Some define it as spending weeks or months in one destination. Others associate it with sustainability, avoiding flights, or reducing the environmental impact of tourism. For digital nomads, it might mean establishing a temporary home somewhere instead of constantly moving. For someone taking a career break, it could mean finally having the freedom to travel without a fixed schedule. And then there are people who volunteer in hostels, spend time in local communities, or simply prefer exploring one region instead of crossing an entire country in two weeks.

Slow travelers might have very different lifestyles, motivations, and ideas about what makes a trip meaningful. Yet I think there’s something that connects all these experiences: the desire to connect. With a place, with its people, with a different way of life, or even with ourselves. What we’re looking for may be different, but perhaps slow travel has less to do with how slowly we move and more to do with what we’re hoping to experience along the way.

Slow Travel: What Google Says vs. What I See

Slow travel is often associated with sustainable tourism, and for good reason. Its roots are connected to the Slow Food movement, which began in Italy as a response to fast food culture and promoted local traditions, regional products, and a slower way of life. Over time, these ideas expanded into tourism, encouraging travelers to reduce their environmental impact, spend more time in each destination, and support local communities.

But does that mean you need to avoid flying or spend a certain number of weeks in one place to call yourself a slow traveler?

A 2011 study by Les Lumsdon and Peter McGrath described slow travel as a group of related ideas rather than a rigid definition. And I think that makes a lot of sense when you look at how people actually travel.

Throughout my travels in Latin America, I’ve met people cycling across entire countries, not necessarily for environmental reasons, but because they enjoy the physical and personal challenge. Others spend months volunteering in hostels, take extended breaks from work, or build their lives around remote jobs that allow them to move from place to place.

My own motivations are a combination of things. I love traveling, discovering new places, and understanding different cultures. But there’s also a practical side: traveling through Latin America allows me to enjoy a better quality of life with the money I have available than I could afford back home in Argentina.

We don’t all share the same motivations or lifestyles, and environmental concerns aren’t necessarily what drives our choices. Yet we’re finding different ways to incorporate travel into our lives, looking for experiences and connections that go beyond simply visiting a destination.

A Different Way to Experience Travel

For me, one of the most interesting aspects of slow travel is how it changes the way we approach a destination.

Traditional tourism often revolves around attractions: what to see, which excursions to take, and how many places you can fit into your itinerary. There’s nothing wrong with that. Visiting extraordinary places is one of the great privileges of traveling, and I wouldn’t want to miss those experiences either.

But slow travel allows room for something else. Instead of moving from one must-see attraction to the next, you can choose a region as your base, explore its surroundings, and become curious about what everyday life looks like there.

What do people eat? Where do they shop? How do they spend their weekends? What’s happening beyond the tourist attractions?

Having a flexible itinerary also means you don’t have to decide everything before arriving. You can discover places you hadn’t considered, stay longer somewhere you enjoy, or move on when you don’t feel a particular connection.

And there’s another dimension to this way of traveling: the local economy. Spending time in a destination means paying for accommodation, eating at neighborhood restaurants, shopping at local markets, and using local services. When that spending goes to locally owned businesses, it can contribute directly to the communities you’re visiting, even if supporting local development wasn’t your original motivation.

It’s not about giving up sightseeing or following a particular set of rules. It’s about making space for the experience of being somewhere, rather than focusing exclusively on the places you came to see.

What Happens When You Stay Longer?

There’s something almost paradoxical about long-term travelers. Many of us have chosen to step away from a conventional lifestyle, embracing uncertainty, moving between countries, and constantly looking for new experiences. Yet, after a while, we find ourselves searching for something surprisingly familiar: a routine.

It might be a favorite coffee shop, a gym, a swimming pool, or a laundry service where you know they’ll do a good job. We start developing little habits and finding comfort in places that were completely unfamiliar just a few weeks earlier.

And I think there’s a practical reason for that. If you’re traveling for a couple of weeks, you might enjoy spending every day sightseeing, trying new restaurants, and figuring things out as you go. But when you’re traveling for months, that constant novelty can become exhausting.

I love discovering local food, trying unfamiliar fruits, and exploring markets. But sometimes, I just want to walk into a supermarket and know which cheese to buy without having to figure everything out from scratch. There’s only so much uncertainty you want in your everyday life, even when you’ve deliberately chosen an unconventional one.

Trying to be a tourist every single day can quickly lead to travel burnout. Finding a comfortable rhythm, allowing yourself to rest, and accepting that some days will be completely ordinary are part of making long-term travel sustainable.

But these little routines can also change your relationship with a place.

I remember spending a few weeks in Medellín and realizing one day that I was giving someone directions on the street. It was such a small thing, but it struck me: I wasn’t just passing through anymore. I knew my way around. I’d developed a certain familiarity with the city.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I knew Medellín in any profound sense. Cities and communities have complex social and cultural dynamics that even long-term visitors can only begin to understand. And our experiences are inevitably limited to the neighborhoods we explore, the people we happen to meet, and the particular moment in which we visit.

That’s another interesting thing about staying longer: it gives you the opportunity to reconsider your first impressions. A place that initially feels chaotic or unwelcoming might begin to make more sense once you understand a little more about how life works there. Or the opposite might happen. The more you discover, the more you realize that a destination simply isn’t for you.

There’s also an element of chance in all of this. You might visit a beautiful place that everyone seems to love, but never quite feel comfortable there. Maybe you don’t meet people you connect with, or you don’t find those little things that make everyday life enjoyable. Meanwhile, another destination you barely knew anything about might become somewhere you don’t want to leave.

And there’s no particular moment when you’ve stayed long enough, learned enough, or experienced everything a place has to offer. Sometimes you settle into a routine and stay for months. Other times, your curiosity about somewhere new eventually wins.

Staying longer doesn’t guarantee a deeper connection or a better understanding of a destination. But it gives you the opportunity to move beyond your first impressions, build a little familiarity, and discover a different side of the places you visit.

Finding Your Own Way to Travel Slow

After all, slow travel brings together people with very different lifestyles, motivations, and expectations. And that’s part of what makes it so interesting.

There’s no single right or wrong way to practice slow travel. What works for one person might not work for another, and even your own way of traveling can change over time.

Of course, there are plenty of practical tips and resources that can help you get started. I write about them myself, from choosing accommodation for longer stays to finding destinations that work well as a base for exploring a region. But ultimately, I think every traveler develops their own system, discovering what makes traveling enjoyable and sustainable for them.

If you’re curious about giving slow travel a try, here are a few articles that might help you find your own way:

• Quito for Slow Travelers — Exploring Ecuador’s capital beyond the usual tourist itinerary.
• Salta as a Base for Exploring Northwest Argentina — Discovering a region without constantly changing destinations.
• Are Hostels Good for Slow Travel? — Making hostel life work for longer stays.
• Apps and Resources: The Essential Toolbox for Traveling Independently in Latin America

Table of Contents

Choosing to travel alone to another continent, especially for months at a time, is a big decision. Of course there’s uncertainty around it. There’s simply no way to know exactly what will happen once you get there, who you’ll meet, or what the experience will feel like until you actually do it.

But if you really want to experience it, I think that already tells you something important.

I was in that position when I started traveling solo. At the time, I didn’t personally know anyone else who traveled this way. Once I was on the road, I met plenty of people doing exactly the same thing.

Still, seeing how many people travel this way doesn’t make solo travel the right choice for everyone.

Is solo travel for you?

I don’t think this is really about making a pros and cons list. It’s more about the kind of experience you want to have.

Traveling solo gives you complete control over your time. You can go at your own pace, change your plans, stay longer when you love a place, leave earlier when you don’t, or have a day when you do absolutely nothing without having to negotiate any of it with someone else.

For me, that freedom is a huge part of the appeal. I don’t travel to move through a checklist of places I’m supposed to see. I like having enough time to enjoy the journey, see how I feel about a place once I’m actually there, and give myself the chance to connect with it.

That’s the perspective I’m writing this article from. I’m a slow traveler, and if what you want is a perfectly planned itinerary that gets you through as many places as possible in the time you have, my approach probably won’t make much sense to you.

But if the idea of having that freedom sounds exciting rather than stressful, that’s a pretty good sign that solo travel might suit you.

Will I feel lonely traveling solo?

You might. Traveling solo doesn’t somehow make loneliness disappear.

But personally, loneliness hasn’t been a constant part of my experience at all. If anything, I tend to socialize and meet more people when I travel alone than when I travel with someone. When you’re traveling with another person, it’s very easy to stay within that relationship. When you’re on your own, you naturally end up being more open to the people around you.

That doesn’t mean meeting people requires constantly putting yourself in highly social situations, hanging out in big groups, or going out every night. Most conversations start through small, everyday interactions, and you don’t need to be an extrovert — or at least, you don’t need to act like one every night — to connect with people while you travel.

Slow travel also gives you room to choose the kind of environment that fits your energy. This is something I’m still learning to manage myself. There are periods when I’m more focused on work or simply don’t feel like socializing as much, and I can choose quieter places. Then, when I start craving more movement and people again, I can move somewhere more touristy or to a bigger city where I know I’ll have more opportunities to find that.

Sometimes I choose smaller destinations where I know my interactions are likely to be quieter and more relaxed. Other times I want a bigger city or somewhere with more of a social scene. I like being able to move between those experiences depending on what I feel like at the time.

Solo travelers don’t necessarily love being alone all the time, and being able to enjoy your own company doesn’t mean you’ll never feel lonely. Sometimes you’ll wish you had someone to have dinner with, or to make plans with, and there simply won’t be anyone around. That’s different from needing company to enjoy your trip. You can be open to meeting people without depending on meeting people constantly.  

Something happens to relationships when you travel

When you do meet people while traveling, relationships can feel different from the ones you build in everyday life.

Something I’ve noticed is that people who struggle to socialize, make friends, or find people they really connect with back home can sometimes find those connections much more easily while traveling. It’s not necessarily because travelers are more social. There’s a stereotype of the solo traveler, and sure, you’ll meet the classic backpacker with hippy vibes. But there really isn’t one type of slow traveler.

Maybe part of it is simply that the people you meet on the road have already made at least one choice similar to yours. You don’t necessarily have the same personality, age, background, or interests, but there can be something familiar in the way you look for joy, experience new things, or approach relationships with other people. That shared ground can make it easier to connect with people you might never have crossed paths with in your everyday life.

Relationships on the road can work differently, and I think that’s one of the things that’s difficult to imagine before you actually start traveling this way.

How much should I plan before I leave?

There’s a balance between having enough planned to feel comfortable and leaving enough open to actually take advantage of the flexibility solo travel gives you.

Planning ahead can save you money, make logistics easier, and reduce some of the uncertainty that comes with traveling somewhere for the first time. But planning doesn’t necessarily mean booking. You can research possible routes, understand how much things cost, know your transportation options, and have a general idea of where you want to go without committing to every stop before you leave.

That distinction matters because some decisions are simply easier to make once you’re there. You might hear about a place you hadn’t considered, discover a better way to get somewhere, or realize that a destination you expected to love isn’t somewhere you want to spend much time after all. Leaving some space in your itinerary means you can make those decisions with information you didn’t have when you were planning from home.

This is particularly useful in Latin America, where not everything you’ll need to know is always well documented online. I’ll get into that more when we talk about transportation and logistics, but sometimes the best information only becomes available once you’re on the ground.

How much uncertainty you’re comfortable with also changes with experience. When I first started traveling, having more things figured out in advance made me feel more secure. But plans don’t always match what happens once you’re there. After dealing with enough changes, unexpected situations, and things that simply worked differently from what I had imagined, I became much more confident that I could figure things out as I went.

The same happens as you spend more time in a region. Every country in Latin America is different, but you’re not starting from zero every time you cross a border. You gradually learn what to ask, where to look for information, what is worth confirming in person, and which decisions can safely wait until later.

That doesn’t mean traveling without a plan. It means not using planning only as a way to eliminate uncertainty. The goal is to know which decisions are better made before you leave and which ones you’ll be better equipped to make once you’re there.

What should I research before I leave?

Planning a trip can be stressful, but it can also be part of the fun. I love looking at the places I might visit, checking out accommodation, seeing what there is to do, and even thinking about where I might want to eat. Imagining what your days could look like is part of planning a trip — and none of it means you have to commit to those plans.

But there are some less exciting things you really do need to look into before you leave:

• Entry requirements: Check whether you need a visa or any other permits, how long you’re allowed to stay as a tourist, and what the conditions for entering and leaving the country are. What you find online and what happens at the border won’t always match perfectly, so don’t build your entire itinerary around assuming you’ll automatically be granted the maximum possible stay. But you should absolutely know the rules before you arrive.
• Weather and what to pack: Look at the conditions you can expect in the places you’re visiting at that particular time of year, not just the country’s climate in general. Latin America covers an enormous range of climates and altitudes, and what you need can change significantly as you move around.
• Things you personally rely on: Think about the things that are easy to find at home but might be less common where you’re going. I’m Argentine, and mate is part of my everyday life. The farther north I travel in Latin America, the harder it can be to find the yerba I drink. It’s usually not impossible, but I tend to carry a small reserve with me. Your version of that might be something completely different — the point is to think about your own routines rather than following a generic packing list.
• Money, connectivity, and health basics: Know how you’ll access money, how you’ll get connected when you arrive, and what you need in terms of travel insurance or any health-related entry requirements. We’ll get into all of these in more detail in the logistics section.

So, what do I book beforehand?

This is roughly how I handle it:

• Long-distance flights: If I know I’ll need a particular flight, I usually book it in advance because prices are sensitive to timing. If I’m booking far ahead, I generally choose a flexible fare so I’m not completely locked into that date.
• The first few nights: I usually book two or three nights of accommodation before I arrive. I personally stay in hostels, which tend to have enough availability that I can extend if I like the place. That gives me somewhere to go when I arrive without committing to how long I’ll stay before I’ve even seen it.
• Buses, transfers, and tours: I research the options and prices beforehand, but I generally don’t book them. Prices usually don’t change much depending on how far ahead you buy, and in my experience, booking in person can often be cheaper. These are the kinds of decisions where keeping some flexibility makes sense.

Is Latin America a good place for a first solo trip?

Definitely. Latin America is a huge and incredibly diverse region, with its beautiful sides, its contradictions, and things that will make traveling easier or more challenging. Depending on the kind of trip you want to have, it can also be relatively affordable, particularly if you’re coming from the Global North.

But more importantly, there’s no such thing as a beginner level of solo travel that you need to complete before coming to Latin America.

If this is your first time traveling alone, you might feel more comfortable starting somewhere with well-established international tourism. Those destinations tend to have more tourist infrastructure, more information available, people who speak English, and generally fewer things you’ll have to figure out from scratch while you’re still learning what traveling solo looks like for you.

Cultures vary enormously from one country to another, and adapting to a new place can still take some time. But in my experience, Latin America is generally very welcoming to foreign travelers. I’ve rarely felt that being a foreigner itself created friction with the people around me. Quite the opposite: when I’ve been confused, needed directions, or simply didn’t understand how something worked, I’ve generally found people willing to help.

You don’t need to choose the country that someone has decided is the “easiest” for first-time travelers. A quick search will give you a good idea of which destinations have a more established tourist circuit in any country you’re interested in.

So I wouldn’t start by asking which country in Latin America is best for beginners. Start by asking where you actually want to go. Latin America has something for almost every kind of traveler. The next step is figuring out what kind of experience you want to have and which part of this enormous region can give you that.

How should I build my Latin America itinerary?

Most people come to Latin America with a few highlights already in mind — places they’ve always wanted to see or experiences they don’t want to miss. Those are a great starting point for building an itinerary, but don’t assume they’re all there is to experience along the way.

One of the advantages of giving yourself more time in each place is that you start discovering things you didn’t know about when you planned the trip. A city you initially thought of as a stop on the way somewhere else might have enough to keep you interested for days. And sometimes the places that end up being the most memorable aren’t the ones that originally brought you there.

Ecuador is a good example. You might travel there specifically to visit the Galápagos and initially think of Quito as little more than a necessary stop along the way. But give yourself some time and suddenly there’s much more: exploring Quito’s historic center, trying local food, visiting coffee or chocolate producers, going birdwatching in Mindo, soaking in hot springs, or climbing a volcano. Very few places in Latin America need to be just a technical stop.

Think in regions, not just destinations

Instead of connecting a list of isolated highlights, look at what you can discover around the places that already interest you. You don’t necessarily need to see an entire country, and you don’t need to limit yourself to one country either. Think about regions you want to explore rather than destinations you need to check off.

That gives you more room to discover places along the way, while also making the distances you travel more manageable. Latin America is enormous, and moving constantly between far-apart destinations can take a surprising amount of both time and money.

Build a trip you can actually sustain

If you’re planning a long trip, your itinerary also needs to be sustainable for you. Traveling for months isn’t the same as taking a two-week vacation with a list of things you want to fit in before you go home.

You probably won’t want to spend every day moving, taking tours, visiting attractions, or waking up early for the next activity. That pace gets expensive, but it also gets exhausting. A long trip needs room for slower days.

That might mean walking around a neighborhood with no particular plan, spending an afternoon in a plaza, going to a market, having a coffee, or simply doing some of the ordinary things you do when you’re not traveling. And yes, sometimes it might mean staying in and watching Netflix.

A slower day isn’t a wasted travel day. Giving yourself enough time and space to enjoy the trip without exhausting your energy or your budget is part of what makes long-term travel sustainable in the first place.

What is traveling around Latin America actually like?

Latin America is a huge and diverse region, so there’s no single answer to what traveling around it looks like. Things work differently from country to country, and sometimes even from one part of the same country to another. But there are a few things that are useful to understand when you start planning a longer trip around the region.

Distances don’t always work the way they look on a map

Distances in Latin America are enormous, but kilometers alone don’t always tell you how easy it will be to get from one place to another.

Some long distances are surprisingly easy to cover because there’s a good direct connection. Other places might look like an obvious next stop on a map and turn out to require a much longer journey than you expected. The geography, the condition of the roads, border crossings, and the connections that actually exist can all change what a logical route looks like in practice.

That can be frustrating when you’re planning from home, but it doesn’t mean getting around is impossible. Millions of people move around this region every day, and there’s also a well-established tourist circuit. Sometimes you just need to adjust the route you originally imagined once you understand how people move between those places.

Get comfortable with long-distance buses

If you’re not used to spending long hours on buses, there’s a good chance Latin America will change that.

Long-distance buses are one of the main ways people move around the region. They’re not simply the budget alternative to flying. In many places, they’re the transportation system that makes the most sense for the geography and the way cities and towns are connected.

The experience can also be very different from what you associate with bus travel at home. Depending on the country, route, and company, long-distance buses can be remarkably comfortable, with reclining seats designed for overnight journeys and different service classes.

I have a whole guide on long-distance buses in Latin America where I explain how they work, what the different classes mean, where to buy tickets, what to expect from schedules, and how border crossings work.

Not everything you need will be easy to find online

This is one of the things that can make planning a trip around Latin America frustrating from abroad. Sometimes you know a connection must exist but can’t find a clear schedule online. You might struggle to figure out how people pay for something, find conflicting information about prices, or discover that the website you found doesn’t accept your foreign card.

Not finding something online doesn’t necessarily mean it doesn’t exist.

Some practical information is simply easier to get once you’re there. You might need to ask at a terminal, confirm something locally, or find out that there’s a much easier option than the one you were trying to organize from home.

That’s also why I wouldn’t try to solve every logistical question months in advance. Do enough research to understand your options and know what you need to pay attention to, but expect some things to become clearer once you’re there.

I’ve covered several of these practical questions separately, including the apps and resources I use around Latin America, how money, cards, and ATMs work for travelers and a guide on health care and travel insurance. If you’re trying to understand the logistics before you leave, those guides are a good place to start.

Is traveling in Latin America dangerous?

I know what you’re probably thinking. Start researching a trip to Latin America and it doesn’t take long before you come across news about violence, political unrest, economic crises, protests, or another situation that makes you wonder whether coming here is a terrible idea.

I’m not going to tell you those risks don’t exist. They do. But I do think it’s important to put them into perspective.

Being a tourist in a country is not the same as experiencing the realities of living there. Unfortunately, social and economic crises are a recurring part of life in many parts of Latin America, and they can absolutely affect your trip. But they don’t always affect it in the way you might imagine when you’re reading the news from another country.

Start with the usual precautions

The basic precautions you would take anywhere still apply. Pay attention to where you’re going, especially at night. Don’t leave your phone or belongings unnecessarily exposed. Ask locally if there are areas you should avoid.

It’s also worth being careful with tourist services. Check prices before agreeing to something and, whenever possible, use established agencies or official providers rather than accepting the first offer you get on the street. Scams and inflated tourist prices happen, and a little research goes a long way.

But those everyday risks are different from another question travelers often have: what happens when the country itself seems to be going through a crisis?

A crisis can disrupt your trip without necessarily putting you in danger

I’m writing this from Puno, Peru, while getting ready to cross into Bolivia. And if you look at the current situation there, it’s easy to understand why someone planning a trip from abroad might reconsider going altogether.

Bolivia is dealing with serious economic and political instability, including fuel shortages, rising costs, protests, and roadblocks. Those are real problems, and I’m certainly not suggesting travelers should ignore them.

But growing up in Latin America probably gives me a slightly different perspective on what those headlines mean. Political or economic instability doesn’t automatically translate into personal danger everywhere in the country.

What it can mean for a traveler is disruption.

A road might be blocked and the bus you planned to take can’t leave. Fuel shortages can affect transportation. Prices can change unexpectedly. An airport can close or a journey that should have taken one day might suddenly take two. You may have to change your route entirely.

Those things can be frustrating and they can cost you money. But logistical risk, financial risk, and personal safety risk aren’t necessarily the same thing.

That distinction also changes how I make decisions about traveling. If I had a two-week vacation in Bolivia with flights, hotels, and activities already booked for specific dates, I would seriously consider changing that trip right now. There would simply be too many opportunities for disruption.

But traveling slowly gives me a flexibility that not everyone has. If I can’t get to one place, I can change my route. If I need to stay somewhere an extra day, I can. I can ask people on the ground what the situation is like and make decisions as I go.

What you see on the news and what you experience can be very different

I experienced another version of this while I was in Quito, Ecuador. There were strong protests related to political unrest, and a 15-day curfew was introduced from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Of course, that affected my trip. I couldn’t be out during those hours, and sometimes a situation like that simply means changing your plans and spending the night at the hostel. It’s inconvenient.

At the same time, people back home who knew I was in Ecuador were worried about me because what they were seeing in the news looked extremely dangerous. And those situations can be dangerous if you’re caught in the middle of a violent protest.

But that wasn’t what my everyday experience in Quito looked like. I was staying in the historic center, just a couple of blocks from the seat of government, and I never personally encountered one of those demonstrations or experienced violence in the streets.

I wasn’t following the political situation closely enough to pretend I fully understood the complex social issues behind those protests, either. And that distinction matters. My relatively uneventful experience as a tourist doesn’t mean the crisis wasn’t serious or that local people weren’t being affected by it.

Being a traveler can sometimes keep you in a kind of bubble. What makes international news and what you personally experience while staying in a tourist area can be dramatically different things.

So when you see worrying news about a country you’re planning to visit, don’t ignore it — but don’t reduce the entire country to the headline either. Find out where the problem is happening, what kind of risk it creates, and how it could realistically affect your trip.

Sometimes the answer will be that you shouldn’t go. Other times, it may simply mean changing your route, allowing more time, spending a little more than expected, or being patient when things don’t work according to plan.

What about solo travel as a woman?

If you’re a woman planning your first solo trip to Latin America, I know safety probably comes with an extra layer of concern. But I also think the way we talk about solo female travel tends to exaggerate that difference.

Women already navigate certain risks differently in everyday life. We tell friends where we’re going, meet strangers in public places, pay attention when walking alone at night, and deal with unwanted attention. Traveling doesn’t suddenly create all of those risks — it changes the context in which we manage them.

That said, Latin America does have its own cultural context. Machismo is very present in many parts of the region, and traveling alone as a woman can sometimes make you stand out in ways you might not be used to.

In my experience, there are still plenty of assumptions around the idea of a woman traveling by herself. I’m constantly asked who I’m traveling with, whether I’m really alone, or if I’m not afraid. I’ve also dealt with catcalling, sexist comments, and men who simply wouldn’t take the hint and leave me alone.

I don’t automatically interpret those experiences as signs that I’m in danger. Most of the time, I experience them as part of navigating a cultural context where ideas about women, independence, and how men interact with women can be different from what you’re used to. That doesn’t mean ignoring a situation that feels unsafe or pretending harassment is harmless. It means distinguishing between something being uncomfortable, sexist, or culturally unfamiliar and something actually presenting a threat.

As for the practical side of staying safe, most of what I do is remarkably ordinary: I pay attention to where I stay and how I’ll get there, make sure I have connectivity and backup payment methods, share my plans when it makes sense, and try not to make important decisions when I’m exhausted. I go much deeper into those practical decisions in Is it safe to travel alone as a woman in Latin America?.

But there’s another side of this conversation that I think gets ignored. Women traveling alone aren’t an unusual exception in Latin America. I meet them constantly. Most aren’t here to prove how brave they are or overcome some enormous fear. They wanted to travel, so they came.

And that matters, because if every conversation about solo female travel begins and ends with danger, we miss most of what the experience is actually about: freedom, independence, meeting people, discovering places, and having complete control over your own time.

That’s something I explore more in What solo female travel is really about (and what gets ignored).

So yes, being a woman can add some considerations to traveling alone. Take them seriously. But don’t let safety become the entire story of your trip before you’ve even started it.

How much money do I need to travel around Latin America?

Latin America can absolutely be an affordable place to travel, particularly if you’re coming from countries with higher salaries and costs of living. But “Latin America is cheap” is only useful up to a point.

There are enormous differences in cost between countries, and you’ll find plenty of rankings telling you which ones are the cheapest for travelers. Those comparisons can give you a useful general idea, but they don’t mean that everything you buy or do will follow the same pattern.

When I travel north from countries like Argentina or Chile into places like Colombia, for example, I definitely notice the difference in my overall spending. Many everyday things become considerably cheaper. But every country has a different economy, produces different things locally, imports others, and has its own patterns of consumption. What’s cheap for locals to eat, buy, or do isn’t necessarily what you were planning to spend your money on.

Food makes this particularly obvious. In Peru, I can eat incredible local dishes — ceviche, potatoes prepared in more ways than I knew existed, or a full menú del día — for very little money. But order something that doesn’t fit the local eating habits as closely and the equation can change surprisingly quickly. A basic tomato and lettuce salad can cost more than I’d expect in Argentina. And if you want a decent bottle of wine with your lomo saltado, suddenly Peru doesn’t feel quite so cheap anymore.

The same applies to travel experiences. Latin America has plenty of inexpensive activities, but it also has experiences priced for international tourism and luxury travel. A ski trip in Argentina, for example, can cost surprisingly close to what you might spend skiing in the Alps. Tours, outdoor activities, clothing, handicrafts, electronics, and imported goods all follow their own price logic.

So instead of asking “How cheap is this country?”, I think the more useful question is “How much will the kind of trip I want to have cost me there?”

That number is harder to calculate, especially when you’re planning a long trip with a lot of flexibility. You don’t know exactly where you’ll go, how long you’ll stay, which experiences you’ll discover along the way, or how your spending habits might change once you’re there.

I have a method I use to build a realistic monthly estimate before traveling somewhere I haven’t been yet. It’s not about predicting every expense perfectly, but about creating a working number based on accommodation, transportation, food, activities, and enough margin for everything you can’t predict. I explain the whole process in Estimating a realistic budget for long-term travel in Latin America.

Your budget doesn’t need to predict the trip. It needs to make the trip sustainable.

Do I need to speak Spanish to travel around Latin America?

No. You don’t need to speak Spanish to travel around Latin America.

Especially in destinations with established international tourism, you can usually figure out the logistics without much trouble. You’ll find people who speak English, tours offered in English, accommodation used to receiving foreign travelers, and translation apps for everything else. Even with very little Spanish, you’ll quickly pick up enough words to order food, buy a bus ticket, ask how much something costs, and get through most everyday interactions.

And if you’re traveling solo, not speaking Spanish doesn’t mean you’ll be isolated either. You’ll meet plenty of other travelers you can communicate with.

But connecting with other travelers isn’t the same as connecting with the place.

That difference becomes much more noticeable when you travel slowly. If you spend a few days somewhere, functional Spanish might be all you need. Stay for a few weeks or months and eventually you start wanting to understand more than the menu and the bus schedule.

You want to know what the people at the table next to you are talking about. You want to understand the joke someone just made. You want to ask a question and actually follow where the answer leads. You start recognizing the same people in your neighborhood, going back to the same café or market, and having interactions that could become conversations if you shared enough of a language.

You can travel through Latin America without Spanish. But Spanish gives you access to a part of Latin America that is very difficult to experience without it.

I wrote much more about this distinction in Do you need to learn Spanish before traveling to Latin America?. And the good news is that you don’t need to postpone your trip until you’ve learned the language. If you’re going to spend weeks or months in the region anyway, traveling can become part of how you learn it.

That’s also why I created my Spanish for digital nomads and slow travelers program. It’s one-on-one Spanish built around the situations that actually become part of life when you stay somewhere longer — from ordering food and getting around at the beginning to dealing with accommodation, money, healthcare, paperwork, and eventually having the conversations that let you go beyond simply navigating the place.

You don’t need Spanish to start the trip. But if connection is one of the reasons you’re traveling slowly in the first place, learning it can completely change how much of the place becomes available to you.

Ready to start planning your trip?

If you came to this article excited about traveling solo in Latin America but unsure where to start, I hope I’ve answered at least some of the questions that tend to make a first trip here feel more complicated than it actually is.

And if you’re already planning one but still wondering whether what you have in mind makes sense: it probably isn’t as crazy as it feels.

You can spend hours researching destinations, reading forums, comparing other people’s itineraries, and asking AI increasingly specific questions. All of those things are useful. But sometimes there’s a point where another search isn’t what you need. You just need to talk through your trip with someone who knows the region and has traveled this way before.

That’s part of what I do through my Plan your trip to Latin America service.

That can be something very concrete: checking whether your itinerary makes sense, understanding how realistic a particular route is, talking through safety concerns traveling alone, figuring out transportation, or getting some context around a cultural difference or local situation you’re unsure about.

Or we can start much earlier in the process and work out what kind of trip you actually want to have, which places fit your interests, how long it makes sense to stay, and how to build a route around your time, budget, and priorities.

You don’t need someone else to plan your trip for you. Sometimes you just need enough context to feel confident making your own decisions.

If that’s where you are right now, you can take a look at the different ways I can help you plan your trip to Latin America.

After staying in hostels across Latin America, I’ve learned that choosing where to stay has very little to do with finding the cheapest bed. It’s about understanding what matters for the way you travel.

In this article, I’ll share what I look for before booking, the mistakes I try to avoid, and the small details that often make a much bigger difference than the hostel’s rating.

Why I choose hostels

Although the obvious advantage is the price, a hostel is much more than a cheap bed for me.

I work from my laptop, and if I stayed in apartments or hotels, I could easily spend entire days without talking to anyone. In a hostel, on the other hand, it’s almost impossible not to meet people: locals, other travelers, people to explore the city with, join a day trip or simply grab a beer. If you’re interested in why hostels have become my preferred way to travel through Latin America, I wrote about it in more detail in Are hostels good for slow travel and nomad life?

Traveling solo doesn’t mean being isolated. Hostels create a sense of community effortlessly, and that adds a lot to the experience.

And if you want privacy without giving up the social side of traveling, there’s a great option: private rooms in hostels. You get your own space, a good night’s sleep, and you’re still part of the hostel environment.

How many nights should you book?

Even though I usually travel slowly and stay in places for weeks or even months, I never book more than two or three nights at first.

Why?

• If I don’t like the hostel, I can move somewhere else without losing money or dealing with cancellations.
• If I love it, I simply extend my stay. Hostels rarely book out completely, so that’s usually not a problem. 
• For longer stays, many hostels offer better rates when you book directly.
• It keeps your trip flexible, which is essential if you travel slowly like I do. 

A hostel’s vibe depends heavily on the people staying there at that particular moment. You can end up in a beautiful place, but if you don’t connect with the atmosphere, your stay can feel disappointing. And that’s something you can only discover once you’re there.

Booking through a platform (and why I recommend it)

Whenever I’m visiting a new city, I always start with Booking.

This isn’t an ad. It’s about security, flexibility and peace of mind.

Some real advantages: 

• It helps you avoid scams and properties that don’t exist or don’t match their listing.
• Reviews come from verified guests.
• In most cases, you don’t pay until you arrive.
• You can often find better deals than booking directly with the hostel.
• As you move up through the Genius program, you unlock additional discounts.

Then, if you decide to stay longer, talk to the hostel in person. Many hostels offer better direct rates for weekly or monthly stays.

What to look for before booking a hostel

Location: the most important factor

If I don’t know the city, I open the map on Booking and look at where most of the hostels and hotels are concentrated. That usually gives me a good idea of:

• which neighborhoods are safer,
• which areas are better connected,
• where most travelers stay. 

If you’re traveling solo, choosing the right neighborhood can make a huge difference. I wrote more about how I approach that—and why I think it’s one of the most important safety decisions you can make—in Is it safe to travel alone as a woman in Latin America?

Those neighborhoods are often a little more expensive, but for the extra safety and convenience, they’re worth every penny.

Prioritizing location isn’t about being picky. It’s about safety and practicality.

Price (and why it doesn’t always reflect quality)

Don’t assume that a more expensive hostel is automatically a better one.

Some hostels are worth every penny. Others aren’t. And sometimes the cheapest places end up being surprisingly good.

Price is a clue, not a guarantee.

Look beyond the pretty photos 

Open the room options and check things like:

• how spacious the rooms are,
• whether the beds look sturdy and comfortable,
• what the lockers are like,
• whether there’s proper ventilation,
• whether you’ll need air conditioning (Brazil, I’m looking at you),
• whether each bed has its own light and power outlet.

A good night’s sleep matters far more than an Instagram-worthy reception area.

Honestly, at least half of my booking decisions are made with the sole purpose of avoiding waking up with a stiff neck.

Spaces to work

Since I travel while working, this is essential for me.

I look for:

• good lighting,
• comfortable tables,
• power outlets,
• a quiet environment.

Not every hostel is designed for remote work or works well as an improvised office. And that can completely change your experience if you’re staying for more than a couple of days.

Being a good guest matters too

A hostel is a shared space, not a budget hotel.

If you arrive with the wrong expectations, you’ll end up frustrating yourself—and everyone else.

A few basic rules:

• don’t turn the lights on at 3 a.m.,
• don’t take calls in the dorm,
• don’t take over the whole bathroom,
• keep your belongings reasonably organized,
• close doors quietly,
• don’t force your music or your mood on everyone else.

And just as importantly: remember that you’re sharing the space.

Sometimes someone needs to repack their backpack, and things get a little messy for a few minutes. Other times, someone arrives late or leaves early and inevitably makes a bit of noise. As long as it isn’t constant or inconsiderate, it’s just part of sharing a hostel with other people.

If you’re considerate and easy to be around, the whole experience flows much more naturally.

If you expect everything to revolve around you, a hostel probably isn’t for you.

Room types: how to avoid paying the “pink tax”

Something many women don’t realize is that you don’t always have to pay extra for a female dorm.

In my experience—especially in Brazil—I’ve often booked a standard dorm and still ended up sharing the room only with other women, even when mixed dorms had availability.

It depends on the country and the hostel, but it’s very common in Latin America.

So my advice is simple:

• book the standard dorm without worrying too much,
• if you’re assigned to a mixed dorm when you arrive and you don’t feel comfortable, ask if it’s possible to switch. Sometimes there’s an extra charge, sometimes there isn’t.

Being flexible can save you, too

I stay in hostels most of the time, but I always leave a little room in my budget to spend a few days in a hotel or an apartment if I need to rest.

Most of the time I don’t use it, but knowing I have that option helps me avoid frustration.

There isn’t a perfect hostel—only the right one for you

Everyone looks for something different:

• a party atmosphere,
• peace and quiet,
• coworking spaces,
• activities,
• a central location or a quieter neighborhood.

The important thing is to choose based on good information and your own travel style, not someone else’s.

Final thoughts

Choosing a hostel isn’t just about price. It’s about understanding the way you travel, your need for safety and rest, and the kind of experience you’re looking for. 

When you get it right, a hostel becomes one of the best parts of the trip. You meet people, learn from other travelers, save money, and never really feel alone, especially when you’re traveling solo.

If you’re thinking about doing a hostel work exchange, I also put together a practical guide explaining how they work, where to find them, and what to expect before you apply.  

The result is that conversations about solo female travel often become conversations about fear. Instead of talking about the places you’ll discover, the people you’ll meet or the freedom that comes with traveling on your own, we’re met with endless lists of precautions. And, ironically, many of them have very little to do with travel itself.

Share your location with someone. Let a friend know when you get back. Meet strangers in public places. Trust your instincts. None of those are bad ideas. The problem is that they’re not really travel advice. They’re things many women already do in their everyday lives, whether they’re at home or on the other side of the world.

In another article, I wrote about why I think the conversation around solo female travel often misses the point, and what the available data actually says about safety. If you’re wondering whether women are inherently at greater risk simply because they’re traveling alone, I’d recommend starting here.

This article is about something different.

Rather than discussing fear, I want to focus on the practical decisions that actually make me feel safer while traveling alone through Latin America. Interestingly, most of them have very little to do with being a woman. They’re the kind of habits that make travel easier for anyone, whether you’re backpacking for six months or taking your first solo trip abroad.

I don’t travel expecting something bad to happen, but I don’t believe in leaving everything to chance either. Nothing is enjoyable if you’re constantly anticipating the worst, but that doesn’t mean throwing caution out the window. For me, traveling safely isn’t about being afraid. It’s about reducing uncertainty.

The more information I have before I arrive somewhere, the fewer decisions I have to make when I’m tired, overwhelmed or completely unfamiliar with my surroundings. That doesn’t eliminate risk—nothing does—but it gives me more confidence, more flexibility and, ultimately, more mental space to enjoy the trip itself.

Safety starts before you arrive

Many of the decisions that have the biggest impact on how safe I feel while traveling are made before the trip even begins. Where I stay, how I’ll get there from the airport, and how much I’ve figured out before I arrive all shape the way I experience those first few days. None of these decisions guarantee that nothing will go wrong, but they make it much easier to navigate a place I don’t know yet.

Choosing where to stay

Accommodation is usually the first thing I plan. Choosing the right neighborhood isn’t just about finding a nice hotel or hostel—it shapes the entire trip. It affects how easy it is to get around, how much time you’ll spend commuting, and whether you’ll feel comfortable walking back after dinner or heading out early in the morning.

When I’m traveling somewhere I’ve never been before, choosing where to stay isn’t always straightforward. Hotel photos can tell you what the room looks like, but they won’t tell you what the neighborhood feels like. You can’t tell whether it’s busy or quiet, whether people are still out in the evening, or whether it’s an area where you’d feel comfortable walking around on your own.

When I don’t have a clear picture of the city, I usually start with a map rather than browsing accommodation one by one. I open Booking (or any accommodation platform), switch to the map view, and look for areas with a high concentration of hotels and hostels. Those neighborhoods are often a good starting point because they’re popular with travelers. Once I’ve identified them, I spend some time researching what they’re actually like before deciding where to book.

There’s one thing I’ve learned while traveling through Latin America, though. In many cities, the historic center isn’t necessarily the best place to stay. It’s often where you’ll find the biggest concentration of tourist attractions, but also some of the busiest streets during the day and, in many cases, the quietest ones at night. These neighborhoods are usually worth exploring, but not always where I want to sleep. Personally, I’d rather stay in a residential area with cafés, supermarkets and people going about their daily lives throughout the day, even if accommodation costs a little more.

Planning your arrival

The other thing I always figure out before leaving home is how I’m going to get from the airport or bus terminal to my accommodation.

This is often one of the most demanding moments of a trip. You’ve probably been traveling for hours, you’re tired, carrying your luggage, and trying to make sense of a place you’ve never been to before. Leaving this part to chance usually means making unnecessary decisions when you’re least prepared to make them.

Before every trip, I look into the available transport options, how long they take, how they’re paid for and roughly how much they cost. If public transport is a good option, great. If ride-hailing apps are more practical, I want to know that before I land. I don’t need every detail planned in advance, but I like arriving with a clear idea of my options instead of trying to figure everything out on the spot.

Google Maps is one of the tools I use most for this. Besides checking routes, I can estimate travel times, see public transport schedules and download offline maps before I arrive. I also make sure I know how transport works in that destination. Do I need cash? Can I pay with a contactless card? Is there a transport card I should buy? These are small details, but sorting them out beforehand makes arriving somewhere new much less stressful.

Connectivity as a backup: one less thing to worry about

One of the things that makes arriving somewhere new much easier is knowing you’ll have internet access as soon as you land. Whether you need to check directions, message your accommodation, book a ride or simply let someone know you’ve arrived safely, having a connection removes a lot of unnecessary uncertainty during the first hours of a trip.

Over the past few months I’ve noticed more and more solo travelers solving this by using eSIMs. Not long ago I was chatting with a woman from Switzerland who’d been traveling alone through Latin America for several months, and she told me she’d activated an eSIM before leaving home. It meant she didn’t have to look for a local SIM card in every new country or worry about whether her phone plan included roaming. She simply landed with data already working.

An eSIM is a digital SIM you activate by scanning a QR code. If your regular plan doesn’t include affordable international roaming, it’s an easy way to stay connected from the moment you arrive. In some countries, including Peru, buying a local SIM as a tourist isn’t always as straightforward as you might expect, so having your connectivity sorted out in advance can make those first few hours considerably less stressful.

➜ Check out Saily’s eSIM plans This is an affiliate link. If you sign up through it, I earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Digital dependence while traveling

Away from home, your phone becomes a lot more than a way to communicate. It’s your bridge to almost everything — and a key part of making the trip actually work.

It sounds obvious, but it’s easy not to think about it until something goes wrong. Lose your phone, and you suddenly realize how much you were relying on it. No way to reach family or work, no access to your bank accounts or digital wallets, no social media, and in some cases, no way back to your accommodation because you don’t remember the address and have no GPS to guide you.

Losing your phone can genuinely put you at risk, or at least leave you far more exposed and slower to react. And a lot of that risk is avoidable with a bit of basic planning.

Something as simple as writing down important phone numbers, addresses, and basic information on paper can save your day — literally. It costs nothing and takes very little time: just save that information somewhere before you leave, ideally in more than one place.

The same logic applies to payment methods. Paying through an app or digitally is usually the fastest, most practical option, and it often means skipping currency exchange counters or banks altogether. That’s genuinely useful.

But it’s not smart to rely on a single option. Whenever I travel, I make sure to carry some cash for the unexpected. I also try to keep more than one digital wallet on my phone, not all of them visible on the home screen. I keep access to my bank accounts and wallets from my laptop too, in case one of those fails, and I carry physical cards as a backup for whenever digital payment doesn’t go through.

The reality is that every digital payment method — wallets or cards alike — is vulnerable to outages. It’s happened to me more than once, across different platforms. Having a backup isn’t overly cautious or paranoid; it’s just basic logistics that can save you a lot of trouble.

Sharing your plans

This is something many women already do automatically in everyday life. But while traveling, it matters even more.

Whether you’re heading out for a hike, going to a neighborhood farther from where you’re staying, or planning to come back late, it’s worth having at least one person know your plans for the day — and, if possible, roughly when you expect to be back. That could be someone from your family or friend group, but it’s also worth letting your accommodation know if there’s staff or a receptionist on site.

It’s also worth flagging if you don’t plan on returning that same night. Having worked in tourism myself, I know that a guest’s unexplained absence can cause real concern, and can even trigger emergency protocols without you knowing. A simple heads-up is enough — you don’t owe anyone an explanation, just a notice. And if plans change on the fly, it’s worth keeping an eye on your phone in case the accommodation tries to check in on you.

It’s not all precaution, either. Something I’ve noticed is that hotels and hostels tend to pay a bit more attention when a woman traveling alone checks in. In many cases, staff end up looking out for you a little more, often for the same reasons — real or assumed — that make people worry about solo travel in the first place.

For situations where you feel like you want an extra layer of security, you can also share your real-time location through apps like WhatsApp or whatever you normally use. There are even apps built specifically for this, offering continuous location sharing or panic buttons. It’s not about living on high alert — it’s about knowing simple tools exist for specific moments.

Rest and boundaries are safety too

As I mentioned earlier, traveling alone means staying more alert to your surroundings, and that takes energy. You’re out of your usual routine, walking more, moving through unfamiliar places, and taking in constant new stimuli. All of that adds up to fatigue — physical and mental.

In those moments, I try not to put myself in situations that demand a lot of attention. That doesn’t mean staying in or skipping things — it means adjusting what I do. I can still go out, explore, live a normal travel day, but I’ll avoid crowds, walking alone at night, or taking public transport during rush hour or in areas I don’t know well yet. Being tired doesn’t make you incapable, but it does slow down your reaction time, and that’s worth keeping in mind.

It’s also worth being clear about something: managing risk isn’t the same as traveling in fear. And traveling alone doesn’t mean traveling isolated. In fact, solo trips often lead to meeting people and building connections that last for years. It’s not about avoiding interactions — it’s about moving through them with judgment.

Two things matter here. The first is understanding that you don’t owe anyone friendliness. Many women — especially in Latin America — are raised to please, to soften, to connect through kindness even when what we actually mean is no. It’s rarely a conscious choice; it’s just deeply ingrained. And the problem is that, in trying not to seem rude, we sometimes stay in interactions that don’t feel comfortable.

The second is learning to recognize signals. Sometimes, in a place or with someone, a feeling shows up that’s hard to explain — something just doesn’t sit right. That’s not superstition or paranoia. It’s your brain and body processing information — gestures, tone, context — before you can consciously put it into words. Listening to that signal and stepping away from a situation is a valid decision, not an overreaction or a personal failure.

The bottom line

So, is solo travel actually dangerous?

The short answer is that traveling alone isn’t inherently more dangerous than traveling any other way — but it does mean operating under different conditions than your everyday life. The environment changes, your immediate support network changes, and so does how you respond when something unexpected happens.

The unease we often associate with solo travel doesn’t come from the destination itself. It comes from a combination of unfamiliarity, fatigue, and a reduced ability to respond. And that means most of the risk can be managed — through planning, logistics, and conscious decisions — without needing to travel from a place of fear or constant suspicion.

Traveling alone isn’t about isolating yourself or staying on guard all the time. It’s about learning to move with judgment, protecting your energy, relying on simple tools, and giving yourself permission to set boundaries when something feels off. It’s not about being brave or reckless — it’s about traveling informed, aware, and resourced.

And, above all, understanding that traveling doesn’t make you vulnerable by definition. It challenges you, sure. But it also trains you, strengthens you, and shows you — again and again — that you’re perfectly capable of moving through the world on your own terms.

I’ve thought more than once about settling in for a few months to work remotely and explore the Quebrada de Humahuaca properly. But something always holds me back: the towns and villages up there are very small. Transport isn’t as steady as it is in cities, accommodation is limited and tends to be pricier, and from what I’ve heard, wifi isn’t always reliable. With that picture, keeping up a work routine gets complicated.

Accepting that the Quebrada isn’t exactly nomad-friendly — and leaving that trip for another time — I think Salta is a strong option to consider for slow travel.

With that as a starting point, this guide covers what to do in Salta city and which day trips are worth it from a fixed base — built for traveling with more time, without packing up every day or rushing from place to place. It’s geared toward slow travel, but it also works if you’re planning a shorter trip and want a clear sense of what to see in the city and how to use Salta as a hub for exploring the Northwest.

Why Salta?

Because it’s a beautiful city, full of things to see, with an active cultural scene. There’s a reason locals call it La Linda. It’s well connected and easy to reach (including with low-cost flights), and its strategic location in the middle of the region makes it an ideal base for exploring the Northwest. From here you can visit other provinces and ecoregions on full-day trips, so it works perfectly as a home base for slow travel.

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Where to stay

If it’s your first time in Salta, I’d recommend staying within the historic center, close to Plaza 9 de Julio. Staying near the plaza puts the main historic sites, cultural centers, places to eat, and everything you need within easy reach — no need to depend on transport to get around.

And something practical: if you’re booking day tours, agencies usually only pick you up if you’re staying in this area. Otherwise, they’ll give you a meeting point. At 6 a.m., that becomes a real hassle.

Around the plaza there are hotels in every category (from luxury down to 2- and 3-star), apartments for longer stays, and well-located hostels.

I stayed at a hostel one block from the plaza and loved it. I went in low season, so it was quiet, and there were still travelers from all over the world. Salta gets international tourism year-round.

What to do in Salta

Salta has something for everyone: sites central to Argentine history, pre-Columbian art and culture, colonial architecture, folk music and dance, nature a short trip from the city… and wine and empanadas. What more do you need?

Historic center

Plaza 9 de Julio is the heart of the city and the logical starting point for getting your bearings. As in many colonial cities, the cathedral, the cabildo, some public buildings, and traditional cafés are all clustered around the plaza. Today you’ll also find several museums, confiterías, and classic restaurants here.

The free walking tour leaves from this point (I’d recommend searching “Free Walking Tour Salta” when you’re about to travel and checking the schedule). For me, it’s one of the best ways to get a first read on the city: someone tells you what you’re looking at, why it matters, and how it connects to local history. Afterward, with more time, you can go back on your own to whatever caught your interest.

High Mountain Archaeology Museum (MAAM)

For me, the number one must-see in Salta.

It’s right in the center, facing Plaza 9 de Julio, and it’s a short but intense museum. It holds archaeological pieces of enormous value and is a model when it comes to heritage preservation.

The museum’s best-known holdings are the Llullaillaco mummies — children who were part of Andean ritual practices, found at over 6,000 meters of altitude, in uniquely preserved conditions. The museum displays one mummy at a time, on rotation, and a lot of people come back three days in a row to see all of them.

I’d studied this topic in university and watched documentaries about it, but seeing it in person was striking.

Bring a light jacket. The room where they’re preserved is kept around 12°C (54°F) to protect them. Last time I went it was very hot outside, and I regretted not bringing something warm.

San Francisco Basilica and Convent

The San Francisco church is one of the most photographed buildings in Salta, and it’s easy to see why: its dark red neocolonial façade, white columns, and bell tower lit up at night make it instantly recognizable.

Beyond its architectural value, it holds a historic piece: the Independence Bell, cast from metal taken from weapons used by the Army of the North, tied to Manuel Belgrano’s campaigns through the region.

The last time I went, I was eating empanadas at a traditional spot right across the street when a bride showed up to take photos with the church as a backdrop. Between the lighting, the dress, and the colonial architecture, the scene was impossible to ignore. That’s where one of my favorite photos of Salta came from.

Cable car and Cerro San Bernardo

A classic, easy activity. The cable car departs from Parque San Martín and climbs to the top of the hill, where you’ll find:

• viewpoints over the Lerma Valley
• walking trails
• a small botanical garden with local flora
• bars and terraces

You can go up by cable car, on foot (short but steep trail), or by car. To come back down, you can also rent a bike.

In recent years a new cable car section was added connecting the summit to another part of the hill, Teleférico Ala Delta, which links the top with another section of the hill and offers more panoramic views. That area also offers paragliding flights, which are easy to book.

Parque San Martín

The cable car departs from this park, which is also nice for walking. There’s a lake, paddle boats, and a fair selling crafts and local sweets. Among those sweets, I’d recommend trying honey and coca leaf candies, very common in the region, which help quite a bit if you’re heading somewhere at altitude.

One tip on crafts: you’ll often find similar — and sometimes nicer — pieces in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, usually cheaper too. If you’re planning to visit Humahuaca or another small town, you might want to buy there instead.

Food

Salteñas (Salta-style empanadas) are famous across Argentina: thin dough, smaller size, knife-cut beef, and a distinctive touch of seasoning. Spice is usually optional — they bring it on the side.

Within the local variety, at La Salteñería you can also try potosinas, a larger Bolivian-style version filled with chicken, potato, onion, and olives, with a slightly sweet dough that sets them apart.

It’s also worth trying tamales and humitas, two Northwest classics that are done very well in Salta.

And about empanadas, I’ll say it plainly: the best ones I had were at an old spot right across from the entrance to the San Francisco church. It doesn’t show up on Google Maps, but if you walk by the church, you’ll recognize it right away.

Viracocha is an interesting place for its concept and for its craft beer made with coca leaves. I tried it and liked it, and ended up drinking IPAs afterward with some Viennese friends I’d met on the walking tour. Good atmosphere, good service, and flavors you don’t run into elsewhere.

Folk music venues (peñas)

Peñas are a living part of Salta’s culture: live music, zambas, dancing, traditional food, and a very local atmosphere.

The three most popular:

• La Vieja Estación (classic and touristy, but always delivers)
• La Casona del Molino (more local, shared tables, spontaneous musicians)
• Peña Balderrama (historic, part of Argentine folk tradition)

If you’re not Argentine, keep in mind that dinner happens late: many peñas start around 10 p.m.

Day trips from Salta: landscapes, culture, and different ways to see the north

Toward Jujuy

Several full-day trips leave Salta for the province of Jujuy. The two most common routes share the first stop — Purmamarca — and then split:

• one continues to Salinas Grandes
• the other goes deeper into the Quebrada de Humahuaca: Tilcara and Humahuaca

Both are worth doing, but they offer very different experiences.

Purmamarca

The entire Quebrada de Humahuaca is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Purmamarca is one of its most iconic towns: a market on the plaza, adobe streets, multicolored hills, and the classic postcard view of the Cerro de los Siete Colores (a natural monument).

You’ll most likely arrive early and have somewhere between 40 minutes and an hour. That’s not much time, but it’s enough if you use it well.

The first thing I’d recommend doing on arrival is, right inside the bus terminal, going up a small staircase that leads to a terrace with an excellent view of the town. It’s worth doing as soon as you get off the bus, because if several tours arrive at once, it fills up fast and there can be a line for photos.

From there you’ll see the giant letters spelling out Purmamarca, the Cerro de los Siete Colores, and part of the town behind it. It’s the best photo spot, and faster than the more famous viewpoint guides usually point you to.

After that, you can walk to the plaza, browse the crafts market, step into the town church, and grab a tortilla al rescoldo — a local flatbread, perfect for breakfast. It’s also worth just sitting for a bit and taking in the atmosphere, which is genuinely special.

There are hikes to the base of the hill and to a lookout point, but with the excursion’s limited time, you’ll have to pick. I prioritize the plaza, the market, some food, and the church.

Salinas Grandes

After Purmamarca, the route continues north, crossing the Cuesta de Lipán until you reach Salinas Grandes, a massive salt flat in the middle of the altiplano.

Along the way you pass through very different landscapes: you leave the valley in Salta, cross transitional jungle, enter a more arid canyon environment, and suddenly arrive at a white plain that seems endless.

The salt flat is extremely photogenic. You can get striking photos playing with perspective and with the reflections in the water pools when there are any. It’s a trip that tends to appeal to people who enjoy wide-open landscapes and scenery that looks like another planet.

That said, if you’re more drawn to the cultural side and the history of the north, you’ll probably connect more with the other option: the route into the Quebrada de Humahuaca.

Both Salinas Grandes and the Train to the Clouds reach significant altitude. It’s common for agencies to recommend altitude pills, or the more local option, chewing coca leaves — easy to find at markets and kiosks.

The full Quebrada de Humahuaca (Tilcara + Humahuaca)

The other option after Purmamarca is to continue through the Quebrada de Humahuaca. For me, this is the more interesting choice if you want to understand the region, its towns, and its identity a bit better.

The whole quebrada is a cultural corridor with a strong presence of Indigenous communities, Quechua influence, and stretches that were once part of the old Inca Road. Even outside Carnival season, you’ll likely hear about the festival, the comparsas, and local traditions — enough that a lot of people want to come back just for that.

Tilcara

The tour passes through, but there isn’t real time to visit the museum (very thorough) or the Pucará de Tilcara archaeological site. These are places that deserve hours, which is why they don’t fit into a one-day tour.

One alternative is the new tourist train that connects towns along the quebrada — I personally found it expensive, but it’s an option. Another is going on your own by local bus: it’s not very visible online, but it exists. At the bus terminal, or by asking locals, you’ll find schedules.

Humahuaca

The first stop is at a local eatery serving traditional dishes, including llama or goat stew. Few options, but tasty and very affordable.

The tour usually adds a really nice touch: a local guide gets on the bus as soon as you arrive, telling you about the town’s history, traditions, Carnival, and Andean identity in the region. I loved that part. They’re trained professionals from the city’s public institute, and their participation — with voluntary financial contributions from passengers — is part of local development, since it’s a direct source of income for the community.

Beyond explaining the history and traditions of the place, they usually walk the group from the eatery, past the church, to the plaza and the Monument to the Heroes of Independence.

At the plaza, you’ll find the typical market, where crafts are cheaper than in Salta: clothing and textiles, ceramics, instruments, and more.

On the way back, arriving in Maimará, you’ll see the Paleta del Pintor (Painter’s Palette), a multicolored formation framing the town. There’s usually a photo stop from the road — one of the prettiest views of the trip.

Cachi, via the Cuesta del Obispo and Los Cardones National Park

The road to Cachi is one of the most varied in the region. In just a few hours, you pass through completely different environments.

The day I went, the morning started in fog and mountain jungle. Climbing the Cuesta del Obispo, the landscape opened up completely: a sea of clouds below, green mountains above.

Something that always strikes me about the yungas is how clearly the vegetation and color shift as the altitude increases — like watching, in real time, those layers we used to talk about in heritage studies class.

Further on, the surroundings change again, and a dry, bright valley appears, full of giant cardón cacti: Los Cardones National Park.

Along the way, there’s usually a stop at a stand selling nuts, sweets, cheese, and local spices. The area is well known for its paprika — if you like cooking, it’s worth bringing a small bag home.

Tip: bring cash. Signal tends to be weak, and most of these spots don’t take cards.

Arriving in Cachi, the tour leaves time for:

• a relaxed lunch
• walking around the plaza
• visiting the Pío Pablo Díaz Archaeological Museum (I managed to see it all without rushing)
• walking through the crafts fair

I had a stuffed pepper paired with a local wine, and it was one of the best lunches of the trip. I’d also recommend the artisanal ice cream in regional flavors: algarrobo (carob), tuna (prickly pear), and vino patero (a local wine-based flavor).

It’s a full-day trip: we left around 6:30 a.m. and got back to Salta around 8 p.m., with the same bus dropping us off at our accommodation.

Tafí del Valle

Tafí del Valle has a different microclimate: greener, more humid, and cooler than other parts of the north. It’s a good option if you’re drawn to valley landscapes, archaeology, and high-altitude wines.

One of the highlights is visiting the park where the menhires are gathered — stone pieces carved by pre-Hispanic cultures. You can walk among them and take in the different shapes and motifs.

The area has small wineries and producers. Some tours include a high-altitude wine tasting, or a stop at places that also make cheese and other regional products.

Along the way, there’s usually a stop at the bridge where one of the short films from “Relatos Salvajes” (Wild Tales) was shot (El más fuerte). For anyone who’s seen the movie, it’s a nice nod and a good photo moment.

Train to the Clouds

The Train to the Clouds (Tren a las Nubes) is one of the most iconic experiences in northern Argentina. Today it runs as a combined bus-and-train route, with the best-known rail section at the impressive La Polvorilla Viaduct, where the landscape opens up and the scale of the structure really hits you.

The main appeal is the engineering of the route: the train gains altitude gradually, including zigzag maneuvers and reverse sections to handle steep grades. The puna landscape is immense, and the sense of altitude is real.

As with Salinas, altitude is felt here. It’s common to recommend chewing coca leaves or using other strategies to ease altitude discomfort, especially if you’re not used to it.

In recent years, there have also been themed trips for special dates: decorated departures for St. Patrick’s Day with beer on board, or Valentine’s Day trips where couples get married during the ride.

Beyond the trip itself, the train has an impact on several local communities, which partly sustain themselves by selling food and crafts to passengers arriving at the stations. It’s another example of how tourism, when managed well, can help keep these towns alive.

How to combine the day trips

There’s no single way to see the Argentine north. Each excursion shows a different side of the region.

My suggestion is to combine at least one trip toward Jujuy and one toward the Calchaquí Valleys. From there, depending on budget, energy, time, and how you’re feeling, the Train to the Clouds can be a third experience to round out the picture.

It’s not about fitting in every possible activity, but about choosing the ones that genuinely add to your trip and doing them at your own pace.

Conclusion

Salta works especially well when you think of it as a base, not just another stop along the way. It’s a city that lets you stay, get around comfortably, get to know its history and everyday life, and at the same time head out to explore some of the most iconic landscapes of northern Argentina — without changing accommodation every day.

Using it as a base doesn’t mean doing every possible excursion or sticking to a fixed itinerary. On the contrary: it lets you choose, mix longer trips with quiet days in the city, and adapt the route to the time and energy you have on a given trip. Whether you’re staying for several weeks or just a few days, Salta offers that balance between a livable city and a gateway into the Northwest.

There’s no single way to see the Argentine north. But if you’re looking to get to know the region with more breathing room, without rushing from place to place, and with the chance to go deeper into what genuinely interests you, Salta is one of the best decisions you can make to start — and to always come back to.

Where I stayed in Salta

During my stay in Salta, I stayed at Ferienhaus Hostel Salta, a pleasant, well-located hostel just one block from Plaza 9 de Julio. They offer both shared dorm beds and private rooms, and the staff were always very friendly. It felt like a solid base for staying several days in the city — [here’s the Booking link] so you can check availability and prices.

That framing undersells it significantly.

Ecuador ranked 15th globally in tourism growth in 2025, with international arrivals to Quito up over 10% year-on-year — and climbing. The city is actively repositioning itself, showing up at major travel trade fairs and launching its first serious international campaigns. Something is shifting.

Spending over a month here, talking to hundreds of international travelers, the pattern is consistent: almost nobody came to Quito first. The people here are experienced — slow travelers, digital nomads, people already months into a Latin America trip. Many stay longer than they planned.

I came from the Colombian border on a surprisingly cheap bus, without much of a plan and without high expectations. I’m still here — and leaving is proving harder than expected.

Why Quito works for slow travel

Quito is a big Latin American city — markets, traffic, noise, the kind of organized disorder that’s just part of moving through this part of the world. That’s worth saying clearly, because it shapes everything else.

What’s less expected is how functional it feels for its size. Walkable in the right neighborhoods, easy enough to navigate, with a pace that doesn’t demand to be consumed quickly. It’s not as loud as Colombia. The traffic is nowhere near Lima. For a city of two million people, it’s reasonably orderly — and that balance matters when you’re staying somewhere for weeks, not days.

The altitude takes care of the first couple of days anyway. You slow down whether you plan to or not.

What sustains a longer stay is that the city has enough layers to keep revealing itself gradually. Different neighborhoods with different registers — the colonial center for walking and looking up, La Floresta for cafés and creative energy, La Carolina for parks and practicality. Enough cultural depth to fill weeks without a checklist. And a cost of living low enough that the financial pressure of staying longer simply doesn’t exist the way it does in other cities.

Quito also works as a base. The geography of Ecuador means that cloud forests, volcanoes, indigenous markets and hot springs are all within a few hours. You can spend a weekday working, a weekend somewhere completely different, and return without the logistics eating your week.

That combination — functional city, real cultural depth, low cost, easy access to nature — is what slow travel actually needs. Not a single spectacular attraction, but a place that sustains a rhythm over time.

Quito does that quietly, without making a lot of noise about it.

Planning a long stay: Quito as a base

Ecuador is a small country, and Quito works well as a slow travel base precisely because of it. From the city, a range of smaller nature destinations are within a few hours — some manageable as a day trip, others worth dedicating a few nights.

Mindo

Two hours from Quito, the contrast is immediate. The dry air of the city gives way to a humid, warm cloud forest environment — dense, green, and surprisingly close. It rains often in Mindo, mostly at night, while mornings and afternoons tend to be clear. The town is small and safe to move around alone.

The area is best known for wildlife and adventure activities, and it earns that reputation. Birdwatching is the standout — the region has four species of toucan, and the dawn tour to the cock-of-the-rock viewing deck is something else: a bird endemic to the area, doing its mating display at first light. On the same tour, a quetzal. There are also dedicated birding spots where you can hand-feed hummingbirds, with observation towers and feeding stations. The butterfly houses are worth a visit, and the night walk covers a different side of the ecosystem — glass frogs, arachnids, reptiles, species that don’t show up during the day.

For the more active, there are trails, waterfalls, and adventure options: tubing, fishing, four-tracks (though Ecuatorians call them cuatrimotos), cycling.

On the same route sits one of Ecuador’s most visited landmarks: La Mitad del Mundo, the monument marking the equatorial line, about an hour from Quito. The exact location is somewhat debated, but the site has a tourist complex, on-site museums, and the experience of standing on the line that divides the planet in two.

Otavalo

About two hours north of Quito, Otavalo is home to the largest indigenous market in Latin America. The Plaza de los Ponchos runs every day, but Saturdays are when it takes over the surrounding streets entirely — textiles, crafts, and produce from the Otavaleño communities, a people with a weaving tradition that predates the Inca. The town sits in a valley surrounded by volcanoes and crater lakes worth exploring if you stay more than a day.

Cotopaxi

Less than two hours south of Quito, Cotopaxi is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world, sitting at 5,897 meters with a permanently snow-capped summit. The national park around it is the main draw — open highland landscape, Andean wildlife, and the kind of cold, clear air that feels different from the city. Hiking and mountain biking are the most popular activities; those with experience and proper preparation can attempt the summit with a guide.

Quilotoa

About two and a half hours from Quito, Quilotoa is a volcanic crater lake at 3,900 meters, with water that shifts between green and turquoise depending on the light. The descent into the crater is doable but the climb back up is genuinely demanding at that altitude — worth knowing before you go. From the rim there are views over the surrounding Andean highlands. The Quilotoa Loop is a multi-day trek connecting the villages around the crater for those who want more than a day visit.

Baños

Three and a half to four hours from Quito, Baños sits at the foot of the active Tungurahua volcano and marks the gateway to the Amazon. The town is known for adventure sports — rafting, bungee jumping, canyoning, zip-lining — and for its thermal baths fed by the volcano. A road out of town follows a route of waterfalls, the most visited being El Pailón del Diablo.

What things actually cost in Quito

Quito is one of the more affordable cities in the region — and the quality holds up.

Accommodation is one of the better deals around. A bed in a good hostel runs under $10 a night. A private room in the same category stays under $30. For anyone thinking longer term, furnished apartments are available from around $600 a month in most neighborhoods — in Bellavista, one of the most upscale areas of the city, expect to pay around $800.

Food follows the same logic. The menú del día — a set lunch with soup, main, and sometimes juice — costs around $3 at most local places, and it’s genuinely good. That’s not a compromise option — it’s how a lot of people eat every day. A coffee and a slice of cake at a nice café runs around $5. On the other end, a dinner for two at a proper restaurant with dessert and drinks lands around $80 at the higher end. That’s the ceiling, not the average. 

Getting around is straightforward and inexpensive. Uber and DiDi both operate here — a 30-minute ride averages around $6. The metro is worth mentioning separately: it’s only two years old, clean, and costs $0.45 per trip. You buy a ticket at any station — no card needed.

Long-distance buses from Quito are remarkably cheap. The ride from the Colombian border at Tulcán -about 7 hours- costs $6. Mindo, the cloud forest town about two hours away, is $3.60. Day tours to nearby destinations run around $50 with everything included — specific activities like birdwatching or rafting independently come out closer to $20.

One exception: clothing. Electronics, souvenirs, and most imported goods are reasonably priced. But fast fashion brands — H&M and the like — are a different story. Prices match what you’d pay in Europe, and in some cases more than in the US. Noticeably more expensive than Peru, for example. Not a dealbreaker, but worth knowing if you’re staying long enough to need anything from a high street store. 

Ecuadorian Food: What to eat in Quito 

Ecuadorian food doesn’t have the international reputation of Peruvian cuisine. It shares ingredients and influences with its neighbors. But it has its own identity — and it’s genuinely good.

Soups are a good place to start. Locro, encebollado, a whole range of hearty, cheap, well-seasoned options that show up everywhere. Ecuador also has its own version of ceviche — different from the Peruvian one, but it holds its own.

Being the capital, Quito also concentrates what the whole country has to offer — typical dishes, influences and ingredients from the coast, the sierra, and the Amazon all find their way here.

Breakfast deserves its own mention. Tigrillo — mashed green plantain, usually served with meat or egg and cheese — is one of those dishes that’s easy to become a regular. Bolón de plátano is in the same family. Then there are quimbolitos, sweet tamale-like parcels wrapped in corn husks, and muchín, a fried yuca cake. Bread and cheese are notably good here, which anyone coming from Colombia will appreciate immediately.

Markets are where the food gets most interesting. The centro is full of small spots selling almuerzo and breakfast from early morning. Street food is worth paying attention to — the pernil sandwich, slow-roasted pork, is a classic. So is the higo and cheese sandwich — a typical combination that works surprisingly well outside of its usual context.

For drinks: canelazo is the one to know. Not the Colombian version — this is a hot spiced drink made with naranjilla, heavily spiked, and exactly what the cool Quito evenings call for. On the other end of the night, a pincho from a street cart costs $2 and is hard to beat.

Ecuador is also the world’s leading exporter of fine-flavor cacao — the most sought-after variety. The coffee is good too. The chocolate industry hasn’t fully developed around that raw material yet, so you won’t find many artisan chocolatiers — but the chocolate bars here stand out in variety, flavor, and price.

Cash, cards, and the $100 bill problem

Ecuador dollarized over 25 years ago as a way to stabilize its economy — and from a pricing standpoint, it worked. Costs are stable in a way that’s rare in the region. But using USD here doesn’t work exactly like it does in the US.

One curious detail: for obvious reasons, Ecuador doesn’t issue bills. But it does mint its own coins, which circulate alongside standard US coins. The $1 bill is rarely seen here — it’s almost always a coin.

For store purchases, cash and card both work fine. Markets and street vendors run on cash. There’s also a local transfer payment system widely used among residents, but it requires an Ecuadorian bank account — inaccessible for most travelers and not worth pursuing.

Then there’s the $100 bill situation.

I arrived with my USD cash already feeling smug about skipping the exchange rate math. What I didn’t realize until much later is that nobody wanted my hundreds. Hand one over and people react like the bill is coated in mercury.

Turns out counterfeit $100s circulate heavily here, and depositing one at a bank requires a sworn declaration of its origin. Virtually nobody accepts them.

The solution, after some tension and a lot of fruitless attempts: the Banco Central. They’ll exchange them fast — just don’t forget your passport.

Geography, altitude, and what to actually expect from the weather

The logical assumption about a city 25 kilometers from the equator is that it’s warm. It isn’t.

Altitude changes everything. Quito sits at 2,850 meters above sea level — which makes it, technically, the highest capital city in Latin America. La Paz is higher, but Bolivia considers Sucre its official capital. We’ll let them have that one.

At that altitude, the air is thinner, the temperature drops, and the weather does something locals describe as having four seasons in a single day. After enough time here, the pattern becomes readable: mornings tend to be sunny, then sometime after midday clouds move in, and rain is likely — sometimes a proper storm, sometimes nothing. Even on a beautiful clear morning, a light layer is never a bad idea. The sun won’t last.

For anyone coming from a place with actual seasons, the strange part is the consistency. The weather doesn’t change much month to month — only hour to hour. As someone from Patagonia, that still doesn’t quite compute. What does feel familiar is the street scene: people in shorts and people in winter jackets, both perfectly correct, both walking the same block.

The altitude also affects the body in ways that aren’t immediately obvious. Heart rate runs higher here — a smartwatch will confirm it quickly. Stairs become a project. Exercise feels harder than it should. It’s just the plain old lack of oxygen, but it’s one of those facts that sounds implausible until you’re out of breath climbing to the second floor.

Long-term residents who weren’t born here end up with a higher red blood cell count — the body’s quiet, hyper-efficient adaptation to the conditions. A reminder that the city is changing your biology whether you notice or not.

One more thing worth mentioning, and easy to overlook: the sky. On a clear night — rare, but it happens — and from the right spot, Quito sits at a latitude where both the Southern Cross and the Big Dipper are visible. For anyone who grew up in the southern hemisphere watching the Southern Cross high overhead, seeing it low on the horizon here, just off to the side, is quietly disorienting. In a good way.

What to see and do in Quito

Quito doesn’t have a single landmark that justifies a flight on its own. What it has is density — a concentration of heritage, art, and cultural layers that takes time to work through, and rewards it.

The historic center is the obvious starting point, and it earns the attention. It was the first site in the world declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The architecture spans neo-baroque, neoclassical and neo-gothic styles, sometimes within a single block. But what makes it distinctive isn’t the European influences — it’s what happened to them here.

The Quito School refers to the artistic tradition that developed in the city during the colonial period — religious art and sculpture produced under Spanish influence but shaped by indigenous and mestizo culture. The syncretism is visible everywhere in the historic center once you know to look: local faces on saints, Andean flora in ornamental details, Catholic iconography that absorbed what it couldn’t erase. The Sagrario, next to the Cathedral, is one of the better places to see it up close. That same syncretism is what makes the 17th-century Last Supper in the nearby Convento de San Diego land the way it does — Jesus and the apostles eating cuy, humitas and chicha.

The Pre-Columbian Art Museum also has a presence in the historic center, as do artisans working with ancestral techniques — less as cultural display, more as actual trade.

Not everything is the historic center — two landmarks punctuate the city from above. The Virgen del Panecillo — a large aluminum statue of the Virgin Mary — sits on the hill that rises over the historic center and is visible from most of the city. The TelefériQo cable car climbs to over 4,000 meters on the slopes of Pichincha volcano, with views over the entire city and, on a clear day, several of the surrounding volcanoes.

Guayasamín is probably Ecuador’s most internationally recognized painter. In the Bellavista neighborhood, a single entrance gives access to the Capilla del Hombre — a museum dedicated to his work — and his house-museum next door. The neighborhood also has some of the best viewpoints over the city.

The more modern neighborhoods have their own architectural interest — brutalist buildings show up in notable numbers — and are well connected by the metro, barely two years old. Locals say it was inspired by the Madrid system, and going back with that in mind it holds up: one station in particular is strikingly similar to Príncipe Pío.

La Carolina is a large park in the middle of the city. Further out, in quieter and more residential neighborhoods, there’s plenty of space to walk and spend time without much going on around you.

Where to stay in Quito: a personal recommendation

For anyone staying in the historic center — which I’d recommend — Viajeros Quito is where I’ve been for the past six weeks, and I have no complaints worth mentioning.

It’s a large colonial house, which sets the tone: high ceilings, a patio, a terrace, coworking spaces. The location puts you within walking distance of most of what the historic center has to offer, and La Ronda — one of the better streets in the city for typical food and nightlife — is literally around the corner. The neighborhood gets quieter at night and it’s worth being sensible, but it hasn’t been an issue.

The hostel runs daily activities and has enough common space — bar, restaurant, pool table — that socializing happens without effort. Tours are offered at good prices. The atmosphere is genuinely relaxed without being the kind of place that makes you feel like you have to participate.

On the practical side: the rooms are comfortable even at the cheaper end, the mattresses are good, and there are enough bathrooms — which is where a lot of hostels quietly fail. The one thing missing is a shared kitchen, but with a neighborhood this well stocked with cheap, good food, it’s hard to argue it matters much.

The best rate I found for staying here was on Booking.com. 

The assumption is always the same: hostels are for 22-year-olds on a gap year, people sleeping in 12-bed dorms, going out every night, moving on after three days. If you’re older, if you work remotely, if you’re trying to stay somewhere for a month — the assumption is that hostels aren’t really for you anymore.

I’ve been living and traveling slowly across Latin America for two years. I stay almost exclusively in hostels. And the number of times I’ve had to explain that no, it’s not because I can’t afford anything else — is more than I can count.

Over time, I’ve realized I don’t really think of hostels as accommodation anymore. They’re infrastructure.

For me, they’re not just a bed. They’re a place to meet people without forcing it, a source of information about where I am and where I’m going next, a workspace, a social life, and a flexible base that lets me decide whether I want to stay somewhere for three days or three months.

That doesn’t mean they’re the right choice for everyone. There’s no single way to do slow travel or nomadic life. The setup that works for you depends on your work, your personality, and what you’re actually looking for in a place. Anyone telling you there’s a formula is selling something.

Everyone builds their own system

There’s no single way to do slow travel or nomadic life. The setup that works for you depends on your work, your personality, and what you’re actually looking for in a place. Anyone telling you there’s a formula is selling something.

In my case, I teach Spanish online. That means I need quiet spaces at specific times for classes — but also that a lot of my other work can happen in more flexible environments. That combination matters. Someone who spends six hours a day on back-to-back video calls would probably find my setup unsustainable. I’d find theirs equally unbearable. Neither is wrong.

The point is: the accommodation question isn’t just about price or comfort. It’s about what your day actually looks like — and what kind of environment makes that day work.

Why hostels — and it’s not the price

Yes, hostels are cheaper. That’s part of the equation. But if I’m being honest, it’s not the main reason I choose them.

The social infrastructure

Staying alone in an Airbnb or a hotel is fine for a night or two. For weeks or months, it can get isolating in a way that sneaks up on you. When I first started traveling, I stayed more in private apartments. The space was quiet, the setup was comfortable — and I’d sometimes go entire days without speaking to anyone. Not because I was introverted, but because the structure of the place didn’t give me a reason to interact with anyone.

Hostels solve that without requiring you to make an effort. You run into people in the kitchen, in the common area, on the way to breakfast. You don’t need to plan social time — it just happens. On a day when I’ve been working for six hours and my brain is done, the difference between walking into a common room where there are people versus walking into a silent apartment is real.

The networking that nobody plans for

This one surprised me more than anything else when I started doing this. Hostels are full of people with wildly different skills who are generally willing to share them — especially in a context where they’re not in a rush and have no particular agenda.

I’ve had someone walk me through my ads strategy over a beer. I’ve traded Spanish classes for design work. I’ve gotten recommendations, connections, and useful information about places I was headed — from people who had just been there. None of that was planned. It just happens when you’re around people who are doing interesting things and have time to talk.

The infrastructure

This one tends to get overlooked: hostels in Latin America are often better equipped for remote work than private accommodation in the same price range. Common areas that are actually designed for spending time in, coworking-style tables, reliable Wi-Fi that’s been tested by hundreds of people before you arrived. And they tend to be well located — central neighborhoods, close to what’s actually happening in the city.

Availability and price stability

Hostels almost never sell out completely, and the rates don’t move the way short-term rentals do. That matters more than it sounds. It means I don’t have to commit to a month in a place before I know if I like it. It means I can extend without negotiating. It means I’m not locked into anything — which, when you’re traveling slowly and your plans are flexible by design, is worth a lot.

The party hostel myth

When people imagine a hostel in Latin America, they picture something specific: a bar, loud music, a crowd of backpackers, everyone nursing a hangover at noon.

That exists. But in my experience, it’s not the default — and it’s also not as incompatible with working as people assume.

Most hostels are quiet during the day. Guests are out. The common areas are calm. Even in places that do have a bar or run evening events, there’s usually somewhere else to be if you don’t want to be in the middle of it. A hostel that’s lively at night and workable during the day is not a contradiction.

And even the social side of it — the events, the shared dinners, the people hanging around in the evening — is opt-in. Nobody is making you participate. But having the option there, without planning anything, is the part that makes the difference on the days when you want it.

But is it actually sustainable?

Short answer: yes. Longer answer: it depends on how you manage it, and honestly, there isn’t that much to manage.

Shared living means sharing space with people who aren’t always thinking about anyone else — but that’s true of any living situation, not a hostel-specific problem. And travelers, in my experience, generally aren’t looking for conflict. If something bothers you, you say something, and most of the time that’s the end of it.

What actually surprises people, I think, is how much the staff changes things. The longer you stay somewhere, the more you stop being a guest and start being part of the place. At the hostel I’m in now — going on six weeks — I’ve heard the staff introduce me to new arrivals as if I live there, as if I’m part of the furniture. They check in if you’ve been out for more than a day. If you’re a woman traveling alone, that kind of low-key attention is worth something.

The real tradeoffs: Kitchens vs. Restaurants 

There are real tradeoffs. I miss having a kitchen — cooking is part of my routine, and a shared one isn’t quite the same. The hostel I’m in now has a restaurant instead, so there’s not even that. I deal with it by mixing: sometimes I move to a place that has one for a while, then go back to something like this. You rarely find a hostel that checks every box at once, and at some point you stop looking for it.

When things go sideways (The puzzle incident) 

And there are moments that test you. Last month someone decided that the coworking table I’d essentially adopted — complete with a 1000-piece puzzle I was about halfway through — was a good place to hook up. They knocked everything over and broke my mug. I went to reception, they checked the cameras, found the people responsible, and asked them to leave. I got reimbursed for everything, plus a little extra. It’s not that nothing goes wrong. It’s that a well-run hostel has ways to deal with it.

When something does get to me — someone waking me up, something going sideways — I have a mantra I come back to: “Nati, you chose to be here.” Not to dismiss whatever just happened, but to put it in context. Sometimes it’s even simpler: “you don’t have to wake up early tomorrow anyway.”

On theft and perspective 

And on theft — because everyone asks: in six countries and more hostels than I can count, I once lost a perfume I’d left on my bed. That’s the full list. I’m careful with things that matter, but I’m not paranoid about it. Plenty of stuff has lived outside my locker without going anywhere.

How to actually choose one

Not all hostels work the same way, and choosing well is most of the work.

I use Booking as my starting point. The first filter is neighborhood — being well located matters more than almost anything else for slow travel. Then price range. From there, I look at the beds. I used to filter by the number of beds in a dorm — smaller felt safer. I don’t do that anymore. What I look for now is capsule-style beds. It doesn’t matter much if the dorm is full; capsule setups tend to be more comfortable and give you enough of a boundary to actually sleep, regardless of what time your dorm-mates come in.

After that, I look at the photos for common areas and workspaces. A hostel with good communal spaces usually functions better as a base.

Reviews matter, but with some calibration. Wi-Fi score is the one I check specifically — it’s the most useful signal for remote work. The rest of the reviews I read with a bit of distance. Someone leaving one star because the hostel was “too social” is telling me something different than someone complaining about cleanliness or broken showers.

Once I have a shortlist, I search on Google and cross-check on Hostelworld. Sometimes there’s a price difference. Usually Booking is cheaper, but it’s worth the two minutes.

The thing is: even with all of that, you won’t really know until you get there. The vibe of a hostel depends heavily on who’s staying there at that particular moment — and that changes constantly. A place that was perfect two months ago can feel completely different now, and vice versa.

The 2-3 night rule

I almost never book more than two or three nights upfront, especially somewhere new.

It’s enough time to get a real sense of the place — the energy, the noise levels, the internet in practice versus on paper, whether the people there are someone I want to be around for a while. If it works, I extend. If it doesn’t, I haven’t committed to three weeks somewhere that isn’t right.

Hostels make this possible in a way that other options usually don’t. The rates don’t spike because you’re booking last minute. The availability is almost always there. You can make the decision based on actual information rather than on hope.

That flexibility — the ability to stay or go based on what you find when you arrive — is one of the most underrated advantages of building your travel system around hostels. Not having to decide in advance how long you want to be somewhere is a very good way to end up staying exactly as long as you should.

And yet, almost everything written about solo female travel skips over that entirely. The destination guides, the safety listicles, the “top tips for women traveling alone” — none of it starts with the actual reason most women are out there: because traveling is enjoyable, because seeing new places feels good, because moving through the world on your own terms is one of the better things you can do with your time.

Instead, the conversation always circles back to safety. Two-destination guides for “women who dare to travel Latin America.” Warnings before recommendations. Courage before pleasure.

According to Hostelworld’s 2025 State of Solo Travel report, 60% of solo travelers identify as female. Anyone spending time in hostels across Latin America would tell you that tracks — in most places I’ve stayed, women traveling alone aren’t the exception. They’re the majority. They’re not there because they overcame a fear. They’re there because they decided to go.

That’s the story. And it’s barely ever told.

What the data says about safety and solo female travel

Women do worry about safety more than men when it comes to solo travel. The same Hostelworld report shows that 55% of women cite safety as a concern, compared to 18% of men. That gap is real and worth acknowledging.

But here’s what’s worth looking at more closely: less than 2% of solo travelers say they don’t feel confident enough to travel alone. The worry exists, but it doesn’t stop people — and it shouldn’t.

When I looked for data specifically on violence against women while traveling, I didn’t find much. There are no widely available statistics linking tourism to increased rates of gender-based violence. What research does show — including data from the World Health Organization — is that most violence against women happens in close, familiar environments: within families, in relationships, in workplaces. Not in hostels in Medellín or on overnight buses in Peru.

What traveling does change is your context, not your baseline risk. You’re further from your usual support network. You’re navigating unfamiliar environments. Your ability to respond quickly to something unexpected is reduced — not because you’re less capable, but because you have less information. That’s the real issue, and it’s something that can be managed with logistics and preparation — not with fear.

The framing problem

There’s a phrase I hear constantly when I share what I do or where I’ve been: “You did that alone? You’re so brave.”

I understand where it comes from. But it implies that doing something ordinary — taking a bus, staying in a hostel, walking around a city — requires extraordinary courage when you’re a woman. It doesn’t. It requires the same things it requires for anyone: some planning, common sense, and a reasonable awareness of your surroundings.

There are two narratives that shape almost everything written about solo female travel — and both get in the way.

The safety narrative

Heavy on warnings, light on everything else. It treats women as people who need to be talked into something, rather than people who have already decided and are looking for practical information. It’s infantilizing — and it’s also, as we’ve seen, not especially grounded in data.

The safety tips that show up in every guide for solo female travelers — read reviews before booking, meet people in public places, share your location, don’t walk alone late at night, watch your pockets — I do all of those things. I’ve been doing them my whole life, in my own city, with people I know. Every woman I know does. When a friend goes on a date, we tell her to text when she gets home — not because she’s traveling, just because that’s what we do. None of that is travel advice. It’s just being a woman in the world.

The transformation narrative

Solo travel as a spiritual awakening. The trip that changed everything. Content that makes it sound like you need to be halfway to becoming a Buddhist monk before you’re ready to book a flight alone. This one is subtler but just as limiting — because it sets up an expectation that every solo trip should be profound, that you should come back a different person, that anything less than a life-changing experience means you did it wrong.

Travel does change you sometimes. But not on a schedule, and not in the way you expect. It happens quietly, sideways, usually in a moment you weren’t paying attention to. You can’t plan for it or force it — and the trips where you’re waiting for the transformation are often the ones where it doesn’t come.

Most women traveling solo aren’t looking for either of those things anyway. They’re not white-knuckling through a dangerous adventure, and they’re not on a vision quest. They booked a trip because they wanted to go somewhere. That’s it. And somewhere in between the safety warnings and the transformation arc, that simple fact gets completely lost.

The Hostelworld data makes the actual picture clearer. Women traveling solo aren’t a vulnerable group reluctantly venturing out — they are the solo travel demographic. They’re also, according to the same report, more likely than men to step outside their comfort zone (60% vs 43%), more likely to experience mental refresh (47% vs 37%), and more driven by self-discovery. Solo travel, for most of the women doing it, is not a survival exercise or a spiritual retreat. It’s an intentional choice — and often, just a really good time.

What actually matters when traveling alone

Whether you’re a woman or not, traveling solo in Latin America involves a specific set of logistics that are worth taking seriously — not out of fear, but out of common sense.

The things that make a real difference are mostly unglamorous: knowing which neighborhood you’re staying in before you arrive, having a plan for getting from the airport to your accommodation, keeping more than one payment method on hand, not making decisions when you’re exhausted after a long travel day.

Being a woman adds one specific layer: navigating situations where you’re receiving attention you didn’t ask for, and learning to respond to it on your own terms. That’s real. But it’s also something most women have been navigating their entire lives — in cities they know well, with people they see every day. It doesn’t become a fundamentally different problem when you’re traveling.

What I’ve noticed, actually, is something close to the opposite. Traveling alone as a woman in Latin America, I’ve often felt more looked after, not less. Hostel staff tend to pay closer attention. Other travelers check in more. People are generally more willing to help when they see someone navigating something on their own.

That doesn’t mean nothing bad ever happens. It does. But it happens to all kinds of travelers, in all kinds of circumstances — and being prepared for it doesn’t require a different mindset than the one you’d apply to anything else in life.

What nobody writes about

The articles aimed at solo female travelers almost never talk about the actual experience of being somewhere. The conversations that happen in hostel kitchens at midnight. The friendships that form on a three-hour bus ride. The particular kind of freedom that comes from making every decision yourself, including the bad ones.

Traveling slowly and alone gives you access to a version of a place that most people miss. You’re not moving fast enough to stay on the surface. You end up in situations that weren’t planned, talking to people you wouldn’t have met otherwise, staying somewhere longer than you meant to because it turned out to be worth it.

That’s what most of the women I meet in hostels across Latin America are actually there for. Not to prove something. Not to overcome a fear. Just to travel — on their own terms, at their own pace, with full control over where they go and how long they stay.

The data backs this up: freedom and spontaneity are the most valued aspects of solo travel, cited by 64% of respondents. Independence. The ability to decide. That’s the story. Not the safety tips.

The idea is simple: you work a few hours a day at a hostel, and in return, you get a bed. Sometimes meals. Sometimes other perks.

It sounds like a good deal. And sometimes it genuinely is. But there are also a lot of people who walk into it with the wrong expectations — and end up frustrated, underprepared, or both. I’ve spent a lot of time in hostels across Latin America, I’ve worked in reception, and I have a background in tourism. So I want to give you an honest picture of how these exchanges actually work — and what you need to know before you try one.

What a hostel work exchange actually is

The terms vary a lot from place to place. Most exchanges involve somewhere between four and six hours of work per day — usually covering tasks like reception shifts, cleaning, helping guests, or basic admin. In some cases, hostels are looking for more specific skills: design, social media, murals, maintenance. What you get in return also varies: most commonly it’s a bed in a shared dorm, sometimes meals, occasionally other benefits depending on the hostel.

Because these are informal agreements, there’s no standard. That’s one of the most important things to understand going in.

One thing worth knowing: doing a work exchange basically means having a lot of roommates. You’re living in the hostel, not just working there. The social dynamic is a huge part of the experience — maybe the biggest part. If the vibe doesn’t work for you, the whole thing doesn’t work.

How to find one

There are a few ways people find hostel exchanges.

Some travelers write directly to hostels they’ve found on Booking or Instagram — a cold intro email explaining who they are, what they can offer, and asking if there’s an opportunity. This can work, but response rates are unpredictable, and it helps to send a lot of emails at once since many won’t reply.

Others find exchanges through Facebook or Telegram groups dedicated to slow travel, long-term backpacking, or specific regions.

That said, I personally recommend using a platform like Worldpackers. It has an annual subscription fee, but it offers something the other options don’t: a clearer framework. Agreements are more structured, expectations are more visible upfront, and — this matters a lot — if you arrive somewhere and it’s not working out, the platform can help you find an alternative and even cover accommodation during the transition. I once met someone who was staying at the same hostel as me and asked Worldpackers to find them another place because the bed was too small for their height. It sounds like a minor thing, but when you’re living somewhere for weeks, it’s not. The platform sorted it out. That kind of support makes a real difference, especially the first time you do this.

One more thing about your application: don’t just list the skills that are obvious for a hostel role. If you’re a decent photographer, know how to paint a mural, or have a background in software or design — mention it. Hostels are small operations and that kind of thing can make your profile stand out in ways you wouldn’t expect.

What to expect — and what not to

Here’s where I want to be direct, because this is the part that trips people up most.

Don’t think of it as a financial equation. If you’re calculating how many hours you’re working versus what a bed in that city costs per night, the math is probably not going to feel fair. That’s the wrong frame. A work exchange is not a job. If you approach it looking for proportional monetary compensation, you’re likely to feel like you’re losing.

Where exchanges tend to work well is when you’re looking for something else: a slower way of being in a place, daily contact with other travelers, a more local rhythm. It’s one of the few ways to be in a destination without feeling like a tourist — you’re inside the daily life of the place, not observing it from the outside.

The experience varies enormously depending on the hostel. Some places have a clear program and offer real value beyond the bed — city tours, language exchange, connections to local life. Others don’t think much about it and the experience ends up feeling transactional or poorly managed. And then there’s something harder to measure: the vibe. A hostel can look beautiful in the photos — and that’s not false advertising — but if the people there don’t click with you, it can still be a bad experience. Some hostels run on party energy. Others are quieter, more focused on rest and travel. Neither is wrong, but it matters a lot that it matches what you’re looking for.

I’ve heard some real horror stories. People arriving to find the role nothing like what was described. Situations where the dynamic between staff and exchange participants was tense from day one. It happens.

Both sides carry responsibility. A lot of frustrating experiences come from unclear expectations — not necessarily from bad faith. That’s why the conversation before you arrive matters more than most people realize.

Before you commit: things worth clarifying

Before agreeing to an exchange, it’s worth getting some things in writing — or at least discussed clearly:

• Exactly how many hours per day, and which tasks
• Which days are yours to use freely
• What’s included: just the bed? meals? laundry? Wi-Fi?
• How long the exchange lasts, and what happens if either side wants to end it early
• Where you’ll be sleeping (dorm? private room?)

Know your own limits before you get there too. What tasks are you genuinely okay doing? How many hours feels reasonable? What would make you want to leave? Having those answers ready — and being able to say them out loud — makes it easier to recognize early on whether something is working or not.

When it’s not working: it’s okay to leave

I once saw someone at a hostel in Camboriú who had arrived the day before, had a work exchange planned for several weeks, pack up their bag on the second night, say goodbye to everyone, and just leave. No drama. They just knew it wasn’t for them.

That’s actually a healthy response. You are not an employee. You don’t owe the hostel more than what you agreed to. If you arrive and the situation is nothing like what was described, or the dynamic just doesn’t feel right — even for reasons that are hard to explain — you’re allowed to leave.

Sometimes a conversation can fix things. Sometimes it can’t, and it has nothing to do with anyone being wrong — it’s just not the right fit. The good exchanges often extend naturally beyond what was originally planned. The ones that don’t click don’t need to be forced.

One more thing: Spanish

If you’re planning a hostel work exchange in Latin America, Spanish is not optional for most hostels. It’s usually a requirement — and intermediate level is a pretty common baseline. If your profile shows no Spanish at all, a lot of hosts simply won’t reply.

That said, not everyone who reaches out to me is starting from zero. A lot of slow travelers in Latin America already have some Spanish — enough to get by day to day — but don’t feel confident enough to use it in a work context. Front desk is a different situation than ordering food or asking for directions. You’re handling check-ins, answering questions about the city, dealing with complaints, understanding guests from different countries with different accents. That specific vocabulary and confidence is something you can actually prepare for.

So whether you need to build your level before applying, or you already have the Spanish but want to feel ready for the job — that’s exactly what the classes are designed for.

Sometimes that works. But not always.

Going to a large capital city is not the same as visiting a smaller town or a more rural area. And beyond that, Latin America is a very diverse region. Each country has its own economic system and its own particular quirks. Some are more straightforward for foreigners to navigate. Others, not so much.

So, which is the best way to manage money while traveling here?

As is often the case, there isn’t a single answer. Let’s break down the most used payment methods, with some key things to keep in mind before you arrive.

Quick practical tips for managing money in Latin America

• Always carry some cash, especially outside major cities.

• Don’t rely on a single payment method.

• Check ATM fees and withdrawal limits before taking out money.

• Compare exchange rates before changing large amounts.

• Be aware that payment systems vary from country to country.

How money actually works on the ground

Across much of Latin America, paying with cards is normal. In large cities especially, most businesses accept debit and credit cards, and contactless payments through phones or NFC are increasingly common.

But this doesn’t mean the system works the same everywhere — or even within the same country.

For example, in Colombia I noticed a big difference between cities. In Medellín, many businesses added around 10% to the price when paying with a card, so I ended up using cash much more often. In Bogotá, on the other hand, card payments are accepted almost everywhere. Even when buying something small like a coffee, I often pay directly with my phone.

This kind of variation is common in the region. What works easily in one city may not work the same way somewhere else. And once you move outside large urban areas, smaller businesses tend to rely more on cash, especially for low-value purchases.

For that reason, it’s always a good idea to keep some cash on you, even if you plan to pay mostly with cards.

Another factor to keep in mind is connectivity. Many digital payment systems depend on having internet access or mobile data.

If you’re relying on your phone for payments, maps, or banking apps, having reliable connectivity becomes part of managing your money while traveling — I explain more about this in Apps and resources: the essential toolbox for traveling independently in Latin America, where I discuss eSIMs and local SIM cards.)

The emergency reserve: why you should always carry some cash

Even in large and modern cities, there are situations where cash is the only option.

One example I encountered in Brazil was public transportation. In the city where I was staying, the only way to purchase the public bus card was with cash. Since the system is public, that’s simply how it works. Without cash, you can’t get the card in the first place.

And beyond that, things happen. Card terminals stop working, internet connections fail, or your bank blocks a transaction abroad.

For all these reasons, keeping a small cash reserve with you is one of the simplest ways to avoid unnecessary stress while traveling in Latin America.

Safety factor – You gotta keep’em separated

A small safety tip — which might sound like common sense for many travelers — is that if you’re carrying a cash reserve, it’s better not to keep all your eggs in the same basket.

What I always do is keep some cash in my wallet, but I also keep another reserve in my backpack. I follow the same logic with my documents. Since I’m Latin American, in most countries in the region I don’t need to carry a passport. But I still keep it in my luggage just in case something happens to my wallet or my local ID.

The idea is simple: always have a backup.

The same applies to cash. If you lose your wallet, or something happens while traveling, having a small reserve stored somewhere else can save you a lot of trouble.

And one more thing — be careful with checked luggage. Bags get lost sometimes, and wallets can get stolen. Keeping your important documents and some emergency cash with you is simply the safer choice.

Exchange – places and rates

Changing money at the airport

For many travelers, exchanging money at the airport is the first thing they do when arriving in a new country. It’s convenient, and after a long flight it feels like the easiest solution.

The problem is that airport exchange rates are usually very poor. In many cases you end up losing a noticeable amount of money compared to what you would get in the city.

If you really don’t have another option, the best approach is to exchange only a small amount — just enough to get by at the beginning.

But in many situations you don’t actually need to exchange money at the airport at all. Most airport businesses accept credit cards if you want to buy food or drinks. And to reach your accommodation, you can usually use services like Uber or other transportation options that accept card payments.

Because of that, I normally skip exchanging money when I arrive in a new country. I go directly to where I’m staying and exchange cash later in the city center, where rates are usually better.

Understanding exchange rates is the first step toward building a realistic travel budget — I explain how I estimate mine in this guide.

But, where to exchange?

Exchange rates in Latin America can be surprisingly hard to navigate. Each country works differently, and there’s no way to know before arriving exactly what the political or economic context will look like.

You don’t need to be an expert to exchange money. But it helps to understand that exchange rates can move quite a lot, sometimes even within short periods of time. This is Latin America, after all. Currency values often fluctuate depending on what’s happening in the country.

A good example of this happened to me in Chile. I spent New Year’s there after an election year. A new president had been chosen but would not take office until the end of the month. Even though the political transition hadn’t formally happened yet, there were already movements in the currency market. That’s not something travelers need to follow closely, but it shows why exchange rates can shift depending on the moment.

My approach is simple: before exchanging money, I check Google to see the current exchange rate. I assume I won’t get exactly that rate when exchanging cash, but it gives me a reference point — a rough idea of what I’m willing to accept. Once I have that in mind, I go out and ask around.

In many Latin American cities, exchange places tend to cluster together. In tourist areas especially, there is often a street or small area where several exchange businesses operate close to each other. Sometimes it’s three or four shops, sometimes ten or more. If you look on Google Maps for “exchange” or “casa de cambio,” you can usually find where this cluster is.

Once you’re there, walk around and ask for the rate in several places before deciding. Because the businesses are competing with each other, you’re more likely to find a better price.

Another thing many travelers don’t expect is that Latin America can be quite informal. In some places, bargaining over the exchange rate is normal. If you’re not comfortable doing that, simply say “no, thank you” and move on to the next place.

It’s also important to be aware that not every exchange place will immediately offer the best rate. Sometimes they see that you’re a foreigner and quote a different price. This happens to me as well, even though I speak Spanish. Asking in multiple places helps you understand what the real range actually is.

Finally, try to ask locals for advice when possible — hotel staff, hostel workers, or anyone who is not directly offering to exchange money themselves. People who are not involved in the transaction will usually give you more honest guidance about where to go.

Small Bills are King

In most countries in Latin America, large bills are not the best option when making small purchases. (Argentina is a bit of an exception because of inflation, but in most places the situation is different.)

If you try to pay for something small with a large bill, people may look at you like you’re making their life difficult — and sometimes they simply won’t have the change.

Because of that, it’s a good idea to break large bills whenever you make bigger purchases. That way you end up with smaller notes for everyday spending.

If you’re getting on a bus, buying a coffee, or picking up a small souvenir, paying with smaller bills will usually make the transaction much easier.

Ask the price before ordering

Another simple habit that helps avoid awkward situations is asking the price before ordering.

In many places across Latin America, especially when food is being prepared or served informally, prices are not always clearly displayed. Locals are used to asking, but many travelers don’t think to do it because they assume the price will be reasonable.

Most of the time it is. But occasionally a foreign visitor may be quoted a higher price after the fact, which can turn an otherwise normal meal into an uncomfortable situation.

A quick “¿Cuánto cuesta?” before ordering is usually enough to avoid that problem.

If you’re not comfortable asking in Spanish yet, tools like translation apps or AI can help you navigate these small interactions more easily. I explain how I use them in my guide on using ChatGPT as a travel translator and language assistant.

ATMs: limits, fees and availability

For many foreign travelers, withdrawing cash from ATMs is the easiest way to get local currency. ATMs are widely available across Latin America and people use them every day, so it’s not difficult to find one.

One thing to check before traveling is that your card works internationally. Cards issued by major networks like Visa or Mastercard are usually accepted without problems.

Withdrawal limits

Before using an ATM abroad, it’s worth checking your bank’s daily withdrawal limit. Your bank may have its own limit, and local ATMs can also impose their own restrictions.

In some countries these limits can be quite low. For example, in some ATMs in Colombia, withdrawals are limited to around $100 to $150 USD per transaction. That means you may need to make several withdrawals if you need more cash.

Decline the ATM’s currency conversion

When withdrawing money, the ATM will often ask whether you want the transaction converted into your home currency.

Always decline this option.

ATMs apply their own exchange rate, which is worse than the one your bank will use. By declining the conversion and choosing to withdraw in the local currency, you let your bank handle the exchange instead.

Safety tips when using ATMs

A simple precaution is to use ATMs located inside bank branches whenever possible, rather than standalone machines on the street.

If something goes wrong — for example if the machine keeps your card — it’s much easier to get help immediately when the ATM is inside a bank.

It’s also a good idea to withdraw money during business hours and in busy areas. Not to make anyone paranoid, but taking cash out at night on a quiet street is simply not the safest situation in any big city.

Stick to Visa and Mastercard: Fintech cards vs traditional banks

Many travelers assume that because their card (like Wise or Revolut) doesn’t charge withdrawal fees, the ATM in Latin America won’t either.

In reality, local ATMs often apply their own fees. In countries like Colombia or Argentina, the machine itself may charge the equivalent of 5–10 USD per withdrawal, regardless of what your bank says. For long-term travelers, those fees can add up quickly over a month.

When ATMs aren’t an option

Sometimes withdrawing cash from an ATM simply isn’t possible. Your card might not work, the machine may reject the transaction, or you might run into withdrawal limits.

One alternative I occasionally use is sending money to myself through Western Union. It’s an easy way to access local currency using your own bank account.

You just send the transfer online with your personal information and use the address where you’re staying — for example, your hotel or hostel — and then collect the cash at a local Western Union office.

It’s not always instant. In some cases the transfer can take up to a couple of days to become available.

Before sending the money, it’s a good idea to check on Google Maps (or whichever map you use) that there is a Western Union agency nearby. That way you avoid sending the transfer and then realizing there’s nowhere convenient to pick it up.

When collecting the money, the agency will ask for the transfer code and a valid ID — usually your passport or the same identification you used when sending the transfer. It’s important that the name on the transfer matches your ID exactly, so if you have more than one last name or a middle name, make sure to include your full name when creating the transaction.

QR and digital payments: country differences travelers should know

QR codes and transfers through digital wallets are probably one of the most common forms of payment across Latin America. They are easy to use and widely accepted — both by large businesses and within the informal economy.

The challenge for travelers is that each country has its own system, and some of them leave foreigners behind.

Let’s take a look at how this works in some of the most visited countries in Latin America.

Brazil and Argentina

Brazil has an official system called PIX. It was created by the government and is used everywhere — from paying for a hotel reservation to buying a coconut at the beach. It’s extremely convenient, and many Brazilians barely carry cash anymore because they rely almost entirely on PIX.

As a tourist, it is technically possible to get a CPF number (a government identification that allows you to open a local bank account), but to be honest there are usually easier ways to get by.

In Argentina, QR payments are widely used through Mercado Pago, part of the Mercado Libre ecosystem. Much like in Brazil, QR codes and transfers through this digital wallet are common in everyday transactions. The difference is that Mercado Pago is a private platform rather than a government-issued system.

It’s also worth mentioning that in Argentina it is almost impossible for foreigners to open a Mercado Pago account. There are other QR payment options depending on the bank you use, but they are not as universal as Mercado Pago.

For both Argentina and Brazil, I personally use Airtm. It’s a digital wallet that allows me to access both types of payments. (This isn’t an affiliate recommendation — I mention it because in my experience it offers good exchange rates and it’s relatively easy to open an account from abroad.)

For PIX specifically, there are also some international platforms that allow QR payments, such as Wallbit or, more recently, Wise.

Peru and Colombia

Peru relies heavily on Yape and Plin, while Colombia widely uses Nequi and Daviplata.

These systems work a bit differently for travelers. In my experience, I couldn’t find alternative apps that allow the same type of payments, and opening an account requires a local ID number. For tourists, that generally means these systems aren’t accessible.

Both countries also have quite informal economies, and some businesses apply different prices depending on whether you pay with cash or with a card. Since QR payments are not available to foreign visitors, paying in cash is the simplest way to avoid extra charges.

Mexico

Mexico is a case of its own. It also has a government-created QR system called CoDi, but in practice almost nobody uses it.

In the Mexican economy, cash is still king, especially for street food, markets, and small businesses. When payments are not made in cash, contactless cards are usually the most common option.

Final thoughts: flexibility is your best currency

As we’ve seen throughout this article, Latin America is a very dynamic region. Not only are countries different from one another, but economies can also change quickly. Exchange rates move, payment technologies evolve, and the way people use money continues to shift.

What traveling through the region has taught me is that flexibility is the best approach. I try to keep several payment options available so I don’t end up in an uncomfortable situation.

None of us are experts in every system we encounter, and we’re all learning along the way. Sometimes you won’t get the best exchange rate or manage your money in the most efficient way. That’s part of traveling.

The best thing you can do is stay informed, ask questions, and observe how people around you handle everyday transactions. Talking to locals and paying attention to how things work on the ground will help you understand each place much better.