South America’s geography creates a specific aviation challenge that Europe and East Asia don’t present: the continent is enormous, the major cities are far apart, and the ground-level alternatives to flying are either very slow or very inconvenient or both. Brazil alone is larger than the contiguous United States. Lima to Rio de Janeiro is a longer flight than London to Reykjavik. Cusco to São Paulo requires a stop in Lima. The itinerary for three weeks across the continent produces a flight count that would feel excessive for the same duration in Europe and is, in the context of South American geography, simply what the trip requires.
LATAM, the regional carrier formed from the merger of LAN Chile and TAM Brazil, operates the majority of intra-continental routes and does so with an efficiency and comfort level that is better than the regional reputation for South American aviation sometimes suggests. The aircraft are modern, the punctuality reasonable for a continent where weather at altitude creates genuine operational challenges, and the check-in procedures at Lima and São Paulo airports were more straightforward than the queues suggested they would be. Cusco airport, at 3,400 metres above sea level, has specific operational characteristics: aircraft require more runway at altitude due to the thinner air reducing lift, the approach over the mountains from certain directions requires pilots with specific training and certification, and the airport closes to most commercial traffic in poor visibility because the approach corridors leave limited margin for error. Our departure was delayed by an hour for weather and then cleared for a flight that provided, from the left window seat, the best view of the Andes I encountered in the entire three weeks.
Getting from airports to city centres in South America is more variable than in Asia, where the infrastructure investment of the past two decades has produced metro connections and express buses in most major cities. Lima’s airport sits in the Callao district, about twenty kilometres from the Miraflores area where most visitors stay, connected by taxi at a price that needs to be negotiated or fixed in advance, or by a bus service that is cheap, slow, and requires knowing where to get off. São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport is forty kilometres from the centre and connected by a bus service that works well once you understand which service goes to which part of the city and a metro connection that requires a change. Buenos Aires, which we did not visit but which sits at the end of most conversations about South American city transfers, is famous for its specific taxi negotiation challenges at Ezeiza International.
The practical advice is to book a fixed-price taxi in advance from the official counter inside the arrivals hall rather than from the unlicensed operators who will approach you before you reach the official counter. This is true of every South American city I visited and probably of most others. The price difference is rarely worth the uncertainty.
Getting from airports to city centres in South America is more variable than in Asia, where the infrastructure investment of the past two decades has...
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