Amazing Off The beaten Track Destinations in South America

Watch out for Andean Condors – Bolivia

Alex Burridge
MD South America Travel Centre March 2026

Many of our guests understandably head to South America’s most iconic sites:

Machu Picchu, the Amazon, Iguazu Falls, Patagonia, Atacama, Uyuni Salt Flats and to cities like Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Cuzco and Cartagena.

It’s likely that many of the above will be on your bucket list, perhaps not on one trip, but over a series of trips over a few years (we have clients coming back to travel with us 10-15 years after their first trip).

We obviously love helping our guests discover all of these places; we also enjoy suggesting something a little different or off the beaten track – we’ve found over the last 30 years that it is often these places that our guests remember most favourably.. perhaps it’s the unexpected that makes them a little more special.

Here you’ll find just a few special places we recommend you consider.

#1.  Kuelap, Gocta Falls and Revash (northern Peru)

#2.  Chiloe Island (Chile)

#3.  Ibera Marshlands (northern Argentina)

#4. Purmamarca (northern Argentina – north of Salta)

#5.  Eduaro Abaroa National Reserve (Bolivia – near Chilean border with Atacama)

Gocta Falls

Swamp Deer – Ibera Marshlands (re-wilding Argentina)

Laguna Verde – Bolivia

 #1. Kuelap, Gocta Falls and Revash (northern Peru)

In simple terms you have a site, Kuelpa, that pre-dates Machu Picchu by over 1,000 years, a 771 metre single drop waterfall that was only discovered by the ‘outside world’ in 2005 and the 14th century funeral complex in Revash.

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#2. Chiloe Island (Chile)

Chiloe has become more frequently visited and we still believe it adds something special into a trip in Chile.  As with Kuelap in Peru, Chiloe, can now be accessed via a new airport as well as by road/ferry.

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#3.  Ibera Marshlands (northern Argentina)

Rewilding of Argentina’s Ibera Marshlands has been a work in progress for well over a decade now. If you were to stay at Rincon del Socorro a former working farm (estancia) transformed into an eco-lodge.  Giant Anteater, Pampas Deer, Collared Peccary, Red-and-green Macaw, Giant River Otter, and Jaguar have all be re-introduced….

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#4. Purmamarca (northern Argentina – north of Salta)

180kms to the north of Salta is the small town of Purmamarca.  Its history dates back to the Conquistadors; the church at the North of the small main square was built in 1648.  The church of Saint Rose of Lima was constructed of adobe and has a roof made of cardon (cactus wood) and was declared a National Historic Monument in 1941.

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#5. Eduaro Abaroa National Reserve (Bolivia – near Chilean border with Atacama) 

Whilst Bolivia’s jewel is undoubtedly the Salar de Uyuni Eduaro Abaroa National Reserve has many incredibly beautiful landscapes and some very interesting wildlife too.

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Flamingos, llamas, vicunas, foxes, volcanoes …..