All Destinations

Ecuador's adventure-sports capital sits at 1,820m where the Andean highlands transition to the Amazon basin — perpetual spring climate (15-25°C year-round) beneath the active 5,023m Tungurahua volcano. The Pailón del Diablo waterfall (100m thundering cascade reached via suspension bridges and behind-the-falls rock tunnels), the Casa del Árbol cliff-edge swing famously photographed 'swinging into the void' with Tungurahua as backdrop, the Termas de la Virgen mineral hot springs, and the 60km Ruta de las Cascadas with 60+ waterfalls. Bungee jumping, canyoning, ziplining, white-water rafting, mountain biking — all at one-third the cost of equivalent in the West. Population ~20,000.

Paraty is the perfectly preserved 18th-century colonial port halfway between Rio and São Paulo — whitewashed houses with bright shutters, churches at every corner, and cobblestone streets so uneven you stop pretending shoes will help. UNESCO inscribed the historic centre in 2019 (alongside the surrounding Atlantic Forest reserves) for its colonial architecture and the cultural landscape that grew around the gold-mining caminho do ouro. Today the harbour fills with traditional schooners (saveiros) running day trips to dozens of green islands and turquoise coves; the back lanes hide some of Brazil's best cachaça stills, and the surrounding Serra da Bocaina forest hides 100m waterfalls reachable on foot.

A lakeside resort town in Chile's northern Patagonia — sat at the foot of Volcán Villarrica, one of the world's most active volcanoes (you can climb it in summer and look into a glowing lava lake at the summit). Lago Villarrica's beaches are black volcanic sand, the Termas Geométricas hot springs are a 75-minute drive into Andean rainforest, and Mapuche communities still hold the surrounding land. Adventure capital of Chile: rafting the Trancura, climbing Villarrica, and white-water everything.