Three weeks in South America
 

We are two mature couples heading to South America for three weeks beginning early January 2016. We have found a condo in Buenos Aires that we'll rent for a week. We've also found a great looking hotel in Santiago that we plan on spending a few nights at. I realize this is very general question but other than those cities what cities would you recommend we visit and why? What are the "must sees and must do's ?

Iguazu Falls
Salta
Tilcara
Purnmarca
Cafayate
Valparaiso
Lake District Chile/Argentina
Patagonia including
torre de Paines

Based on your interests, read about these places and decide what sounds interesting. I have trip reports on ARG and Chile that describe our time in the places above as well as others. click on my name to find them.

Pretty much agree with yestravel's list but your question really is too general to elicit any meaningful answers. What are your interests? E.g. Food, wine,scenery, culture etc.. Also, do you really want to see only cities?

Also, In the context of three weeks in total I think a week is too long for BA.

Iguacu (but note that certain passport holders require a visa to see the Brazilian side of the park, a must-see if visiting, and the interesting Bird Park).

We are very much into food and wine. We also enjoy cultural events. It's not that we love cities so much as due to health reasons big hikes are out of the question, we realize one week in BA doesn't optimize our possibilies but don't want a hectic time with lots of travel.

What are your thoughts on Rio

In that 3 week time period, you could comfortably do your week in BsAs, Iguacu and about a week in Rio (with, if you stay in Brazil, maybe one other stop in Brazil close to Rio, like Ilha Grande/Paraty or Buzios for beaches, or a Colonial town in the mountains of the neighboring state such as Ouro Preto)
Check the site ipanema dot com for an overview of what Rio offers (neighborhoods, beaches, museum, nightlife, etc) What further thoughts would you be interested in from someone who knows Rio fairly well?

If food & wine are your main interests, I'd say you'd want an itinerary focusing on:

Argentina - Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Salta
Chile - Santiago, Valparaiso, Colchagua Valley or other major wine producing valleys not far from Santiago

Here's a helpful wine map of Argentina and Chile:
http://winefolly.com/review/south-am...e-regions-map/

And here's a sample wine tour of those two countries that might help you with logistics and allocation of time, it's made for two weeks, so adding in Salta and probably a bit more time to BA and Santiago will get you to three weeks:
http://www.bkwinetours.com/scheduled...ina-wine-tour/

If you are going to Santiago then I would try to visit Easter Island. We went back in 2010 and it was incredible. You don't have to do a lot of hiking if you get a good tour guide. Plus I would suggest you try and get a "Visit South america Pass" through LAN airlines. We got it for our trip and it saved us a lot of money and gave us a lot of flexibility in changing our plane reservations. You plan out your itinerary and then book your plane tickets through the pass.

I agree that Buenos Aires for a week may be too long when there are so many other things to see in South America. I liked Iguazu Falls and the Sheraton hotel there so you can rest and relax in between seeing things.

hi
3 weeks in South America is great but this sub continent is huge and you have to choose carefully transports and itinerary (flights will be better most of the time between main areas or countries because buses are very slow).
You can have a look to www.lost-paradises-am.com : many pictures which might help you to decide your itinerary.
Enjoy your trip