How to organize a trip to South America on your own
Our route in South America
1.5 days
Rio de Janeiro.
Watching: Mount Corcovado, Botanical Garden, Sugarloaf at sunset, Copacabana beach, Platforma night show.
We will fly to Foz do Iguacu with GOL and arrive at 00:30.
1 day
Foz do Iguacu
Waterfalls (3 hours is enough), a bird sanctuary (1.5 hours is enough), if you wish, we fly by helicopter over the waterfalls (helicopter costs $120 per person).
At 18:30 we take the last bus to Argentina in Puerto Iguazu (it takes about an hour).
1 day
Puerto Iguazu
We watch the waterfalls, take a boat trip to the waterfalls, before 16:00 we have time to visit the throat of the devil, if it is open. In the evening we dine in their wonderful restaurants with live music.
1 day:
In the morning we fly to Buenos Aires with LAN.
Not a full day we walk around the city center, visit the Japanese garden (open until 18:00).
1 day:
In the morning we fly to Salta by LAN.
For 3 hours we explore the center of Salta and climb the cable car. We took a taxi to the center for 70 pesos.
At 14:00 (not later, otherwise you will not see the mountains in the dark) we take a taxi for 1100 pesos to the city of Tilcara with a stop in the city of Pulmamarca to visit the seven-colored mountains.
Overnight in Tilcara. Very beautiful town.
Altitude sickness can start here, it's better to have the appropriate pills in reserve.
In the morning we climb Mount Pucara de Tilcara and descend.
1 day:
By bus no later than at 11:30 we leave for the city of La Chiaca, buses run approximately every 1.5 hours, we bought tickets in the evening. Admire the views around the roads.
From the bus station La Kayake we move 10 minutes on foot towards the bridge, there is the border with Bolivia.
We cross the border (Ukrainians must obtain a visa in advance) and get to the city of Villazon. Don't forget to change the time.
By taxi for 14 Bolivianos we reach the railway station. The taxi driver needs to say "Train" and he will understand.
at 15:30 Bolivian time, a train leaves once a day, in any case, the second train did not arrive that day.
At 02:00 we arrive in Uyuni and easily find the hotel without prior booking.
2 days:
At 08:00 we buy a tour to the salt marsh, you don’t have to look for a travel agency, they will find you near the hotel themselves.
We buy mountain sickness pills in the pharmacy if necessary, and sunglasses for 30 bolivianos.
At 10:30 we go on a two-day excursion, it cost us $ 75 / person. If you wish, you can also go for one-day, three-day and four-day trips. The tour agent was found right at the bus station at 06:00.
We return at 17:00 the next day.
At 20:00 we leave by bus for La Paz. The bus ticket will be sold to you by the travel agency when you buy the tour. A night bus ticket cost $15/person.
From La Paz we immediately went to Copacabana, but in La Paz you could visit:
- Bike tour "Road of death" for $37 per person, starts at 07:00.
- Moon Valley.
Day 1:
At 06:30 we arrive at the La Paz bus station and buy tickets to Copacabana.
At 08:30 we go by bus to Copacabana.
At 13:00 we arrive in Copacabana and find ourselves a hotel without booking. At the bus station, we buy a ticket for a night bus to Cusco for tomorrow evening for 110 bolivianos per person. If you wish, at 13:30 you can immediately go on a shortened version of the tour to Isla del Sol.
Excursion to the island is sold literally at every step and in every hotel.
Just walking around Copacabana.
Day 1:
At 08:30 we go on an excursion to Isla del Sol. It costs 35 + 10 + 15 + 5 bolivianos per person, you don’t pay everything right away. We walk around the island for 5 hours and sail back.
At 17:00 we are back in Copacabana.
At 18:30 we go by bus to Peru in Cusco.
Day 1:
At 05:30 we are in Cusco.
We buy a two-day bus tour to Machu Picchu, the tour agent will find you right at the station for $ 110 per person (Transfer there, transfer back, entrance to Machu Picchu, meals, overnight, English guide to Machu Picchu, 10 km walk to Aguas- Calientes, 10 km walk back, walk to Machu Picchu, walk from Machu Picchu, 4.5 hours to Machu Picchu. ) You can take the train yourself, but we calculated that it is much more expensive.
If we have enough strength, we immediately go on a one-day tour around Cusco, there are very beautiful places there. You can leave your luggage at the Tour Company.
If you don’t have enough strength like ours, then visit on your own that day:
- Attractions in the center of Cusco
- Ollantaydambo
- Salt Mines
- Moray (Probably closes at 16:30)
2 Days
Machu Picchu.
At 07:30 we left for Machu Picchu.
We returned at 21:00 the next day.
If you take three days to Machu Picchu, then you will not be in a hurry to catch the minibus and, accordingly, you will be able to see two more sights there:
- Sun gate
- Inca Bridge
We didn't have enough time and energy for them.
Day 1:
We flew to Lima in a couple of hours by StarPeru (the cheapest airline in this direction) or by bus in 20 hours.
Watching in Lima:
- Center
- Park of lovers, if you're lucky, then with a sunset.
Day 1:
Flying to Brazil foz do Iguazu.
Day 1:
In the morning we fly to Rio and fly home.
This route cost $2.260 for two, excluding airfare. Including all excursions, land transfers, hotels, meals, vaccinations, visas and more.
Date of travel: 09.10. 2014 – 27.10. 2014
Duration: 19 days
Countries visited: Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru
Flight tickets: Luftgansa, LAN, TAM, GOL, StarPeru
Hotels: Booking. com + on site
Excursions: Everyone watched for themselves. Or bought from local travel agencies, which were found on the spot.
Story writing time: 42 hours, 36 A4 sheets
Trip difficulty: 10/10 (very hard)
Our stories:
How we organized the trip
Winning to buy tickets
To travel, you need to take a vacation of at least two weeks, since you really need to see a lot. Next, we make a list of places we want to visit.
From a bunch of information on the Internet, for a 17-day itinerary, I highlighted the following top interesting places:
What we watch
Most interesting sights:
1. Viewpoints from Corcovado and Sugarloaf Mountains, Rio (Brazil)
2. Foz de Iguaç u Waterfalls (Brazil)
3. Puerto Iguazu Falls (Argentina)
4. Seven Colored Mountain in Purmamarca (Argentina)
5. Salt marsh (Bolivia)
6. Machu Picchu (Peru)
Most interesting cities:
1. Foz do Iguazu, Brazil (tropical cozy climate)
2. Tilcara, Argentina (themed city)
3. Puerto Iguazu, Argentina (Romantic Evenings)
4. Cusco, Peru (Everything is beautiful everywhere)
5. Aguas Calientes, Peru (Simply beautiful and cozy)
6. Lima, Peru (Park area over the Pacific Ocean)
*Unranked because it's impossible to compare all this beauty
Resolving visa issues
According to information from the site Ministry of Foreign Affairs we have in the list there is a visa country Bolivia.
According to the Embassy of Bolivia website, you must be vaccinated against yellow fever in order to obtain a visa . Since one ampoule is designed for two people, the whole task is simplified if there are two of you. Phone number of Mrs. office where vaccinations are done in Kyiv 287-37-91, but the vaccine is not always available there. We did it in a private clinic. You should definitely have a foreign passport with you.
Having been vaccinated, we receive a certificate. When traveling, it is advisable to have a copy of the certificate and the original.
With this certificate and other documents, we apply for a visa. Ukrainians can get a visa in Moscow for free, but you need to go there or send documents. And you can get it at the Kiev representation of the Bolivian embassy for $ 30. In our case, it turned out to be cheaper and faster.
Transfers and domestic flights
There are three main airlines in South America LAN, TAM and GOL and many others. In Peru, the low-cost airline StarPeru was very useful to us.
Air Pass
There is such a thing as an airpass. This is a ticket that includes a number of flights, which in total are cheaper than buying separately. But there are a number of problems here:
1) Not always cheaper
2) Not all countries can fly under the airpass system
3) It is not always possible to choose a convenient time for flights, as the system suggests, so be it.
Airpass buy here.
There are two types of GOL Airpass and Latam airpass. The price depends on the number of flights and whether you fly to the mainland itself with the same company or not. For example, I flew Kyiv-Rio with Lufthansa, which means I have to buy a more expensive airpass. Buying a travel card is not so easy.
During the purchase of Latam airpass, I had to contact the airline operator, and as a result, the operators began to freeze and never sold it to me.
Purchasing tickets individually
After an unrealistic chitchat with the airpass, we took the path of least resistance. Bought tickets from different vendors separately. Some tickets were purchased through the Multi-City section.
Our air route turned out like this:
Ticket 1: Rio(GIG) - Foz de Iguaç u Falls(IGU) - Rio(GIG) (GOL Airlines)
Ticket 2: Puerto Iguazu Falls(IGR) - Buenos Aires(AEP) - Salta(SLA) (AirlineLAN)
Ticket 3: Cusco(CUZ) - Lima(LIM) (StarPeru)
Ticket 4: Lima(LIM) - Foz de Iguaç u Falls(IGU) (TAM Airlines)
*buying tickets online on South American websites took 3.5 hours
Names of airports are in parentheses. Tickets were bought directly on the websites of these airlines. On the LAN website, there was a problem with the purchase through the Mastercard card, I had to use the Paypal service, which additionally robbed the card for $ 40, the fact of theft was established by the bank, but nothing came of it.
This is what the route looked like after all the edits
Many thanks these guys for a ton of valuable and detailed information about South America.
