8 dream trips to take in South America in 2025

04.01.2025 - 20:01 / lonelyplanet.com

Jan 3, 2025 • 9 min read

At Lonely Planet, we love a dream trip. We are always looking for destinations that you can’t find anywhere else. And South America has countless opportunities for adventures that check an item off your bucket list. This year, head south and find towering glaciers, multi-night cruises along the Amazon and otherworldly deserts.

Still, craving more? That is why we have gathered eight of the dreamiest trips to take through this expansive continent. 

When you’re on the road to nowhere at South America’s southern tip, keep going. There’s no reaching Patagonia in a hurry, whether you arrive bleary-eyed by plane, on a rumbling overnight bus or by choppy ferry. But it’s instantly worth it when you first see its toothy granite peaks, piercing blue lakes, booming glaciers and buff-colored steppe veined with silver rivers. Topping every Patagonia must-trek list is Torres del Paine and its much-raved-about, four-day, 50-mile (80km) ‘W’ hike. The masterstroke is the vast, iceberg-calving, crushed-meringue-like expanse of the Grey Glacier. These days, you can choose your level of comfort, from wind-pounded tent to refugio dorm bed to luxe lodge where you can round out a day’s hike over steaks and pisco sours.

For fewer crowds, sidestep peak season (November to February) or tackle the tougher, remoter, less-hyped eight- to 10-day ‘O’ circuit. Argentina lures intrepid folk to Parque Nacional Los Glaciares for challenging treks like the four-day, 40-mile (65km) Huemul Circuit, or you can embark on the long-distance Huella Andina, a 372-mile (600km) stomp across Northern Patagonia from Neuquén to Chubut, rounding up five national parks. Trek in Patagonia and you’ll curse the wicked winds and cruel climbs. But you’ll be back, bearing muddy boots, as there’s no place on Earth quite like it.

In the roadless tracts of the Amazon, highways are made of water and oversized ferries are floating buses carrying people and produce from place to place. Begin in Manaus the epicenter for adventures into the jungle. Dozens of lodges lie within a half-day boat journey from the city, including riverside spots where the days are spent tracking monkeys, macaws and pink river dolphins, and the nights offer immersion in the wondrous cacophony of the rainforest’s nocturnal wildlife. It’s a slow, four-day journey to Belém aboard a triple-decked wooden vessel strung with hammocks. Along the way, there are several worthwhile places to break up the trip, including Santarém, which has a pleasant riverside promenade, leafy parks and open-sided restaurants serving up fresh fish from the Amazon. Just west of Santarém is Alter do Chão, a village fronting an astonishing lagoon complete with white-sand beaches and limpid waters