Travel in Central/South America (and SA) 2022/early 2023

October for Patagonia feels pretty early in the year. I have no personal experience that time of year, but I'd expect quite a bit of snow, still, making everything a lot harder. I'd recommend moving that up by about a month.

If you don't mind a bunk bed in a shared 4-person cabin, Antarctica trips can be had for significantly lower than regular price by just hanging around Ushuaia in season (November-March) and looking for last minute offers. It's worth signing up for the newsletters of the various companies running the trips as well (so only to those who're directly running the ships, not resellers), as they'll try to fill up ships through offers there, first.

If it's a choice for splurging on Easter Island or Antarctica, very strong personal recommendation for Antarctica, no contest whatsoever. Easter Island is exactly like the pictures, so you'll already know what you're going to get - Antarctica meanwhile is beyond description.

Quoting lauraloug

Thank you all.

So my rough plan now is

End of Dec/Jan- Feb (for Holi festival) - India - South, fly to Goa or Kerela (have some travelling friends in Goa for NY would this be hard work going down to Kerlela and then traveling up to Mumbai after?)Mumbai, Rajasthan, Golden Triangle

March - Nepal - Katmandu, pokhura, chitwan: Everest or annapurna trek.
Delhi - London

Indian visa appointment arranged.

Fly back to London for a few weeks.

April - May/June - Central America (Mexico City to San Blas)

June/July - February - South America

Columbia - June/July
Ecuador - Galapagos Islands - Aug
Peru - Inca Trail - Aug/Sept
Bolivia
Chile/Argentina - Patagonia (Sept/Oct)
Argentina (Easter Island optional)
Uruguay
Brazil - Carnival, amazon tribes - Feb 2024

Any thoughts on the seasons I will be out there? maybe Antarctica if I have the $$$

I won't comment on India/Nepal leg as I haven't been there but Central/South America starts well but you are probably moving through a bit quick. I wouldn't aim to get to Patagonia until the warmer months of November onwards. Even summer in a lot of Patagonia is pretty cold. Ushuaia in the middle of summer didn't get above 14º Celsius! So I would think about how you are going to time this. But best not to lock anything in that you don't need to and just go with the flow.

Someone above mentioned crossing the Darrien Gap. This is something everyone in Panama going south and Colombia going north talks about. You can't go over land so you have to either fly or catch a boat. The issue with flying is that airlines don't like to be responsible of you if you don't have an onward ticket and the issue with boats is that they have been known to sink You can organise a trip from Panama City to San Blas (Guna Yala) easily. If you want to continue on to Colombia it will be a different sort of trip and make sure you have a reputable captain. We chose to fly the gap and didn't have any issues with the airline. They didn't even question us.

Navigating South America is a lot of fun and there are many ways to do it. Happy to help in any way I can!

Thank you so much Brad.

Your help would be great, I am unsure what to lock in trip-wise at this stage, I have been told to pre-book the Inca trail and Galapagos Islands, how long did you travel for and what was your itinenary?

No problem at all!

I would avoid booking in as much as possible as when you are away for that long you don't want to be tied down to decisions you made months ago. That being said, you will need to book the Inca trail well in advance. Have a look at the companies you are interested in going with and see how far ahead they are booked out to get an idea of when you will need to lock it in. Also keep in mind it starts to get wetter after September/October. Although I did it in October and only had one wet day and the rest were fantastic. This website can give you an idea of what weather to expect and I'm sure there are many others http://www.incatrailperu.com/inca_trail_weather.html

The Galapagos will depend on whether you plan to spend the whole time on a boat or if you are going to island hop. You could even do both if you want! Island hopping is cheaper and it's unlikely you will need to book anything in advance. But you don't have access to some of the more remote islands. Doing a cruise is more expensive and you don't really get to experience island life or to get around the bigger islands, but you will likely have the opportunity to get to the more remote islands. Cruises tend to off load any available spots cheap at the last minute. But you have to be willing to take that chance with the possibility of missing out. I island hopped and had an amazing time.

I was in latin America for about 10 months and I don't remember the timeline exactly but it went something like this.

Start of June – Yucatán, Mexico
Spent about 2 weeks around Mérida, Chelem and Tulum.

Mid June – Cuba
2 weeks around Havana, Varadero, Cienfuegos and Trinidad

End of June & start of July – Panama
1 week Panama City and Kuna Yala (San Blas Islands)

July & August – Colombia
2 months around Cartagena, Medellín, Santa Elena, Guatape, Bogotá

September – Ecuador
3 weeks around Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca. Also included 10 days on the Galapagos Islands.

End of September to early November – Peru
Piura, Chiclayo, Pimentel, Trujillo, Lima, Pisco, Paracas, Ica, Nazca, Cusco, Arequipa, Chivay, Colca Canyon, Puno. A lot of places but I don't really remember ever rushing.

Early November to early December – Bolivia
Copacabana, Isla del Sol, La Paz, Rurrenabaque, Uyuni and surrounding desert and Sucre.

Early December – Paraguay
Spent a week or so around Asuncion and then made our way across to Ciudad del Este to enter into northern Argentina.

Mid December to end of February – Argentina
Puerto Iguazú, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza, Bariloche, El Bolsón, El Chaltén, El Calafate and Ushuaia. Although we crossed over to Chile to Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine from El Calafate as it's closer than most places in Chile.

End February to end March – Chile
Punta Arenas, Puerto Montt, Puerto Varas, Valdivia, Pucón, Valparaíso and Santiago.

Sorry it's a bit rough but I hope it helps. You will no doubt notice that Brazil is missing. We made the call early on that Brazil was too big and would effect our timeline too much. We planned to come back again to visit Brazil separately but that still hasn't happened yet!

If you are interested in any of the places I went to and want to know more about how long I stayed in those places, just let me know. We would kind of move relatively quickly and then once in a while, stay in one spot for a few weeks to slow things down.

@BradMtW: Your post is currently flagged for moderator review due to the link you included in your post. Sadly I lack moderator powers in this particular subforum, but as soon as Peter or BorisBorough comes online, your post should be made available again. I suspect they both know this as well, but I can vouch that the linked to website is considered a useful and non-commercial resource for matters related to the inca trail, and that it's unlikely that Brad is promoting that website in particular.

Quoting Sander

@BradMtW: ... I suspect they both know this as well, but I can vouch that the linked to website is considered a useful and non-commercial resource for matters related to the inca trail,....

I actually posted a link to the exact same website a few years ago on a previous thread here. That site usually shows the availability of permits for the Inca Trail in the coming months but (probably due to Covid) that's not available at the moment.

Quoting Borisborough

Quoting Sander

@BradMtW: ... I suspect they both know this as well, but I can vouch that the linked to website is considered a useful and non-commercial resource for matters related to the inca trail,....

I actually posted a link to the exact same website a few years ago on a previous thread here. That site usually shows the availability of permits for the Inca Trail in the coming months but (probably due to Covid) that's not available at the moment.

Thanks. Yeah, it's the first website that pops up on Google if you search for Inca Trail weather. I remembered using it or something similar when I organised my trip too and I think it's helpful. Although hideously designed!