Argentina Brazil 6 weeks itinerary ideas?

Hi. What would be a good itinerary for 6 weeks in south america? We plan to fly into Buenos Aires and check out argentina and make our way up to rio for carnival to fly home from rio. Is this a good idea if we have just 6 weeks to play with?

I was also thinking of flying into Santiago instead so that I can work my way through Barliloche or Mendoza before going up to BA and then onto Rio. Or even going from Santiago to Bolivia to BA to Rio - with all the main stops in between, but not sure if this is possible in that time?

I've had a search for people who have done similar things but haven't found the best route for just 6 weeks.

Any help would be much appreciated.

six weeks = 2 countries tops. Browse the last 50 posts of this forum; as I recall there's at least twenty itineraries posted in the last month. I'll get back to you if I have more time.

enjoy your trip! Niels

Well, in general with 6 weeks, yes, don't try to push your luck and add too much.

But in this case, considering a doable route starting in Santiago isn't such a bad idea at all.
If you start in Buenos Aires and want to end in Rio, you are going to do a detour that actually costs more time, and 6 weeks exactly in between BA and Rio is rather too long: landscapes are not what you call exciting and it's more like a beach/city area, although you might avoid this by travelling to Iguazu Falls and the Pantanal. But again: too much time for only those places.

From Santiago I think a nice itinerary what I would like is:

Week 1/2: Santiago - La Serena - San Pedro de Atacama and surroundings
Week 2/3: trip to Uyuni, on to Sucre/Potosi and south to Tupiza/border Argentina.
Week 4: northwest of Argentina: Salta, Quebrada's/Cachi/ salars etc.
Week 5. Towards Cordoba and BA, trip to for example Colonia in Uruguay
Week 6. Make your way to Rio and spend some time there.

If you leave out the north of Chile and Bolivia you can make your way south to Bariloche etc. as well, otherwise it would be too much.

Cheers!
Michael.

My friend and I were in South America for 4 weeks in February and believe me, that wasn't enough time! We landed in Buenos Aires, were there for a few days, took a bus to Mendoza and were there for 4 days, then back to BA for another couple days, spent 2 days in Iguazu on both sides, spent 5 days in the Amazon (missed out on Manaus because of time constraints), and 7 days in Rio during Carnival. If I had put insurance on my flights in the US, we would have stayed longer!

If we had two extra weeks, to add up to you, I would have added a couple days in Uruguay, Patagonia (I even wanted to fly to the Falklands!), Cordoba, La Salta, The Pampas. Or add a week in Chile and choose which other places you really want to see in a weeks time. Also look into airpasses. Cheaper to get while in the US before you go on you're trip and you must have your plane tickets purchased before you can get your airpasses. Buses are nice in Argentina. And during Carnaval, you must get your place early because they fill up fast! I say you make a list of what you really want to do and see if it is more important to see everything or pick out the places you must go and plan around that.

Trust me, at first I was thinking out itinerary was Argentina, Brazil, Guyana, Chile, and Falkland Island! Looking at the timeline and what we could do, we ended up just moving it down to Argentina and Brazil, which I'm glad we did, though I still feel there is more to see and I definitely plan on returning soon for a bigger adventure! Anyways, if you need anything or have any questions, let me know! I still have some information from my trip in my head! -snip-

[ Edit: Sorry, no promos please. ]