cfrancois

Hi,

I am a 23 year old female and I plan to start backpacking South America from July 2016 - December 2016. My budget will be around $8500-$9000 (excluding flights).

My itinerary as of right now is
Colombia(4 weeks)
Ecuador(4 weeks)
Peru (3 weeks)
Bolivia (3 weeks)
Chile (3 weeks)
Patagonia region (2 weeks)
Argentina (3 weeks)
Brazil (2 weeks)

I just need some guidance as this would be my first backpacking trip!
Do you think that I am trying to visit too many places within that time span?
Do you think my budget is too small for this kind of trip?

Scarlett

I know nothing about backpacking trips .. but some of these places are massive and require more time to be spent exploring them .. compare the size and what you want to see in Colombia for example compared to Brazil or Argentina ..
Argentina is huge ! Buenos Aires would use up 10 days-2 weeks easy ..
I think you are trying to do too much and you will end up missing out ..
Whittle down the places you see and add more time to them.

crellston

I basically agree with Scarlett that you are trying to pack too much into six months.

My wife and I spent 6 months of 2013 backpacking in South America. We covered Ecuador, Perú, and Bolivia pretty comprehensively plus parts of northern Chile and NW Argentina. Our first and last months were spent in Quito and Lima so I supposed we covered the rest in 4 months at a reasonably relaxed pace. We are returning in May next year to visit some new places and revisit some old.

The problem with trying to pack too much in is two fold. Firstly, rushing around means spending a lot of time on buses and a lot less actually "seeing" stuff. A typical bus journey in South America will last 12 hours ( our longest was 28!).
Secondly, transport will be one of your biggest costs. The more you jump on buses, the more it eats into your budget.

Rather than just list the countries you want to see start with the places you don't want to miss. e.g. Macchu Pichu, salar de uyuni etc.. and then plot them on a map to see how well they fit into an overall route.

If you can try and get an "open jaw" air ticket so as to avoid back tracking.

The order you have listed looks pretty good in terms of direction moving south from Colombia and would also seem to work well weatherwise.

If it were me, I think I would forget about Chile and Brazil partly because of time but also because they are the most expensive countries in which to travel.

Finally, I think your budget is fine for six months.

SambaChula

Each forum has its own distinct character. The majority of backpackers seem to post on the Lonely P,anet's a Thorn Tree forum. They are quite used to dealing with this type of question over there.