MY TRAVEL BUDGET BACKPACKING SOLO IN SOUTH AMERICA FOR 9 MONTHS

Feeling a little overwhelmed planning your travel budget and route to South America?

If there's ever a decision I'm glad I made, it's to travel solo across South America. In 9 months I lived one dream and one epic adventure.

I had no idea how to budget and I didn't haggle for sponsored travel. I noted down every expense from 10 peso caramelos (sweets in Argentina) to a $1000 trek, keeping an eye on my travel budget.

I stayed in a $4 dorm room in Huaraz to a dorm room in Patagonia that cost more than $100 a night, averaging around 50/50 between staying in hostels and Airbnbs.

I spent my evenings in Argentina making Asado on a grill, devouring street food in Cartagena, sharing wonderful meals with friends I had met on the road and packing a healthy stock of granola bars and sandwiches for long hikes.

I splashed out on treks in Patagonia, skipped a couple of multi-day hikes in Colombia that didn't seem value for money. I night bused it through freezing borders between Bolivia and Argentina,cycled through the burning heat of the Atacama desert, trekked over the glaciers of Patagonia, slept under the stars of Tayrona National Parkand cartwheeled over rainbow mountains.

The days were long and the months went by so quickly!

Here's how I spent my travel budget, backpacking 9 months around South America.

NB: This post isn't the 'perfect route'. It's more from someone who feared solo travel in South America and totally winged it. There are definitely parts that could have been thought out more or done better. But everything seemed to fall in place perfectly for me on my own personal journey. And that's what travel is all about!Your journey in your own unique way.

South America travel budget for 9 months

My fave trek ever!

To help track expenses on the road, I used a free app called Trip Coin. It was great for being able to input my total budget, convert local currency into GBP, track my average daily expenditure as well as my total. I also categorized everything so I knew exactly how much I was spending on accommodation in dorms/privates to excursions and food.

For a detailed monthly breakdown of my costs for each country you can check out my posts here:

The total breakdown of my travel budget in South America

Travel: £2690

*Includes insurance costs, one-way flights to and from South America, and domestic flights/travel

Accommodation (private): £2179

Activities: £1757

Dorm room: £1200

Eating out: £1043

Transportation (local): £835

*Includes local taxis, buses and night buses

Groceries (eating-in): £487

Coffee + snacks: £281

*When I look back it this there are a lot of small expenses (£1-2) that have added up over time. Noted for next time!🤓 At around £28 a month you really don't notice until you look at the bigger picture!

Toiletries: £143

Clothing/footwear: £100

Education: £111

*Spanish lessons

Cash machine fees: £77

Mobile phone/sim: £64

Laundry: £62

Water: £51

Health: £15

Other: £268

*Includes posting stuff home from Argentina. A random fee to leave Bolivia. Repairing my backpack multiple times, paying for the toilet and other random things etc...

Total: GBP £11,363 / approx. US $14,690

or GBP £43/ US $55/day

**For a more detailed breakdown of my travel costs in Argentina and travel tips, check out this post.

**For Patagonia, head over to this post.

Palccoyo Rainbow Mountain

Main culprits for high expenditure:

W-Trek in Patagonia. I hadn't planned on doing such an expensive trek but it was too good of an opportunity to miss last minute. Taking out this expensive trek, my costs fall to GBP £40/ US $51 a day. Almost in line with Nomadic Matt's $50 a day budget.
Private accommodation when I first landed in Buenos Aires. It took me a few days to adjust and get used to finding good hostels (I stayed in some bad ones!).
Trying to find a low-cost flight from Buenos Aires to Colombia, to be honest, I could have flown back to London for the same price. I found it cheaper to fly from Uruguay. But it still set me back £310.
Activities such as the Salkantay Trek and the Penguin tour were also impulse decisions that added to the budget.

*I've included the costs of my one-way ticket to Buenos Aires from London and my one-way ticket home from Cartagena to the total.

*I've also included my travel insurance costs under 'travel' which hadn't been included in my monthly breakdowns as I paid a one-off fee for this pre-travel.

My travel costs could have been lower and as you'll see below, my route doesn't make a whole lot of sense in parts.🤷🏽‍♀️To be honest I could have driven myself crazy with planning according to the optimal seasons for each and every country. But instead, I decided to go with the flow. Overplanning is just too overwhelming.

Gorgeous Minca

South America travel route

Buenos Aires -> Iguazu Falls -> Salta/Jujuy -> Tupiza -> Sucre -> La Paz -> Copacabana/Lake Titicaca -> La Paz -> Uyuni -> Salt Flats tour -> San Pedro de Atacama -> Lima -> Huaraz (trekking) -> Lima -> Cusco (a lot of trekking) -> Arequipa -> Huacachina -> Lima -> Santiago -> Valparaiso -> Vina del Mar -> Santiago -> Punta Arenas -> Puerto Natales -> Torres del Paine (W-Circuit) -> Puerto Natales -> El Calafate -> El Chalten (a lot of hiking) -> El Hoyo/El Bolson -> Bariloche (Christmas) -> Buenos Aires (long stay) -> Mar del Plata -> Buenos Aires -> Colonia del Sacramento -> Montevideo -> Bogota -> Salento -> Medellin -> Jardin -> Medellin -> San Andres -> Providencia -> Cartagena -> Tayrona National park -> Minca -> Cartagena

South America travel route

Whew! Yep. I totally zig-zagged my way across the continent.💁🏽

I love to have the flexibility of choosing my next destination so I planned very little in advance.

There's no hard and fast rule on what's the best route. If I could do it again, I'd probably start in Colombia and work my way down.

Part of the reason why I chose to avoid a one-way ticket into Colombia is that they're really strict about one-way tickets. On my way from Montevideo to Bogota, I had a stopover in Lima and was denied boarding unless I could show a ticket leaving Colombia. Fortunately, I was able to scramble together a last-minute solution and get on the flight.

Timing Patagonia was on my mind for most of my trip. July and August would have been way too cold and a lot of the hiking trails would have been closed.

I thought about October but after some research, November/December seemed like a better option. No longer the middle of winter and not yet peak summer season where prices double or even triple. So I opted to travel to Peru from San Pedro de Atacama and then head back down to Santiago.

I definitely could have planned a better route according to seasons, but perfection would have just made me procrastinate. Sometimes what seems to be an imperfect mess can create the most perfect and memorable moments. I wouldn't change a thing!

How (not) to pack

I get asked a lot what I'd recommend as a packing list. Part of the reason why I haven't written a packing list blog post is that... Well, I packed terribly! The good news is, I'm proof you can find anything you need on the road and there's no need to stress too much!

Beginning the W-Circuit with a very empty backpack!

My entire backpack weighed 11kg on the way to Buenos Aires. As I bought my winter + hiking gear, it went up to around 14/15kg. I ditched a lot of worn-out clothing and shoes on my way home and my backpack weighed a healthy 10kg coming back to London.

I carried little to no outdoor equipment. I hired tents, hiking poles and sleeping bags relatively cheaply where ever I went which kept my bag light.

If you're planning on camping a lot, especially in Torres del Paine, you might want to think about bringing your own stuff as it can be pricy.

Here are a few things I would have taken which are pretty essential but not a hard and fast list.

Maybe one of these days I'll turn into a pro-camper but for now, I'm still very much a city gal who snails up mountains and overtakes annoyingly slow people on the streets of London at lightning speed.

Hiking boots (good grip and waterproof)
Long thick socks
Thermal top and trousers
Cozy jumper
Hydration bladder
Wooly hat
Gloves
Hiking poles
Mosquito Repellent (I still have scars from the mozzies in Peru!)
Mosquito afterbite cream (the mozzie bites in Peru itch really badly!)
Blister plasters (a foot saver in Patagonia)

The only time I really needed a swimsuit was in San Andres and Providencia. And I packed 3 of them! 🤦🏽‍♀️

For my backpack, I used a Berghaus Jalan which I wouldn't recommend because it pretty much fell apart after 6 months and I had to get it restitched a number of times.

I've heard Osprey is great. But to be honest, when buying a backpack it really depends on the activities you're doing, fabric quality and your own physique. There's no one size fits all.

What I say to my readers who email me is to head to an outdoor store, grab a sales assistant and tell him/her what activities you're doing.

If you're camping and trekking a lot, the backpacks that open from the top can be better for weight distribution. I prefer ones that open like a suitcase because I hate repacking every 3 days.🤷🏽‍♀️

I'm also quite petite so I had a 60l bag and carrying 15-16kg is generally my limit.

Personally, I would try out different backpacks and walk around the shop with weights inside and see how you feel.

Ask your sales assistant to adjust the straps accordingly. Keep trying until you find one that works for you! The key is to try the backpacks when they're heavy to get a good feel.

I also found the following useful:

Travel towel
Medical kit
Flip flops - useful for after the W-trek! The first thing I did was take my hiking boots off in Paine Grande and take the Catamaran back to Puerto Natales in flip flops. My feet breathed a sigh of relief! If you're camping, Erratic Rock recommended some comfy shoes that give your feet a rest in the evening. If you're in Puerto Natales, head to their talk for more info!
Having a spare padlock for my day bag - useful for night buses when I tried to sleep.
Packing cubes are fab for compressing and saving space.
A spare battery pack to take videos on my phone was great for the Salkantay Trek where charging outlets were scarce.

(affiliate links above!)

Mountains in Peru

Useful shops on the road

I went to a store called Himilaya in Cusco, where I picked up rental gear for my hikes and treks in Cusco. For Patagonia, I found a Decathlon in Santiago, Chile! Yay!

Decathlon is a really popular outdoor store in France and after living in Paris for a few years, I knew I would miss this store. Thankfully they've expanded and there's now one in London too!

Money-saving tips and hacks

Atm fees

I used a Revolut card to track all my outgoings and cash withdrawals. The handy part about Revolut is you can track all your outgoings in real-time. If at any time you need to block the card, you can block it directly in the app and unblock it whenever you need to withdraw cash.

Revolut also provides free withdrawals up to £200/€200. After this, there's a small fee.

My advice to you would be to try your card at a number of different ATMs before you take cash out. The atm machine will normally tell you the fee prior to withdrawal. Then pick the one that's free!

Given that I stayed in Argentina for over 3 months, a major saver was not taking cash out of an atm. Read this post for more info.

I paid with card in Uruguay for everything. Chile seemed to charge me around $6 a withdrawal. Bolivia had free withdrawals at most banks. BBVA was free for me in Colombia. And BCP also free withdrawals for me in Peru. This all totally depends on your card and country of residence!

Sunset in Santiago, Chile

Buses over flights

When I decided to switch routes, I took an expensive flight from San Pedro de Atacama to Lima. There's definitely a way to the border of Peru and from Chile with 2-3 buses but I really couldn't find much information on it at the time. The bus definitely would have been much cheaper.

I could have also saved money by going to Pucon, and taking the bus to Santiago after Bariloche as flights from Santiago to Bogota are much cheaper than flying from Buenos Aires or Montevideo.

But I decided to switch routes last minute and head to Buenos Aires for new years. It's an awesome city and I'm so glad I got to experience it in the summer!

So yep... More buses and fewer flights noted for next time. When you opt-out of convenience, it will definitely help to keep your budget down.

Laguna 69

Huaraz

Negotiate accommodation

I did manage to save on my Airbnbs by negotiating for longer stays with the hosts. I also managed to get private rooms in Bolivia of $5 a night by going directly to the hostel instead of via booking.com.

Next time, I'll definitely do this more often. Prices drop considerably in a lot of cases when you just show up on the day and ask for a discount. Knowing some Spanish when haggling is also quite handy!

Mmmmm...

Cooking instead of eating out

I love cooking with local ingredients but I also love to eat out and trying different cuisines. I would say I got a good balance between the two.

If you're tighter on money, you can definitely cook more. In places like Cusco, it was quite hard to find a hostel with a decent kitchen and looking at my expenses, I was pretty hungry after my treks.

Pair up with other travellers

When you travel solo, unfortunately, you burden all the costs and that can leave a slightly larger hole in your wallet. Sharing taxis, meal costs and even haggling accommodation in groups can help a lot!

Couch surfing / House sitting / Work Aways

I met a few people who had done this and it's definitely worth looking into! Something to note for next time! A friend of mine pretty much house sits her way around Asia and stays in the nicest apartments barely paying anything for accommodation. Ever.

Hammock for the night in Tayrona National park

Staying safe in South America

Safety differs a lot in South America depending on the city. I felt really safe in Sucre, Bolivia and really on edge crossing the Argentina - Bolivia border. The key is to always stay alert and vigilant where ever you are.

As a solo female traveller, if I landed late in a city, which happened a few times after midnight, I would take a private or shared taxi from the airport.

This is definitely more expensive than public transport but midnight in a city I don't know, where public transport is likely to be scarce, I went for the pricier options to get me from the airport to the hostel quickly and smoothly.

You can also ask your Airbnb host or your hostel of the best ways to get to your accommodation. This helped a lot!

Fitz Roy in El Chalten

Flights to South America

Secret Flying: I love this site. They cover everything from discounts, promotions, error fares and more.

Skyscanner: Flight comparison made easy. If you’re flexible on dates, search by the month.

Momondo: Great for comparing flights too. And I generally find their flight prices pretty accurate when you click through.

My flight to Providencia

Turquoise waters in San Andres

Summary of blog posts in South America

So there we are, my South America travel budget and tips on the road! Hopefully, this is helpful for you. If not, it'll definitely be useful for me to read back one day when I take on South America part 2! 💪

Happy travels!

Planning a trip or fancy a freebie? These are some websites and services I love:

Booking.com: For the best hotel deals! 🏝

World Nomads: Travel insurance on the go 🌎

Airbnb: For the best apartment deals!🏡

*Affiliate links in this post!

Argentina

Bolivia

Brazil

Iguazu Falls: Visiting from Brazil + Argentina

Chile

Colombia

Peru

Uruguay

Patagonia (Argentina + Chile)

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