the adventure edit — destinations

the South America edit

South America is less polished and entirely on its own terms. Read every guide beforehand and the place will still surprise you, because the culture runs deeper than a guidebook can explain and the terrain does not care about your itinerary. It pays off for those willing to slow down, learn a little Spanish, and accept that the bus might be three hours late.

the edit at a glance

getting around

Domestic Flights and Buses

Fly the distances, bus the rest. Knowing when to use each opens up sides of the continent most visitors never see.

don’t miss

Eat at a Market

A market stall selling empanadas out of a cardboard box will teach you more about a city than any restaurant with a website.

the experience

Quietly Spectacular

The landscapes do not let up, the culture runs deep, and almost nothing feels manufactured. Most people leave wanting more time.

before you go

A Different Rhythm

The pace is slower and that is part of the charm. Carry cash, learn a few words of Spanish, and adjust your expectations at the border.

featured in the South America edit

destinations worth booking

brazil

rio de janeiro

A city where the Atlantic rainforest tumbles down to the beach and mountains rise directly from the waterfront. The Carioca energy, the Portuguese-patterned sidewalks, the neighborhoods that each feel like their own world. People go to Rio and leave trying to figure out when they’ll be back.

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A giant Galápagos tortoise walking along a volcanic lava path surrounded by sparse vegetation under a bright blue sky, Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos, Ecuador

Ecuador

Galápagos Islands

A living conservation reserve where each island goes the extra mile to protect a species list found nowhere else on earth. Blue-footed boobies, marine iguanas, giant tortoises moving at their own pace, and water that has no business being so clear.

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Colombia

Medellín

Medellín has rewritten its own story without making the rewrite the entire pitch. Street art climbing the hillside comunas, coffee farms in the surrounding mountains, and Guatapé an hour and a half away for anyone who still needs convincing.

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bolivia

la paz

Sitting at over 3,600 meters and mostly navigated by cable car, with the Uyuni salt flats a day’s drive south and Lake Titicaca in the other direction. La Paz rarely makes anyone’s South America shortlist, and it should: few cities on this continent stretch a budget as far.

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CHile

Torres Del Paine

Among the most dramatically diverse landscapes on the planet. Glaciers, electric-blue lakes, and granite towers, all within the same park and within reach of a single itinerary. A week here and the list of what to come back for is already forming.