The countries in South America ranked – from worst to best

The countries in South America ranked – from worst to best

Over the past few years I have visited all twelve countries of South America. Some of them have made it into my top 10 countries in the world, and others I probably won’t visit again anytime soon. In this article, I present my personal ranking of the continent from worst to best.

Of course, this is a completely subjective ranking based on my personal preferences and experiences in the country. I am fully aware that others would rank them differently based on different priorities.

Perhaps I should also mention which criteria play a role in my ranking. Important to me are the diversity of the country, the activities you can do there, how safe the country is, how much you get for your money, the friendliness of the people, the cuisine, how easy it is to travel within the country, and how great my desire is to go there again.

So let’s start with the ranking. I’ll list the most important pros and cons of each country and describe my experiences in a few sentences.

Let’s start with the twelfth and final rank:

#12: Guyana

Pros:

• Kaieteur Falls – provided you find a flight and the waterfall has enough water
• In the only English-speaking country in South America, communication may be easier for some who are not fluent in Spanish or Portuguese

Cons:

• It’s dangerous
• It’s expensive
• Georgetown, the capital city, is a shithole

About my trip to Guyana:

Guyana is not only my least favorite country South America, but would also be in my 10 least favorite in the world. The capital is dangerous and makes you feel unease, the hotels, transfers and almost everything else are quite expensive, and there’s not a lot to do in the country that I find exciting. The Kaieteur Falls would actually be a highlight. However, my tour there was most likely the worst tour I’ve ever had anywhere, and what’s more, it was a complete rip-off.

Read the full trip report: Guyana – country 160/197

#11: Paraguay

Pros:

• The capital was actually not that bad

Cons:

• The lack of attractions

About my trip to Paraguay:

Poor Paraguay doesn’t really deserve to be ranked second last. However, Paraguay is probably the country with the lowest density of sights and attractions in the world. Seriously, I had a hard time finding anything interesting to do there. And this in a country four times the size of Germany. Imagine that. The only truly world-class attraction, Salto Monday, has the misfortune of hardly getting any attention because of its neighbor, the Iguazu Falls. In the end, I visited the capital Asunción, which turned out to be okay, and then traveled from there via Ciudad del Este to Brazil.

Read the full trip report: Paraguay – country 122/197

#10: Suriname

Pros:

• The only Dutch-speaking country in South America!
• Paramaribo, the capital city, has a beautful UNESCO World Heritage Site city center.
• Suriname offers quite a few fun things to do

Cons:

• Hard to get to (only a very small number of international flights)
• Hard to book tourist activities

About my trip to Suriname:

Of the three Guianas – Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana – I liked Suriname the most. I thought the capital, Paramaribo, was cool, and I was able to see dolphins on a sunset cruise. My negative memory was the weather, which was brutal in November in all three Guianas. My two-night stay in Suriname was very short, but if I were to return to one of the Guianas, it would be Suriname. French Guiana, which is not an independent country, would be between Guyana and Paraguay in this ranking.

Read the full trip report: Suriname – country 161/197

#9: Uruguay

Pros:

• A safe, developed country
• Relatively easy to travel around
• Has a few interesting places and sights for visitors, but…

Cons:

• …a small country that therefore cannot keep up with the continent’s heavyweights.

About my trip to Uruguay:

Since I mentioned my short stay in Suriname, I must admit that my stay in Uruguay was my shortest in South America. I traveled by boat from Buenos Aires to the city of Colonia del Sacramento, spent the afternoon there and traveled back. But hear me out. It was during COVID and it was difficult to enter (PCR test was needed… also to re-enter Argentina). The reason why I still rate Uruguay higher than others is that I think the country offers enough attractions to spend an exciting week there. So I will return sometime and see more of the country.

#8: Ecuador

Pros:

• Diverse country with stunning nature
• Cheap (if you don’t visit Galapagos)
• Less touristy than the neighboring countries

Cons:

• Petty crime seems to be more widespread than in other countries on the continent
• Due to the somewhat poorer tourism infrastructure and since nobody speaks any other language than Spanish, it is perhaps a little more challenging to travel than, for example, Bolivia or Peru

About my trip to Ecuador:

Ecuador was my fourth country in South America (after Brazil, Peru, and Colombia), and I spent nine days there in 2018-four on the mainland and five on the Galapagos Islands. In retrospect, I should have spent all my time on the mainland. The Galapagos Islands were beautiful, but also quite expensive, and if you don’t like diving or snorkeling, it’s definitely not worth the trip.

Read the full trip report: Ecuador – country 80/197

#7: Bolivia

Pros:

• The southwest of the country (the Salar de Uyuni and all the lagoons on the border with Chile) are among the three most beautiful places I have ever seen in the world
• It’s a very cheap country, maybe the cheapest in all of South America
• Cool vibe with lots of backpackers and adventure tourists

Cons:

• Despite the cool things you can do there, the unofficial capital La Paz remains a cold, chaotic and dangerous city
• Protests can shut down entire roads or isolate cities from the outside world. In the worst case, you could be stuck in one place for days.

About my trip to Bolivia:

In Bolivia, I focused on La Paz and the southwest, but the country has much more to offer, such as the Amazon, colonial cities like Sucre, and Lake Titicaca. I really enjoyed my time in Bolivia, although it wasn’t always easy. I almost fell victim to a crime in La Paz. The Salar de Uyuni tour was spectacular, the landscapes are among the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, but the trip also included very cold and uncomfortable nights. The fact that Bolivia is only in the midfield of my ranking also shows how stiff the competition is among the countries in South America.

Read the full trip report: Bolivia – country 139/197

#6 Brazil:

Pros:

• Huge country with an incredible amount of exciting places and great sights to see
• The joie de vivre that you encounter everywhere in Brazil
• Some of the best beaches in South America

Cons:

• Brazil is maybe the most dangerous country in South America
• It’s an expensive country
• I have rarely experienced such a large language barrier as in Brazil

About my trip to Brazil:

Oh my God, my first trip to Brazil turned out to be a disaster. Really, just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong. As a result, my first impression of Brazil was pretty bad. Now since almost ten years have passed and a second short visit six years later, I see things a little differently. While most people have a great time in Brazil and some even call it one of their favorite countries in the world, I have to admit that I was simply unlucky. As the country is huge, there are still a lot of great places that I haven’t seen yet and that I hope to see soon.

Read the full trip report: Brazil – country 27/197

#5: Chile

Pros:

• Due to its unique outline, which stretches from the north to the south over more than 4,000 kilometers, an incredibly diverse country
• Chile is one of the best organized countries in South America and is also one of the safest

Cons:

• Another country that is rather expensive for South American standards
• There are certainly more interesting cities in South America than Santiago de Chile

About my trip to Chile:

I visited Chile directly after Bolivia. It was September, so it was still deep winter in some of Chile’s latitudes. For this reason, I didn’t have to think too long about my route: I entered the country via the Atacama Desert and then traveled on to Santiago, from where I visited Valparaíso. It was too cold for Patagonia. Anyway, Chile is a cool country and one day I will return to visit more places in the north and, of course, Patagonia.

Read the full trip report: Chile – country 140/197

#4: Peru

Pros:

• Inca culture
• Stunning nature, unique landscapes and one of the best cuisines in South America
• Peru’s Gringo Trail, the route from Lima to Cusco via Arequipa is one of the most fun trips in the world

Cons:

• The popular sights like Machu Picchu or Vinicunca are extremely crowded and suffer from overtourism
• Alongside Bolivia, Peru is another country where protests have severely affected tourists in the past

About my trip to Peru:

Peru was my second country in South America and a trip I really enjoyed. The country has so many exciting places that you would need at least three to four weeks to see everything. Still, I saw a lot of the country in my two weeks and ate guinea pig for the first and only time (it was neither disgusting nor particularly good). Peru was also the only country where my checked luggage was lost for a few days. That was in 2018, and since then I’ve only traveled with carry-on luggage. When younger people ask me which country offers the most fun backpacking trip, Peru is one of my first answers.

Read the full trip report: Peru – country 72/197

#3: Venezuela

Pros:

• An incredibly beautiful country
• The nicest people in South America
• Venezuela is a hidden gem. You hardly see any other tourists, so you have the amazing places practically to yourself

Cons:

• Politically unstable, a country where a lot can go wrong on a trip
• The most expensive country in South America

About my trip to Venezuela:

My last country in Venezuela. I came with low expectations and left completely flabbergasted. What a gorgeous country with friendly locals and a surprisingly good tourism infrastructure, considering that the number of international tourists has dropped drastically in recent years. Venezuela has a reputation for being extremely unsafe. However, I saw nothing of this during my trip. I was so impressed with the country that I almost put it in second place in this ranking…

Read the full trip report: Venezuela – country 175/197 (coming soon…)

#2: Colombia

Pros:

• Colorful country with lots of cool places to visit and fun-loving locals
• Medellin is in my opinion the best city in South America
• Interesting history of the turbulent last decades (Escobar, FARC, …)

Cons:

• Widespread scams, some of which are far from harmless

About my trip to Colombia:

I visited four different places in Colombia and actually liked them all (even the unloved capital Bogota). What I loved about Colombia were the people who do everything they can to make sure the country is better than its reputation. The best part is that there is still so much to see in Colombia that I will soon be able to go back for two weeks. I really struggled with whether to put Colombia or Venezuela in second place. In the end, it was small details that made me choose Colombia.

Read the full trip report: Colombia – country 79/197

#1: Argentina

Pros:

• One of the three most diverse countries in the world
• Few other countries offer such good value for money, especially when the black market rate differs significantly from the official USD-Peso rate.
• Best cuisine in South America (steak and the best empanadas!)

Cons:

• Nothing

About my trip to Argentina:

I entered Argentina on the very day it reopened its borders after COVID-19 and one of the strictest pandemic regimes in the world, and spent three weeks there. There were almost no international tourists, but lots of domestic ones. In my opinion, Argentina has it all: a variety of incredible landscapes, an amazing capital city, sensational food, a (reasonably) good infrastructure and, of course, football! For me, Argentina is not only the best country in South America, but also one of the three best countries in the world, period.

Read the full trip report: Argentina – country 123/197

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Perhaps I should also mention that this is not a final ranking, but the ranking I made after the I have been to all this countries once (with the exception of Brazil, where I have been for a quick revisit). A second trip to the countries could, and probably will, shake up the ranking again. At the same time, my interests are likely to change over the next few years, like it did in recent years. So I’ll be looking at the countries from a different perspective.

I am also aware that this is highly subjective. I’m sure some of you would have a different ranking. But feel free to let me know in the comments where you agree and where you disagree 🙂

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Click here to find the trip reports of the 170+ other countries I have visited so far!