My parents would be visiting me soon (non Latinos) and we would like to explore a country or two in LatAm. We would start our journey from Colombia.They have already been to Peru. Which countries and cities would you recommend based on these preconditions: 1. Not insanely expensive 2. The most important, relatively safe to walk around 3. Variety of things to do.
Even though they are mobile and love to walk, I would still prefer something which is a bit ‘senior citizens friendly’. What do you recommend within South or Central America? (And why the hell air tickets within LatAm are so expensive? Easily the most expensive continent for air travel)
P.s. And yes, we plan to travel around July/ August
Comments
Argentina 🇦🇷
You’ll love Patagonia, and Buenos Aires is the obvious must see. Regarding Patagonia it changes a lot the time of the year you visit. Summer is lovely and tolerable, autumn is harsh with rain and shorter days, winter is good if you like to skii, spring is still too cold and with rain.
Very typical answer but a big city like Buenos Aires in Argentina or CDMX in Mexico. My biased response would also be Guadalajara in Mexico as well. I’ve never been but I’ve heard Montevideo (Uruguay) and Santiago (Chile) are also very nice and safe but I think they’re a bit more expensive.
You should really consider distances. Just because South America has few countries, it doesn’t mean those are small. That’s also a big explanation for air ticket prices
Agreed, most expensive continent by air. Many nice suggestions in comments , but I would add Brazil is in a good shape right now. I would recommend a more authentic destination like Minas Gerais or better yet, Bahia. Amazing food that for itself would get your travel value back.
How long will you be traveling for? You’ve been in Colombia I for a while I think? Have you seen a lot of the country yet? They’d probably like that, seeing more of the country where you are. And it’s already big enough for a couple of weeks. Let’s say you have a month, I’d spend three weeks just in Colombia. It’s so beautiful and varied and it’s safe enough if you keep your smarts (as you already know probably) and visit the usual areas. I’d take them to Bogota, nightbus to Armenia and stay in Salento, visit the coffee triangle near Armenia and the tall trees , bus to Medellin, enjoy it and Guatape, fly to Santa Marta and visit parque Tayrona and around palomino, bus it to Cartagena, let them enjoy the city. Then boat it to Panama with a San blas three nighter, do the Panama City and around highlight in the rest of the week.
That way they’d also get to just relax a lot, see the Andes, the Caribbean, the urban improvements in Medellin, relax and hike in the coffee area, see a national park, a relaxing cruise and it’s not much of a hassle. LatAm is huuuuuuge and some parts/cities are at an altitude that takes some getting used to, you’d just be traveling a lot so I’d stick to two smaller (Panama and kinda inner central to north Colombia) or one bigger (I’d suggest either Chile up and down or Argentina highlight with BA and Patagonia)