Latin America travel guides
37 cities in Latin America: where to stay, rough daily budgets, getting around and when to go, plus how to meet the people who live there.
- AntiguaGuatemalaGuatemala's former colonial capital, a grid of cobbled streets and ruined churches ringed by three volcanoes.
- ArequipaPeruPeru's White City is built from pale volcanic stone beneath the cone of El Misti.
- BañosEcuadorA small spa town in a green valley below the Tungurahua volcano, where the Andes start dropping towards the Amazon.
- BarilocheArgentinaA lakeside town in Argentine Patagonia, ringed by forested mountains and known for its chocolate shops.
- BogotáColombiaA sprawling capital high on an Andean plateau, cool and often grey, with a serious museum scene and a growing food culture.
- Buenos AiresArgentinaA city of wide avenues, old cafés and dinners that start well after nine.
- CartagenaColombiaA walled Caribbean port of balconied colonial houses and bougainvillea, hot and humid all year.
- CuencaEcuadorA colonial city of blue domes, cobbled streets and four rivers, set high in Ecuador's southern Andes.
- CuscoPeruThe old Inca capital and the gateway to Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley, with Spanish churches built straight onto Inca stone walls.
- FlorianópolisBrazilMost of Florianópolis sits on Santa Catarina Island, with dozens of beaches, dunes and a large lagoon.
- GranadaNicaraguaA colonial town of brightly painted houses on the shore of Lake Nicaragua, with a volcano on the horizon.
- GuadalajaraMexicoMexico's second city is the home of mariachi and tequila, with a grand colonial centre and leafy neighbourhoods full of bars and cafés.
- HavanaCubaFaded colonial grandeur, 1950s cars and music spilling out of doorways along the sea wall.
- La PazBoliviaAt around 3,600 metres, La Paz fills a deep canyon with the snowcapped Illimani above it.
- LimaPeruA Pacific capital on desert clifftops, and one of the great food cities of South America.
- MedellínColombiaThe 'city of eternal spring' in a green Andean valley: a mild climate all year, a large nomad community and a famously friendly welcome.
- MendozaArgentinaArgentina's wine capital sits in the dry foothills of the Andes, with tree-lined streets cooled by irrigation channels.
- MéridaMexicoThe capital of Yucatán is a colonial city of pastel houses, shaded plazas and free music most nights of the week.
- Mexico CityMexicoA vast, high-altitude capital built on the ruins of Aztec Tenochtitlan, with major museums and a street-food culture that never seems to pause.
- MontevideoUruguayUruguay's easygoing capital stretches along a long riverfront promenade, with art deco buildings and a slower pace than its big neighbours.
- OaxacaMexicoColonial streets in painted stone, the home of mole and mezcal, and Zapotec villages within reach.
- Panama CityPanamaA skyline of glass towers across the bay from a restored colonial quarter, with one of the world's great feats of engineering on the edge of town.
- Playa del CarmenMexicoA Caribbean beach town on the Riviera Maya that grew up around a long pedestrian street.
- Puerto EscondidoMexicoA laid-back surf town on the Oaxaca coast, known for one of the heaviest beach breaks in the world.
- Puerto NatalesChileA small, windswept town on a fjord in Chilean Patagonia, and the main base for Torres del Paine National Park.
- QuitoEcuadorA long Andean capital stretched beneath the Pichincha volcano, with one of the best-preserved colonial centres in the Americas.
- Rio de JaneiroBrazilGranite peaks, rainforest and long beaches all sit inside one city.
- SaltaArgentinaA colonial city in Argentina's north-west, with a pink cathedral, folk music and a slower Andean rhythm.
- SalvadorBrazilBrazil's first capital is the heart of Afro-Brazilian culture, with drumming, capoeira and cooking you will not find elsewhere.
- San Cristóbal de las CasasMexicoA colonial town in the cool Chiapas highlands, with red-tiled roofs, pedestrian streets and a strong Indigenous Maya presence in its markets.
- San JuanPuerto RicoBlue cobblestones, candy-coloured houses and two great Spanish forts guard the old city, while the beaches and bars of the newer districts sit just along the coast.
- Santa MartaColombiaColombia's oldest surviving city sits between the Caribbean and the Sierra Nevada mountains.
- SantiagoChileChile's capital sits in a valley with the Andes rising right behind it.
- São PauloBrazilSouth America's biggest city is a sprawl of concrete, galleries and some of the best eating on the continent.
- SucreBoliviaBolivia's constitutional capital is a whitewashed colonial city of churches, courtyards and red-tiled roofs.
- TulumMexicoMaya ruins on a clifftop above turquoise water, with cenotes scattered through the jungle behind.
- ValparaísoChileA port city spilling over dozens of steep hills, painted in bright colours and covered in murals.