Hi All.
I'm travelling to South America in September for 13 weeks. Would love some feedback on my current itinerary.

We are flying into Cartagena then the plan is to do:

3.5 weeks in Colombia
2.5 weeks in Ecuador
4 weeks in Peru
2 weeks in Bolivia
1 week in Rio (will fly here from Bolivia)

We then fly home out of Rio

Does that sound doable?

I think so. I would spend less time in Equador and Colombia and use it to see more of Brazil, since it is a much bigger country than those.

Does it sound doable? - Absolutely.

Would I allocate my time in that way? Probably not, but my interests and travel style may well be different from yours.

Rather than just allocating arbritary amounts of time, as a first step, I would be inclined to get a South America guide book from a library ( Rough Guides Douth S,eric a on a Budget would be my choice) and use this to identify which sights, areas, activities etc. based on YOUR personal interests you want to experience on your trip

Once you have done this, you can then move on to working out an outline itinerary and route covering these points and, most importantly, taking into account the vast distances and diverse weather patterns in South America. Timing is extremely important in South America. When it is a good time to visit the Amazon, may be a terrible time for the Andes etc..

It is important to leave some room in your itinerary to allow for the unforeseen events and delays which are a fact of life in South America. Also, I have found that it is nice to be able to be able to switch plans on the go rather than be a a slave to a fixed itinerary.


Have fun planning, it sounds like a great trip!