A group of friends and I are looking to take a four and a half week travelling Holiday through South America, starting from Rio de Janeiro. We would be in Rio on the 1st August of this year and essentially would be travelling for the whole month of August. Ideally we would like to visit Argentina, Bolivia and Peru however, we are unsure whether this will be possible!
Answer
A lovely length of time to have in South America! Being able to spend a month travelling in this area will certainly allow you to visit several countries though it is very tempting to try and squeeze in as much as possible, creating a very busy itinerary with a lot of internal flights.
To make sure that you can really enjoy each area that you visit then a good rule of thumb is often to aim for around 3 nights in each location (though of course this varies a little depending on how much there is to see). Therefore if you are planning to spend 1 week in a country then you can be planning to see 2 different areas and within 2 weeks can be aiming for closer to 5.
As South America is so huge then the time of year that you are travelling will also help to eliminate some options and make others much more appealing. August is a great time to go to Bolivia and Peru when the weather is at its best. In Rio and the North of Argentina then temperatures should be from 15 degrees upwards but as you travel further South into Patagonia then this is very much off-season so would be better left for another trip.
So with just over 4 weeks then I would either focus on Peru & Bolivia and consider returning to explore Brazil & Argentina on another occasion when you can also travel down into the South which is particularly spectacular. Alternatively, if you are keen to begin in Rio then you may prefer to begin your journey with Iguazú and Buenos Aires before continuing onto Lima to explore Peru and a little of Bolivia such as La Paz and Lake Titicaca.
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