South America is an exotic continent with tremendous diversity. It’s also a surprisingly long way away, which can push the price up, particularly if you’re going to the southern fringes of the land mass.
Fortunately, this post can help. We explore the top five budget tour operators for visiting the continent. These offer cut prices versus going to the mainstream providers, helping you keep your bank balance relatively healthy.
G Adventures
Top of the list of budget tour operators in South America is G Adventures. This award-winning outfit offers diverse tours to people aged 18 to “thirtysomething” at cut-rate prices. Every year, it runs a Black Friday sale, with even deeper discounts on its excursions in the region, including Peru packages (deserts, cities, and Incan monuments), Galápagos central and eastern islands, The Inca trail, the Highlands of Ecuador, and Lima to Buenos Aires.
G Adventures markets itself as being “good,” hence the “G” in its name. It believes in sustainability, offering tours for groups of 10 to 12 people, up to a maximum of 16.
If you haven’t got a group that size, don’t worry – that’s the whole point. G Adventures brings costs down by mixing you with other groups of travelers and solo explorers.
All of G Adventures’s guides are local experts. That means they know the regions where they work inside out – good news for you.
Hi Travel Argentina
Hi Travel Argentina is another budget-friendly option for anyone wanting to explore Patagonia and beyond. The company prides itself on offering “grand tours” that give you a bit of everything. You can travel through the Atacama desert, visit the spectacular scenery of Humahuaca, or spend over ten days in Argentina’s capital city, Buenos Aires.
Hi Travel Argentina keeps prices down by putting you up in various hostels in its home country, Chile, Bolivia, and Brazil. Rates are considerably lower than in Western cities (often $10 or less a night). However, that doesn’t mean trips lack luxury. The company always prioritizes good food and comfortable transportation between destinations.
Tours focus on backpacking and daily excursions. These activities, the company says, enable them to help you explore the territory affordably.
It also networks with tour and bus providers across the continent to lower prices further and support independent and group travel.
Inkayni Peru Tours
Inkayni Peru Tours offers some of South America’s most affordable travel experiences, based primarily in its spectacular home country. The company keeps tour groups small (less than ten people) and operates independently of other tour operators, giving it complete control over the quality of its services. With this operator, you can tour Machu Picchu, the Inca trail, Salkantay, and the Andes.
So far, Inkayni Peru Tours has more than 5,000 satisfied customers, with more than ten years of experience in the industry. As a local company, it works to support local communities and is committed to responsible tourism.
TreXperience
TreXperience is another tour company that runs backpacking tours along the Inca Trail, taking classic routes through the most spectacular scenery and impressive historical sites. Most of the company’s excursions last two to four days, depending on the distance traveled. However, some longer excursions are available for more intrepid explorers. It also keeps group sizes below 16 and provides helpful ratings next to each tour option, telling you how physically demanding it is. Information on its monthly tours telling you which are open, closed, or selling out fast, is available on its website.
TreXperience keeps prices down by operating as a 100% local tour operation from the city of Cusco. The company’s stated goal is to maximize the benefits of tourism in the region while minimizing the costs. As such, expect plenty of sustainable food choices and eco-friendly transport options.
Madventure
Finally, if you are looking for epic overland tours of South America on a budget, consider Madventure. This tour operator believes in doing things cheaply to slash the price as much as possible. Treks can cost as little as $23 per day.
With that said, you could be on the move for several weeks. For instance, the company’s Cartagena to Rio De Janeiro overland group tour runs for a mammoth 131 days. You’ll explore the Amazon Jungle, Iguazu Falls, Bolivian Altiplano, Atacama Desert, Camino Austral, Torres del Paine, Valdes Peninsula, and Buenos Aires to name just a few locations along the route. Approximately half of the tour is camping, with the rest in hotels and guesthouses. The maximum group size is 36, with 25 as the average.
