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New to forum and need advice on local bus transportation on S. America

New to forum and need advice on local bus transportation on S. America

Old Apr 21, 2017, 12:00 pm
  #1  
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New to forum and need advice on local bus transportation on S. America

Hey guys, first post. So my gf and I are going to Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay starting in Sept 2nd till November 5th and had some questions about bus travel.

Most of my searching has been with rome2rio, then going from there using the bus lines and using some tricks like for Cruz Del Sol using the spanish version of the website but I'm looking for more savings.

Three routes in particular.

Salta, Argentina to Buenos Aires, Argentina

For this route, the cheapest bus I could find was for $110 each.

El Chalten to Santiago, Chile

Cheapest I found for this one I found a ticket for around $150

Santiago, Chile to Lima, Peru

Realistically we're going to Ica but the cheapest we found was $125

We don't mind using local buses, and honestly I might be rearranging my plans on what buses I use during other Point A to Point B travel (trying to get the cheapest here guys) but if i could get some help on these specifically it'd be greatly appreciated.
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Old Apr 21, 2017, 6:37 pm
  #2  
 
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I can't help with your question specifically (I'm sure others will be able to), but I did notice today that changing my VPN location resulted in different hotel prices. That may or may not help when you're searching for transportation.
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Old Apr 21, 2017, 7:37 pm
  #3  
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Originally Posted by flwrlover1
I can't help with your question specifically (I'm sure others will be able to), but I did notice today that changing my VPN location resulted in different hotel prices. That may or may not help when you're searching for transportation.
Interesting nevertheless, thanks for that tidbit
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Old Apr 22, 2017, 10:30 am
  #4  
 
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Is there a reason you aren't looking at air travel? Really like the scenery, really don't like to fly?

Those bus rides are long enough that flying could be economical.

I didn't look at train options, but for your long runs they could also be worth considering. You get the scenery, but you can get up and stroll better.

I also use Rome2Rio a lot, but have usually found when I'm actually at a place that there are more bus options possible. And sometimes some of the R2R options aren't available because of track outages or strikes or such.

Have you tried guide books? Sometimes some more possibilities will show up in them. Free in your local library, or well-priced on Amazon. You need some anyway for the other stuff. I personally like the Lonely Planet series for what I call "trip logistics", but there are lots of other excellent series.

Or just searching on "Salta, Argentina to Buenos Aires, Argentina bus"?

Do watch out for Weekend, Sunday and Holiday/Event travel. Lots of schedule variation there. Usually just less runs, but sometimes very few. And for Holidays/Event they buses can be pretty full.

And then there is the country specific areas on this site. You might browse there for now, but if you don't get enough useful responses here you could ask the moderator of this area to move your post to the South America area.
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Old Apr 22, 2017, 11:00 am
  #5  
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Originally Posted by Romelle
Is there a reason you aren't looking at air travel? Really like the scenery, really don't like to fly?

Those bus rides are long enough that flying could be economical.
Well, flying isn't exactly cheap in Conosur IIRC.

And, again IIRC, they have some interesting options, including "luxury" coaches where you could sleep on the bus and that would save on hotel costs, though I found I could stay there relatively cheaply.

Most of this research was done years ago prior to my trip to Fin del Mundo so may be somewhat dated, but I suspect is still generally true.

Now that I have some time on my hands, may look into this some more.
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Old Apr 22, 2017, 4:50 pm
  #6  
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Originally Posted by Romelle
Is there a reason you aren't looking at air travel? Really like the scenery, really don't like to fly?

Those bus rides are long enough that flying could be economical.

I didn't look at train options, but for your long runs they could also be worth considering. You get the scenery, but you can get up and stroll better.

I also use Rome2Rio a lot, but have usually found when I'm actually at a place that there are more bus options possible. And sometimes some of the R2R options aren't available because of track outages or strikes or such.

Have you tried guide books? Sometimes some more possibilities will show up in them. Free in your local library, or well-priced on Amazon. You need some anyway for the other stuff. I personally like the Lonely Planet series for what I call "trip logistics", but there are lots of other excellent series.

Or just searching on "Salta, Argentina to Buenos Aires, Argentina bus"?

Do watch out for Weekend, Sunday and Holiday/Event travel. Lots of schedule variation there. Usually just less runs, but sometimes very few. And for Holidays/Event they buses can be pretty full.

And then there is the country specific areas on this site. You might browse there for now, but if you don't get enough useful responses here you could ask the moderator of this area to move your post to the South America area.
So we have time to kill and we don't want to fly. We're budget travelers and want to see the most we can for as little as we can. As the person below mentioned, buses will save on hotels, food, etc.

It's just what we're going to do. We've looked and searched in the usual places and terms but we're really looking for the more local routes someone who maybe isnt a tourist would take to get to these places so we pay the least amount.
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Old Apr 22, 2017, 8:21 pm
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Hmm - if I'd looked at your screen name more carefully I wouldn't have asked about air travel. I get it now.
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Old Apr 23, 2017, 8:29 am
  #8  
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Originally Posted by Romelle
Hmm - if I'd looked at your screen name more carefully I wouldn't have asked about air travel. I get it now.
I would not try that for Darin Gap @:-)

Still pretty dangerous, and while I haven't looked, probably little or no public transport.

Moreover, not so overland:

Originally Posted by expertvagabond.com
Most of the Darien rainforest is roadless, so long Piragua canoes like this are the primary mode of transportation.
But I see someone traveled it and posted about it on their blog / webpage.

We have a wonderful thread started in 2005 that finally ended in 2011 about going on local buses from LA to San Diego for about $5 in 6 hours (2005 time and dollars, who know if this could even be done today).
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Old Apr 26, 2017, 1:47 am
  #9  
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You might have to break your journey up a bit more than that if you want cheap-cheap. Those are huge distances to cover and you won't necessarily get a local bus for it, and certainly not one where you can also sleep comfortably on the bus. So it depends what your main priorities are.

Cordoba might be an idea on the Salta-BA route, but it really depends on your time constraints too.

You'll also find that you'll get cheaper rates once you're in the country rather than searching online beforehand. Only the "tourist class" buses have decent websites. There are local operators in the bus stations there that might get you better prices. Though I think it's also true that the buses aren't as cheap as they once were. I did Lima - Quito (around 38 hours on a bus if I remember correctly) for about $50 in 2010. The bus had cockroaches. Good times.

Enjoy it, anyway. It's a great place to overland. ^
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Old Apr 26, 2017, 10:09 am
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Consider buying a Visit South America Pass? https://www.oneworld.com/flights/sin...-south-america
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Old Apr 28, 2017, 10:39 am
  #11  
 
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Originally Posted by overlandrtw
Hey guys, first post. So my gf and I are going to Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay starting in Sept 2nd till November 5th and had some questions about bus travel.

Most of my searching has been with rome2rio, then going from there using the bus lines and using some tricks like for Cruz Del Sol using the spanish version of the website but I'm looking for more savings.

Three routes in particular.

Salta, Argentina to Buenos Aires, Argentina

For this route, the cheapest bus I could find was for $110 each.

El Chalten to Santiago, Chile

Cheapest I found for this one I found a ticket for around $150

Santiago, Chile to Lima, Peru

Realistically we're going to Ica but the cheapest we found was $125

We don't mind using local buses, and honestly I might be rearranging my plans on what buses I use during other Point A to Point B travel (trying to get the cheapest here guys) but if i could get some help on these specifically it'd be greatly appreciated.
I know you are not interested, but others may like to know that you can fly for not much more. For example Santiago to Lima is $127, Salta to BuEnos Aires is $163, and FTE (close to El Calafete) to Buenos Aires for $149.
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Old Apr 29, 2017, 3:26 am
  #12  
 
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For what it's worth when we toured South America in 2013 we used buses for Cordoba to Mendoza, Mendoza to Santiago (great ride over the mountains), Santiago to Puerto Montt (overnight bus with flat beds). For some we booked with Plataforma10 and for Santiago to Puerto Montt with TurBus.
I recall the prices being very reasonable.
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