2 weeks Chile, Bolivia, Peru help please

Hello all,

I'll be flying into Santiago on the 1st Sept, for a 2 week trip. I have a budget of around $1500 USD for 2-week spend (food, internal transport etc). No issue sleeping in hostels (as long as they are clean/ respectable).

Can anyone suggest an itinerary that would have me see as many interesting places as possible please? I have a draft one below, advice on it would be very much appreciated.

Saturday: into Santiago fly out to Calama
Sund: bus to San Pedro de Atacama
Mond: Day 1 of salt flats tour
Tues: Day 2
Wed: Day 3 and fly to La Paz
Thur: La Paz
Fri: Start of bus ride to Cuzco
Sat: stop off at lake Titicann
Sund: last day of bus trip to Cuzco
Mond: train to Aquas calients from Cuzco
Tues: machu picchu day trip (i understand we need a pass) and travel back to Cuzco
Wed: Fly to Lima from Cuzco
Thurs: Lima
Fri: Fly Lima to Santiago
Sat: Santiago
Sun: Flight home

if anyone has alternative I'd be very happy to read them.

cheers!

You've a budget sufficient for one month, and time for one country.

I replied to your post yesterday. I'm sorry i suggested you try this itinerary in 2 weeks. I suggested fly home from Lima at the end, but upon reflection even that is a bad idea. The itinerary you suggest is wrong for so many reasons. The most obvious reason is you'd spend almost all your time on this trip on buses going from place to place.

Don't try this. A good visit for Lake Titicaca takes at least 3 days. A good visit for Cusco and Machu Picchu takes a week, because you want to include places in the Sacred valley when you do that.

if you've only 2 weeks and have already booked a flight to Santiago, then just see Chile and the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, no more.

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I feel like either way you will be pressed for time, but I feel that is the case on any vacation to somewhere awesome! I am not too familiar with Bolivia or Peru but I did spend 3 weeks in Chile in 2015.

Not to throw any other plans on your trip or complicate matters, but I would highly recommend Valparaiso and Pan de Azúcar National Park which are both in Chile if any of those are possible for you. I really enjoyed my time spent in Valparaiso. It was my favorite city in Chile.

I have written some articles on some spots in Chile that I went to if you want to check it out on my website, unfortunately I have not gotten to the Atacama yet, but intend on writing about my experiences there in the near future.

http://www.ericfreytravels.com/blog

Hope this inspires some ideas!

-Eric

Well, my sister and I backpacked Arica, to Tacna, to Cuzco, to Titicaca, to La Paz, to Arica. in 2 or 3 weeks (I don´t quite remember) and we had a blast. But we skipped Machu Pichu, since Cuzco was so lovely and interesting (the train is outrageously expensive and it takes no less than two days, and if you climb Machu Pichu, you probably won´t be up to much the next days) and we both got altitude sickness at different times (me going to Cuzco and her in La Paz), which can take a few days to blow over and is a special kind of miserable, and might keep you from going anywhere to do anything. San Pedro the Atacama is gorgeous and amazing, and with heart stopping prices (the bad heart stop). It´s absolutely worth it anyway, imo, but you might think differently.
All the bus trips are long and gruelling, and not always have overnight options.

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