The Journey at a Glance

 

BA Buenos Aires

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MZ Mendoza

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IGU Iguazu Falls

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RIO Rio de Janeiro

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MP Machu Picchu

 

Stop 1: Buenos Aires — Culture, Colour & Your Perfect Introduction

 

AR 4 nights

Buenos Aires Argentina — culture, colour & your perfect introduction

 

You begin in Buenos Aires — a city that feels effortlessly European but pulses with a distinctly Latin soul. After a long overnight flight from the UK, this is the perfect place to ease into the trip: wide boulevards lined with jacaranda trees, extraordinary steakhouses, and neighbourhoods that each tell a different story about this extraordinary city.

Buenos Aires rewards those who explore it properly — and a private guided tour on arrival makes all the difference, giving you real insight into the history and personality of a city that takes a little time to reveal itself. By the second day, it feels like somewhere you could live.

 

Highlights

•       A traditional tango show in the evening — intimate milongas in San Telmo rather than the tourist venues most visitors end up at

•       Exploring La Boca, Recoleta, and Palermo — three completely different neighbourhoods that together tell the full story of the city

•       A half-day trip to the peaceful waterways of the Tigre Delta — an extraordinary contrast to the city, just an hour away

•       Lunch at a parrilla in Palermo where the locals eat — and where the beef genuinely tastes unlike anything you’ve had before

 

Stop 2: Mendoza — Argentina’s Wine Country

 

MZ 4 nights

Mendoza Argentina — wine country at the foot of the Andes

 

From Buenos Aires you fly west to Mendoza, and the pace shifts completely. The city sits in a wide fertile valley at the foot of the Andes — on clear days the mountains rise so dramatically behind the vineyards that the whole scene looks slightly unreal. This is Argentina’s premier wine region, home to some of the world’s finest Malbec, and the atmosphere here is one of genuine, unhurried pleasure.

Mendoza is not a destination you rush. It is a destination where long lunches in vine-shaded courtyards become three-hour affairs, where the light turns gold at four in the afternoon, and where switching off happens almost involuntarily. For a luxury tailor-made holiday, this is exactly the kind of place that gives a multi-centre itinerary its breathing room.

 

Highlights

•       Private wine tastings at boutique family-run estates — with the winemaker explaining each vintage

•       Long, leisurely lunches at vineyard restaurants overlooking the vines and the Andes beyond

•       A day trip into the Andes including the Aconcagua viewpoint — the highest peak outside Asia at over 6,900 metres

•       An evening at a bodega hotel for a private dinner paired with wines from the estate

 

Stop 3: Iguazu Falls — One of the World’s Greatest Natural Wonders

 

IGU 3 nights

Iguazu Falls Argentina & Brazil — one of the world’s greatest natural wonders

 

Then comes Iguazu — and this is where the trip becomes something you will never forget. The falls sit on the border between Argentina and Brazil, a vast curtain of 275 individual waterfalls stretching nearly three kilometres across the jungle. The sound reaches you before the view does. Then the mist. Then the full, overwhelming, impossible scale of it.

Staying in a hotel within the national park — with views of the falls from the terrace — means you’re completely immersed in the experience from the moment you arrive. Early mornings, before the day visitors come, when the light is low and the jungle is loud, are extraordinary.

 

Highlights

•       The Argentinian side — closer and more immersive, with walkways that take you right to the edge of the Devil’s Throat

•       The Brazilian side — for the panoramic view that puts the full scale of the falls into perspective

•       A private boat tour beneath the falls — completely drenching, completely unmissable

•       Early morning wildlife walks in the national park — toucans, coatis, and capuchin monkeys before breakfast

 

 

Stop 4: Rio de Janeiro — Iconic Views and Vibrant Energy

 

RIO 4 nights

Rio de Janeiro Brazil — iconic views and irresistible energy

 

From the jungle border, you fly to Rio de Janeiro — and the shift in energy is immediate. Rio is one of the great cities of the world: theatrical, beautiful, and possessed of a confidence that comes from knowing it has one of the most spectacular natural settings of any city on earth. Mountains plunge into ocean. The city wraps around beaches that have become icons. The light here, at any time of day, is extraordinary.

Rio is the perfect addition to this itinerary because it offers something no other stop does: pure, sun-drenched, coastal energy. After the wine country and the jungle, a few days in Rio feels like the ideal counterpoint — and it adds that unmistakably classic South America feel that every traveller pictures when they first dream of this trip.

 

Highlights

•       Christ the Redeemer — go at sunrise or sunset with a private guide, before the queues form

•       Sugarloaf Mountain — the cable car at dusk, when the city lights are just beginning to come on below

•       Copacabana and Ipanema — time to simply be on two of the world’s most famous beaches

•       A private favela community tour — a perspective on Rio that most visitors never get

 

Stop 5: Cusco, Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu — The Once-in-a-Lifetime Finale

 

MP 6 nights

Cusco, Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu Peru — the once-in-a-lifetime finale

 

And then, the grand finale. You fly to Peru, arriving in Cusco — the ancient Inca capital, 3,400 metres above sea level — and the final chapter of this extraordinary journey begins. The altitude adjustment takes a day or two, which is exactly why the itinerary builds in time in Cusco and the Sacred Valley before heading to the ruins. By the time you board the train through the mountains to Aguas Calientes, you are fully acclimatised, fully present, and ready for one of the great travel experiences on earth.

Machu Picchu is one of those destinations that no amount of photographs fully prepares you for. The scale, the setting — clouds moving through the ruins, the mountains dropping away on every side — and the sense of standing somewhere that has endured for over five hundred years while the world changed around it, is genuinely moving. For most clients who do this trip, it is the moment that makes everything else feel like the overture.

 

Highlights

•       Cusco’s San Blas neighbourhood — colonial churches, artisan workshops, and the best hot chocolate in South America

•       The Sacred Valley — Pisac market, the Ollantaytambo fortress, and a private guide who brings the Inca history alive

•       The Vistadome train through the Andes to Aguas Calientes — a journey that is itself a highlight

•       Machu Picchu at sunrise — arriving at the Sun Gate as the mist lifts over the citadel with a private guide

•       An overnight stay in Aguas Calientes — allowing a second visit to the ruins in the afternoon calm, when the day-trippers have gone

 

Tell me about your South America dreams — I’ll take it from there. Fill in my quick enquiry form →

 

Why This Itinerary Works So Well

The best multi-centre itineraries don’t just visit a list of destinations — they build a journey with a shape and a rhythm. This one does that better than almost any other long haul itinerary I plan. Every stop is completely different from the last, and yet the sequence feels entirely natural:

 

The journey arc: •    City energy — Buenos Aires eases you in with culture, food and neighbourhoods worth exploring •    Slow down — Mendoza provides the breathing room every great itinerary needs •    Raw nature — Iguazu delivers the emotional peak of the first half •    Sun & energy — Rio resets the mood entirely with beach, warmth and iconic landmarks •    The finale — Peru builds beautifully through Cusco and the Sacred Valley before Machu Picchu delivers as the trip’s defining moment

 

What I love about this itinerary is that you’re never just ticking destinations off a list. You’re experiencing a journey that builds — emotionally, scenically, and culturally — towards a finale that genuinely delivers. And because every element is tailor-made, the pacing is exactly right: enough time in each place to feel it, not so much that it drags.

 

What a Specialist Adds to a South America Trip

South America is one of those destinations that looks complicated on paper — multiple countries, domestic flights, altitude considerations, border crossings, and a lot of decisions about where to stay and how long to spend where. When it’s planned properly, it feels anything but complicated. That’s the difference a long haul travel specialist makes.

As a Travel Counsellors specialist based in Liverpool, I handle every detail of this trip — from the overnight flight from the UK to the final transfer back to your front door. Every booking is fully ATOL protected, every hotel is hand-picked, and I’m available around the clock throughout your journey if anything needs attention.

 

What’s included when you book with me: •    A completely bespoke itinerary built around your pace and interests •    Hand-picked hotels, private transfers and exclusive experiences •    Full ATOL protection on every booking — your money is always safe •    24-hour support while you travel, wherever you are in the world •    One person to call for everything — before, during and after your trip