How to Travel Across Latin America on a Student Budget

To celebrate the launch of the 2014 QS University Rankings: Latin America, we’re taking a look at opportunities to travel around this diverse and fascinating region of the world, while sticking to a student budget. The main trick is to be savvy about your trip; this will involve researching where to go, what to do, how to find cheap transport, and how to get the best accommodation deals many months in advance of when you plan to travel.

The very first thing you need to do is to secure the transport you’ll need to get you onto Latin American turf. Planes are the most popular mode of transport in and out of Latin America, as any other method might take a couple of weeks (for Europeans at least). You’re going to need to book your tickets a long time in advance to get the best deals on cheap transport.

There are a number of good budget airlines to look at when researching cheap transport deals, but by far the best resources are flight comparison websites. These websites do all the hard work for you, bringing together all the best prices from many different airlines. No flight comparison site lists all working airlines, however, so it’s worth your time to visit more than one site. Sites such as Travel Supermarket, Skyscanner and Kayak are all popular.

Flight brokers also offer good deals thanks to the commercial relationships they hold with various airlines. Often, brokers offer cheap transport deals not even available on the airline’s own website. Popular flight brokers include Travelocity, Expedia and Opodo. For other promotions and money-saving deals, head to Cheapflights, a site that publishes current airline and travel agent deals.

When booking, remember that airlines often charge additional fees for luggage, as well as other optional features such as travel insurance. Buying travel insurance is important but doing so through your airline is not usually your cheapest option (see point 7).

Once inside Latin America, bus and train travel are also popular, although the systems are sometimes a little incoherent and services often get delayed. If you’re planning to stay within a town or city, researching the local services will save time and money. But, if you plan to travel between cities or even countries, rail is often the best way. For more information on rail travel within Latin America, visit this handy beginner’s guide.

The price of your accommodation depends a lot on whether you are willing to rough it or if you’d still like your home comforts, such as your own room, washing facilities and/or a kitchen. For those who are happy sleeping anywhere, accommodation deals like youth hostels and backpacker hostels are available in most major Latin American cities and some smaller towns and cities. Prices vary depending on where you are, but many Latin American locations offer clean, safe and well-reviewed shared facilities for less than US$20 per person per night. When searching for accommodation deals, check out:

HostelWorld – A popular global listings site for cheap hostels, hotels, and bed and breakfasts.

Airbnb – Recently become very popular, Airbnb lists private rooms, flats or guest houses that individual property owners are renting out to travelers. Prices vary significantly, as does the types of accommodation deals, but shared rooms can be found within Latin America for as little as US$10!

Global Freeloaders – This is an online global community where people offer up their spare rooms, guest houses, floors and sofas for travelers on a budget.

Couchsurfing – A site where people all over the world advertise their couches for travelers, free of charge. Couch users are encouraged to join the community and offer the same hospitality to others.

Another option is to become a house-sitter and get free accommodation in exchange for caretaking duties and/or pet sitting. Depending on how trustworthy you are – based on previous work, skills and experience – sites such as MindMyHouse can connect you with people willing to give you their house/apartment for a few weeks or months for free! Unless you’re fully dedicated to looking after someone’s property however, don’t sign up; the joining fee is US$20.

For hardcore backpackers wanting to glimpse as much of Latin America as possible, sometimes the best choice is to travel from place to place by sleeper or couchette train. This will not only combine your transport and accommodation costs for at least a couple of days, it will also save on valuable time too.