Explore South America

Explore South America

Locations:

Peru Chile Brazil Bolivia Argentina

Call:

0845 3 447 667

Product Details

"Around the world tickets" (a.k.a 'Round the World' or 'RTW' tickets) are a series of single flights built into one ticket. Valid for 12 months - this ticket literally takes you "Around the World" - making this one of the cheapest way to do a big trip to Australia.

How do they work?
Simple - choose the regions / countries you want to visit on your way to Australia and then on the way back. You can build your own ticket - for example - the most popular route is:

London - Los Angeles [USA] - Fiji - Cook Islands [Pacific Islands] - New Zealand - Australia - Singapore - travel overland to - Thailand - London

Price guide:
- Basic routes (4-6 stops) leaving off peak (April-August) cost as little as £800 (incl. taxes*)
- Many stops on many Continents leaving at peak times (Nov-Dec) could cost £2,500+ all-in
- Most people: leave Sept, Oct, Jan-March and pay £1,500-£1,800 (incl. taxes*)

* BEWARE! Watch out for 'Fr' or 'From' [e.g. Fr £566] and what look like really cheap RTW tickets. Once you include taxes and your travel dates the price will be similar to above.

Around the World via South America

Go the end of the Earth (you'll find that in Chile), trek the famous Inca Trail in Peru, check out big stone heads on Easter Island and find out just how Carneeeval is really done in Rio...

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"BUILD YOUR OWN" AROUND THE WORLD TRIP: 3 easy steps

1. Read below what gapyear.com users have to say about South East Asia
2. Find out what you can do and where
3. Decide whether to build this region into your RTW ticket

When you're ready to compare the routes you like, or if you're struggling and need assistance, simply call 0845 3 447 667 or enquire through our online system and we'll help you with the rest. Details at the bottom of this page.

1. THE KEY RTW STOPS IN THIS SOUTH AMERICA...

Santiago [Chile], Lima [Peru] and Rio de Janeiro [Brazil]

2. POPULAR ROUTES THAT INCLUDE SOUTH AMERICA:

London - Beijing - travel overland to - Hong Kong [China] - Bangkok [Thailand] - travel overland to - Singapore - Bali [Indonesia] - Sydney - travel overland to - Melbourne [Australia]- Auckland [New Zealand] - Santiago [Chile] - travel overland to - Buenos Aires [Argentina] - Sao Paulo - travel overland to - Rio De Janeiro [Brazil] - London

London - Mumbai [India] - Singapore - Bali [Indonesia] - Sydney - travel overland to - Melbourne [Australia] - Christchurch - travel overland to - Auckland [New Zealand] - Santiago [Chile] - travel overland to - Lima [Peru] - London

London - Bangkok [Thailand] - travel overland to - Singapore - Bali [Indonesia] - Darwin - Cairns - travel overland to - Sydney [Australia] - Fiji [Pacific Islands] - Auckland [New Zealand] - Santiago [Chile] - travel overland to - Buenos Aires [Argentina] - London

London - Cape Town - travel overland to - Johannesburg [South Africa] - Perth - Cairns - travel overland to - Sydney [Australia] - Christchurch - travel overland to - Auckland [New Zealand] - Santiago - travel overland to - Lima [Peru] - London

3. THINGS TO SEE & DO IN SOUTH AMERICA

1. Get a passport stamp from the end of the Earth
2. Atacama Desert (driest place on Earth)
3. Torres del Paines
4. See the big stone heads on Easter Island

1. Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail
2. Swim with sea lions off the islands of Paracas
3. Beach olympics at Huanchaco
4. Surfing at Puerto Chicama
5. Visit the Salt Mountains

1. Salt pans
2. Cerro Rico mines (Potosi)
3. Cycle the Death Road (near La Paz)
4. See the Andes
5. Highest capital city in the world (that's for you fact fans)

1. Carnival and Copacobana/Ipanema beaches
2. Amazon Rainforest
3. Christ the Redeemer
4. Sugarloaf Mountain
5. Maracana Stadium
6. favelas
7. Iguazu Falls

The most popular trip around this region:

Brazil - Bolivia - Peru - Chile

There is a well trodden backpackers route in South America known as the 'Gringo Trail'. RTW tickets are designed to help you make the most of this without having to struggle through the trickier destinations, such as Colombia, and gets you from one side of the Amazon/Andes with the minimum of fuss and expense.

Starting in Rio, Lima or Santiago, you can travel in a loop that takes in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Chile and allows you to sample a good cross section of what South America has to offer.

Why South America?

South America can seem a daunting prospect at first. There's not an English speaking country in sight and even the Spanish that is spoken can confuse those of us relying on a GCSE and a prayer.

Just to make thing even trickier, the biggest nation in this amazing continent chooses to speak Portuguese (that's Brazil by the way...). However, if you let this put you off forever then you're going to seriously miss out. With a phrase book (a few weeks in a Spanish School for the keen), an amiable demeanour and of course help from the other thousands of backpackers out there - you can make the most of what South America has to offer.

From the dense humidity of the Amazon Rainforest, through the Atacama Desert (the driest place on Earth) up to the lofty peaks of the Andes and the plains of Patagonia, each country is not just unique, it is starkly different to even its nearest neighbours. Sandboard, snowboard, working with street children or tracking Jaguars in the jungle....it's all here!

What others say about this region...

Yolande Squire: "I absolutely adore Bolivia with its amazing scenery culture and people and there are lots of things to do and all very cheaply! I would also recommend that everybody visit the salt flats..."

Ewan Dinwiddie: "Cusco, the old capital of the Inca empire and is a beautiful, beatiful city. The place is swarming with gingos of the backpacker and also tour group variety but nobody can deny it is a breathtaking place."

Chile

Lorraine Bridges writes...
Chile is a country that’s unique in every sense, a land of unimaginable proportions, breathtaking natural beauty and strong cultural independence.

It plays host to some of world’s greatest landmarks and is still one of the most untouched places on earth. It is a land of extremes, of the driest desert, the lushest valleys and the largest glaciers. Its people, too, are diverse, but united in their beliefs and faithful to their traditions.

Lorraine's Top 5 Things to do:

1. Visit the extraordinary, ancient monuments on Easter Island
3. Visit Torres del Paine, one of the world's most spectacular national parks
4. Check out the extremes of landscape - from the ice of Patagonia
5. ...to the driest place on earth in the Atacama Desert

Summary

Chile's main attraction is its landscape, which is extraordinarily varied. The mighty Andes provide some surprisingly good ski and snowboard opportunities, and there are lots of placements you can do if you want to immerse yourself in Chile's interesting culture.

Peru

Richard Webb writes...
Peru is an extraordinary blend of histories and cultures, and of geographical and biological diversity. Each and every corner of Peru has a distinct geography and cultural flavour to offer. Indeed, parts of Peru’s highlands and jungle interior are as foreign to the eight million plus people who live in Lima as they would be to travellers from abroad.

I won’t give you all the standard notes about the Incas and the Spanish as you can read that in guidebooks. What I would like to comment on is the energy and spirit that I see in Peru. The country seems to be full of people willing and able to make the best of their lot in life: a people ready with a smile despite widespread hunger and poverty. There is a deep appreciation for sabor (flavour) in Peru. Whether in food, dance, athletic manoeuvres, street negotiations or political orations - the art of living and expressing oneself with sabor is what makes everything go around.

Richard's 5 Top things to do:

1. Hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
2. Go sand-boarding in Huacachina
3. Swim with the sea lions off the islands of Paracas
4. Head to Huanchaco in February for the beach Olympics
5. Head to Puerto Chicama from November to April and surf for over one kilometre

Summary

Thanks to the Incas, Peru gets full marks for its icons: Machu Picchu really is a must-see. If you're a bit daunted by the prospect of independent travel in Peru (the language, the landscape and the fairly low number of western travellers can make it tricky), consider doing a supported placement - there are some crackers.

Bolivia

Described by some - a little confusingly - as the Tibet of the Americas, Bolivia is the highest and most isolated of the Latin American republics. It lies in the heart of South America, stretching from heights of the Andes Mountains to the tropical Amazon River Basin, with a population composed mainly of native ‘Indian’ groups and those of mixed white and ‘Indian’ descent. The traditions, languages and religions seen in Bolivia today are many centuries old, and intriguing remnants of ancient civilisations are thick on the ground.

Things to do:

1. Cycle downhill non-stop for four and a half hours on the attractively-named Death Road
2. Visit the Cerro Rico Mines, Potosi
3. Not far from La Paz is ‘Valle de la Luna’, a moon-like landscape of weird mud formations
4. Visit Copacabana on the banks of the enormous Lake Titicaca
5. Head to the Witches Market - in downtown La Paz: you can’t miss the dried llama foetuses hanging on display...

Summary

Bolivia doesn't attract many backpackers, which is surprising given its intriguing culture (perhaps the biggest draw). Sure, it's not an easy country to get around, but if you're looking for a truly traditional taste of South American life, this is where you'll find it.

Brazil / Rio

Gaz Bourne writes...
The beach at Rio was unlike any I had seen before. At first glance it appeared to be one long catwalk with the locals strutting their stuff, the men clad in Speedos, or as my friend corrected me, ‘Banana Hammocks’, and the women in the skimpiest of bikinis and thongs.

When you’ve had enough of these sights, you can take a cable car up to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain to watch the sunset. From a the peak at 400m high it’s possible to see out across the whole of Rio, the miles of golden beaches, the statue of Christ the Redeemer and the Maracana. Brazilians say ‘God made the world in six days, the seventh he devoted to Rio’; on this evidence it’s hard to disagree.

Gaz's Top 5 Things to do:

1. Go wild at the most famous party in the world, Rio’s Carnival
2. Visit Sao Paolo, the world’s second largest city
3. Marvel at the enormous Iguaçu Falls; over 3km wide and 80m high
4. Take an excursion into one of the richest natural environments on earth, the Amazon Jungle
5. Look for crocs, snakes, otters, jaguars and more in the Pantanal Wetlands

Summary

Home to the world's biggest rainforest and the world's smallest bikinis, Brazil is a country of extremes. Rio is the party capital of South America, and it's here that you're likely to get your first taste of Brazil. When you've had enough of this pumping city, you can get back to nature amongst spectacular rainforests, wetlands and waterfalls.

SOUTH AMERICA: SUMMARY

'Challenging but rewarding' is perhaps the best way to sum up South America. It's also the understatement of the year. If you can cope with the language difficulties (use either the 'Get by in...' language books or even better, use the opportunity to take courses in basic Spanish and Portugese) and the relatively low number of fellow travellers, you'll find the extraordinary landscapes and the fascinating cultures (both very much in the plural) more than sufficient reward.

IN ADDITION TO YOUR RTW TICKET YOU ARE LIKELY TO NEED:

1. For Southern Africa
Hop-on-hop-off bus passes: Baz Bus
Overland truck tours: Check out our overlanding section

2. For Australia
Hop-on-hop-off bus passes: Oz Experience (include tours) OR Greyhound (just bus)
Starter Packs: Work starter pack, Country starter pack
Visas: Working Holiday Visa, Non working Visitors Visa, Study Visa
Tours: (Ayers Rock, Fraser Island, Blue Mountains etc...)
- We suggest you include these as part of your Oz Experience bus tour
- If you are using Greyhound you can book direct using our Tours section

3. For New Zealand
Hop-on-hop-off bus passes: Kiwi Experience, NZ Travel Pass, Magic Bus OR Haka Tours
Starter Packs: Work starter pack, Country Starter Pack
Visas: Working Holiday Visa, Non working Visitors Visa
Tours: We suggest you include these as part of your bus tour and don't book direct

4. For General Travel
Discount Cards: Gap Year Card, VIP, YHA

5. For More Ideas - check out our First Timer's Guides

Explore South America

Locations:

Peru Chile Brazil Bolivia Argentina

Call:

0845 3 447 667

STA Travel is the World's largest youth and independent travel agency. With over 65 branches in the UK and over 450 around the World, you can visit them if you have problems overseas. The Gapyear.com team at STA Travel are on standby to help you plan your dream trip.