The 11 Best Places to Visit in South America (2026)

The best places to visit in South America fall into two halves with opposite seasons, and that decides more than any ranking. The Andes of Peru and Bolivia, with Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca and the Uyuni salt flat, are at their best from May to September. The far south of Chile and Argentina, with Torres del Paine and the Perito Moreno glacier, is visited from October to April. Below are the eleven places we would build a trip around, each with the months it wants and the days it costs, and the combinations that fit into two weeks.

The 11 places to visit in South America, at a glance

Place	Country	Best months	Days it needs
Machu Picchu and Cusco	Peru	May to September	4 to 5
Lake Titicaca	Peru and Bolivia	May to October	2
Salar de Uyuni	Bolivia	May to October, or the wet-season mirror	3 to 4
The Amazon, from Puerto Maldonado	Peru	Year-round, driest June to August	3 nights
Atacama Desert	Chile	October to November, and April	4
Torres del Paine	Chile	October to April	3 to 4
Perito Moreno glacier	Argentina	December to February is the core	2 to 3
Iguazu Falls	Argentina	Any month	2
Buenos Aires	Argentina	October to November, March to April	3
Galapagos Islands	Ecuador	Set by the Andean half of the trip	4 to 7
Cartagena	Colombia	Not timed here: see below

The months come from our own seasonal guides for Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, where each figure carries its source. The days are what each place takes inside our routes.

1. Machu Picchu and Cusco, Peru

The one place nearly everyone puts first, and rightly. The citadel stands at 2,430 m, in the middle of a tropical mountain forest, and was inscribed by UNESCO in 1983, the same year as the city of Cusco, the former Inca capital you pass through to reach it.

The decision: entry is capped by the day, 4,500 visitors or 5,600 in high season in 2026, so the month you choose is really the ticket you can get. Our guide to the best time to visit Machu Picchu goes month by month. Cusco is at 3,399 m; the low Sacred Valley is the better first night, as our South America altitude guide explains.

The upper terraces of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu. Photo by Simon P. Toaquiza.

2. Lake Titicaca, Peru and Bolivia

The lake sits at 3,812 m and belongs to two countries, which is exactly why it matters for a route: it is the natural way to cross from Peru into Bolivia by land, from Puno to Copacabana, rather than flying back to Lima.

The decision: two nights is enough to see the lake from both shores. It is also high, higher than Cusco, so it belongs after the Andes, never at the start of a trip.

3. Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

A salt flat at 3,656 m, and it has two faces: you have to choose one. In the dry season, roughly May to October, the roads are open and the crust is white to the horizon. In the wet season, roughly December to March, a thin layer of water turns it into a mirror, and in flood years the authorities have closed the crossing to Isla Incahuasi. Our best time to visit Bolivia guide sets out that trade-off.

The decision: three or four days, and the order matters more than the month. Arrive from Lake Titicaca and La Paz, already used to the height.

4. The Amazon, from Puerto Maldonado, Peru

The rainforest is the part of a Peru trip that people leave out, and the one that changes it most. From Cusco it is a short flight down to Puerto Maldonado and a boat up the Tambopata, which is how our Machu Picchu tour packages add three nights in a lodge to the Andes in eleven days.

The decision: the southern Amazon is driest from June to August, the same months as the Andes, so it joins a dry-season trip with no compromise on dates.

5. Atacama Desert, Chile

High desert, salt lakes and geysers in Chile’s far north. San Pedro de Atacama, the base, is at 2,407 m, and the El Tatio geyser field is visited at 4,320 m before dawn. Our Atacama Desert map shows where each sight sits around the town.

The decision: avoid January and February. That is when the altiplanic winter brings storms and road closures; in January 2026 San Pedro itself flooded. October, November and April are the best windows, which is why our 13-day Atacama and Patagonia route pairs the desert with Torres del Paine in spring and autumn, not in midsummer.

6. Torres del Paine, Chile

The granite towers that gave the park its name. Chile’s forest service, CONAF, records the park’s creation in 1959 and its declaration as a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1978.

The decision: October to April, when the lodges are open. The long multi-day circuits are a trekking product of their own; three or four days based in the park covers the classic viewpoints and a section of walking. For the rest of the country, from the Elqui Valley to Easter Island, see our guide to the best places to visit in Chile.

7. The Perito Moreno glacier, Argentina

The glacier you can watch calve from a walkway. It sits in Los Glaciares National Park, inscribed by UNESCO in 1981, on Lake Argentino, which UNESCO gives as 160 km long.

The decision: two or three days from El Calafate. The access road is open in every month, but December to February is the reliable core of the Patagonian season; in winter the park asks for crampons on its trails.

8. Iguazu Falls, Argentina

A semicircle of cascades that UNESCO describes as some 80 m high and 2,700 m across, on the border between Argentina and Brazil. We visit from the Argentine side, inside the Iguazu National Park, inscribed in 1984.

The decision: any month. It is warm and wet all year, and the river’s floods arrive as events, not on a calendar, so check the walkways before you travel. Two days is enough.

9. Buenos Aires, Argentina

The city that makes Argentina feel like a separate trip from the rest of the continent, and the natural start for the glaciers and the falls. Spring and autumn are the comfortable months; January in the city averages a 30 °C high.

The decision: three days. It pairs with Patagonia and Iguazu, which is what our Buenos Aires, glaciers and Iguazu route does in eight to thirteen days.

10. The Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Nineteen islands in the Pacific, some 1,000 km from the continent, and number one on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, inscribed in 1978. We do not sell them on their own: they are the second half of a Peru trip.

The decision: if you want the islands and the Andes in one journey, the Machu Picchu and Galapagos route runs in 10, 12 or 16 days. Date it from the Machu Picchu ticket, because the citadel is the stop with a daily cap.

A white-sand beach and black lava in the Galapagos. Photo by Simon P. Toaquiza.

11. Cartagena, Colombia

The walled port on the Caribbean, whose fortresses and monuments UNESCO inscribed in 1984. It belongs on any list of places to visit in South America, but it is a different trip from everything above: the Caribbean coast does not combine sensibly with the Andes of Peru or with Patagonia in two weeks.

Best countries to visit in South America

If you are choosing a country rather than a place, these are the honest verdicts:

Country	Choose it if	The catch
Peru	It is your first trip, and you want Machu Picchu, the Andes and the Amazon in one country	Altitude, and the ticket cap at the citadel
Bolivia	You want the salt flat and Lake Titicaca, and you are already in Peru	Every stop after the lake is higher than Cusco
Chile	You want landscape: the high desert and the far south	Its two halves sit at opposite ends of the country, joined by a flight
Argentina	You want a city, a glacier and a waterfall	Long internal distances; Patagonia’s short season
Ecuador	You want the Galapagos	We only sell it combined with Peru

The best countries to visit in South America for a first trip are Peru, or Peru and Bolivia together, because the sights are close to each other overland. For a second trip, or a southern-summer one, Chile and Argentina.

Best cities to visit in South America

Five cities worth nights of their own, not just a connection:

• Cusco, Peru: the Inca capital, a UNESCO site, and the gateway to Machu Picchu.
• Buenos Aires, Argentina: the continent’s great city break, and the start of Patagonia.
• La Paz, Bolivia: the seat of Bolivia’s government, at about 3,650 m, and the stop between Lake Titicaca and the salt flat.
• Valparaíso, Chile: a port of hillside neighbourhoods and lifts, whose historic quarter UNESCO inscribed in 2003.
• Cartagena, Colombia: the walled Caribbean city above.

Which places fit together in two weeks

This is where a list becomes a trip. Two weeks hold two or three of the places above, from the same half of the continent:

Combination	Days	The route
Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca and Uyuni	13	Peru and Bolivia
Machu Picchu and the Galapagos	10, 12 or 16	Machu Picchu and Galapagos
The Atacama and Torres del Paine	10, 13 or 16	Chile’s Atacama and Patagonia
Buenos Aires, Perito Moreno and Iguazu	8, 10 or 13	Buenos Aires, glaciers and Iguazu

What does not fit is the whole list. Machu Picchu and Patagonia want opposite months, and joining them costs days and a long flight. Our South America itinerary guide sets out the five routes that do work in two or three weeks, and the South America travel cost guide what each one costs per day.