10 days in Peru and Chile - Is this a sensible idea? (x-post from the Lonely Planet travel forum)
Hi everyone! This is my first time posting, so I hope I didn't mess anything up.
I'm a 20-year-old woman and I'm playing around with the idea of travelling solo in Peru and Chile for approximately 10 days next September. It's going to be my very first time in South America, so I need all the help I can get! The plan is still really vague so that I can gather opinions from more experienced people. Regarding the budget, I'd really like to keep it under 4.000 euros (including the 3 flight tickets). I like ancient ruins, starry skies and trains.
First of all, I'd like some feedback on my (still pretty nebulous) itinerary. Unfortunately, since I'm flying in from Europe, I'm going to spend at least 2.300 euro in flight tickets, so I want to make sure that it's really worth it! I plan on landing in Cusco and staying there for 4-5 nights, exploring the city and doing a few day trips. Of course I plan on going to Machu Picchu, but I'm also interested in the Tipon ruins and the Awana Kancha alpaca farm. Do you have any other ideas? I'm not a good hiker unfortunately, so I'm mainly looking for locations that I could reach via bus/colectivo. I'd also like to be as independent as possible, so no group tours, unless it's a place where it's absolutely necessary.
In the second part of the trip, I'm going to fly to Santiago, then take a bus to San Pedro de Atacama. There I'm mainly going to rely on short organized group tours into the desert. One thing I absolutely want to do is a night tour in the desert (for stargazing) and a tour into the Moon Valley to look at the sunset. I'd appreciate suggestions on reliable, cheap tours. I think 2-3 nights should be enough.
Do you think that's enough, or would it be a bit of a waste to travel to another continent to visit only two areas? Sadly my budget is quite limited and I also don't have much time; I could extend the trip to 2 full weeks (since I will spend at least 4 days travelling around via plane/bus).
Do you think this will all be possible on a 4.000 euro budget? So far, these are my estimated expenses:
Flight Europe-Cusco: 1000 euros
Flight Cusco-Santiago: 250 euros
Flight Santiago-Europe: 1000 euros
Cusco-Machu Picchu and back again: 150 euros
Bus Santiago-San Pedro and back again: 150 euros
Hotels: 250 euros
Entrance to Machu Picchu: 45 euros
Various day trips in Atacama: 100 euros
How much more money should I plan for other forms of transports/food/bad surprises? Any adjustements I should make to the budget?
Is mid-to-late September a good season? Any other notes/suggestions/things I should know?
Finally, since I'm going to be traveling alone as a woman, do you have any general safety tips (apart from being cautious and well organized)?
Sorry for my imperfect English (and the absurd length of this post) and thanks in advance! :)
Submitted October 07, 2017 at 11:52AM by UnsungUnicorn http://ift.tt/2xpjD9l
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