sahith82

Hello Fodorites,

Thanks for all your help in planning my last trip to Italy and Spain. It was wonderful. Now we are planning our next trip to South America. Thinking last two weeks in December 2013.

In my last trip, I realized that 2 weeks is the maximum amount of time we can spend outside our home without getting bored or tired of being a tourist. With that in mind we are planning our next trip to South America. The two options we are thinking are 2 weeks in peru or 1 week in Peru and 1 week in Chile. As always please chime in with your inputs.

2 Weeks in Peru - highlevel things we would like to cover:
a. 5 day trail (Salkantay or Inca)
b. Machu Pichu
c. Sacred Valley
d. Lake Titicaca
e. Amazon (if possible)

1 Week in Peru and 1 Week in Chile - highlevel things we would like to cover:
a. Machu Pichu
b. Sacred Valley
c. Lake Titicaca
d. Santiago
e. Atacama
f. Patagonia (I don't think we will hike TDP). Just glaciers.

Huentetu

For option #2 you would have to fly to Santiago. So:

Day 1 flying and an overnight Santiago.
Day 2 flight to Punta Arenas, bus to Puerto Natales, overnight PN
Day 3 day trip to Torres del Paine and return to PN
Day 4 bus to Punta Arenas and flight back to Santiago. Possible connection to Calama, transfer to San Pedro de Atacama.
Day 5 San Pedro
Day 6 San Pedro, transfer to Calama, return flight from Calama to Santiago
Day 7 flight to Lima or return flight to origin.

It can be done but seems to me to shortchange both Patagonia and the Atacama. I would stick to both weeks in Perú and avoid so many flights which can be delayed or cancelled.

mlgb

If you can't do three weeks I would just do one country, probably Peru.

crellston

I agree two weeks in Peru would be great, I would possibly add Arequipa rather than the Amazon, but this largely depends on your interests. You need to allow time to aclimatise to the altitude before trekking.

yestravel

I agree - go with the 2 weeks in Peru. Also agree that Arequipa with a trip out to Colca Canyon would be nice.

mlgb

BTW..I don't think you'll be bored in South America. If you include sites such as Machu Picchu, the Sacred Valley, Lake Titicaca, the Amazon, and Colca Canyon, it will not be one museum, plaza and church after another, after a while they all start to look the same.

Just be careful of getting "ruined out" in the Sacred Valley with all the Inca Ruins.

DobbyTheTurtle

1 week in each place.

sahith82

Thanks for all your replies. We added a couple of days and would like to cover both Peru and Chile. That means we may not do the hike in Peru as DW is not too enthusiastic about it .

We will be arriving on Cusco on Day 1 at 6:30 AM from the U.S. and leaving from Santiago on Day 16 at 11 PM. So we have 16 days including internal transportation but excluding arrival to and from Cusco/Santiago.

We are planning to go from Peru to Chile by road through Tacna and Arica. After a few days on the road in Chile, we are planning to fly (or take a 20 hour bus ride) from Antfagasta/Calama to Santiago. I checked today and the flight costs the same from either of these places (Antfagasta/Calama ) to Santiago.


A bit about us: We are a young couple and visited Italy this April. Based on the experience, I can say that we like ruins but we like variety (nature, castles if any, wineries, churches, walking around a town). We are not party-types so no need of late night parties

At a high level I have shortlisted below places to stay. Could you please suggest if this list makes sense, any additions and the time we should spend at these locations?

Cusco
Puno
Arequipa
Tacna
San Pedro De Atacama
Valle de la Luna
Antofagasta
Santiago

yestravel

Not sure how you are arriving in Cusco at 6:30 am. thought you had to fly to Lima and then go to Cusco. In any case are you visiting MP from Cusco? I hope you haven't eliminated MP. I would spend 3 days in Cusco with one day being you day to MP.

Santiago didn't do much for me. Have you considered spending a couple days in Valparaiso which is an easy bus ride from Santiago? I would do a day in Santiago and 2 days in Valparaiso. Also if you want to visit wineries there are some in that region of Chile. Never visited any so cant help there.

Arequipa can be seen in a day and you can do a 2 day/ 1 night trip out to Colca Canyon.

Haven't been to your other destinations so can't address them.

We have a TR that talks about our time in Santiago and Valparaiso which were part of a longer trip in 2011. Scroll thru it to find info
http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...-chile-arg.cfm

sahith82

yestravel, Thanks for the link to TR. I will go through that. MP is included as part of Cusco

We are arriving in Lima at 10:30 PM the day before and taking the first flight out to Cusco.

Please advise on the geysers also.

sahith82

Any more suggestions please?
I am also thinking of adding Laguna national park in chile and taking out lake titicaca/puno

crellston

Santiago didn't have any attraction for me but as Yestravle suggests, Valparaiso is worthy of consideration. We missed out on San Pedro on our last trip but will definitely be including it in a couple of months en route from Bolivia.

Lake Titicaca was hugely impressive, if somewhat overtly touristy, but there was something magical about it, at least for me. it is however, a long way to go, although, the route there, if you take the Inka Express bus is a tour in itself. I really don't know how it would compare with Laguna NP.

We too were planning to travel overland from Arequipa to Arica but the Peruvians closed the border for a few days so we got a cheap flight with Sky. Some people we met got stuck at the border fro 2 days! I am not sure if this is a regular occurrence , perhaps Huentutu can enlighten us. We are planning travelling in the opposite direction by road on this trip.

As for time in each location, that really depends on what interests you, given your itinerary and time, I would say that Cusco and The SV is worth at least 3-4 days as there is so much to see in a relatively small area, although a lot of it involves Inca history and ruins. MacchubPicchu is an iconic site and I know I am in a minority, but I actually preferred Pisac.

We loved Arequipa as a city, but we did arrive at fiesta time ( mind you, they do have seem to have fiestas at the drop of a hat in Peru!). Santa Catalina convent is a " don't miss" . It is like a city within a city.

Titicaca will probably take 2 days based on the travel logistics only. Puno itself is nothing to write home about. Arica is a nice town with some superb seafood restaurants as I recall. If you are adventurous, the big thing there seemed to be Sandboarding down the giant dunes outside of the town.


There are lots of photos and some more detail on these places, in our blog below:


http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blo...ai/1/tpod.html

Huentetu

Where is Laguna NP in Chile?

sahith82

Thanks Crellston.

Huentetu, i meant Lauca NP.