3 weeks in South America from Brisbane - suggestions?

[ortho85]

My wife and I are looking for somewhere new to see later this year, for about 3 weeks. We are in our 60s, live in Brisbane, and have enjoyed Europe, North America, and Asia, but are now thinking of seeing a little of South America.

I know it's a vague question and a big continent, but I'm looking for some hints. I have started looking at a few destinations - Rio, Buenos Aires, Machu Picchu, Sao Paulo, Santiago, etc.

We prefer not to spend half the trip travelling, so are thinking 2 or 3 places? It would be business class, so no budget restraints (within reason!). We enjoy wandering the streets, seeing different cultures, like the planning part, and avoid organised tours.

So, any general recommendations of destinations and/or routes, especially considering travel time from Brisbane?

Thanks,

BK

 

[kpc]

It is likely you will fly into Santiago (LA, QF), so i would stop 2-3 days to see this city. You may want to visit Easter Island (a short 5 hours flight away from Scl, 2 nights is sufficient to see the Moai; we rushed it and stayed 1 night!), then head to Buenos Aires for a few days. In Argentina, a visit to Patagonia (Glaciers) is very interesting and / or Mendoza (wine), then back to BA to head to Iguassu Falls (a must), then cross to the Brazilian side to see the Falls on that side; then head to Rio for a few days to a week.

You can then head to Lima, and then onto Cusco to visit Macchu Picchu +/- Lake Titicaca (about a week needed). Back to Lima, and home via ?Santiago (if you have time, money and energy you could head to Quito in Ecuador and then to the Galapagos Islands for a cruise but I suspect you would need at least 4-5 weeks in total to do this as well). OK for disclosure....I did all this over 4 separate visits to Sth America:mrgreen:

IMHO, Sth America is one of the best places to visit....three of my top four travel destinations (mentioned above) to date are in this continent!!

I'm sure others will chime in but if you post your proposed itinerary here, I will be happy to comment on it!

PS: for your flights around Sth America, have a look at Lan's South America Pass:idea:
South American Airpass - Plan your trip with LAN Airlines - LAN.com

 

[quokka77]

Re Chile as a destination. You can easily spend your whole three weeks in Chile. In Winter there is excellent skiing in Southern Chile / Argentina (resorts such as Portillo and others further south have excellent facilities and relatively inexpensive). Santiago worth a couple of days as mentioned. Vina del Mar and Valparaiso also worth seeing (probably two days). The Altiplano and Atacama desert are spectacular (Chuchicamato, and San Pedro de Atacama). There is an amazing Inca museum in San Pedro (including mummified bodies many thousands of years old in funeral urns). You can also tour the copper mine at Chuchi (or at least you used to be able to). At one point this was the largest open cut copper mine in the world (imagine standing at the edge of a hole 4km wide and 2km long, going down hundreds of metres). Lago Chungara is worth visiting as a day trip out of Arica (the northernmost town before you hit Peru). In the South there is Patagonia and Isla de Chiloe. Both are excellent. In the summer some of the peaks in the south can be scaled with a guide (such as Volcan Villarrica), although you need a degree of fitness, and it is not without risk. Torres del Paine is another world famous mountaineering destination. Depends on what you want really. Lots of wineries are accessible around Chile especially in the South... There are also spas. Theatres and museums are numerous especially in Santiago and Concepcion. A lot of the above is seasonal, so it will also depend on what dates you choose. If you prefer, you could easily spend three weeks in Argentina. Or Brazil. Or Peru. If you want to target the hit-list of most impressive tourist sites around South America, you could also hop from place to place (just take a look at published tour group itineraries, Igazu Falls, Buenos Aires, Rio etc) however I think you would get more out of just focusing on a couple of places, like you suggest.