South America

If a getaway on your own makes you feel a little nervous, rest easy, because we've found five solo trips that are safe, affordable and brimming with bucket list experiences.  

The beauty of travel is that it can be whatever you want it to be. A rustic weekend camping in the bush or boutique hotels and spa days in the world’s most famous cities. A spiritual getaway or a never-ending party. A one-night staycation or a year-long trip to the other side of the globe. But no matter the kind of trip you want to take, there’s always a way to be a responsible traveller while you’re at it. For a start, you can always respect local customs and traditions, support local and sustainable businesses and leave your destination in the same, if not better, condition than you found it in. 

If you’re anything like us, you live for travel. So, trust us when we say we absolutely feel your pain (and probable frustration) at having to cancel your holiday plans for the foreseeable future. You worked hard, saved even harder and we’re sure you’ve been day dreaming about the cocktails you were going to consume, the stunning hikes you’d tackle and all of the snaps you were going to take for the ‘gram.

If you’ve ever found yourself in Bali during school holidays or hoiking your suitcase up 100-year-old staircases in Europe during a heatwave, you’ve probably learned that choosing where to travel is just as important as deciding when to go.

Experiencing the local cuisine is usually the number one priority for us when on holiday, and there’s no better place to do it than at a local market. Whether you’re after ready-made deliciousness to dig into on the spot or you want to check out the local produce from the area, here are the best food markets around the world.

​Most people plan their South American adventure around the big ticket items. Machu Picchu, the Galapagos Islands, a trek through Torres del Paine National Park. But considering the growing problem of overtourism, it’s worth skipping the obvious stuff, ditching the crowds at the Sun Gate, and spending your hard-earned tourism dollars somewhere else. Let’s be honest, the Inca Trail will get along just fine without you.  

​The sheer swagger and personality of Rio de Janeiro, the so-called Cidade Maravilhosa (Marvellous City), means travellers often forget about the rest of Brazil. All 8.5 million square kilometres of it. A lot of tour itineraries skip the north coast entirely, whisking tourists from Rio to Iguazu Falls, then quickly down to Buenos Aires. But that’s a shame, because there’s a lot more to Brazil than Ipanema and the Sambadrome. 

​Africa tends to drag most of the big ‘safari crowd’, which is fair enough. Not many continents can rival Tanzania’s wildebeest migration (in fact, outside Africa, wildebeest are generally pretty thin on the ground). But South America has a diverse wildlife tourism industry too. And it’s not just kicking with sea turtles off the Galapagos Islands either (although you can’t go past it). There are dozens of mind-blowing wildlife experiences all over the continent, from birdwatching in Colombia’s Santa Marta to tracking puma over the mountains of Torres del Paine.

The southern-most region of South America, Patagonia is shared by Argentina and Chile and is the perfect spot to visit for adventuring in the great outdoors. From glaciers, mountains and lakes to whales, penguins and fossilised dinosaurs—there’s something to suit all interests!

There’s nothing we love more than something that’s both more sustainable and more enjoyable than the default option, and scenic train rides are just that. 

Forget being chauffeured around a new city, luxe as it might sound, or spending your holiday underground on the train, never truly finding your bearings. The best way to see a new destination is by bike.

While we know you’ll never get sick of lying on a beach with a good book and a cocktail, sometimes it’s nice to use your holidays to challenge yourself by, say, walking 500km in a month. If that sounds kind of crazy to you, take solace in the fact that for most of these long walks you can opt to do smaller portions of the trek and you’ll still get to take in incredible views, experience new cultures and feel exactly zero guilt about tucking into that second serving of dinner.

If you’ve heard of freediving but don’t really know what it entails, you might think it’s crazy, dangerous, reckless or all of the above. And while it’s true that it can be all those things, it’s only that way if you’re doing it wrong. If you’re doing it the right way—with proper training and always, always, always with a trained buddy—it’s completely safe and 100% addictive.

Dirt cheap airfares and new flight paths popping up every other month means travel is more accessible than it ever has been before, which is great for those of us with ambitions to explore the world. But is it great for the people who actually live in the places we are all so desperate to get to? More tourists do equal more money in the local economy, but sometimes the cost is more than it’s worth for the locals.