South America
at full speed

🇧🇷São Paulo· 3 nights · Dec 20–22

São Paulo doesn't seduce you immediately. It's enormous, chaotic, and takes a full day to understand. Then you find the food scene — genuinely one of the best on the planet — and the extraordinary street art, and the parks, and suddenly you're staying an extra day you hadn't planned for.

The city is best explored by neighbourhood. Avenida Paulista on a Sunday when it closes to traffic is unmissable — 3km of skating, music, food stalls and the full cross-section of 22 million people. Parque Ibirapuera is São Paulo's Central Park but better. The MASP museum (Museum of Art) sits on stilts over the avenue and houses one of the best art collections in South America.

For street food: try coxinha (fried chicken croquettes) anywhere, brigadeiro at any bakery, and find a kilo restaurant (pay by weight buffet) for proper Brazilian lunch — ~R$40-60 for a full plate (~12-18 CAD).

🇧🇷Fortaleza & Jericoacoara· 5 nights · Dec 22–27

If São Paulo is the brain of Brazil, the northeast coast is its soul. Fortaleza is the gateway to some of the most beautiful beaches in the country — long stretches of red-cliffed sand, warm water, and a pace of life that makes you physically incapable of urgency.

Jericoacoara is the crown jewel — a small village accessible only by 4x4 through sand dunes or a long bus ride, with no paved roads, incredible kite surfing, and a famous sunset dune where the whole village gathers every evening to watch the sun drop into the ocean. The Lagoa do Paraíso (Paradise Lake) nearby is exactly what it sounds like — a freshwater lagoon ringed with hammocks and food stalls where you spend entire afternoons. Plan to stay longer than you think you need to in Jeri.

Praia de Morro Branco has dramatic red sandstone cliffs and the option to do hang gliding from the dunes above — one of the cheapest and most exhilarating activities in Brazil (~R$80, ~24 CAD). The 30-minute shared bus from Fortaleza runs constantly and costs almost nothing.

🇧🇷Rio de Janeiro· 5 nights · Dec 27 – Jan 1

Rio is the centrepiece of this trip and it earns every word written about it. The setting is objectively one of the most dramatic of any city on earth — mountains erupt from the ocean, beaches run for kilometres through the city, the Christ statue watches everything from above. It's simultaneously beautiful and chaotic, and you will love it and be overwhelmed by it in equal measure.

The classic hike is Morro Dois Irmãos — a moderately challenging 2-hour return trail that starts in the favela of Vidigal and ends at an elevation that gives you the quintessential Rio view: the two peaks, Copacabana, Ipanema, and the ocean all at once. Start at 6am to beat the heat. Sugarloaf Mountain (Pão de Açúcar) by cable car is touristy but genuinely spectacular — go at sunset.

The real Rio moment though is New Year's Eve on Copacabana beach. Four million people. All dressed in white (the tradition for good luck). The fireworks start at midnight and last 20 minutes over the water. Samba plays from enormous stages up and down the beach. This is one of those things that makes you feel genuinely fortunate to be alive and present for it.

🇦🇷Buenos Aires· 2 nights · Jan 1–3

Buenos Aires in early January is a city mid-siesta — half the population is at the beach, the city is quieter than usual, and the restaurants are operating on holiday hours. This is actually perfect: you get the city to yourself. The architecture is genuinely European in character, the steakhouses are operating on a different level than anywhere else, and the wine costs almost nothing.

Palermo is the neighbourhood to base yourself in — tree-lined streets, boutique shops, excellent restaurants. La Boca with its colourful Caminito street is a tourist trap but visually compelling for an hour. Recoleta cemetery is one of the genuinely strange and beautiful places in the world — elaborate marble mausoleums including Evita's tomb, free entry.

The food imperative: find an asado — a proper Argentine barbecue — and order the milanesa (a national obsession, basically a schnitzel but better). Restaurant Rabietta and Milanesas both come recommended. Budget ~$30-50 CAD for a full dinner with wine — exceptional value.

🇨🇱Santiago & Surroundings· 2 nights · Jan 3–5

Santiago is underrated. Sandwiched between the Andes and the Pacific, it has a spectacular natural setting, a genuinely excellent food scene, and serves as the launch pad for two of the best day trips in South America. The city itself is clean, modern, and very easy to navigate.

The day trips are the main event. Cajón del Maipo is a dramatic Andean canyon 45 minutes from the city with natural thermal pools (Termas Valle de Colina) at altitude — you soak in hot springs while the Andes tower above you and condors circle overhead. Embalse El Yeso nearby is a stunning turquoise reservoir at 2,500m that looks like it belongs on another planet.

Valparaíso (1.5 hrs by bus, ~$8 CAD) is the coastal city Chile forgot to tidy up — covered in extraordinary street murals, full of funiculars and hills and a creative energy that Santiago lacks. Walk Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepción, eat at Pasta e Vino, and take the last bus back.

🇵🇪Lima & Paracas· 1.5 days · Jan 6–7

Lima is a short stop on this trip but it punches well above its weight, mainly because of one thing: the food. Lima has quietly become one of the world's great food cities — ceviche here is categorically different from anywhere else, and the Miraflores neighbourhood has restaurants that would have Michelin stars in any European capital.

Paracas, 4 hours south by bus, is a desert peninsula on the Pacific where penguins, sea lions and Humboldt penguins live on the Islas Ballestas — often called the "poor man's Galápagos." A 2-hour boat tour visits the islands for ~$20 CAD and is genuinely astonishing. The red desert meeting the green Pacific is a landscape that feels prehistoric.