South America itineraries: land in one city, fly home from another
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In short
Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay: the Andes, high plateaus and long bus journeys. Here you'll find 1 itineraries with stops, nights and transfers.
Flights from Europe arrive mainly in Lima, Bogotá, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile. A classic open-jaw flies into Lima, climbs to Cusco and Lake Titicaca and flies home from La Paz, without retracing the altiplano; another crosses Chile and Argentina, flying into one capital and out of the other.
In the Andes the dry season generally runs from May to September, the most popular time for Machu Picchu; the Inca Trail closes every February for maintenance. Patagonia is visited mostly in the southern summer, from November to March.
Many stops are at altitude: Cusco and La Paz are above 3,000 metres, so take the first days easy. Distances are huge and night buses are a common way to get between cities; for the longest legs people take domestic flights. A typical trip lasts three weeks or more. Check the entry requirements for each country on viaggiaresicuri.it.
Why fly into one city and out of another?
Many itineraries climb to altitude and cross land borders: flying into Lima and out of La Paz saves you retracing the altiplano.
Which borders can you cross overland?
- Peru – Bolivia
- Peru – Chile
- Peru – Ecuador
- Colombia – Ecuador
- Bolivia – Chile
- Bolivia – Argentina
- Chile – Argentina
- Argentina – Brazil
- Argentina – Uruguay
- Brazil – Uruguay
- Peru – Brazil
- Bolivia – Brazil
- Peru – Colombia
Prefer to start from the flights? We search the whole area, including trips that fly in and out of different cities.
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