What is the best South American country to visit?

[gibor]

Was curious, in your opinion, what is the best South American country to visit?
I mean ,considering everything, beauty, architecture, safety, prices ?

[fosterscik]

Don't know about best, but I've only been to three: Argentina, Peru and Bolivia so my opinion is limited to those. I much prefer Argentina and would return in a heartbeat.

[braumeister]

If you're going in an organized group tour, then it really doesn't matter that much -- they'll handle everything.

If you're going on your own, to just one country, the question can only be answered if we know your travel style and what you enjoy/don't enjoy.

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gibor Was curious, in your opinion, what is the best South American country to visit? I mean ,considering everything, beauty, architecture, safety, prices ?

A few questions to help members help you.

Do you want to visit one city, or travel around a country?

Do you prefer large, urban & modern, or smaller & less developed?

Do you want to eat mostly local cuisine? How's your Spanish?

Do you look for active & get out on your own tourism, or prefer organized & guide led?

Do you have much experience traveling internationally?

[dcoy]

I've only been to Chile, Uruguay and Argentina, but after having lived down there for a year Buenos Aires/Argentina is wonderful. Beautiful city, beautiful and diverse country. Wonderful food, wine, people...it's a fantastic place to visit.

[OldShooter]

I have given up trying to answer the "best trip" question. All of them.

That said, for someone newly headed to SA, I would suggest starting with the Galapagos on a 16-passenger boat. The wildlife, land and sea, is spectacular but Ecuador's efforts to protect it while still optimizing tourist revenue mean that it is slowly deteriorating. So -- sooner rather than later.

You can easily combine the Galapagos with travel in Ecuador, or Peru. There is also access to the Amazon rain forests from that side of the continent. A few days in a rain forest camp is quite a unique experience.

Iguazu Falls is also pretty neat and accessible from several countries.

[Totoro]

Consider this: Suriname is 163.820 km2, Brazil is 8.5 million km2. Brazil by itself is about as large as the United States. Ask yourself, which state is the best state to visit? Argentina has every climate type on earth, except tropical.

In other words: please specify, the menu is large.

[brett]

We have been to Uruguay, Argentina, Rio, and Chile (Santiago and wine country).

We were in Rio years ago. We were followed in Rio after changing money at a jewelry store. We went right back to our hotel, waited for 30 minutes, and then went out again. Beautiful setting but not particularly safe.

We found Uruguay and Chile to be very safe (spent a week or so in each country). We enjoyed both very much.

Our favourite was Argentina. We found BA to be safe. We never felt threatened in any way. Daytime or nighttime. Its a huge and diverse country. Ecuador is on our list. Jetblue flies there so me may do it at some point.

[travelover]

I really loved Ecuador. It is small enough that you can go from the Amazon jungle to the Andes peaks in hours by car, plus it has the Galapagos Islands. Truly a birding paradise.

[friar1610]

I have been to Peru, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. I would agree with previous posters who rate Argentina generally and BA in particular very highly. I thought BA was a South American version of Paris. Valparaiso, Chile is a placevI visited briefly and would like to return to.

[brett]

We spent two days in Valparaiso. Very much enjoyed this unique city just as much as Santiago.