I have been posting on European board for number of years.
Most of my travels - alone or with others - have been in that direction.
This summer , I would like to visit Buenos Aires and Montevideo
( perhaps some side trips) . I speak Spanish .
I love cities, museums, architecture.....although I would like to see a bit of
life outside the capitals.
Some friends have suggested. Rio, others Peru or Chile.
Organized tours seem too structured for me....
Considering a ten day visit....flexible.
I would be grateful for suggestions for those( or other destinations) "good"
for the first time traveler.

"This summer"? Whose? Yours? Summer in South America? (Weather varies and might effect recommendations for destinations.)

Yes , summer in North America.
I don't like hot weather.

for a first time visit I would suggest Peru as it has a well developed tourism infrastructure and it is easy to get around and easy to organise yourself without needing a tour operator. www.andeantravelweb. Is a good resource for all sorts of info on Peru.

Given your stated interests and teh time you have available, I would suggest a few days in Lima with the rest of the time being spent in Cusco and the sacred valley. lima and especially cusco have museums aplenty as well as copious amounts of Incan and colonial architecture.

If you could squeeze in a few extra days you could perhaps include a trip to lake Titicaca by Inca Express bus. The options are endless!

Here is a link to our blog of the time we spent in South America last year which has more info and some photos of our time in Peru
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...ai/6/tpod.html

Thanks for the info. and link to a great blog.

But no reason you shouldn't visit BA and Montevideo solo, either. I would side trip to the Iguazu falls, which are just stunning. Click on my name for my SA TR, which includes those destinations - and I'm a solo female traveler, too.

Thanks for the response..

Here's a trip report from an inveterate solo traveler, whom I miss

http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...-and-chile.cfm

Sorry that I can't help with BA and Montevideo, but I agree that with crellston that Peru is a great "starter" trip to South America, solo.

The coast is cool since it's the "garua" season and the Andes is mostly dry, so it's a good time (and not the coldest part of the year either). If you like cities (even big sprawly ones) Lima, Arequipa, and Cusco should keep you occupied.



On Dec 1, LAN should be having an airfare sale. Not sure if it will extend into June though. Also since Jet Blue has started flying to Lima from FLL, you can find good airfares out of that hub (without needing to use Spirit).

If you do decide to use LAN I'd recommend getting the US Bank credit card which has some benefits.

Thanks all...Peru could be interesting.
I have nothing fixed in mind at this point...

I did a solo trip to BA (tacked onto a work trip to Santiago). Accomplished a LOT in a few days:

http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...lar-heaven.cfm

You could combine BA with Santiago, Valparaiso and an organized tour to either the Atacama desert or Patagonia. That would be a good combo of urban/rural.

Thanks for the link crosscheck