• Panama City – great starting point to any itinerary, Panama Canal, beautiful old town
• Valle de Anton – hiking town located in the base of an extinct volcano
• Santa Catalina – beach town known for its diving!
• Boquete – hiking town up in the mountains, including the tallest point in Panama
• Bocas del Toro – popular beach town where you take water taxis from island to island

PRO TIPS:

• No visa needed for US citizens as of March 2025. Both the airline & the immigration did ask for what date I was leaving the country but never actually asked for hard proof. YMMV.
• Panama uses USD so that made it very easy for me. I brought some USD with me but also it’s easy to go to an ATM & get more without worrying about a bad conversion rate.
• Panama wasn’t SUPER expensive, but it wasn’t cheap either. Meals were often $10-15 and hostel beds were $15-25 depending on how nice they were.
• If it makes sense (aka you’re not a solo traveler) renting a car seems like a great way to travel. Roads were great and gas was cheap!

CITY: PANAMA CITY

HOW LONG: 1 NIGHT

ACCOMMODATION:

Eden’s Garden hostal – nice free breakfast and a few hammocks. No social vibe at all. Barely met anyone but luckily a couple arrived at the exact same time as me so we ended up hanging out! I’ve never seen this before but the bunks were handmade and you could completely enclose and lock the entire bunk. There was also room to keep your bag up in the bunk at the foot of the bed. Great for privacy and securing your bags but not great for social vibes in the room. Also it was pretty dark. Neighborhood felt safe but I wish I had stayed closer to Casco Viejo (luckily it’s only a 15 min / $5 Uber away). I would try somewhere else next time I was here. 6/10

WHERE TO EAT:

In Casco Viejo, I tried Mahalo for a cacao banana smoothie. Very aesthetic cafe & beautifully decorated. 

Al Alma– small brunch chain based in Colombia with delicious brunch food available all day – so you know I love it I had a French Toast sandwich for an early dinner.

Right around the corner from the hostel I ate at Oh My Burger! with the Dutch couple I met.

WHAT TO DO:

Visit Casco Viejo, the beautifully colorful colonial part of Panama. I had fun trying out my new camera here! It’s fun to just walk around the small streets of this old town. Also, visit the RAKO store – super fun store with hand crafted designs like beautiful, colorful bandana. I never shop but managed to spend $50

I also visited Panama Viejo with Alex & Kai. For $17, we got to see the archaeological ruins of old Panama including a robust museum & a bell observation tower.

I didn’t visit the Panama Canal, but that’s a popular activity.

Another popular choice is a day trip to the San Blas islands, but I was too tired and jet lagged to attempt that long day. Pro Tip: If you are headed to Panama from Colombia (or vice versa) you can do a 5 day sailing trip through the San Blas Islands as you head to Panama City. It’s a popular backpacker bucket list item.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I was planning to stay 2 nights (to give myself a full day to recover from my red eye flight), but I ended up meeting the Dutch couple (Alex & Kai) who had rented a car and were headed to Valle de Ánton so instead of waiting around an extra day to then have to take a shuttle, I forwent my second night in Panama city and hopped in the car with them!

CITY: EL VALLE DE ÁNTON

HOW LONG: 2 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at a Bodhi Hostel & Lounge. Very cute and pretty clean. Free breakfast was great! Lots of areas to lounge indoor and outdoor, including an area to watch movies and lounge beds outside. Dorm bunks are three high so if you are afraid of heights then consider that. I spent one night in the dorm and one night in a private room (such a treat!). WiFi wasn’t the best but it did the job. Picnic table to eat any meals you cook for yourself in the kitchen. I never waited for a bathroom. Curtains and personal plugs in the bunk. Good location in town (but town is small). Helpful with organizing things to do or transport to your next destination. Would stay here again. 9/10 

WHERE TO EAT:

Madre Pizza was right next to the hostel with yummy, reasonably priced pizza. Other than that I mostly ate at local restaurants with $3.50 menu del día meals with my Dutch friends. 

WHAT TO DO:

There is tons of great hiking (here’s a great list) in El Valle, but Kai had an injury on the bottom of his foot so we picked a shorter, but popular one: India Dormida. After a $3 entrance fee, we quickly got to see some ancient petroglyphs. Then we passed some small waterfalls that you can swim in before or after the hike. Here’s a great guide to it.

After the hike we drove to another viewpoint, which was fairly underwhelming.

The rest of the afternoon I read, walked the main street of the tiny town, and enjoyed my private room by calling a few friends.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I honestly thought I would like this town more but it was little just okay. There wasn’t much to the town and the hiking was pretty but didn’t blow me away. However, it was certainly cool to stay inside the crater of an ancient volcano!

CITY: SANTA CATALINA

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at an awesome hostel called Bambuda Santa Catalina. It had a hotel vibe but in a good way. Pool is very nice with a swim up bar. Plenty of chaise lounges and seats to read or soak up the sun. Rooms are modern and clean. The four bed dorm has one bunk plus two single, which is awesome. Bathroom is incredibly nice (felt like a nice hotel). There’s a restaurant to eat at (not super cheap but food looked good) or you can walk down the main road 5-20 min to find a variety of other options. Annoyingly no kitchen, but not the end of the world. It overlooks the beach/ocean. I wouldn’t say it was incredibly social but my Dutch friends were staying around the corner so I mostly hung out with them. I loved reading by the pool in all the shady spots they had. 10/10 would highly recommend, even though it’s a little bit of a splurge for a dorm bed.

WHERE TO EAT:

I ate at three cute spots in town!

• Cafe Panachocolate – the one super cute smoothie bowl cafe. Lots of backpackers hanging and working on their computers. Food was delicious and it wasn’t too expensive ($9 smoothie bowl). 
• Firestone Grill – Fun burger & taco joint up on a little hill. We played monopoly deal for an hour after eating! Fries were delicious – we even ordered a second round of them.
• PanaWok – Located in a fun, new upscale outdoor food hall. It’s a build your own wok bowl with lots of options. Portions were huge and I had half leftover for lunch the next day!

WHAT TO DO:

• Visit Coiba National Park! Whether it’s by snorkeling or scuba diving, it’s a can’t miss!
• Sit by the pool & soak up the sun
• Take surf lessons
• Go on a horseback ride

My highlight was obviously doing 3 scuba dives in the National Park. We saw over 50 whitetip reef sharks, a bull shark, a huge Hawksbill turtle and 20+ green turtles! It was spectacular and one of the best dives experiences I’ve had. Highly recommend if you are a diver!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Town is tiny, but between a cute cafe, an awesome hostel, and incredible diving, this was my favorite place in Panama! It was sadly my last stop with Kai & Alex, but we had a blast diving together, playing monopoly deal & eating lots of food!

CITY: BOQUETE

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at Socialtel – wow what a cool hostel. It’s a former Selina hostel so it has a co-working space. Such a cool property with a literal river running through it! Lots of hammocks and spots in the shade to chill. Best of all are the cool cylinder private rooms. I loved how cozy the space was (but there’s little room outside the bed ). Shared bathrooms didn’t bother room, I was just happy to have my own space and a double bed! 10/10 would recommend – especially if you can splurge on a cylinder room.

WHERE TO EAT:

• Café Unido – yummy breakfast sandwich at a simple, cute cafe with views of the stream!
• Olga’s – best breakfast in town! Highly recommend a stop at this family run restaurant. You’ll be treated with a hug & kiss on the head.
• Saori’s Ice Cream – great ice cream spot. Known for their pistachio ice cream. I added chocolate hard sauce to mine!
• Gelateria La Ghiotta – I didn’t go but wish I had

WHAT TO DO:

The main thing to do here is a sunrise hike to the tallest point in Panama. You start at midnight if you want to hike or 4am if you want to take a 4×4 up (the more popular way). I honestly have done so many volcano hikes & I was exhausted from the fast past from the start of my time in Panama, so I decided to just enjoy my cute private room and the hostel property.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

It was nice to be up in the mountains as it was a very pleasant temperature each day and cooled off in the evening (very welcome after the past few towns). I enjoyed my very chilled time here. Definitely worth a few days here!

CITY: BOCAS DEL TORO

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

Bocas del Toro is a cute little area filled with tons of islands. There’s the main town aptly called Bocas Town and it has tons of cute beach restaurants and cafes. There’s plenty of hostels to choose from here. However, I stayed on an island a 5 min boat taxi away and it was one of my favorite hostels I’ve ever stayed at. Bambuda Lodge does a great job with everything from the food, to the views, to the social atmosphere, to the volunteers and customer service. Truly impeccable. You are isolated on the island unless you want to take the $5 taxi boat to the main island, which makes everyone hang out together most of the day/evening at the pool or other hangout areas. There are hammocks, a workout room, and plenty of chaise lounges. There’s also a 150 ft slide that goes into the ocean! The volunteers organize a welcome drink every night where everyone goes around and introduces themselves. Fun to see all the friends you are about to make. Also the food is excellent and portions are generous. The fans in the beds were enough to keep you cool at night but just remember you are on an isolated island with minimal infrastructure so don’t expect luxury. 10/10 would love to go back! I ended up extending to 4 nights here.

WHERE TO EAT:

I ate every meal at the property and loved every meal. Each night you have about 6 dishes to choose from on and it changes each night. Pro tip: Brownies were incredible! The family style meals are great for meeting people! 

WHAT TO DO:

I didn’t do much besides pester all my new friends with questions about how to construct my Central America itinerary. They were all very helpful and I’m eternally grateful for the information exchange that happens at hostels. 

Other than the fun evening activities the volunteers organize like trivia or drinking games, I also went on the island hike to see some of the famous red frogs & huge golden orb spiders. It was a fun way to move my body and meet some of the other travelers! 

Other ideas:

• Take a boat taxi to one of the main beautiful beaches
• Do a day trip to snorkel and swim around the fabulous sites in the area
• Go diving
• Go to the epic, well known Filthy Friday party that happens every (you guessed it) Friday.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Bocas del Toro was a much needed break and I loved spending all day “trapped” at the beautiful resort with all my new friends! Also hilariously I ran into a girl (Bekah) I had met at a hostel 5 years prior in Gili T, near Bali. So random and so delightful! 

BUDGET FOR 13 DAYS IN PANAMA:

Panama was definitely not the cheapest destination in Central America, but I also contributed to the high than average spend. Panama can definitely be done cheaper than how I did it

• Accommodation: $600 ($46 per night) – I did double pay for accommodation one night as I last minute changed plans to leave Panama City a night early. Also, because I was feeling so burnt out, I did treat myself to some private rooms hehe (including 3 nights at $95 per night, which is abnormal for me)
• Food: $350
• Groceries: $20
• Activities: $255 (diving + massage)
• Local Transportation: $115
• Miscellaneous: $90

Total: $1,430 (Daily average: $110)

Transportation to next destination: $129 (Bus to San Jose, CR, one night at hostel then bus to Ometepe) Basically I traveled from 9:30am to 5pm the following day straight with 7 hours to sleep in San Jose. This was a very long journey haha.

Of course I am using my 35L Tortuga Setout backpack They don’t sell the exact backpack I have anymore, but here is their latest & greatest! Can’t recommend their bags more. I have used a Tortuga backpack on each of my longterm trips!

Overall tips:

• Use packing cubes! I love that my Tortuga packing cubes perfectly fit the dimensions of my bag, but Amazon should have plenty of options!
• Think through how the clothes will feel in heat. Linen & lightweight materials will be best. 
• Make sure that every top works with every bottom and works with every shoes. Use a capsule wardrobe as inspiration.
• Less is more! Even though I have done this full time for over 36 consecutive months (holy moly), I still inevitably pack 1-2 items that I never end up reaching for. Think through if you actually will where it or if it’s just an aspirational item.

PACKING LIST FOR CENTRAL AMERICA:

CLOTHES

• 2 pairs of Lululemon Fast & Free Crop’s – I’m trying to make it easy to workout while on the road this time around.
• 1 pair of Lululemon Align pants – can be used for working out/walking around town or I can dress it up.
• 1 Romper
• 2 Jumpsuits (Madewell) – I’m obsessed with this jumpsuit – it’s great for hot weather but still provides mosquito coverage. I love it so much that I had a copy made while I was in Hoi An, Vietnam. I picked a fun orange print & added cap sleeves.
• 1 Cute shirt (I’m only taking one as I think I’ll be in my rompers and jumpsuits most days)
• 3 sports bras
• 4 athletic shirts (for running + sleeping in). Three are from Lululemon.
• Booty shorts (to sleep in)
• 5 pairs of underwear
• 6 pairs of socks
• 1 black bralette
• Running shoes
• Waterproof sandals- I just bought Teva dupes (will act as my water shoe as well as my cute shoes- I never said the backpacker lifestyle was glamorous haha)
• Light Patagonia puffer – good for chilly planes/busses & for when I visit countries that are a little cooler, even in the summer. It also smushes down fairly small so it’s a great backpacker jacket. I’ve also used it as a pillow in a pinch.
• 1 Swimsuit (feel free to bring 2-3 if that’s your thing)
• Sunglasses (Warby Parker)
• Rain coat (Patagonia; you can pack it up into it’s pocket so I can easily attach it to the outside of my bag via a carabiner)
• Tortuga Daypack (they don’t sell the one I have anymore sadly). This acts as my personal item for flights and I can use it for adventures during the day. 
• Sling crossbody bag (I put it into my daypack on travel days). I use this out and about on a daily basis.

ELECTRONICS

• Computer + Charger
• iPad
• iPhone + Charger (I get a 6 ft cord so I can always reach the plug from my hostel dorm bed!)
• AirPod Pro’s
• Fujifilm x100vi – YOU GUYS I BOUGHT A CAMERA!!! I’m so excited to try it out this trip!!
• Headphones (Bose; noise-cancelling for travel days)
• Plug adapter (I use this one)
• Portable charger (like this one)
• AirTag (This is a no brainer these days; provides peace of mind incase I am forced to check my bag or when it’s below me in a bus. Always nice to confirm it’s still with me!)
• Extra sim cards for my new camera
• Extra battery for my new camera

TOILETRIES (I USE A BUNCH OF LITTLE TOILETRY BAGS TO KEEP THESE ALL ORGANIZED)

• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Flosser
• Any medication you take
• Retainer
• Deodorant
• Tiny roller perfume
• Makeup
• Makeup Remover (I’ve become obsessed with cleansing balm for this because it isn’t a liquid, & it’s highly effective at getting makeup off at the end of the day! 
• Razor
• Conditioner + Shampoo (Get containers to put your products into & refill on the road!!)
• Face wash
• Moisturizer
• Brush
• Pocket Hand Sanitizer– I keep one in my backpack and one in my sling/purse. Great in general, but also for when inevitably there is no soap at a random bus stop bathroom
• Sunscreen (I love Sun Bum or Goop)
• Tiger balm (I picked this up in Southeast Asia and it’s now a staple in my bag. Great for mosquito bites and just feeling a little sick. It’s kinda like Vick’s vapor rub).
• Chapstick (Don’t forget to get one with SPF)
• Ibuprofen
• Hair ties and bobby pins
• Moleskin
• Bandaids
• Electrolytes (these are a must for traveling, but especially in hotter climates)
• A few protein bars for emergency snacks! You never know when you’ll be stuck on a bus in the middle of nowhere & get hungry.
• Cough drops
• Topical steroid cream for bed bug bites or regular bug bites to help with itchiness

MISCELLANEOUS

• Passport – no explanation necessary
• ID (I bring my driver’s license)
• Travel Credit Card- I bring 2-3 cards with me in case I lose one it gets stolen or it gets hacked. Important to get ones with no foreign transaction fee; I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve (hello lounge access!) + Capital One Venture Card.
• Debit Card (Charles Schwab has the best one because it reimburses ATM fees from any ATM in the world )
• US Dollars – I always bring 1-2 Hundred dollar bills as an emergency source of cash (luckily most places in the world would take USD if it was truly an emergency & you needed some cash to get you out of a situation), however, in the case of Central America, I’ve taken more! USD are used in some countries here (like El Salvador), but also some businesses will give you a better rate when paying in USD. Take some smaller bills as they are helpful for border exit/entrance fees.
• Record of your plans (I make folders within my email inbox to keep track of everything or you could print out a copy of your itinerary)
• Extra Passport photos
• Thumb drive with all documentation if desired
• Quick dry towel – From REI
• Sarong for a beach cover up or for lying on.
• Water Bottle – Camelbak
• Ear Plugs
• Eye Mask (you can either go the classic eye mask route or get one like this that almost acts like your eye mask + ear plug since you can play white noise through the built in bluetooth speaker- pretty cool!)
• Lock (for staying in hostels or locking my bag.) Get the combo lock so you don’t have to worry about tiny keys. I take three to be able to lock two different compartments in my bag AND so I can keep my computer/passport/iPad compartment still locked when I use the other one to lock a locker within a hostel (+ one for backup!).
• 3 carabiners – I just attach them to my backpack and over the course of the trip they will hold everything from my water bottle, shoes, rain jacket and more. You will not regret having a few on hand.
• Pack of playing cards (My sister got my a custom deck with some of my favorite photos from my travels – such a thoughtful gift)
• Monopoly Deal – a fabulous compact game for the backpacking trail!
• Face mask (I’ve used this while feeling sick as well as on a dusty motorcycle ride)
• 2 pens for writing postcards
• Ziplock bags of various sizes. I inevitably need to put dirty shoes, wet bathing suit, leftover pizza, or dirty socks somewhere and I am always incredibly relieved to have some ziplocks at the ready. Plus they take up no space/weight so there’s no downside to bringing them.

Here is what I packed in each packing cube:

All packed up and ready to go!!

PRO TIPS:

• Google where it is on the globe!
• Get some cash from an ATM at the airport or in town. Most places charge a fee for using a credit card so it’s best to have cash.
• We got our visas on arrival.
• Decide if you want to go to multiple islands or just the main one of Efate. We had hoped to visit Santo and/or Tanna (hence why we booked 10 days), but the internal airlines had imploded the year prior and their website didn’t allow for booking. As such we decided to just stay on the main island for some R&R. When we arrived we were told we could book flights right at the airport, but we didn’t know this ahead of time and were stressed about booking accommodation without knowing the reliability of the flights.
• After the earthquake in Dec ’24, a lot of the downtown of the capital city of Port Villa was still closed off. Many of the buildings collapsed and will take months if not years to rebuild it. It didn’t really affect our stay in Vanuatu as we mostly spent our time at our hotels.
• Before booking your stay, I would recommend poking around on Reddit for an up to date status of the island as things continue to be evolving and if we had understood all the dynamics, we likely would’ve booked a shorter stay.
• If you aren’t going to multiple islands, I would say that 5-6 days is plenty for Efate. We didn’t find there to be too much to do so this would be sufficient time for relaxing as well as doing some snorkeling or visiting the Blue Lagoon.

ISLAND: EFATE

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

My sister, Ellie, & I split our time between two hotels. One was more budget friendly and one was our splurge.

Hotel #1 was Banana Bay Beach Club. This was our budget friendly option as it was a small hotel in a remote part of the island (only $65 per night). It was a trek to get out there and there wasn’t much to do outside of visiting the blue lagoon, but we didn’t mind. The hotel is built around this lovely private lagoon that acts as a swimming hole. We loved it! We basically spent all day going in and out of the ocean for dips to cool off. There was also a spot you could jump into the lagoon from above. There were very few other guests so it felt like we had the place to ourselves. The Aussie couple who run it were very quirky but also laid back. There is a small restaurant onsite where we ate each dinner as there are no other restaurants in the area. The room was nice, but basic. There was a mosquito net which helped with the bugs. No AC, but the fan worked decently well. We felt very safe and the staff were kind.

Hotel #2 was Mangoes Resort. This was our “splurge” at $150 per night. Our room had a private pool & full kitchen/living room. There was also a gym + 5 pools around the property, including a stunning infinity pool at the sister property next door, which you have access to. It was also closer to town & the airport.

WHERE TO EAT:

We actually made most of our meals for ourselves! Between oatmeal at the first hotel for breakfast & buying groceries for our meals at the second (yay for the kitchen in our unit) we only ate 2 meals outside of our hotels.

We had dinner at the Beach Bay before the famous Fire Show on Fridays. The pizza is fantastic!

Our last evening we walked to the Port Vila Burger and had a delicious burger.

WHAT TO DO:

We chose the workout, eat, read, swim, repeat vacation, but there are some things to do on the island.

The two activities we did:

• Visit the beautiful blue lagoon. Pro tip: go to the second entrance as it’s cheaper & it was the best of the three options. Bring sunscreen, swimsuit, & water with you. There aren’t any food options so feel free to bring snacks with you. We stayed for 3 hours and since we went early, we had it to ourselves for about half of that.

• See the Fire Show at Beach Bay on a Friday night. It’s a fantastic performance with fire, acrobatics, & music. The show is free but have your accommodation make you a reservation for a table for dinner beforehand. Bring cash for a tip for the performers!

We also had some fabulous $30 massages! We ended up getting them 3 days in a row haha.

Other options for what to do:

• Snorkeling
• See the turtles at a sanctuary
• Go to Eden on the River for swimming and nature walks
• Visit Eton Beach
• Take a boat tour to some smaller islands

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

We liked Vanuatu but I wouldn’t say we fell in love with it if I am being honest. Unless you are someone living in Australia (where Vanuatu is a fairly easy holiday destination), I wouldn’t say you need to go out of your way to get here for a visit. You are better off heading to Indonesia, The Philippines, Fiji or French Polynesia. The infrastructure is sorely lacking & the interactions we had with the hotel staff were quite odd & sometimes difficult. Ellie & I always have a blast together so we still enjoyed our time here, but it had less to do with Vanuatu itself. I am very glad I came here with Ellie as this would not have been a fun place to be solo. We barely met anyone while here. It was a bit of a ghost town. I can confidently say (for many reasons) that I don’t think I’ll ever be back here in my lifetime.

BUDGET FOR 10 DAYS IN VANUATU:

Honestly I was expecting to spend more money here as it’s a tiny island that has to import most goods. I thought it would be closer to Fiji prices than Bali prices. All in all, it was fairly economical. Although it certainly helped that we didn’t do much while here. Reading your book & swimming is free!

• Accommodation: $570 ($57 per night) – My half of the hotel rooms
• Food: $108
• Groceries: $37
• Activities: $8
• Local Transportation: $80
• Miscellaneous: $174 (massages + postcards + gifts)

Total: $977 (Daily average: $97.7)

Transportation to next destination: $350 for roundtrip flights from Sydney, Australia

• Santa Teresa
• Nosara
• Monteverde
• La Fortuna
• Manuel Antonio

PRO TIPS:

• Costa Rica is expensive! Honestly not great for backpackers. I’d focus on the other countries in Central America.
• To set expectations it’s filled with lots of US tourists who are here on 1-2 week vacations so Costa Rica tourism really caters & charges $$$ accordingly.
• Life is slow in Costa Rica, so don’t expect anything to be on time.
• If you rent a car, make sure to rent a taller car than a tiny SUV. Ours bottomed out a few times on the very pot-hole ridden roads.

CITY: SANTA TERESA

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at a cute hostel called Ico Living Hostel that wasn’t even listed on Hostelworld (I found it on booking.com). The beds were doubles not twins, which is a game changer. There were lockers, lots of hooks for wet swimsuits and towels, and the room was very clean. Wifi & AC worked great. There were two hammocks and lots of communal seating near the outdoor kitchen. Also it was a 5 min walk to the beach!! Overall would absolutely stay here again.

WHERE TO EAT:

Santa Teresa is basically a (longish) one street town that runs parallel to the beach. Near the hostel was Eat Street which was a hip, elevated outdoor food market with about 4-5 restaurants to pick from. I loved the smoothie bowls from here.

Gaucho Norte had some delicious but expensive ice cream!

WHAT TO DO:

It’s a beach town so the main thing to do is get surf lessons or just hang out at the beach!

I also took a day trip to go to Tortuga Island for some snorkeling, dinner, and swim with the bioluminescent plankton at night. Honestly, I didn’t love the tour. The snorkeling was pretty subpar, and I don’t need to spend the day in the sun, & the plankton weren’t that bright, so I should’ve just hung out at the shady beach in Santa Teresa, but you live and you learn.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I really didn’t like it here to be honest. The beaches were nice, but the place was overrun by Americans on vacation and it was SO expensive. I just felt like I wouldn’t be able to find “my people” here, and I was right. But if you like a lively party scene with expensive food & nice beaches, this might be your place!

CITY: Nosara

HOW LONG: 6 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at a homestay with a local family which was arranged through my Spanish language school. It was a little far from the school which was not ideal, but overall I enjoyed my time there. It was a treat to have a private room for a week! The room itself was basic, but I’m used to that these days

WHERE TO EAT:

I honestly ate 100% of my meals with the family because eating out here was so expensive. Like $20 a smoothie bowl level expensive! The host mom made delicious food and it was included in the price of me staying with them so truly a win-win.

WHAT TO DO:

Nosara is known for its yogi vibe & gentle waves for learning to surf. While I didn’t participate in either, my friend Emilie was here at the same time and did both activities. She raved about it. I was busy doing language classes (but I low-key hated my school so I won’t even recommend it ha!). There are some cute shops and a weekly market with handmade crafts which is worth checking out. I bought a new jumpsuit from a shop in town which was very beautiful (both the shop + the dress)!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

If you have a lot of money and love yoga, I think this place could be great for you. Check out Bodhi Tree – it’s magical!! As a backpacker who doesn’t do yoga, I didn’t really connect with Nosara to be honest.

CITY: MONTEVERDE

HOW LONG: 1 NIGHT

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at the Monkey Hostel in a private room with an en-suite bathroom. The hostel itself was pretty dingy but it has street parking and a decent breakfast. It was located near the town center with restaurants so that was ideal. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great haha.

WHERE TO EAT:

The only place I’d recommend was The Open Kitchen. The food was good, the vibes were great, and the service was fabulous. It certainly wasn’t cheap but there weren’t great options in town to be honest.

WHAT TO DO:

We went to Selvatura Adventure Park to do some ziplining & a swing bridge + canopy walk. Again it was fairly expensive but we had a blast. We paid around ~140 usd and it was about 3 hours worth of activities. Pro tip: bring a jacket as it can get cold, windy, & wet as you zoom through the canopy. We opted to take their free shuttle to as we were worried that our car wouldn’t make it and we were glad we did it. However, if you have a bigger car, you would be fine. But the shuttle times weren’t optimal for getting back so instead of waiting 2 hrs for the next shuttle, we hitchhiked back with a nice couple who happened to be getting into their car in the parking lot.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Other than doing the cloud forest walks & ziplining, you don’t need to spend much time here. It was incredibly windy and chillier than expected. We were happy that we only had one night here.

CITY: LA FORTUNA

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at the Hotel Arenal Lodge and it was quirky to say the least. It’s situated on 2000 acres of gorgeous tropical forest where you can’t seen any other signs of human activity. To get into the property you must drive on a precarious 2km road, but once you are in, it’s an adorable, rustic, well-loved lodge. There’s a pool & two hot tubs. There are STUNNING views of the Arenal Volcano. The staff were so kind and our room was beautiful. It had two queen beds + a big balcony that looked directly at the volcano. It had two big rocking chairs + enough space that we did yoga & morning workouts in the mist. However, because the road was a little gnarly, we always came back before dark so every meal was at the hotel. Luckily the food was very good and fairly reasonable compared to other restaurants in the area. This place isn’t the most luxurious place in La Fortuna area, but we thought its value was stellar and we kinda fell in love with it by the end.

WHERE TO EAT:

We ate the free breakfast and the paid dinner everyday at the hotel We had one lunch at The Springs where we spent two days going to their hot springs. It was overpriced and not that good. The other lunch we had a smoothie bowl from Jungle Bowls in the main city center. It was pretty good, although of course expensive.

WHAT TO DO:

We enjoyed doing some walking/hiking through the 2000 acres at our hotel, but the main highlight was doing a two day pass at The Springs Resort. This place can cost $750 per night to stay so we were happy to just spent $130 for the (two) day pass. This place is FANCY; there are three different hot springs areas, including some down by the actual river. You can get a massage, go tubing, play ping pong, get a drink at the swim up bar, read your book in a hammock, and just stare at the beautiful views of the Arenal Volcano. Oh and dip into any of the 20+ hot springs that vary in temperature. This place gave us White Lotus vibes. We would definitely recommend this place for a visit.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

It was nice to have a break from the heat in this location. We even needed jackets at night! This was my favorite stop on our trip to Costa Rica. I loved spending time at the hot springs but also loved playing cards in our lodge with the views of the volcano. We saw lots of cool animals like frogs, tapirs, and lots of colorful birds, including my new favorite the Scarlet-Rumped Tanager.

CITY: MANUEL ANTONIO

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at Igloo Beach Lodge, which is ideally located about a 15 min walk to the National Park Entrance & it’s a 1 min walk to the beach. It’s very “instagram-y” with its white igloo rooms all surrounding a cute pool. There’s lots of comfy lounges to lay in the sun or shade & read. The rooms were cozy & nice. Our room was on the bigger side as it had two double beds + a shower room + a toilet room. The only weird thing was due to the dome shape, the acoustics were WILD. When Emilie & I were in our respective beds, we could whisper and it sounded like we were in each other’s ears via noise-cancelling headphones. It was fun and also caught us by surprise every time it happened haha.

WHERE TO EAT:

Thy mystery continued where there were no great restaurants. We walked to the area around the park entrance for dinner one night and most places were empty. We are guessing most people eat their meals at their hotels but it makes everything feel eery if you don’t. Food was just really not the highlight in Costa Rica.

Bar & Restaurant El Chante was the only place I’d recommend. Great food – especially anything with chicken in it!

WHAT TO DO:

The main two attractions are visiting the national park + enjoying the beautiful beaches!

When visiting Manuel Antonio National Park, I highly recommend signing up for a guided tour. We just booked through our hotel. They are unbelievable at spotting the animals throughout the jungle. There is no way Emilie & I would’ve seen 90% of the animals are guide spotted! Also he came with a portable telescope so we were able to see up close and personal the animals. It was awesome! There is also incredible beaches within the park. I definitely recommend planning to stay the afternoon with a book & swimming in the ocean (this beach is far more swimmable than the one outside the park we went to). There are plenty of walking trails and usually where a crowd has gathered you can bet there’s a cool animal to see. We saw sloths, birds, lizards, spiders and more!

We honestly couldn’t find much more to do here outside of going to the park, so we hung by the pool, went to the beach down from our hotel, and got a massage. We read soooooo much! We also played lots of cards. It was a very lovely place to chill and be very relaxed. Sunset swims were a must.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Outside of the fact that we never could find great food or even affordable food, Manuel Antonio was pretty beautiful from a nature perspective. We ended up enjoying our time here, but I don’t feel the need to race back.

BUDGET FOR 19 DAYS IN COSTA RICA:

Holy moly I was not expecting Costa Rica to be this expensive. I mean at one point I literally paid $20 for a smoothie bowl – eek!

• Accommodation: $1285 ($68 per night) – Lots of hotel nights drove up the cost here.
• Food: $420
• Activities: $860
• Local Transportation: $540 – this includes my half of the rental car
• Miscellaneous: $200 (new jumpsuits, postcards, & stamps)

Total: $3305 (Daily average: $174)

Transportation to next destination: $313 for my flight to San Francisco

• San Salvador
• Santa Ana
• Juayua (Ruta de las Flores)
• El Tunco

PRO TIPS:

• I FELT SO SAFE. Like truly, I think this might’ve been the country I felt the most safe in which was not on my bingo card. The turnaround is very apparent.
• This is the smallest country in Central America so it’s super easy to get around! I mostly took ubers or chicken busses! You can practically use uber to get around the whole country (that’s how small it is), but the chicken busses are incredibly cheap (I spent $2 on a 4 hr journey across 3 busses).
• Although the chicken busses are incredibly efficient, El Salvador would be a great place to rent a car as it’s so small that you’d be able to really see it all in a rental car. The roads all seemed pretty great (not what I would’ve expected) so no worries there. They are super strict on drinking/driving so don’t mess with that.
• Until very recently, El Salvador was very dangerous. With the turnaround so fresh, there are still very few tourists visiting the beautiful country
• When flying to El Salvador, you likely will go to San Salvador airport. I thought that meant I should stay in San Salvador for a night or 2 to orient myself. However, turns out that this country is so small that the airport is actually just as close to the beach as it is to the capital. As such, I’d recommend skipping San Salvador entirely & go directly to your first destination.
• They use USD so it’s pretty easy in terms of cash. Some places take card, but a lot don’t so take some USD with you.
• There wasn’t much English spoken so brush up on your duolingo or get your google translate app ready.

CITY: SAN SALVADOR

HOW LONG: 2 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at La Zona Hostel and it was pretty good. The free breakfast was basic. The beds were capsule style and comfy. AC worked (just make sure to set it to a comfortable temperate as one night it was too hot and the other night was too cold). The area is safe, but there’s not much going on. A few restaurants near-ish by. They had potable drinking water on site. Fairly easy to meet people. I met a group of Canadians to hang with so that was fabulous! Katie, in particular, became a good friend!

WHERE TO EAT:

Honestly no recommendations, except try some cheap pupusas when you come across them.

WHAT TO DO:

I didn’t love the capital We never could find the “cool/fun” center of town to stroll. It all felt very rundown and chaotic. However we always felt safe and given the history of the country, I understand why the city isn’t necessarily bustling (yet). We did a free walking tour was fabulous to get the background on what’s been happening in this lovely country.

The highlight (if you can call it that) was “hiking” to the nearby volcano, but it’s really just a 15 min nature walk. Overall it was nice to see but also if you are going to do the Santa Ana volcano, feel free to skip this one.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Again, not my favorite and would recommend skipping the capital.

CITY: SANTA ANA

HOW LONG: 2 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at Rick’s Hostel. The room was huge and the bed was cheap (literally $7.50) so I can’t really complain. BUT the hostel was pretty loud and I gotten eaten by mosquitos. No AC, but the beds had a little fan which did the job (and helped a little with the mosquitos). It was centrally located. Again it was $7 so I have no issues recommending it

WHERE TO EAT:

Nothing notable. I had some good pupusas from a random spot and a hot dog from one of the stalls in the main square.

When we went to see the ruins though we had a local dish of chicharron + yuca (literally from this town) at a spot right outside the main entrance to the ruins. Absolutely recommend stopping here for a meal.

WHAT TO DO:

Main highlights:

• Hike Santa Ana volcano – It’s a long hike and slightly complicated to navigate but just talk with the hostel front desk. Basically you need to do it with a tour guide so get there early. The hike was not hard but not easy. It gets hot so bring water + sun protection. Bring cash for the various entrance fees and in case you want to buy a snack/water from the folks near the top.

• Do the walking tour – there is a guy (Hector!!) that does a fairly famous walking tour here. I sadly didn’t have time but everyone I met who did it raved about it!!! I am very sad I missed it. He talks very candidly about his experience growing up in El Salvador and how its changes have impacted those around him.
• Visit the ruins! Parque Arqueologico Tazumal is a nicely preserved Mayan City (it’s small so don’t expect a whole city though!). We took a chicken bus from Santa Ana to get there and back. You could take a very cheap uber (would recommend seeing what this costs as it’s probably the more efficient move.

• We loved walking around & hanging in the main square in the evening. We met an El Salvadorian Tik Tok star who danced with us on his Live and then we got interviewed by a YouTuber. It was a pretty fun experience.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Santa Ana was far more charming than San Salvador! 2-3 days here would be plenty to do all the activities mentioned above.

CITY: JUAYUA

HOW LONG: 2 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at a fairly new hostel called Que Ondas. It’s a small but beautiful property at the edge of the small town and you feel like you are in a magical garden. The rooms are nicely done and have curtains. No free breakfast but wifi worked well. Plenty of spots to chill and read and socialize. Would definitely recommend this place.

WHERE TO EAT:

There are two great pupuserias that are a must try!

• Pupuseria Esmeralda – the pupusas can take a while so be patient – they are worth the wait!
• Papusas y Panes Rellenos Sugey – also a great pupusa spot. Literally like $1-2 per pupusa!

Cafes to check out:

• Bourbon Coffee Roasters – I had a delicious breakfast sandwich and my friends loved their baked treats.
• Bloom Coffee – not a huge food menu but the drinks were good!
• With Love Crepes – I didn’t have time to eat here but I wish I had!

WHAT TO DO:

• Visit the other towns on the Ruta de Las Flores! Either rent a motorbike or hop on a chicken bus. All the towns are tiny, cute and charming. I only had time to visit Concepcion de Ataco, but I really enjoyed it! Pro Tip: Eat at Axul Coffee Artesanías – I had a croque madam here. Super cute vibe in the backyard patio & a cute store was attached. Gekos Cafe right off the main square also looked cute!

• Do the 7 Cascadas (waterfall) tour! You do a nice hike that starts near town and you get to walk through upwards of 10 waterfalls. You even get to hike up one of them (it wasn’t too scary/slippery). You also get to do a facemask with the local mud & then finish the tour with a lovely swim in the last waterfall! Don’t miss this activity!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Juayua was such a tiny, small town and I loved the slow pace of it. Also the flowers blooming around town were stunning. They don’t call it Ruta de la Flores for nothing 2-3 days here would be perfect. I’d recommend basing yourself in Juayua as it’s probably the biggest town and then just visit the other towns from here.

CITY: EL TUNCO

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

This was a unique one: Katie (who I met in San Salvador and went to Santa Ana with) went to El Tunco before me and met a Jamaican/American guy who ended up buying a hotel with plans to turn it into a hostel while they were in El Tunco. So by the time I showed up, Katie invited me to stay with her and a bunch of friends she had made that were now staying at the newly purchased hostel. Kemar literally was transforming the place into a hostel while we were there. It was pretty fun to be able to give input on what makes a hostel great and he was super receptive to ideas! It’s now called Karma Muse! It has AC (such a win) and is located about as close to the beach as possible. There are lovely hammocks where you can watch the waves crash on the beach. Highly recommend this spot!

WHERE TO EAT:

Finally a spot with smoothie bowls!!!

I loved the following spots:

• Day Cafe & Salad Bar – my daily sunset smoothie spot (but the smoothie bowl was also great!)
• Point Break Cafe – lots of yummy brunch options
• Ohana Surf Cafe & Ice Cream Shop – more great breakfast options
• Garage Burgers – yummy burgers in a nice courtyard area
• Esquina Los Amigos – our pupusa spot in town

WHAT TO DO:

Surf, read in a hammock, eat a smoothie bowl, find a friend with a pool, watch sunset, rinse, repeat.

Life here is so tranquil and just a series of chilling. I love it

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

This was probably my favorite part of El Salvador. The town is so small so you literally know all the backpackers in town by day 2. It feels like you and your friends are all just running around doing fun, chill stuff all day. One day we sat on the beach and read. One day our friends with a pool invited us over. One day people went to hike the waterfalls nearby. And everyday a bunch of people went surfing and everyday we all would watch sunset on the beach together and then grab dinner. Pure magic!

BUDGET FOR 10 DAYS IN El SALVADOR:

El Salvador was so cheap – what a gift before I go to Costa Rica which is unreasonably expensive!

• Accommodation: $143 ($14.3 per night) – SO CHEAP
• Food: $170
• Activities: $30
• Local Transportation: $105
• Miscellaneous: $50 (visa + new pair of shorts)

Total: $498 (Daily average: $50)

Transportation to next destination: $225 for my flight from SFO –> San Salvador + $156 for my flight to San Jose, Costa Rica

Pro Tips:

• If you are going on an Antarctic cruise that doesn’t include flights from Buenos Aires, plan to arrive a few days before. Flight easily get delayed or cancelled so you don’t want to be the person that misses your expensive cruise due to FlyBondi
• Pack layers so you can adjust as weather varies. It’s actually warmer in Antarctica than most people expect. Take gloves with wrist straps so you don’t risk losing them when taking photos!
• You can get deals on Antarctica trips!! Do some research before booking as there are a few good agencies that offer all types of packages.
• Make sure your passport is up to date + has plenty of time before it expires as you’d hate to run into any issues when traveling to South America.
• Gratuity was already included for our trip, but feel free to bring some extra cash (USD are always appreciated) for anyone who went above and beyond taking care of you while abroad.

CITY: USHUAIA, ARGENTINA

HOW LONG: 6 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at one of my favorite hostels I have ever stayed in: Antarctica Hostel. The rooms were quiet & warm. The kitchen and common area were bright, airy, and easy to meet people. The kitchen was a dream to cook in as well. Free breakfast was great! The staff were so lovely. It’s very close to the main walking street. Don’t hesitate to stay here.

WHERE TO EAT:

We literally ate almost every meal at the hostel When you have a great hostel kitchen, especially in an expensive area, you take advantage. We did find delicious (cheap) empanadas around the corner at La Marmita. Don’t miss the chicken ones – that one was our favorite!

WHAT TO DO:

There are some things to do here, but we were honestly here just to prepare for our Antarctica voyage. A lot of the main things to do will be better in Antarctica so we were comfortable skipping the activities in Ushuaia. Here is an excellent overview of your options!

My favorite thing to do was enjoy walks & runs along the water front. The only other thing we did was hike Laguna Esmeralda, but the weather was horrible haha. We battled strong winds, rain & sleet. It was freezing. So maybe check the weather before going

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Ushuaia is very cute and if you want to say you’ve been to the most southern city in the world, then don’t miss it! But in general I wouldn’t go way out of my way to come here.

CITY: Antarctica

HOW LONG: 11 NIGHTS

I don’t even know where to start. This was such an incredible adventure.

How to book:

Sonja & I booked this trip 6 months in advance through Freestyle Adventure, one of a few agencies that sell Antarctica trips. Historically, one of the best ways to get cheap deals to the continent was to sit in Ushuaia and wait for a last minute deal on unsold inventory. This has become less effective as of late as Covid decimated some operators & demand continues to grow which means there are less rooms going unsold. That being said, there were definitely some deals that got swooped up by some fellow backpackers we met at our hostel in Ushuaia. My advice is to actually book ahead of time and try to get an early bird deal. Sign up for the newsletters that some of the agencies offer. Define what kind of trip you want to go on: the cheapest or a luxury option? 11 day efficient trip to the Antarctica Peninsula or an 18+ day trip that includes the Falkland Islands? Do you want it to include a charter flight to/from Buenos Aires? Do you want to go in early Dec to see more sea ice and penguins sitting on eggs, or in Feb to see peak whale season? Etc. As you begin to peruse the deal emails, you’ll start to familiarize yourself with the different options and price points! From there as soon as you see a trip that fits your budget, timing, level of luxury, I would hop on it! It’s obviously not a cheap adventure, but in our research we saw trips anywhere from $5k USD to 35k USD so there is a big price range. You could also try reaching out to the cruise lines directly to see if they will price match.

How to Pack:

I was overwhelmed with how to pack amidst only having a 35L carryon backpack and needing to pack for other climates for the rest of my 2.5 month adventure throughout South America. However, it was easier than I thought it would be. Here are my best tips on what to pack:

• Our cruise provided a warm winter jacket that was ours to keep (double check if yours will) but this was awesome as I didn’t need to worry about packing for this.
• A pair of snow/waterproof pants. Ski pants would work great. Again, I obviously didn’t want to lug these around with me, so luckily Freestyle also kindly lent us each a pair.
• I used my North Face pullover and Patagonia Nanopuff for layering under the big winter jacket. I tend to run very cold so am always happy to have too many layers. Other folks said they only wore one layer between the base layer and the big jacket.
• A base layer of non-cotton pants & long sleeve shirt. I wore lululemon Align pants + Swiftly Tech Long-sleeve shirts pretty much everyday under all the other layers. I’m allergic to wool, but otherwise this is considered the best material for Antarctica.
• A really good pair of gloves – I ended up buying a high quality pair in Ushuaia since I didn’t want to carry around a pair for the rest of my trip, but Freestyle actually had an office in town and also kindly lent me another bulkier, ski glove which I ended up using a ton. One nice feature about the ones I borrowed were they had wrist straps so I could take one off to take a picture and not worry about losing it!!
• A warm beanie to keep your head warm.
• A buff for extra cold or windy days. Again, Freestyle gave us one at their office, which was awesome!
• Sunglasses. Antarctica with its beautiful white landscapes is BRIGHT! No one on our trip seemed to be using ski goggles but if it was super windy or snowing, they could come in handy. We had sun pretty much the whole time so sunglasses were totally sufficient for me.
• A couple of pairs of warm socks (wool or synthetic). Most days weren’t super active so I had no problem re-wearing y socks (#backpackerlife) but you could also wash them in the sink (the air in Antarctic is very dry and the ship was kept warm so things dried quickly) or just bring 11 pairs.
• Our ship provided shoes to wear on all excursions so we only needed a pair of comfy shoes to lounge in around the ship. Make sure you can quickly put these on in case there is a wildlife sighting from the deck and you need to rush out there.
• A comfy outfit for when you are just hanging around the ship. No need to for anything fancy or super stylish (unless you want to!).
• There was laundry on board our ship but it was expensive (like a few $ per item). However as a backup it was nice to have this is as an option (that I luckily didn’t have to use).
• Sunscreen as it’s bright and there’s sun most of the day
• Dramamine or a patch for the Drake Passage.
• Swimsuit for the polar plunge and hot tub/sauna (if your ship has it).
• Fancy camera if that’s your thing + any extra batteries & SD cards. Since I don’t have one, I was banking on making some friends on board who brought their fancy cameras who might be willing to share their photos with me. Luckily I made a few friends Generally, people were very happy to swap any good shots they got! Also the ship had a photographer who sends out some great photos!

Here’s another packing list to check out.

What to Expect On Board:

Our room was spacious (we got upgraded and we loved having the extra space!). The room had two twin beds, a sitting area, closet and bathroom. Everything felt of high quality. We had a Juliet balcony, which was fabulous for when we felt too sick to get out of bed but still wanted to see the landscapes.

On board there were two bars, a restaurant, a snack bar, a pool & hot tub, a spa, a sauna and a gym. There were multiple decks for viewing outside & an auditorium for lectures. There was also a front desk and a nice sitting area for playing cards and chatting in your downtime.

We spent 2 days at sea battling the Drake Passage on the way there and 2 days on the way back. Luckily on the way there it was about a 6/10 and on the way back it was only a 2/10 so overall not too bad. Sonja & I both got decently sea sick on the way there despite taking dramamine (Sonja even threw up) but we found that as long as we were horizontal lying in bed, it wasn’t too miserable. On the way back we were both totally fine, although we both had sourced patches from other passengers so hard to say if that is why we felt better.

We spent the first two days at sea doing some prep for the time in Antarctica. The ship held lectures (luckily we could watch from our beds), had mandatory briefings for camping & kayaking, we went down to get fitted for our provided jackets and boots in the locker room and learned what the rough schedule was going to be. Generally the main takeaway was we needed to be flexible as conditions change at a moment’s notice and so we should be prepared for nothing to actually go as planned.

Once in Antarctica, we had two excursions per day, usually one landing and one zodiac ride. One day we went kayaking instead of the zodiac ride. You are divided up into groups and when it’s your groups time slot you head down to the locker room to get you gear on and then line up for the zodiac boats. The first activity of the day was typically between 8:30-10:30 and the afternoon activity was typically between 2-4pm. Each group’s activity was an hour long. For example, groups A & B would go from 8:30am- 9:30am and then groups C & D would go from 9:30am-10:30am. I would usually order breakfast to the room so I could eat when we got back from the activity. Lunch was from 12-1:30pm and then it was time to get ready for activity number 2 of the day. After the afternoon excursion, we would all chill on the boat, either in the hot tub, in our rooms, journaling, playing monopoly deal, out on the deck watching for whales, or at one of the bars. There is no drinking until after the second excursion. Dinner was served from 7-9pm.

Sometimes there were lectures peppered throughout the day as well. We also had the polar plunge and camping mixed in when they determined the conditions were good!

Polar plunge & camping!

Animals We Saw

Every season in Antarctica is fabulous but if there are certain animals you want to see, then you should consider what month you want to visit! If you want to see more whales, later in the season will give you the best chance. If you want to see penguins sitting on eggs before they hatch, late Nov/early Dec is your best bet. If you want to see baby fluff ball penguins, go in late Dec/early Jan. Here’s a good breakdown of what you’ll likely see when.

We got incredibly lucky and saw sooo many animals! I felt like I was on an adrenaline high the entire time.

We saw Weddell seals, Crabeater seals, Elephant seal and even a Leopard seal with her pup. Sometimes we saw them on land and sometimes floating on icebergs.

We saw three types of penguins: Adelie, Chinstrap and Gentoo. I loved them all. They were so chill and curious about us humans. They would let us walk right on past them with no disturbance. When we camped overnight, they walked all through the camp and also kept us up all night with their noises haha. We were there in early Dec so lots of them were mating and also keeping the eggs warm. If I get to go back to Antarctica, I’d love to go when the babies have hatched!!

We saw sooo many whales! I think we probably saw 50+ humpback whales over the course of the week. We even accidentally got too close to one after it was bubble feeding and it almost knocked us over with its fluke (tail). INCREDIBLE!

We also had the magical experience of hanging out with a pod of Orcas for the afternoon, which is rare as they don’t often sit in one spot. Our expedition leaders shared that they were mating, hence them staying in one bay for a few hours.

There were tons of birds as well, but I honestly don’t know their names. I need to get better at my birding skills haha.

Landscapes

Antarctica is incredibly grand. Beautiful mountains. Huge icebergs. So much sea ice!

Overall Thoughts

This place was truly a spectacular sight to be seen. I was completely blown away. It exceeded every expectation I had. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who had even the slightest bit of interest in going. It was tranquil. It was calm. It was quiet. It was enormous. It was imposing. It was breathtaking. It was dynamic. It was white. It was blue. It was magnificent. It also felt so special to know that you are part of a very small percent of humans that get the privilege of seeing this part of the world with your own eyes. I am so grateful.

• Puerto Natales, Chile
• Torres Del Paine, Chile
• El Chaltén, Argentina
• El Calafate, Argentina

Pro tips for Chilean side:

• In South America, domestic flights tend to be much, much cheaper than international ones so if you can try to fly domestically and then do border crossings by bus, you can often save money. For example, we flew from Santiago down to Patagonia but stayed on the Chilean side (Puerto Natales). Then we took a bus to El Calafate (Argentinean side) and will do the border crossing by bus. Then we fly to Ushuaia from there, successfully avoiding any international flights!
• For Torres Del Paine, you want to fly to Puerto Natales or Punta Arenas (but this is much further). You can base yourself in Puerto Natales but it means a 4 hr bus ride or 3 hr drive roundtrip each day into the park.
• Don’t forget to get your park pass. There’s limited service at the park so best to buy it in advance. You can buy it at the park if you need to (double check this before going though).
• I’d recommend renting a car. Our favorite part of exploring the park was driving around on our own time.
• If you want to do the W Trek or O Trek, you’ll need to book pretty far in advance. The refugios book up pretty quick. We decided not to do it because we didn’t want to lock ourselves into any dates and we didn’t know how long it would take us to get from Bolivia down to Southern Argentina.
• The W & O Trek’s get all the glory and fame, but also the people. We loved our tranquil, empty hikes through the rest of the park better than our day hike on the W trek.
• In general we found that most places took credit card (except our hotel outside the park), but it’s always good to have some cash.

Pro tips for Argentinian side:

• Argentina just implemented park fees so make sure to read up on which one you want to get. It’s pretty new so my experience is that they are still figuring out how to implement everything. Most folks would just enter the park or trailheads before 7am before the park rangers were at the stations. There were some reports that they would check your ticket as you left, but I didn’t personally see any of this happening. We bought a 3 day Flex pass so we could use it for the two hikes in El Chaltén as well as the Perito Moreno Glacier in El Calafate, tbh they never scanned the ticket so I’m not sure how they would track how many days we were using it.
• El Chaltén is very expensive, especially restaurants so I would go as far as to say it might behoove you to bring groceries with you from elsewhere as the groceries stores weren’t much cheaper and weren’t all that well stocked.
• Cell service was very spotty in El Chaltén, so download some offline maps before heading there.
• Renting a car last minute in El Calafate is near impossible or extremely expensive so if you think you’ll want one to take you to the glacier, then book ahead of time. We ended up using a tour, which was ultimately totally fine.

CITY: Puerto Natales, Chile

HOW LONG: 4 Nights

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at El Patagonico in Puerto Natales. It was a great hostel. Big open concept kitchen + common area that was really cozy. The outdoor garden was great for phone calls. The rooms were quiet and we got good nights sleep here. Wifi worked great. Highly recommend staying here!

WHERE TO EAT:

Puerto Natales is full of cute restaurants and cafes! We celebrated Sonja’s birthday here as well so we tried out some nice spots:

• Kau Lodge – Great spot for a coffee, brunch or to read. Has a lodge feel and it’s super cozy. We loved it so much we went twice, including once for Sonja’s birthday
• Slowly Bar – great spot for a cheap Completo (Chilean hot dog)
• Restaurant La Picada de Carlitos – We went here for Sonja’s birthday dinner and it was awesome!! It was packed and we were lucky to get a table at 9pm. Food was delicious and it was a real treat after so many backpacker meals haha. Always nice to have a proper, good meal once in a while.
• Nomad Coffee – cute spot for a hot chocolate & to catch up on your book.

WHAT TO DO:

There’s not much to DO in Puerto Natales, unless you are using this as your base to/from the park. Given we had the luxury of traveling slower, we enjoyed 2 days before and after the park here just preparing and catching up on admin stuff. It’s a lovely, lovely spot for a chilled out break. It was Sonja’s birthday so we had a spa treatment at Vibenso Spa (at the Darwin Hotel) We did enjoy walking along the waterfront, as well as just around the small town. We also met some new friends to play monopoly deal and explore the park with!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I really liked the town itself, but if you aren’t using it as a base then you don’t need to spend all that long here. If you are using it as a base, then prepare yourself for some long days. Our friend Gabbi met us in the park and she had to leave at 6:45am and returned at 10:30pm using the bus. We’d recommend renting a car, no matter whether you stay close to the park or in PN.

CITY: Torres Del Paine, Chile

HOW LONG: 3 Nights

ACCOMMODATION:

We splurged a little and stayed at a hotel near the park entrance to save some back & forth driving. Estancia Dos Elianas ended up being the perfect little spot! The room was so cozy and the heat cranked, which was much needed after chilly days in the park. Breakfast was included as well. There were cute cats & a dog on the grounds as well.

Don’t count on access to gas or an ATM once in the park, so be prepared. We found a hotel 5 min from that ended up selling us some gas from a gas canister – when in Patagonia!!!

WHERE TO EAT:

Honestly either bring your own food or bring your wallet lol. Because we had splurged on a hotel and a rental car, we decided not to buy food while at the park. Knowing we wouldn’t have access to a kitchen, we brought ingredients to make sandwiches for lunch & packs of ramen since all we would need is some hot water to cook that. We got very creative haha.

We found that the refugios or other cafes that are supposedly open in the park were sometimes closed or were very expensive. The only thing we bought was a hot chocolate at Hosteria Pehoe. It was $5 but the views were worth it.

WHAT TO DO:

Again, obviously the most popular thing to do here is the W Trek, O trek or hiking to Grey Glacier. We did none of those things. As I mentioned earlier, because we weren’t sure of our dates as we planned our South American adventure, Sonja & I didn’t want to lock ourselves into anything ahead of time. Instead, we spent 3 days exploring the park with our rental car. Some of our new friends from Puerto Natales met us in the park and joined us for 2 of the days as well. The park felt very empty since everyone who was here was doing one of the more popular hiking adventures. Here’s what we did do to fill our three days:

• Mirador Condor – beautiful lookout, but it’s a steep 40 min walk up. We loved watching the condors soar above us.

• Mirador Cuervos – our favorite hike! You pass by the beautiful waterfall and continue on your way until you see the backside of the Towers.

• Lunch by the lake right about here – we ate our sandwiches right on the lake with gorgeous views
• Hot chocolate at Hosteria Pehoe

• Base Towers hike – this was our one monster hike! It’s a day hike along the W Trek. It took us around 9-10 hours with some stops along the way. The top was absolutely incredible. The water is such a beautiful, intense blue. Sadly, other than that, we didn’t love this hike. The hike itself wasn’t THAT stunning, and there were so, so many people. It felt like a Disneyland line trying to all pass each other along a very narrow path. It’s hard to tell people not to do the hike since it’s the iconic spot in the park, but I would recommend starting earlier than all the people coming via the bus aka start earlier than 9am.

• Just drive around the park for views like the below

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

This park is stunning! Take your time, and enjoy the park beyond the W Trek. We loved having the park to ourselves. Our introduction to Patagonia lived up to the hype!

CITY: El Chalten, Argentina

HOW LONG: 5 Nights

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at Rancho Grande hostel. The customer service was pretty bad and the downstairs was a restaurant so it was sometimes hard to distinguish who was staying versus just eating. Luckily the upstairs was just backpackers. The beds were not great but got the job done. We were worried it would be hard to meet people but we ended up finding our tribe. The kitchen was horrible and disgusting, but when prices are sky high, you make it work. Overall I would try to find a different hostel or airbnb before staying here, but it’s not the worst place in the world.

WHERE TO EAT:

Since it was so expensive here, we did lots of cheap backpacker dinners at the hostel, but here were out highlight finds in town:

• Domo Blanco – delicious ice cream for a relatively affordable price (this town is expensive okay). $4 for a small but 2 flavors and all you can pour sauces!!! My dream. 
• Andrea’s – new bar with cute vibes and great bartenders.
• La Wafletaria – great after a hike!! Lots of waffle options to choose from.

WHAT TO DO:

Hiking, hiking, and more hiking! Honestly if you don’t like hiking, then there wouldn’t be a reason to come here haha. This town is known as the “hiking capital” of Argentina. It’s like a ski town but for hiking. Most trailheads are walking distance from town, which is so cool! The two big hikes we took on:

• Lomo del Pliegue Lombado – This is a fabulous hike that is a local favorite, but not one of the most popular hikes. It’s stunning and we passed maybe 20 people so you have the trail to yourself. We started at 10 am and got back at 4pm. 22km total with 1000m of elevation. Trailhead is walking distance from town.

• Tres Torres  – This is the classic, famous hike up to the Fitz Roy (the inspiration for the Patagonia logo). We decided to do it for sunrise with some new Argentinian friends we made. One of their mom’s dropped us at the Rio Electrico trailhead so we could do a through hike instead of an out & back from town (but this is an option). We started at 2am & got back at 11am. We arrived at the top right at sunrise at 6am. 3000 ft of elevation and around 14 miles so not for the faint of heart. If you want to do the Rio Electrico start (which ultimately makes the hike slightly easier and shorter), you’ll have to arrange for a taxi to take you there.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

You could spend many days here and still have hikes to explores for the first time. Other than the prices, I don’t have any complaints. It’s a very cute mountain town that is small enough to start to feel like you’ve lived there for years by day 3. You quickly start to recognize people in town & I never tired of the views. Anywhere between 4-7 days is great here (as long as you like hiking). Have I made that clear?!

CITY: El Calfate, Argentina

HOW LONG: 4 Nights

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at Red House Hostel and had a mixed experience. The hotel itself was cute, clean, and in a pretty good location, but the staff were rude. Breakfast was from 7-10 but the pancakes would run out at 7:30am… which is odd, like just make enough if you know people are staying there. Also the common area shuts at 11pm sharp so there is no place to hang and play cards or make a phone call home if time zones don’t align with Argentina. I had to spend 2 hrs in the freezing cold to speak to a friend. I still think it’s not a bad spot, but just consider the above. It’s a small hotel so very easy to meet people!

WHERE TO EAT:

We did lots of cooking at the hostel but here are the two places we went that I would recommend:

• Buenos Cruces – yummy homemade pasta + great ambiance. Lovely service as well!
• Helados Tito – delicious ice cream! 
• Waffle Como En Casa – The waffle was great, but the best part was sitting outside in their patio in the sun. We spent a few hours here reading and playing cards after eating!

WHAT TO DO:

The main, almost only, thing to do here is visit the Perito Moreno Glacier. And boy is it a stunner! If you have enough people, renting a car can be cheaper & more efficient than taking the bus or a tour, but plan ahead because rental cars can get pricy last minute (if you can even find one). We were quoted $250 per day so we decided to just do the tour. We opted to upgrade and include the boat ride for an extra ~$85. It was pretty cool to see the glacier up close, but if you are on the fence, I would say the boardwalks also do a comprehensive way to see the glacier (just $55).

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I loved the glacier. It was a total highlight for me. I had been saying “what’s the big deal about glaciers” since every other one we had seen was just firmly fine. This one knocked my socks off. Do not miss seeing this thing. You probably only need 2 nights here (to allow for one day visiting Perito Moreno), but we are happily traveling a bit slower these days to allow for some lazy ready & monopoly deal days. This was a perfect spot for a few extra days.

BUDGET FOR 16 DAYS IN PATAGONIA:

Patagonia is not a cheap travel destination in South America. Most people here are on vacation, rather than long term backpackers. It also tends to be more remote locations so it’s more expensive to get goods there.

• Accommodation: $629 ($39 per night) – Our hotel in Torres Del Paine brought the average up a bit.
• Food: $350
• Groceries: $83
• Activities: $376 (Park entrance fees, tours, Sonja’s birthday)
• Local Transportation: $322 (includes a rental car for 3 days)
• Miscellaneous: $110 (laundry, gifts, postcards, etc)

Total: $1870 (Daily average: $119)

Transportation to next destination: $177 (Flight to Ushuaia)

• We didn’t find there was much to do besides wine tasting so just do some research ahead of time to determine how many days you want to spend here.
• If you have time to take the bus to or from Santiago, I would highly recommend it! It’s a stunning ride through the Andes.

CITY: MENDOZA

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at Lagares Hostel and honestly did not like it. We had a private room but the beds were very saggy in the middle. The hostel just felt very dark, like no natural light. Breakfast was pretty subpar. There was zero atmosphere and it was very hard to meet people. Overall don’t recommend 4/10.

WHERE TO EAT:

Overall we weren’t really all that impressed with the restaurants we tried in Mendoza. We also found the service at restaurants to be weirdly bad. The two spots we’d recommend:

• Brod Ciudad – gorgeous outdoor patio seating- perfect for a sunny afternoon coffee or pastry! 
• Flavio Soppelsa – Such a fun (but expensive) ice cream experience. Highly recommend, it’s a work of art!

WHAT TO DO:

The highlight here is wine tasting!! It was slightly novel as the main way people wine taste here is to rent a bike and cycle your way through a few wineries throughout the day. While I am not a huge alcohol drinker, I actually had a blast biking around in the sun while staring through the vineyards to the Andes in the background. We visited Mevi, Tempus Alba and Entre Olivos for some wine, snacks, and an olive oil tasting!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

If you are a wine lover, then don’t miss a visit here. Sonja was absolutely in love with it and would’ve done a few more days of wine tasting. I was sorta ready to leave after the one day of wine tasting haha. The city itself didn’t wow me and just felt like a big city. It definitely didn’t feel touristy, but also didn’t feel super nice.

BUDGET FOR 3 DAYS IN MENDOZA:

Mendoza felt overall pretty reasonable compared some of the places we had been to lately.

• Accommodation: $50 ($16.67 per night) – my half of the private room since I split it with Sonja
• Food: $50
• Groceries: $12
• Activities: $15
• Local Transportation: $9
• Miscellaneous: $27

Total: $163 (Daily average: $54)

Transportation to next destination: $70 (RT bus to/from Santiago)

• Book flights ahead of time and be flexible on your dates. We found that flights were either $800 or $330 roundtrip. Luckily we were able to build our time in Chile around the dates that were $330 for flights. There is only 1 flight per day in/out of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) as of publishing this and was only serviced through Santiago.
• Don’t forget to fill out the Single Entry Form (FUI) before you get to the airport (we filled it out a week in advance). You will head to a different security line at the Santiago Airport (look for the signs pointing you to the right direction) and you will be asked to show your FUI.
• Update the time zone on your phone manually. Strangely when we landed, the time zone didn’t update it automatically like every other time I have travelled. Sonja & I headed down to the beach for sunset and were very confused with how the sun was still so high, yet was supposedly going to set in 30 min. We felt like we were in the twilight zone until we figured out we were 2hrs behind. We literally spent the whole day thinking it was 2 hours later than our phones were telling us. Thankfully we figure this out on our first evening as we would have been two hours early to our early morning tour the next day…
• We read very conflicting information online about whether there would be ATM’s on the island and whether we would be able to use credit cards. Given this we took plenty of cash (after scrambling to find an ATM that was open in Santiago). Turns out, there were two ATM’s on the island and other than our accommodation, literally everyone took credit card. My recommendation: take some cash, but you will likely be fine using your credit card
• We also read conflicting info on how good the grocery stores would be as well as how expensive restaurants would be so we actually brought a bunch of easy ingredients/groceries with us like ramen noodles. In hindsight it was probably overkill as the grocery stores were decently stocked with basics and restaurants were plentiful and truly weren’t much more expensive than Santiago.
• Cell service was honestly great! No stress about connectivity in town, although some of the more remote parts of the island were dead zones.

CITY: Easter Island/Rapa Nui

HOW LONG: 5 Nights

ACCOMMODATION:

There are tons of hotels, B&B’s and guesthouses around the island. We stayed at Hostal Vieroto, which ended up being exactly what we needed. We loved the location right across from Playa Poko Poko, which offered a man-made swimming hole and grassy area under the palm trees to read your book. It’s about a 3-5 min walk to the main strip of restaurants and the beach where the turtles swim. The property wasn’t fancy by any means, but the beds were comfy and the bathrooms were clean. The kitchen wasn’t great but it did the job (we wish it was cleaner & was better stocked with cooking utensils). The owner also had two cute big dogs roaming about.

WHERE TO EAT:

We honestly ate a ton at the hostal, but I’d recommend the following three spots:

• Mikafe for ice cream in the afternoon. It’s very close to the turtle beach!
• Oheho Surf Cafe – Great reasonably priced restaurant for lunch or dinner. Food was fantastic, especially if you like fish!
• Iti Lafken – we had lunch here and it was a great choice.

WHAT TO DO:

Summary of options in Rapa Nui:

Pro tip: You need to purchase your Rapanui National Park Ticket ahead of time (we bought ours at the visitor center in town using a credit card). Also, most parts of the park require you to visit with a tour guide so a tour is basically the only way to go.

• Must do: Full day tour of all things Moai (We booked ours through Hahave, and would recommend them). We learned all about the history of the Rapa Nui people, everything they know about the Moai, and had a stop at the beach. Pro Tip: the completo (Chilean hot dog) at the beach is worth a try.
• Half day tour – You visit Rano Kau Volcano Crater & learn about the bird man competition. We actually thought this tour wasn’t great. We wish we had just hiked ourselves up to the crater and done it without a tour.
• Sunrise tour – Sonja did this (as we know I am not a morning person) and raved about it. Pro tip: take a look at the weather beforehand as you’d hate to wake up at 5am just to have a cloudy sky.
• Scuba Diving – it was definitely not the best diving I’ve ever done, but it was novel to see a (fake) Moai being integrated into the coral. It was also my first time scuba diving in South America

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, totally blew us away. We both expected to learn about the Moai statues & the mystery surrounding how they were moved around the island. We didn’t expect a tropical paradise full of sunshine, turtles & beaches AND incredible Moai statues. I can’t recommend this place enough. It just was so special to be in the middle of the ocean learning about this beautiful culture.

BUDGET FOR 5 DAYS IN EASTER ISLAND:

Easter Island is definitely not a cheap spot to visit, but it also wasn’t as expensive as I feared.

• Accommodation: $153 ($30.60 per night) – my half of the room since I split it with Sonja
• Food: $78
• Groceries: $20
• Activities: $211.60 (National Park Entrance ($75), two tours, & scuba diving)
• Local Transportation: $0

Total: $462.6 (Daily average: $93)

Transportation to next destination: $328 (RT Flights to/from Santiago)