South America (Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Colombia)

G Adventures' 38-day XVUCSX expedition cruise bundles 33 nights aboard the refuelled 128-passenger G Expedition with a 3-day Machu Picchu land excursion. You can't independently charter an expedition ship — but you CAN cover the same coastline overland and by local transport: Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego, Punta Arenas and Torres del Paine, the Chiloé archipelago, then north along the Pan-American spine to Arequipa's Chauchilla mummies and Nazca, Cusco and Machu Picchu, the Isla de la Plata wildlife boat out of Puerto López, a Darien jungle/Emberá day trip from Panama City, a Miraflores Locks visit plus a partial or full canal transit, the San Blas Islands by sailboat or speedboat, and Bahía Solano in Colombia's Chocó. This self-launched version costs roughly a fifth of the cruise fare and gives you far more flexibility — at the price of long bus days and no zodiac landings in the Chilean fjords (which are instead replaced by Chile's ferry and fjord-connected road network + national park excursions). All costs are approximate per-person estimates in GBP based on current backpacker/budget-traveller rates and exclude international flights from the UK.

Travel Crew

~£4,200