to cross the border to Chile and go to San Pedro de Atacama, and from there via Arica to Tacna (Peru). And, from there continue to Cuzco.
Personally, I'd do it in a different way - first Cuzco and Inka Trail then Bolivia, and return to Peru to Arequipa.
I usually advise against booking Inka trail on longer trips, because of fixed dates that make you backtrack from whatever place to meet the fixed date of the trek. Salkantay trek, which is equally good (and cheaper) doesn't need to be booked before hand and gives you more freedom to travel without fixed schedule.

The big difference in favor of Panama is Panama City and the canal zone. Within that one geographical area, you have an enormous amount of architectural and cultural interest (everything from the ruins of the old city (sacked by Henry Morgan) to colonial Casco Viejo to the Canal itself to the Gehry-designed BioMuseo, which is pretty much a world class museum), gorgeous waterfront, a really good restaurant scene with nightlife, and oh yeah you can see monkeys and sloths and toucans and parrots within city limits. Venture out into the Pipeline road/Gamboa area, and you have extraordinarily diverse rainforest ecosystem. The great strength of Costa Rica is the diversity of ecosystems throughout the country, strength of Panama is that it offers just about everything you could want within a 30 mile radius.

What I mean is that its possible to go from Lima down south and stop at Ica, Nazca, Arequipa, Lake Titicaca without having to go back and forth.

That's quite a logical route. However, I'd suggest, after Salar de Uyuni to cross the border to Chile and go to San Pedro de Atacama, and from there via Arica to Tacna (Peru). And, from there continue to Cuzco.
Personally, I'd do it in a different way - first Cuzco and Inka Trail then Bolivia, and return to Peru to Arequipa.
I usually advise against booking Inka trail on longer trips, because of fixed dates that make you backtrack from whatever place to meet the fixed date of the trek. Salkantay trek, which is equally good (and cheaper) doesn't need to be booked before hand and gives you more freedom to travel without fixed schedule.

Thanks for your answer! I think the difference between the Classic 4D / 3N Inca Trail and other alternative routes is that you'll get to MP on the morning and be able to see the ruins during sunrise and with not so much people already on site. Thats what I've come up with during my research, alternative treks requires you to stay one night in Aguas Calientes and then head on up to MP. Thats why I choose to go with the Classic trek. But I agree with you that planning my itinerary now with a fixed date do cause some problems...Perhaps I should change my departure date to 23th april. Stay in Lima for 1-2 days and then take a domestic flight down to Cusco. Acclimatize and explore around Cusco before starting the inca trail to MP on the 7th may and afterwards I could go down south to Bolivia, La Paz, Uyuni. Doing it this why I'll be done with the inca trail right away and dont have a fixed date to worry about.

I covered about the same places that you did in this itinerary in 2017 and took around 38 nights, but I took a different route where I went down along the Peruvian coast to the Atacama Desert, went up through Uyuni and did a bit of Bolivia before swinging back into Puno and ending on a high in Cusco and Machu Picchu.

Agree about the overnight buses, which might take a bit more time journey-wise but they really were quite comfortable, and might be worth considering because you save a night's accom as well.

Here's my itinerary just for reference. I'd wish I'd explored Bolivia a bit more like they suggested above, but it was a combination of factors and I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out, not too hectic and still got to hit my major must-sees.

Lima - 4 nights
Huacachina/Ica - 2 nights (you could squeeze this to just 1 if you wanted)
Nazca - 1 night ( i personally thought this was super worth it and amazing to see in person, but you need to fly in the morning when weather is good)
[overnight bus Nazca to Arequipa]
Arequipa - 4 nights
Tacna/Arica - 2 nights (this was more because I was coordinating a meet up with a friend, not much to see here frankly)
[overnight bus Arica to San Pedro de Atacama]
San Pedro de Atacama - 4 nights
Uyuni Salt Flats Tour - 2 nights (I've heard that Chile to Bolivia is preferred because you see the salt flats only on the last day, it's a better build up)
[overnight bus Uyuni to La Paz]
La Paz - 4 nights (Yes to the Death Road, super cool experience)
Copacabana - 2 nights (didn't go to Isla del Sol)
Puno - 2 nights (1 night on Amantani Island, it's an interesting experience)
Cusco - 8 nights (1 night at Aguas Caliente for Machu Picchu, I kinda took things much more slowly here but there really is quite a lot to see around the area)

I connected from Cusco to Lima and then to Madrid via Iberia Air which was one of the cheaper flights available, it was pretty decent.

Msg me if you need more specific recs, happy to try and help if I can. Have an awesome trip whatever you end up doing!

The first few month when I was I was in Guatemala, el Salvador, Honduras I only got busses and hostels. Hostels you can find for 5$ a night but my one tip is don't go for the big gringo owned Hostels! Find a little one owned by a local, you'll get to practise your Spanish and meet really cool people outside of the typical western tourists. After a year and a half of speaking to hostel owners and argentinian backpackers my Spanish was almost fluent! Nicaragua on the beach like in sjds you can camp I think.. I was only there for nye for one night so I don't no if it was only camping because of how busy if was. Ah and in Guatemala in semac champay there is a hostel where u can camp and it's beautiful right by the river, can't remember the name now :(

Costa Rica is great for hitch hiking and camping! They do have free legal camp sites on the beaches that are filled with tourists and Latino backpackers and hippies. No crack heads or homeless I can say. Hitch hiking is super common with locals and tourists. When I was volunteering I hitch hiked into town everyday. I spent some time in motezuma camping on the beach, it had a super cool vibe and heaps of people. And cahuita on the Caribbean side is also one of my faves with tonnes of camp sites.

Panama I got busses again. The only time I camped was on the San blas islands for 5 days (stay at hospedaje casco viejo, they have a book with all the islands of San blas and can arrange a island to camp rather than take a tour) and Darien. Darien basically the comunities had have like a wood platform for visitors to stay and me and another guy just camped there for 2 weeks. They charged up like 5$ a night and we played soccer and volleyball with the kids and adults and the kids were always stealing my phone to take selfies. it was an amazing experience. No running water so we showered in the river in the evening when the tide went up. It takes like 2 days to get to Puerto indo but it's worth it. make sure your Spanish is up to scratch by Then! If you need info on getting there and stuff let me know!

South America as you know is a camping dream! So many beautiful places and hikes! From Cusco so many beautiful places and Patagonia and Argentina camping is a must and hitch hiking is common here as well maybe not so much in Colombia though.

This is just my experience though, as a solo young female I may have been a little more cautious then some but just suss out what works for you. I never had any trouble (only lost my passport in colombia) and to be completely honest the only people I heard of getting robbed were those who you could see had all new shiny north face gear and clothing and were being so cautious it looked like they had something worth stealing. Most the time I would have my phone on me and I'd stick my credit cards, money and passport under my mattress or under the tent. Just remember that at the end of the day money and passport are easily replaceable! I was there 1.5 years. I've been home almost 6 month and writing this makes me miss it so much! Hope you have a great time

Norvegia:

We will be travelling from Santiago Chile to San Pedro de Atacama, Uyuni salt flats, Eduardo Abaroa Reserve, Oruro, La Paz, Titicaca lake, Cusco, Machu Picchu and other cities in between. Return from Cusco is not yet planned it can be to arica and santiago or returning to bolivia, argentina and Santiago.
Duration 3 weeks, exact date not yet defined will be with school winter vacations.
The travel will be in a SUV. Distance aprox 4700 miles.

Hi Eng3.
If price is the same, probably Avianca is slightly better, but check if pricing is "only for locals", (this should be illegal). If you want to support free competition use Star Peru or LC Peru, as the prices from these are always standard.

When you arrive, I would recommend to leave Lima as early as possible. Machu Pichu is far from Cusco. Even though, when returning I would suggest to visist Caral pyramids, oldest America civilization, (if you time left to have a journey that can start early). So, either you get to Ollantaytambo, or Santa Teresa, rest there and early in the morning start your trip to MP.
The closest city to Machu Pichu is Quillabamba, but up to now, no airport plans have been developed.
Another option is to fly from Santiago to Arica, pass by bus to Tacna, then Arequipa (also Bus), and then Cusco.
Another option is to fly from Arica to La Paz, and from there go by bus to Puno and then Cusco.

Because of car traffic, at Lima, you should be at least 3 hours before your departure time. This rule may notr apply always, but sometimes airport gets bottlenecked, specially in international flights, but local places as Cusco might also be over-crowded.
Regards.