Move over USA - Hello Argentina! aka how to make your pesos go further!

blindman

benjus wrote: »

.... you might like to give Bolivia a try in a future trip.

Hi in Feb next year were are going to La Paz then possibly Bus to Sucre then to the Salt flats in Uyuni where I'm pondering about tkaing a tour :eek: which ends in San Pedro de Atacama

Have you done any of this and have any good tips?

Thanks

benjus

blindman wrote: »

Hi in Feb next year were are going to La Paz then possibly Bus to Sucre then to the Salt flats in Uyuni where I'm pondering about tkaing a tour :eek: which ends in San Pedro de Atacama

Have you done any of this and have any good tips?

Thanks

Almost 20 years ago now, so any specific tips would probably be long out of date. A tour is a very good way to get from Uyuni to San Pedro de Atacama (or vice versa) while taking in the Salar de Uyuni and other amazing landscapes in the area.

Travel (especially by bus) in Bolivia can be unpredictable, with roadblocks and/or breakdowns often disrupting your travel plans - leave a bit of flexibility in your plans to cope with things like this.

It sounds like you won't be around during Carnaval time (2nd-5th March 2019) but if you are, make sure you go to Oruro. Their Carnaval is an experience.

chiny

I did salt flats/La Paz etc as part of a bigger South America trip in 2016 and it is well worthwhile.

Tips, hmm... you need a decent sun hat that won't blow off in wind... factor 50... time to adjust to the altitude... I'd fly not bus to the flats unless you have masses of time or are extra MSE... a 4 wheel drive tour will be cheaper if you speak Spanish...

February ? I went in November... ah yes, ISTR Feb is the wet season and you will be looking at a shimmering mirror. The salt flats when dry are amazing; a shimmering mirror will also be amazing but different.

San Pedro de Atacama... touristy of course but pleasant all the same. The sky at night is staggering, even for an old dog like me who recalls dark skies in my youth. You can see stars down to the horizon... need a fast lens to photo or some magic app perhaps.

Its very addictive; I'm just back again from South America and already planning the next trip.

blindman

chiny wrote: »

I did salt flats/La Paz etc as part of a bigger South America trip in 2016 and it is well worthwhile.



Its very addictive; I'm just back again from South America and already planning the next trip.

I'm debating whether to take a 3 or 4 day trip over the salt flats.

I've found mixed reviews on-line.

I have time for the bus

Where are you going next?

[Deleted User]

cubegame wrote: »

I'm not being paid by the Argentine government to post this....honest....but I thought I would share.

Our summer holidays over the years have largely taken to the USA....tempted by the glorious sights, the lure of the open road and all that lovely American food (which I admit can get too much after a week).

However, as a couple of years ago, we'd done it all......ticked off everywhere we wanted to go to in the USA and were left with the prospect of having to retrace our steps or moving through the other continents.

Last year, we went to Thailand.....all very lovely, even better food but the scenery was a bit meh! It's nice for a beach holiday but it wasn't the USA......move on we must.

South America was very much on the list but we weren't sure where to start. Peru is often stated to be the "easiest" country to start with.....but this all changed when an error fare to Buenos Aires on BA came up and I grabbed us two cattle class tickets for just over a couple of hundred quid each.

So I took to planning two weeks. Buenos Aires was a natural place to spend a couple of days....lovely city....a bit rough around the edges but loads of glorious buildings and a really intriguing mix of old and new.

Next......Iguazu Falls....this was the main reason my partner wanted to go to Argentina and boy it didn't disappoint her or me. The scale and size was unbelievable....having been to Niagara we were very much on the side of Eleanor Roosevelt.

That was nearly a week....and my first instinct afterwards was to head South to Patagonia...another bucket list item. However, it was soon obvious that the internal flights to make this happen were going to take too much out of our holiday (the fact the G20 in Buenos Aires has closed the main internal airport was the cause!).

So for the last week I chose to take us to Salta in the North West....and wow...was this the right choice. Hiring a car we took took two nice loops. First to the South, taking in Cachi and Cafayete (wine country) and then to the North from where we struck across the border into the Atacama Desert crossing the Andes via two high passes.

Now I return to the idea of USA....we'd seen scenery there we thought would never be beaten. How could you compete with likes of the Grand Canyon, Canyonlands, Yellowstone, Monument Valley, Yosemite? We'd seen them all and thought we'd probably peaked too early.

No says North West Argentina (with a little help from Chile)....I will give you more scenery, I will make it never ending, I will feast your eyes with colours of landscapes which makes you think it was built by Dulux, I will make the scenery change around every corner and around every sweeps of the roads. I will make you see geysers, vast desert landscapes reminiscent of the moon, smoking volcanoes, unimaginably large salt flats......and I'll let you feast on a steak as big as your head every day for less than a fiver.

Do I need to go on?

Seriously, if you're looking for inspiration for an epic holiday, don't look much further than the North West of Argentina....it WILL NOT disappoint you!!!

Excellent post.
It's something my wife and I have been considering after 30 years of visiting and owning property in the USA.
I wonder if you have a list of links you kept doing your research that you could post ?

Sri Lanka is a wonderful country.Have been many times to watch cricket and explore.
Prices are more expensive now the tourist industry is being expanded but still great value for money.
We have always based ourselves here - a really good all-inclusive on the beach midway between Colombo and Galle.

https://www.tripadvisor.ie/Hotel_Review-g304136-d316671-Reviews-Hotel_Mermaid_Club-Kalutara_Western_Province.html#apg=26bfdf6ceb92417b8e494fb0a7f57e39&ss=24963862C61C525B43EEEE6A0D02DAED

I would also recommend Seresh.He started out as a beach boy with a red mohican working outside the hotel when he was dirt poor but has built up his own tour company which is now licenced and very,very reliable.
You'll read about him in many of the reviews of the hotel.
Absolutely 100% recommended.
https://www.sureshtours.com

cubegame

blindman wrote: »

We're going to SPde atacama in Feb next year.

I see you hired a car, any tips re DIY touring in that area?

I may have to join a tour:eek: though would prefer to DIY drive for the 5 days we are there.

Staying in a Hostel for £50 per night, so as you say it is not cheap there.

Cheers

The biggest problem you may have with renting a car in SPdA is the cost. When I looked at possibly hiring a 4x4 for the days we were there the costs were astronomical and I remember the 2WD being the same. Bringing the car over the border from Argentina saved us $$$!


If the costs are manageable then I would 100% recommend self-drive. Even though I had looked for a 4WD this was mostly because we thought the roads would be poor and they aren't. To be honest, I would imagine that the sort of places where you would need a 4WD would probably be the sort of places that you shouldn't be going as a lone vehicle anyway as there will be no help coming along if you break down. An example of this was the Salar de Tara. If you look at the photos it looks amazing and we were going to do a tour. However it is currently closed so we didn't bother. We're glad we missed it as the general scenery everywhere was up to the same standard and it saved us about £60 each!


We made the pre-dawn trip to the Geysers against the recommendation our hostel owner (who said the roads were dangerous and not suited for people who didn't know them) and had no problem. It's dirt road but it's well packed and I was generally able to drive faster than the hoards of minibuses making the same trip. The only hairy bit was when I decided to use my screenwash when I didn't realise it was -5 degrees outside. A decision that ended with much swearing and a quick stop to scrape out the resultant ice!


Other local sites to SPdA such as the Valle De La Muerte and Valle De La Luna do not need a 4WD and the roads are excellent.


My other recommendations for self-drive would be to just take yourself on a one way trip and back to the two border crossings with Argentina (Paso Jama and Paso Sico). Paved all the way and the scenery is unworldly and off the charts. It's a long drive but you'll be stopping every 10 minutes for photos. For the trip south to Sico, the tours only go as far as the Lagunas and the best scenery is beyond that!


If you're sticking to tours you will probably get a good experience and I believe there is a great potential to haggle the costs down as it's a highly competitive market. Bear in mind that the tours generally do not include admission fees to the sights.

blindman

cubegame wrote: »

The biggest problem you may have with renting a car in SPdA is the cost.

My other recommendations for self-drive would be to just take yourself on a one way trip and back to the two border crossings with Argentina (Paso Jama and Paso Sico). Paved all the way and the scenery is unworldly and off the charts. It's a long drive but you'll be stopping every 10 minutes for photos. For the trip south to Sico, the tours only go as far as the Lagunas and the best scenery is beyond that!

Thanks for the reply and the tips.

My only issue is that we will get dropped off at SanDe At direct from the Salt flat tour and not at the airport, so I will have to get back to the airport (next day) to pick up the car.

No biggie, just not convenient.

Car cost seems to be not that bad at about £30 per day.

cubegame

blindman wrote: »

Thanks for the reply and the tips.

My only issue is that we will get dropped off at SanDe At direct from the Salt flat tour and not at the airport, so I will have to get back to the airport (next day) to pick up the car.

No biggie, just not convenient.

Car cost seems to be not that bad at about £30 per day.

I looked at agencies in SPdA which might be the cost difference. It was relatively short notice too.


I would definitely self-drive if I could though.


Also forgot to mention a Star-gazing tour. We did this one evening. Booked direct with Time Travel Atacama. £20 each and actually one of the highlights of our holiday. The guy who runs it speaks impeccable English and delivers an engaging and funny couple of hours under the most stunning starscape around! Definitely worth it if you're there when the moon isn't in the sky!


I believe the free tours offered by the nearby radio telescope are excellent if you're there at the weekend. You'd need your own transport for this.

unkychris

cubegame wrote: »

I looked at agencies in SPdA which might be the cost difference. It was relatively short notice too.


I would definitely self-drive if I could though.


Also forgot to mention a Star-gazing tour. We did this one evening. Booked direct with Time Travel Atacama. £20 each and actually one of the highlights of our holiday. The guy who runs it speaks impeccable English and delivers an engaging and funny couple of hours under the most stunning starscape around! Definitely worth it if you're there when the moon isn't in the sky!


I believe the free tours offered by the nearby radio telescope are excellent if you're there at the weekend. You'd need your own transport for this.

Hi Cubegame, just sent you a PM asking a couple of questions on your Argentina/Chile trip. Thanks.

blindman

unkychris wrote: »

Hi Cubegame, just sent you a PM asking a couple of questions on your Argentina/Chile trip. Thanks.

Hi,

I have just realised I never came back to update my trip report.

Hope to do that soon.