South America travel tips for Australians

The altitude did get to me in Cusco, but mostly because it made another illness hit harder. I came down with a GI bug and was very ill. On my last day in Cusco, I was starting to feel better — back to about 50% — but as soon as I arrived at sea level in Lima that afternoon, I was feeling back to 90%. It was almost instantaneous. The next day we in in Quito and I felt the altitude a bit there, too, but not so badly.
 
Having previously been to Sth America 5x and planning to spend 2 months next year in Sth America, will watch this thread with interest, and add from time to time.
I have 3 weeks in Buenos Aires in Feb next year before I need to fly to Ushuaia to catch a boat south for 3 weeks ;)

I was thinking of Flying to Bogota from BsAs using Lifemiles on Avianca. How long should I stay in Bogota before I head to Medellin . And how long would you stay in Medellin? After that I want to go to Bolivia,,,,to acclimatise to the altitude of La Paz I was thinking of heading to Sucre first but it seems I need to fly to La Paz before taking a domestic flight to Sucre. Then back to La Paz before heading to Salar de Uyuni. Then I need to fly back to BsAs from La Paz....what airline should I be searching for?

Any tips on this itinerary, duration at each destination, and how best to tweet the itinerary to acclimatise to La Paz will be much appreciated!
 
I was thinking of Flying to Bogota from BsAs using Lifemiles on Avianca. How long should I stay in Bogota before I head to Medellin . And how long would you stay in Medellin? After that I want to go to Bolivia,,,,to acclimatise to the altitude of La Paz I was thinking of heading to Sucre first but it seems I need to fly to La Paz before taking a domestic flight to Sucre. Then back to La Paz before heading to Salar de Uyuni. Then I need to fly back to BsAs from La Paz....what airline should I be searching for?
The answer, like most places, depends on what kind of things you are interested in and whether you want to visit the surrounding areas too.

Things I found interesting in/near Bogota:
  • The gold museum
  • The Botero museum
  • The salt-mine cathedreal of Zipaquirá (1-2 hours drive away, depending on where in Bogota you are and the traffic)
  • The Monserrate Sanctuary (on the hill above La Candelaria, there is a teleferico if you don't want to walk)
  • Walk around looking at the street art (there are tours for this too)
  • Find somewhere to play Tejo - throwing rocks at gunpowder triangles on a clay board, while drinking beer
  • The La Perseverancia market, especially the food stalls on the second floor
  • If you like beer, go to the Botoga Brewing Co
  • The Police History Museum has many things, but a bunch on the drug cartels (and their influence on the civil war). Obviously from the government's side of it
The salt cathedral will take most of a day, the rest you can do a couple in one day.



Bogota to Medellin is an hour flight, plus the time at the airport, 30-60 mins getting to/from there, delays etc. An alternative is a 9 hour bus. Another alternative is going to the coffee triangle and the Corora valley (unique wax palms) on the way for a few days. Bogota - Salento - Medellin is a 6.5 hour bus for the first part, 5.5 for the second.

Things I found interesting in/near Medellin:
  • Catch the metro then the teleferico to go visit Parque Arvi up the hill.
  • Eat Bandeja Paisa, and then try not to fall asleep in a food coma
  • Watch Atletico Nacional play a game of soccer. By chance we were in Medellin when they were playing the final of Copa Libertadores at home, the city was a bit crazy that night.
  • Learning more about the history of the cartels and their influence on the civil war. There are plenty of tours that cover the history, with greatly varying approaches - the one we went on had guides who said that all parties (cartels, government, guerillas, paramilitaries) did horrible things, we heard of other that basically glorifies Pablo Escobar.
  • Visit Guatape (2 hour drive away), and climb up La Piedra de Peñol for a view over the country side


Were the other things before you go to BA in February, after you return from the boat, or not sure? Jan/Feb is the rainier season for the Salar. Also, did you have a specific route getting to South America? e.g. via SCL, or via LAX and starting it in Colombia?

With the Salar de Uyuni, you can do a small round-trip from Uyuni, or a three and a half day crossing of the Atacama desert from San Pedro de Atacama (northern Chile). If you were going via SCL, there is the option of flying to CJC, seeing San Pedro, doing the crossing, and ending up in Uyuni - you may not have the time or inclination for that though.

San Pedo de Atacama is a tiny town, near to the valley of the moon, which has no life at all. If you like stars, there is great stargazing there. You used to be able to visit the Atacama Large Milimeter Array too, but not at the moment.


For acclimatisation to the altitude, it depends on where you are coming from. La Paz, Uyuni and the Salar are all around ~3600m, Sucre 2750, Bogota 2600, San Pedro de Atacama 2400 and Medellin 1500. If Colombia was immediately before Bolivia, you could potentially do Medellin first before Bogota and then fly to La Paz, as Bogota it's not significantly lower than Sucre.

If you need to get from La Paz to Buenos Aires, I think the main option is Latam via LIM. Bolivia de Aviacion is an option too, but I don't know anyone who has flown them.
 
The answer, like most places, depends on what kind of things you are interested in and whether you want to visit the surrounding areas too.

Things I found interesting in/near Bogota:
  • The gold museum
  • The Botero museum
  • The salt-mine cathedreal of Zipaquirá (1-2 hours drive away, depending on where in Bogota you are and the traffic)
  • The Monserrate Sanctuary (on the hill above La Candelaria, there is a teleferico if you don't want to walk)
  • Walk around looking at the street art (there are tours for this too)
  • Find somewhere to play Tejo - throwing rocks at gunpowder triangles on a clay board, while drinking beer
  • The La Perseverancia market, especially the food stalls on the second floor
  • If you like beer, go to the Botoga Brewing Co
  • The Police History Museum has many things, but a bunch on the drug cartels (and their influence on the civil war). Obviously from the government's side of it
The salt cathedral will take most of a day, the rest you can do a couple in one day.



Bogota to Medellin is an hour flight, plus the time at the airport, 30-60 mins getting to/from there, delays etc. An alternative is a 9 hour bus. Another alternative is going to the coffee triangle and the Corora valley (unique wax palms) on the way for a few days. Bogota - Salento - Medellin is a 6.5 hour bus for the first part, 5.5 for the second.

Things I found interesting in/near Medellin:
  • Catch the metro then the teleferico to go visit Parque Arvi up the hill.
  • Eat Bandeja Paisa, and then try not to fall asleep in a food coma
  • Watch Atletico Nacional play a game of soccer. By chance we were in Medellin when they were playing the final of Copa Libertadores at home, the city was a bit crazy that night.
  • Learning more about the history of the cartels and their influence on the civil war. There are plenty of tours that cover the history, with greatly varying approaches - the one we went on had guides who said that all parties (cartels, government, guerillas, paramilitaries) did horrible things, we heard of other that basically glorifies Pablo Escobar.
  • Visit Guatape (2 hour drive away), and climb up La Piedra de Peñol for a view over the country side


Were the other things before you go to BA in February, after you return from the boat, or not sure? Jan/Feb is the rainier season for the Salar. Also, did you have a specific route getting to South America? e.g. via SCL, or via LAX and starting it in Colombia?

With the Salar de Uyuni, you can do a small round-trip from Uyuni, or a three and a half day crossing of the Atacama desert from San Pedro de Atacama (northern Chile). If you were going via SCL, there is the option of flying to CJC, seeing San Pedro, doing the crossing, and ending up in Uyuni - you may not have the time or inclination for that though.

San Pedo de Atacama is a tiny town, near to the valley of the moon, which has no life at all. If you like stars, there is great stargazing there. You used to be able to visit the Atacama Large Milimeter Array too, but not at the moment.


For acclimatisation to the altitude, it depends on where you are coming from. La Paz, Uyuni and the Salar are all around ~3600m, Sucre 2750, Bogota 2600, San Pedro de Atacama 2400 and Medellin 1500. If Colombia was immediately before Bolivia, you could potentially do Medellin first before Bogota and then fly to La Paz, as Bogota it's not significantly lower than Sucre.

If you need to get from La Paz to Buenos Aires, I think the main option is Latam via LIM. Bolivia de Aviacion is an option too, but I don't know anyone who has flown them.
Thanks for that great info!!
We are flying Syd-Scl-Eze rtn, outbound in early Feb(3rd), and inbound in late Mar (24th). We fly to Ushuaia on 24 Feb, and back to BsAs on 18 March after the boat trip, with 5 days there before heading back to Sydney.

In 2012, I flew straight from sea level to Cusco (3400m) and had terrible altitude sickness and needed oxygen from the hotel!

So BsAs (0m) to Medellin (1500m) to Bogota (2600m) to La Paz (3600m) might work!
 
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Thanks for that great info!!
We are flying Syd-Scl-Eze rtn, outbound in early Feb(3rd), and inbound in late Mar (24th). We fly to Ushuaia on 24 Feb, and back to BsAs on 18 March after the boat trip, with 5 days there before heading back to Sydney.

In 2012, I flew straight from sea level to Cusco (3400m) and had terrible altitude sickness and needed oxygen from the hotel!

I think Jan-Feb is the rainy time for Uyuni, so you might be there at the right time to have it mirror the sky!

Aside from not really fitting with the itinerary, you would want to be careful with the Atacama crossing if you've had altitude issues before. From memory, the highest part you drive at is around 4900, and our first night sleeping was at 4300. One girl in our group got mild symptoms, but were were going in the Chile -> Bolivia direction where the high part is first, so lower altitude was the direction we were going anyway. I've heard of trouble in the Bolivia -> Chile direction if people get altitude sickness, because getting to lower altitude means turning around.


Uyuni is ~8 hours bus from La Paz, so you will need to decide if you want to be there for sunrise, or the middle of the day - then fit day buses, night buses, and hotel stays around it based on timing.

EZE-MDE-BOG-LPB-Uyuni-LPB-EZE in the three weeks is doable, something like 3 full days in/near each city, some travel days, and then adding whatever days are left over to the place(s) you want to spend longer.

I'm not the best judge of how long you should spend in each place, because my travel in South America has always been a slower style - 5 months there as part of 12 months backpacking, or 3.5 weeks only in Colombia.
 
I have 3 weeks in Buenos Aires in Feb next year before I need to fly to Ushuaia to catch a boat south for 3 weeks ;)

I was thinking of Flying to Bogota from BsAs using Lifemiles on Avianca. How long should I stay in Bogota before I head to Medellin . And how long would you stay in Medellin? After that I want to go to Bolivia,,,,to acclimatise to the altitude of La Paz I was thinking of heading to Sucre first but it seems I need to fly to La Paz before taking a domestic flight to Sucre. Then back to La Paz before heading to Salar de Uyuni. Then I need to fly back to BsAs from La Paz....what airline should I be searching for?

Any tips on this itinerary, duration at each destination, and how best to tweet the itinerary to acclimatise to La Paz will be much appreciated!

I've covered quite a bit of that territory over the years.

You may pick up some ideas from within these TRs if you feel like dredging through them:

High, dry and breathless in the Atacama desert

Pushing uphill in Patagonia and chilling in Antarctica

Let's mix it up and fill in some experience gaps: RTW 2015

A global ramble - RTW 2017

A Chile chill with a Uruguay and Argentina topping

A high and dry, wild and wet, majestic history medley – RTW 2018
 
It’s going to take a while to get through all of that @JohnM !!!
Bookmarking for review before a future Sth Am trip.
 
Our 2 months' trip is looking like we will run of time! (and I have been to Sth America 5x before!)

Plan is arrive in BsAs, stay for 2 nights, then fly to Ascension for 2 nights, then 3 nights in Medellin, 4 nights in Bogota, followed by 8 nights in La Paz incl Uyuni Salt Plains and Lake Titicaca. Then back to BsAs for 2 nights, before we head to Ushuaia for 3 weeks for an expensive boat trip south! Then back to BsAs for 5 nights before homebound!

If we have time, energy and money left, a quick trip to Mendoza could be considered.

After this trip, I would have been to every country in Sth America bar Venezuela, Suriname and Guyana!
 
Heading for our first visit to Brazil shortly. We will need to book transfer from Rio to Paraty, 4 of us, so wonder if anyone has pearls of wisdom. We can book now or wait til we arrive. It would be good to get advice thanks. Even the name of a reliable company.
 
Heading for our first visit to Brazil shortly. We will need to book transfer from Rio to Paraty, 4 of us, so wonder if anyone has pearls of wisdom. We can book now or wait til we arrive. It would be good to get advice thanks. Even the name of a reliable company.
Look up Paraty Tours. They organise transfers from RJ and are reputable.

Make sure you have Whatsapp loaded and ready on your phone... The country runs everything on it!
 
Look up Paraty Tours. They organise transfers from RJ and are reputable.

Make sure you have Whatsapp loaded and ready on your phone... The country runs everything on it!
Yes already in contact with a company in Petropolis using WhatsApp. Have found the same in Italy previously. Thanks for the suggestion, will contact them.
 
My South America trip is planned for September and October.

Have just reread through this thread and have another four tabs open with various other trip reports to reread as I get into detailed planning. Also have the The Ultimate Guide to Visiting South America still to get through for reminders. Many thanks to all those up thread and in the trip reports for the ideas and practicalities. 🙏

Although I’ll start up a trip report sometime with more details on the flights and bookings, the trip is:

Peru - Lima and Cusco (planning day trips to both Machu Picchu and the Rainbow Mountain whilst there).
I’m planning an early arrival into Cusco and then nothing much for the first day to try to acclimatise to the altitude somewhat.​
Machu Picchu day trip on the second day.​
Rainbow Mountain day trip on the third day. This one gets up over 5000m so hopefully I’m not particularly susceptible to altitude sickness or have decently acclimatised by then. Have been up to the top of Haleakala on Maui, over 10K ft and felt fine, mind you I was a lot younger and playing a lot of cricket back then…​

Bolivia - La Paz, Salar de Uyuni (including taking the seemingly standard three day tour across the salt flat and high desert mountains) and Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
Coming direct from the high altitude around Cusco should set me up well for La Paz and then SdU.​

Uruguay - four nights in Montevideo (including a long day trip out to Carmelo near the border with Argentina, where I plan to just hire a car and drive myself).

Chile - with short stays in La Serena, Puerto Montt and then four nights in Santiago.

The total trip will be six weeks, although only five of them will be in South America because I haven’t learnt my lesson and have booked the most convoluted routing to get to and from! But, fortuitously, not via the Middle East!

Una mesa para uno, por favor.
All the rest, I’ll just wing it!
 
Our 2 months' trip is looking like we will run of time! (and I have been to Sth America 5x before!)

Plan is arrive in BsAs, stay for 2 nights, then fly to Ascension for 2 nights, then 3 nights in Medellin, 4 nights in Bogota, followed by 8 nights in La Paz incl Uyuni Salt Plains and Lake Titicaca. Then back to BsAs for 2 nights, before we head to Ushuaia for 3 weeks for an expensive boat trip south! Then back to BsAs for 5 nights before homebound!

If we have time, energy and money left, a quick trip to Mendoza could be considered.

After this trip, I would have been to every country in Sth America bar Venezuela, Suriname and Guyana!
I have just completed this 2 month trip...too lazy to do trip reports these days but happy to answer any Qs.

The acclimatisation by spending 3 nights in Medellin (1600m), then 4 nights in Bogota (2600m) incl spending a few hours at Monserat (overlooking Bogota) at 3100m the day before flying to La Paz (3600m) helped prevent altitude sickness. La Paz airport is actually at El Alto at 4050m, so you want to get to La Paz (in a valley) itself asap!. A bit breathless and dizzy the first day walking around in La Paz which is unfortunately very hilly but was fine the day after onwards..Suggestions are to see the Witches market, Rodriguez food, fruit and vege market, ride the cable cars and visit the Valley of the Moon and Valley of the Animals just outside La Paz. Recommend watching Cholista wrestling where the indigenous women in traditional dress wrestle in an arena in El Alto...a lot of fun even though it sounds a bit dubious.

A day trip to Lake Titicaca is a' must!

We caught the 10 hour overnight bus from La Paz to Uyuni...Todo Turismo has the best rating..most expensive but comfortable reclining seats and dinner is served onboard. There is a toliet onboard but only for a no: 1!!

We took the 3 day 4x4WD small group tour of Uyuni Salt plains (to see the mirror effect...need rain which we luckily had) and the high Bolivian desert with snow capped volcanoes, rock formations, llamas, vicunas, lagoons, flamingoes, geysers and hot springs!! An absolute highlight. Even survived 5000m high deserts although a girl in our group who did not acclimatise got terrible altitude sickness and needed oxygen.

Rather than return to Uyuni and then overnight bus back to La Paz, we were dropped at the Bolivia / Chile border in the Andes (4400m) and went to San Perdo de Atacama (2500m) 40mins away in Northern Chile where we stayed the night. Flew out of Calama airport (Cjc) which was 100km away (80 mins by road) back to Santiago and then Buenos Aires.

Medellin and Bogota in Colombia were also very interesting and worthwhile to visit.

Ascension in Paraguay was nothing special (and can be skipped imo) and we did a morning walking tour as the thermometer hit 40°C!

The boat trip to Antarctica, South Georgia and Falklands was amazing...there are lots of TRs already so nothing for me to add.

Ushuaia itself is interesting and keep one day free to visit Tierra del Fuego National Park :)
 
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Oh, another thing I should add: transport.

Apparently, I've read enough Wikivoyage to find that riding taxis in almost any South American city or town is only for the brave or the stupid (and the linguistcially well armed).

How did people manage as far as, especially, transfers to and from the airport, especially if you arrived or departed at weird hours?
In our 2 months in South America, we caught 45+ Ubers...removed the language, local cash and airport transfer issues! :)
 
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