The Best Places to Go in Central & South America in 2025 (2024)

Whenever we get asked the question, Where should I go in Central or South America?, it’s hard to answer in a hurry. Sure, there are some common threads that tie the region together. From Belize to Chile, a fascinating blend of Indigenous, European colonizer, and more recent immigrant cultures shape everything from cuisine to architecture. There’s a vibrancy, too, an unapologetic joy in both everyday life and special celebrations, that many visitors can’t help but feel drawn to. Beyond that, however, so much of what defines the best places to visit in Central or South America is personal. What do you want out of this rich and varied swath of land?

Do you, for example, dream of hidden surf spots, where every sunrise is practically your own, and evenings are spent in breezy bungalows shrouded by the oiti trees of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest? Or is it the bustle of street food vendors in Bolivia doling out tangy fermented juices and hearty ancestral stews that make you want to hop on a flight? Maybe it’s the possibility of kayaking through the rugged Chaco region of Argentina, where elusive jaguars and giant anteaters slink through the dusty surrounds. Whichever landscape moves you—the concrete jungles or the real ones; the well-trod or the burgeoning—you’ll find it here. Perhaps the only way we can answer the impossible question of which is the best place to visit in Central or South America is to share which feels most urgent in 2025 either thanks to new landing spots (Brazilian surf hideaway, Itacaré, is getting a slew of chic new villas by the sea), buzzy restaurant openings (La Paz is getting it’s time to shine, with chef-driven new restaurants), or totally new means of access (river safaris are opening up the remote Chaco in a first-time-ever way). For both their impressive pairing of evergreen allure and exciting newness, these are the best places to go in Central and South America in 2025. —Megan Spurrell

This is part of our global guide to the Best Places to Go in 2025—find more travel inspiration here.

In Gran Chaco—an over-300,000-square-mile swatch of dry forest that stretches across parts of Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil—the heat can rise above 100°F in the summer, and jaguars and giant anteaters pace among quebracho trees, while black caimans skim along the surface of the Bermejo River. You may have been to Patagonia or the Amazon or the Galápagos, but the Chaco, home to one of the fastest-disappearing forests, has remained far off the tourist track. It was only in 2022 that hiking trails and rustic accommodations popped up. Things have evolved quickly since and in 2025, El Impenetrable, the national park within Gran Chaco, will offer 3-day river safaris with glamping along the way, providing visitors a chance to experience this changing environment, and contribute to its preservation, with a little more comfort. Reservations for 2025 stays at the newly opened Glamping Los Palmares on the west of the park are open, and with just four luxe tents on offer, you’ll want to nab yours ASAP. Spend your days kayaking these waterways, horseback riding in pursuit of tapir sightings, and getting to know the communities who live in harmony with this rugged environment. —Megan Spurrell

In 2013, Nicaragua’s first luxury resort opened on the Emerald Coast. Its name was Mukul, which means “secret” in Tzotzil, an Indigenous Maya language, and for over a decade its location remained just that: The few visitors who passed through this pocket of the Pacific coast were mostly backpackers staying in shoestring-budget accommodations, surfers lured by the promise of 300 days of offshore wind every year, or golfers who saw little reason to leave the resort. Word of mouth has since led in-the-know travelers to places like San Juan del Sur—where global hospitality group Apogeo Collective has pioneered an artist residency and guesthouse centering LGBTQIA2S+ and POC travelers—and to tiny towns like El Tránsito and El Gigante. But much of this area is poised to undergo something of a transformation with the impending arrival of the Costanera highway. Set to be completed in 2025, it will connect over 200 miles of Pacific coast and radically improve access to spots like Hide and Seek Resort, which opened in Popoyo in 2024 and is already attracting a young crowd seeking the ease of a surf holiday with the style and comfort of a boutique hotel. Owners Emileah Miller and Daniel Shade hail from Australia, and there’s a healthy dose of Byron Bay–coded whitewashed minimalism in the pool suites—and the resort’s calendar of surf retreats led by professionals like longboarders Nique Miller and Luke Egan has gained the attention of serious surfers. Hide & Seek, along with the breezy Rancho Santana resort neighboring it, is steps away from Playa Jiquelite, a vast expanse of sand where riders gallop horses through the shallows at sunset. Even in peak season, it’s relatively empty. Think of it as Mexico’s Tulum before the over-tourism or Costa Rica’s Santa Teresa without the crowds. Now is the time to catch on—before everyone else does. —Anna Prendergast

Surrounded by nearly two dozen beaches and thousands of acres of the Atlantic Forest, the beach town of Itacaré has long been a hidden paradise for surfers and lay-low celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Gisele Bündchen. Its secluded location on the Cocoa Coast—so called for the cacao plantations that brought wealth to the region in the 20th century—has helped keep it off the tourist track; getting there requires flying to the port city of Ilhéus, where the just-expanded Jorge Amado Airport has doubled its capacity for daily nonstop flights from major cities including São Paulo, followed by a 90-minute drive north along a winding road that weaves past the Serra do Conduru National Park. The improved access means that bohemian crowds that once decamped to Bahian hotspot Trancoso are venturing farther north, drawn to Itacaré’s stylish eco-hotels, virgin beaches, and wide range of outdoor adventures—from birdwatching to canoeing through mangrove forests.

São Paulo–born former designer Juliana Ghiotto and her husband, Daniel Lima, once a professional surfer from Itacaré, are the visionaries behind the nine-room Barracuda Boutique hotel, which they founded in 2013 alongside a group of Swedish friends. At the end of 2024, the hotel will debut two new suites plus a revamped bar and restaurant concept inspired by the native oiti tree, which thrives in the Atlantic Forest and produces a pulpy, mango-like fruit. The group also owns the design-forward Barracuda Hotel & Villas, set on 64 acres bordering Itacaré: In early 2026 they’ll expand on the vast property by unveiling a collection of 19 ultra-luxe bungalows suspended above a canopy of tapirira, kapok, and fig trees, some featuring expansive terraces and private pools. Even then, only 10% of the total property will have been developed, with the remainder preserved as a conservation area.

Yet, in Bahia, the beach remains a major draw. To stay on one of Itacaré’s best sandy stretches, look no further than Txai Resort & Spa Itacaré, a former coconut farm on the famed Praia de Itacarezinho, which will reveal 10 revamped luxury villas by the end of 2026. Another way of discovering Bahia’s shimmering coastline? Sail with expedition cruise line Swan Hellenic, which has two new itineraries that launched in October 2024. These trips, spanning four- or six-nights, travel south from capital city Salvador on the yacht-style SH Vega (with room for just 158 guests), with a stop in Itacaré to tour the town’s crayola-colored streets. —Siobhan Reid

La Paz is dishing up South America’s most underrated food scene right now—and with the Andean country celebrating its bicentennial in 2025, it’s never been a better time to tap in. There are the classics: Mercado Rodríguez, in the Centro district, is a daily stop for locals craving heritage corn cobs and wallake (steamed Lake Titicaca-caught rainbow trout soup) served out of enormous pots by caseras (vendors) in colorful pollera skirts and bowler hats. Young chefs, freshly back after stints abroad, are interpreting traditional Altiplano dishes with a new lens. At Phayawi, Valentina Arteaga puts a sophisticated spin on sopa de maní, Bolivia’s classic peanut soup, by finishing it with palillo turmeric oil like her abuela used to. Her cooking has found fans as far as DC, where Phayawi hosted its first international pop-up in October. Over at Ancestral, open-flame cooking techniques influence the menu, and La Paz’s favorite late-night street food, anticucho (a beef-heart skewer), inspires its emblematic entrée: a pommes soufflée filled with chili, peanuts, and heart ham.

Long a 50 Best Restaurants darling, Gustu, in the city’s desirable Calacoto neighborhood, has consistently championed the exclusive use of Bolivian products including wine and singani, a Bolivian brandy. After a decade behind its burners, chef Marsia Taha—just named Latin America’s Best Female Chef—has flown solo and will open her Amazonian-driven restaurant in November 2024 in the Achumani neighborhood. Sixty-five percent of Bolivia is covered by the Amazon basin, so Taha’s menu will cast a wide net to feature paiche fish and carancho (the caracara bird), while spotlighting Amazonian culinary techniques such as lampe, a traditional cassava-juice lacto-fermentation method. Once the celebratory calendar of 2025 events honoring La Paz’s bicentennial is revealed, there will be even more reasons to finally book that flight. —Sorrel Moseley-Williams

Marked by verdant steppe and graceful waterways, windswept Magallanes feels even less visited than neighboring southern Argentina, and abundant fauna—picture a Patagonian safari featuring playful guanacos, ostrich-like ñandus, regal condors, and chinstrap penguins. In the second half of 2025, the first hiking trails will open in the 300,000-acre Cape Froward National Park, the newest national park in Chile, less than an hour’s drive southwest of Punta Arenas. Watch for Chile’s rare huemul deer, stealth puma, and, from November to April, humpback whales spouting through the Strait of Magellan. Until then, consider sailing the coastline aboard a 120-person catamaran with Solo Expediciones.

Named after the Portuguese explorer who sailed through the strait, Magallanes has beckoned seafarers and naturalists for centuries. History buffs will delight in Punta Arenas’s maritime museum and life-size replicas of the storied European galleons that once navigated to these remote shores. Modern-day cruisers will appreciate a dock expansion to be unveiled in late 2025, which means big ships will no longer have to drop anchor offshore and tender passengers across rocky seas. If you’re staying shoreside, the iconic Cabo de Hornos hotel, on the city’s leafy square, expanded with a stunning new 70-room tower in November 2024, perfect for travelers wanting easy access to the hotel’s Faro Lounge, where tables are covered with servings of pisco sours, juicy lamb, and king crab each night, while tales of Charles Darwin and Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton fill the air. —Patricia Garip

Onshore, Peru’s first luxury treehouse, Alta Sanctuary from Tamandua Expeditions, fully opened in January 2024. It towers 110 feet over the Amazon rainforest canopy close to the Bolivian border and is a spectacular base for birding and jungle walks led by Indigenous guides. Getting there is half the fun: It’s four hours by jeep and boat from the Puerto Maldonado airport. Or spend a night among the Amazon’s grand orchestra of wildlife sounds at regenerative travel operator 700,000 Heures Impact’s observatory tower, above the Cordillera Escalera cloud forest near Tarapoto. Though the home base for the five-day stays is usually an enclosed cabin, guests have the chance to spend a night at the tower, which is accessed via a 45-minute hike through the forest, and set up for a candlelit dinner with the rainforest’s chirps and titters as the soundtrack, before a night spent on the open-air sleeping platform (mosquito net very much included). —Joel Balsam

On a bay facing the frothy, turquoise Caribbean Sea sits Colombia’s oldest city, Santa Marta. First established in 1525, it will celebrate the major milestone of its 500th anniversary in 2025. Events will span over three weeks, with food and music festivals and Indigenous cultural exhibitions celebrating the region’s diverse, and even rebellious, heritage: Santa Marta is the site of La Ramada, the residential community where a revolt by enslaved Africans against the Spanish led to a free town, called a palenque, in 1529—over 300 years before slavery was abolished in the country. Today elements of Santa Marta’s culture have been built upon these African roots, from the musical sounds of cumbia to dishes like cayeye, made with mashed green plantain.

Nicknamed the Pearl of the Caribbean, Santa Marta teems with natural wonders too. An intricate thread of marshy lakes and inlets at the foothills of the highest coastal mountain range in the world, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, serves as a gateway to some of the country’s most impressive naturescapes. Tayrona National Natural Park, accessible in under an hour by boat or car, also has a human history dating back 500 years: It is the ancestral home of four Indigenous communities—the Kogi, the Arhuaco, the Wiwa, and the Kankuamo—who continue to be active stewards of the land by managing the park in collaboration with the local government. Here land and sea collide, with suspended cloud forests in the highlands perfect for hiking, and mangrove and coral formations along the coastline ripe for exploration by boat. Learn more about the harmony between humans and nature in the foothills, through experiences with Indigenous-owned tour companies like Wiwa Tour, which offers respectful interactions with ancestral groups. If you’re staying close to the city center, though, Bello Horizonte and Playa Blanca are two of Colombia's blue flag beaches, noted as such for their pristine conditions and commitment to conservation. With all this on offer, it’s no wonder that Seabourn will call on Santa Marta twice in 2025: the Ovation will pass through in February 2025 as part of a 14-day Caribbean itinerary, and the Sojourn will make its stop in December 2025, on a 22-day Panama Canal passage cruise. —Kristin Braswell

Copal Tree sets a tone that others have built upon: Tanager Rainforest Lodge, farther inland in Big Falls, has thatched and hardwood cabanas that position guests along one of the most important migratory routes for North and South American birds, and within driving distance of Mayan ruins like Nim Li Punit and Lubaantun, and the Agua Caliente Luha Wildlife Sanctuary, where travelers can hike, cave, and soak in the thermal springs. For those seeking more time by the ocean, Beya Suites is a 10-room boutique with furniture made of wood from the area, and is within walking distance of the daily market and local beachside bars.

And if you feel inclined to answer the call of Belize’s most famous cays up north? The big-brand hospitality frenzy continues, with another year of glitzy openings: Six Senses and Four Seasons are just two of the 2025 newcomers to Ambergris Caye and Caye Chapel Belize, respectively. New flights aim to support the infrastructure of new resorts moving in—United will launch a nonstop seasonal flight on December 21, 2024, from San Francisco to Belize City—making it easier to get in and out of Belize, wherever you choose to explore in between. —Jillian Dara

Uruguay’s lauded yet largely under-the-radar wine scene is poised to make a splash with the opening of Las Espinas, the new oceanside outpost of Bodega Bouza, a multi-award-winning wine producer in Montevideo. This striking hilltop destination is a short drive from the beaches of Punta del Este, adding yet another reason to visit the trendy Uruguayan riviera. After touring the copper-roofed winemaking facilities, visitors can spend a lazy afternoon at the adjacent window-walled restaurant, feasting on fire-grilled local meats and house wines, all with views of eucalyptus groves and Atlantic waves. Bouza, founded over two decades ago on the site of an abandoned vineyard north of Uruguay’s capital, joins a handful of boutique wineries that have descended on the eastern coast in recent years, including Bodega Cerro del Toro, Luz Culinary Wine Lodge, and Bodega Oceánica José Ignacio. The area’s maritime breezes and rocky hills lead to crisp whites and rosés that rival those from Europe or California. These lighter varieties, most notably Albariños and Sauvignon Blancs, add freshness to the lineup of tannic reds that Uruguay has been producing for over a century. If you’re thirsty for more, make a little detour some 40 miles inland, to Pueblo Garzón, a tiny rural village with a delightfully rustic hotel and a nearby winery, Bodega Garzón, that’s been turning heads with its dashing facilities and delicious pours. —Paola Singer

Looking for more inspiration? Read last year's list of the