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Where to camp in South America?
I'm on my way south and is desperately looking for places to camp on route. I'm tired of staying in Hostals or Hotels. Problem is that you never see any camp sites down here. Mabe I dont know where to look? I'm heading down from Otavalo, Ecuador to Peru (In the mountains, not Lima), and Chile next.
If you know of any good, safe spots to camp, please let us know. Johan |
The best camping in South America is Argentina. Every town almost regardless of how small has municipal camping. Sometimes you have to pay for it, but it is cheap compared to the expensive hostels/hotels.
In general, I didn't find any camping anywhere other than Chile/Argentina. I didn't look too hard because accommodations were so cheap. In Guatemala where I actually wanted to do some camping, I would just go to nice hotels with big gardens/yards and ask if I could camp somewhere out of sight. As I'm sure you know, more bold people just rough camp whereever. I'm not into that.. but it works for others. |
otavalo
how was it...any camping there ?
Sold bike, did all the paperwork, got insurance for him from forged import papers, bill of sale also .......and I bought insurance too - found a company in Bogota (and rest of colombia) that sells insurance by the day. Paid 34000 COP for 1 1/2 months... leaving Sunday for south Zig :scooter: |
In that case I'm looking forward to Argentina and Chile. We're now in Ecuador, typical cheap hotel room (Double) cost $20/25 and up. Not exactly as cheap as camping, but managable. Colombia was the same prices. Rough camping in these two countries seems risky, you are too vunrable when sleeping in the tent. Nowere seems to be out of sight, people everywhere, exept at 4000M, but my camping gear is not up to it for such cold conditions.
By the way, for those who dont know, Ecuador use US$ for money. I didn't know (or didn't even find out before), went into a bank to change money (US$), and was quite imbarassed to find out they use US. The cashier thought I was a real dummy (a title I probably deserve at the time) Cheers Johan |
Try just stopping at farmhouses and asking if they have somewhere you can camp. You'll meet some great people this way and sometimes they will offer you their own bedroom and feed you dinner. In small towns the local mayor or whatever will often give you permission to camp on the soccer field. If you find yourself along the coast of Peru there are numerous beautiful beaches that are safe for camping, you just have to ask the locals to find out which beaches are safe (some are not, particularly close to cities).
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In Chile & Argentina I often camped out in the bush. No probs at all. Then in Chile most of the towns, even small settlements, had a tourist office where I could obtain infos on rooms let to tourists. Usually the tourist office had the prices. So i was easy to pick a room for the overnight stay. Not expensive either. Cheaper than hotels anyway.
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Camping ...
Yes , camping was great in Argentina and Chile saved lots of money , just scouted a rd near town , ate supper and went to set up my tent afterwards. had no problems at all , even camped in the ditch on highways whan i could nt find a good place to park for the night . Brasil is so expensive for hotels etc . wish i could have camped here draining my money on accomadation ! have fun !!
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Petrol Stations
Petrol stations are another good option if you're just overnighting. I camped in them in Argentina, Uruguay and here in Brazil. In Argentina the YPF stations often had BBQ pits and some even had a patch of grass! Here in Brazil many of the petrol stations have facilities for truck drivers. At the last one I stayed in (on BR-101 approx 250km south of Florianopalis) I had a table, sink and shelter. Grass to pitch my tent on and had a shower for BR$2. There was also a restaurant. I'll certainly be using them again. Just start taking notice as you ride by them and you'll soon realise most of them have facilities. I do however avoid those located close to towns and those with housing estates backing onto them.
Adam Short Way Round |
Thanks guys, we found these three nice bush camping spots in northern Peru for those of you who is also desperate to save money or just some peace and quite (something you dont get in Latin American towns.
1 On the main desert road between Piura and Chiclayo there are very few towns and people, so we just drove out of site off the road (70km south of Piura) at S 05,47.188´and W 080,32.281´ 2 Between Chimbote and Chuquicara, also a desert canyon road next to the Santa River at S 08,39.713´and W 078,17.613 3 South of Huallanca just outside of the amazing Canon del Pato with its 36 tunnels is an old deserted road above the new one and completely out of site again. S 08,53.836 and W 077,50.694. Hope this info will be helpfull to someone. Will òst more safe sites as we find them. Cheers Johan |
Yes argentina is the best for camping and second best Chile. Also Uruguay has many campsites incl municipal which are either cheap or for free (outside highseason).
Brazil has campsites mainly along the coast. Expensive during summer though - think of €15 for a tentspace!- as are the Camping Clubes do Brasil which can be found near more touristic places around the country. With an International Camping Card you get up to 50% discount at these CCB sites. Camping at the petrolstations is always an option, earplugs would help for a good night´s rest (trucks coming and going).At many of them you find free (often warm) showers and free cold drinking water. Except during holidays and summerseason (dec-march) overlandtravellers (bikes and cars, no backpackers sorry..) can camp for free at our pousada on the Santa Catarina coast. Residencial Holandes - Bombas, Bombinhas - Santa Catarina - Brasil |
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Hi Tim,
We found Chile and Argentina to be camping paradises; bush camping as well as campsites. Especially Argentina often has a camping municipal somewhere in town where it is cheap to stay. On our website we give an overview of where we stayed. Because it's based on gps waypoints, the address may often not be included, but it'll give at least an indication of where to find them. [or if you have a gps, it's easy to use, I suppose]. We have overviews on Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil and Bolivia as well, but many points relate to petrol stations, restaurants where we parked at a parking lot. Well, just see for yourself gps waypoints South America happy travelling! |
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