Travelling Budget South America 2024-2025

Please keep in mind that these costs are based upon our experience travelling across South America on two Honda CRF250L’s in 2024-2025 (September 2024 – November 2025). Some people will easily manage to travel cheaper and others will without a doubt be able to spend more. This budget overview aims to help you make a better estimate of what a longer trip across South America may cost you. If you would like more details, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Daily cost – 429 days – 28,5€/person/day

Over the course of the 429 days that we have been travelling across South America, we spent a total of 24.495,9€, which translates into 28,5€ per person per day, excluding motorcycle maintenance and transport costs which are discussed seperatly below.

An important factor that might significantly reduce our cost, is that we travelled across Patagonia in low season, riding across Chiloé Island at the end of September, travelling across the Carretera Austral in October to early November and entering Argentinian Patagonia mid-November. Starting to head North we got closer to the high season, but even in high season Bolivian prices will help reduce your budget significantly.

Overall Daily Cost Breakdown

TOTAL: 24.495,9€

• Fuel: 1668,5€ (7.2%)
• Hotel: 9400,2€ (40.8%)
• Camping: 741,0€ (3.0%)
• Groceries: 6005,4€ (25.6%)
• Restaurant: 4299,8€ (19.4%)
• Activities: 941,7€ (4.0%)

Activities include visiting national parks, museums and archeologial sites, but may also include other entry tickets or the cost of a metro ticket to get to an activity. Restaurant in turn refers to all out of tent meals, including drinks or ice-creams. Groceries include all our budget spent in stores, be it money spent on food, sim cards or cooking gas. The percentage of the budget going to fuel kinda speaks for itself. The hotel budget then includes all money spent on indoor lodging, including Airbnb’s, hotels or little huts on a camping. Last, but not least, camping includes the budget we spent on official campsites. When in remote areas we tend to wild camp, however, when closer to cities we mosty opt for a camping or for a room.

Back to the numbers! The table below gives a breakdown of the daily budget per person across the South American countries we have visited.

Cost Breakdown Per Country

As the prices are rather different per country, hereby a cost breakdown per country. In case you would like more details, don’t hesitate to reach out through the contact form or send an email at a.travellers.tale@outlook.com.

Chile and Argentina Cost Breakdown

Percentage wise the spending in both countries looks similar, but there are some key differences:

• Our spendings on fuel were percentage wise higher in Argentina, but this is due to having completed some very long riding days from Ushuaia to Puerto Madryn (1790 kilometers in 5 days). Fuel in Argentina is significantly cheaper than in Chile.
• Our activities cost in Argentina is very low, but this is because activities were so expensive that we ended up doing hardly any (apart from visiting Cueva de las Manos). Entry to National Parks ranged from 40USD-45USD per person, something we could not justify for ourselves. This is one of the reasons we spent significantly more time in Chile than in Argentina.
• The restaurant cost looks rather similar, but the reality behind the numbers is that restaurants in Argentina were more expensive than in Chile.

Bolivia Cost Breakdown

You might have noticed that our cost breakdown for Bolivia looks quite different compared to Chile and Argentina. Here’s why:

• Camping costs are significantly lower. Often, the price for camping was nearly the same as renting a basic room, making the choice pretty easy. And in remote areas, wild camping is easier than we expected.
• Groceries were noticeably cheaper, but interestingly, our restaurant spending increased. That’s because in Bolivia, eating out was often more affordable than cooking ourselves, so we took advantage of the local meals, international restaurants and street food.
• Fuel is cheap. While it can be tricky to buy as a foreigner (more on that another time), once you manage to fill up, it’s never a major expense.
• Activities made up a larger percentage of our budget, but they were well worth it. If there’s a place to invest in unforgettable experiences, it’s Bolivia. For example, climbing Huayna Potosí (6088m) over three days and two nights, including guide, gear, food, and accommodation, cost us €103.5 for two people. Not bad for such an unbelievable adventure!

Peru Cost Breakdown

A few practical notes to give some context behind the numbers:

• Groceries in Peru are relatively expensive. Surprisingly, eating at small, local (often streetside) restaurants is usually much cheaper. Meals along the road are simple and repetitive — typically chicken, rice, and fries. After a while, cooking our own meals felt like a real luxury.
• Camping consisted of wild camping. The only time we paid for camping was during our hike to Choquequirao, where we left our tent pitched in Santa Rosa while visiting the archaeological site.
• Activities in Peru are relatively expensive, especially when compared to Bolivia. Entrance fees to archaeological sites and activities add up quickly.

Ecuador Cost Breakdown

During our time in Ecuador, nationwide strikes led to severe road blocks — especially along the Pan-American Highway in the Andes. As a result, our route and timing changed significantly, which had a direct impact on our overall spending.

• Fuel expenses remained fairly standard. Because of the road blocks, we covered fewer kilometers than planned, which kept fuel costs relatively moderate.
• Hotel cost was one of our biggest expenses. We stayed longer than expected in Cuenca, renting a beautiful (but top-of-budget) Airbnb while waiting for the situation to calm down.
• Groceries went up because we had a private kitchen available in several places we stayed while waiting out the strikes.
• Activities were much less than originally planned due to the limited mobility during the protests.
• Camping in the rainforest wasn’t a realistic option. Due to the protests, we also didn’t get the chance to explore and camp in the Ecuadorian Andes as intended.

Colombia Cost Breakdown

In hindsight, we would have loved to spend more time in Colombia. Prices are reasonable, the food delicious, and the people incredibly welcoming. Our shorter timeline, however, influenced how we spent our budget.

• Hotel costs were higher due to extended stays in Medellín and Bogotá — the latter mainly to prepare our motorcycles for shipping to Panama.
• Camping was non-existent in Colombia. Not for safety reasons, but simply because we didn’t have enough time to venture off and explore more remote areas.

Additional expenses

We have a seperate budget for motorcycle maintenance and transport, these costs are elaborated separately below.

Motorcycle maintenance

Across this first leg of our South America journey, much of our gear gave up on us, but luckily our motorcycles kept going strong. Of course there is always the necessary motorcycle maintenance.

Below you can find an overview of our costs:

Transport cost

Finally, we have the cost of transport. This mostly includes moving us and our motorcycles across the sea by ferry, but also includes the cost of picking up our motorcycles in Valparaiso after shipping them there with InTime.