South America for €5k?

Royale with Cheese

I did a 5 month solo trip last year. South east Asia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, absolutely loved it. I'd originally planned to do a bit of South America on the way home but I ended up not having the time or money and decided to just go as far as New Zealand and come back. Back home working over 6 months now and am getting a little sick of it. I might decide to change jobs soon enough and it got me thinking that I have a bit of money saved up and this could be the last chance I'll ever get to take a few months off and travel again.

Timewise, something around 2 months would suit me. I don't want to do another massive trip but I spent 2 months in south east Asia and felt that was long enough to feel like it was more than just a holiday. I'd be comfortable spending €5k in total, but I've heard South America is a lot more expensive than Asia. If it came down to it I'd probably rather cut down the amount of time I spend and keep to my budget. Any idea if that budget would be doable? I'm aware it's a big place and the prices in different countries will vary. I'd like to see Argentina, Chile, Peru. I guess going through Bolivia would make sense then (and I've heard it's cheap).

I guess I could give Asia another visit if South America is too expensive. I missed most of Cambodia, didn't get to Indonesia or Malaysia, and would love to go back to Thailand. I feel that's more the kind of thing I could do in the future as a holiday though. Would much prefer to see South America now as otherwise I might never get around to it.

Any other tips on South America? How does travelling there compare to Asia?

Blingy

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

I did a 5 month solo trip last year. South east Asia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, absolutely loved it. I'd originally planned to do a bit of South America on the way home but I ended up not having the time or money and decided to just go as far as New Zealand and come back. Back home working over 6 months now and am getting a little sick of it. I might decide to change jobs soon enough and it got me thinking that I have a bit of money saved up and this could be the last chance I'll ever get to take a few months off and travel again.

Timewise, something around 2 months would suit me. I don't want to do another massive trip but I spent 2 months in south east Asia and felt that was long enough to feel like it was more than just a holiday. I'd be comfortable spending €5k in total, but I've heard South America is a lot more expensive than Asia. If it came down to it I'd probably rather cut down the amount of time I spend and keep to my budget. Any idea if that budget would be doable? I'm aware it's a big place and the prices in different countries will vary. I'd like to see Argentina, Chile, Peru. I guess going through Bolivia would make sense then (and I've heard it's cheap).

I guess I could give Asia another visit if South America is too expensive. I missed most of Cambodia, didn't get to Indonesia or Malaysia, and would love to go back to Thailand. I feel that's more the kind of thing I could do in the future as a holiday though. Would much prefer to see South America now as otherwise I might never get around to it.

Any other tips on South America? How does travelling there compare to Asia?

Spent about 10 weeks in South America 6 yrs ago and it was amazing. We didn't spend long in Chile then Peru, Bolivia (highly recommend and v v cheap), Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
I think 5k would be a great budget for 2 months I definitely didn't spend that much. We got buses just about everywhere even went first class on an overnight bus which was an amazing experience. Bolivia has la Paz which I really liked. You can cycle death road from la Paz. Then you have the salt flats in the south which are pretty amazing. We also went to rurrenabaque in Bolivia which is another cool place to visit and you can do jungle trekking on an amazon trib from there. Get the lonely planet book for South America plot out a route and unless you are doing some specialised hiking in Southern Argentina and the like I reckon 5k is more then enough. I am jealous. Would love to go back.

Edit just realised you need to pay for flights too. Keep an eye on skyscanner to get cheap flights!