JessieMJ

Hi all,

We are in the middle of planning a trip to South America - somewhere we have been dreaming of going for many years!

We have 3.5 weeks next July and we fly in/out of Buenos Aires. Both of these are confirmed, so we have to build an itinerary to suit these!

The only thing we have sorted and confirmed so far is Peru - we are following a 12 day itinerary we found in a trip report on Fodors!

So now we are looking at what we could realistically see in this time? We would like to spend at least 4 days in Buenos Aires and possibly see the Salt Flats in Bolivia if we can make this work.

I'd really appreciate your thoughts on how we'd be best to spend our time. We are young and fit and travelling with another couple. We love the outdoors, wildlife, well-travelled, and we're not afraid to spend our holidays busy!

Thanks!

tripplanner001

Assuming you are interested in the blockbuster sights of Peru, 12 days should allow you time to visit and enjoy Lima, Cuzco, the Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu. From BA, I would suggest a visit to Iguazu Falls (so worth doing) and then hop on the LAN flight that goes direct from Iguazu to Lima; the only issue is that it departs from the Brazilian side of the falls, which means you may need a visa depending on the passport you are traveling with.

crellston

Lots of different ways to do this and I agree with Tripplanner001 that you could do the major sights of Peru in 12 days or so. You could of course spend your entire time there and still want to come back for more.

A real shame your flights are fixed as an open jaw ticket into Lima and out of BA would work really well, especially as international flights are expensive within South America. Although that may be about to change as I recently got an email from Lantam to say they are changing the way they prices their airpass tickets, hopefully for the better!

There is no really logical circular route so I would be inclined to either fly on arrival to Lima and work your way down to BA or vice versa. The following route which we have taken before would work well:

Day
1 Lima
2 Lima
3 Cusco and Sacred Valley
4 Cusco and Sacred Valley
5 Cusco and Sacred Valley
6 Cusco and Sacred Valley
7 Cusco and Sacred Valley
8 Cusco and Sacred Valley
9 Puno
10 Puno
11 La Paz
12 Uyuni
13 Uyuni
14 Uyuni
15 San Pedro de Atacama
16 Salta and NW Argentina
17 Salta and NW Argentina
18 Salta and NW Argentina
19 Salta and NW Argentina
20 Iguazu
21 Iguazú
22 Buenos Aires
23 Buenos Aires
24 Buenos Aires

Another option would be to head to Arequipa from Puno or Cusco and travel down the coast through Chile, across to San Pedro de Atacama and into NW Argentina, missing out Uyuni and thence to Iguazu. The amount of time you spend in each place largely depends on your particular interests but some places do need a minimum amount of time e.g. Uyuni as they will be organised tours.

Time can be saved travelling by flying and/or overnight buses (in anywhere but Bolivia!) .

mlgb

There maybe flights between Iguassu and Cusco?

dwdvagamundo

mlgb--LATAM shows a flight from Iguazu Brazil to Cusco but it routes Sao Paulo and Lima.

Crellston's route looks good to me, as it permits some time in NW Argentina.

N1emi

Here is my itinerary for Lima-Cusco-Machu DIY trip
https://diytrips.tips/summary/J6YriD43WASzRmJ8v
I hope it helps you to plan your trip. There are so many things to see in Cusco area. You should reserve your ticket to Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu about three months before your trip.
Have a nice trip!