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After the high-altitude landscapes, early starts and unforgettable highlights of a South American multi-centre holiday, there’s something very appealing about slowing down and finishing off your adventure with a few days on the beach. The good news is, there are plenty of easy-to-get-to, stunning coastlines to choose from, whether you want to stay in South America and explore Brazil or Uruguay’s coastline, or head over to the Caribbean.
The right beach add-on will mostly depend on your itinerary. If you’re heading to Argentina, Uruguay is one of the best choices for beaches and just a short hop from Buenos Aires. If Brazil is already part of your itinerary, the beach options within Brazil are hard to beat, with Rio offering good connections from many parts of South America. If you’d like to experience a slice of the Caribbean, Cartagena is one of the easiest options logistically, with the added bonus of it being a fascinating city. Aruba, the Dominican Republic and Cancún also work well.
Here’s a closer look at some of the best beaches to complete your South America holiday…
Brazil has over 7,000 kms of coastline, and whether you’re after a lively city beach, a sleepy fishing village or somewhere more glamorous, you’ll find it here.
Rio is one of those cities where the beach is as much a part of daily life as the coffee, sunshine and flip flops. Copacabana and Ipanema are both iconic for good reason, with long, wide stretches of sand backed by the city, with plenty to do both day and night. It’s a great place to relax at the end of a trip, but equally ideal if you still want a bit of excitement and a final day or two of sightseeing as well.
One of the great things about Rio as a beach add-on is that it’s easy to get to from almost anywhere in South America, with good connections from Lima, Buenos Aires, Santiago and most other major cities on the continent. And with plenty of flights back to the UK, it works very well as a final stop before heading home.
If the pace of Rio feels a bit too much at the end of a busy holiday, Búzios is a quieter alternative that’s easy to combine. It’s just a couple of hours’ drive from Rio, where you’ll find a small peninsula with around twenty beaches to choose from. The calmer, north-facing beaches, such as João Fernandes and Tartaruga, are ideal for swimming and snorkelling, while the south-facing beaches, including Geribá and Ferradura, are popular with surfers.
The town has a relaxed, laid-back feel with cobbled streets, waterfront restaurants and a good choice of smaller hotels. It’s very popular with Brazilians (generally a good sign!) and ideal if you want to spend a few nights in Rio first, then enjoy the beach at Búzios before your flight home.
Trancoso offers something a bit different. It was discovered by artists in the 1970s and still has a laid-back, bohemian feel, but nowadays the hotels are more luxurious, the restaurants more refined, and it attracts a more discerning crowd. The beaches here are beautiful and wild, and Praia do Espelho is often cited as one of the most beautiful beaches in the country, with its scenic cliffs and crystal clear water.
For many, the highlight is the Quadrado, the wide, grassy village square. It’s perched on top of a cliff and lined on three sides by colourful former fishermen’s cottages, and a whitewashed church at one end looking out over the ocean. In the evening, the cottages open up as restaurants and bars, with lanterns lighting up the square, and the atmosphere is truly magical. Trancoso works best as part of a wider Brazil multi-centre itinerary.
About an hour north of Salvador, Praia do Forte is a popular beach destination with a pretty pedestrianised centre, a historic castle and some great hotels, including some all-inclusives if you want to switch off completely. The beaches are sheltered by a reef that creates natural pools at low tide, which are great for snorkelling and very family-friendly.
If you’re looking for something easy, comfortable and relaxing at the end of your trip, it’s the perfect choice. It also pairs very well with a couple of nights in Salvador and fits best within a Brazil-focused itinerary.
Tucked between Brazil and Argentina, Uruguay has a fabulous coastline. The stretch east of Montevideo has a string of beach towns that range from lively and stylish to quiet and peaceful. And with Buenos Aires just a short hop across the Río de la Plata, it’s a great beach option.
Punta del Este has been a popular destination with South Americans for decades. It’s stylish and has a wonderful beach scene spread across a narrow peninsula on the country’s Atlantic coast. The beaches on either side offer different experiences: the calmer, sheltered bay to the west, and the longer, more open Atlantic beaches to the east.
The town itself has a lively marina with some good restaurants and a cosmopolitan feel. It works best combined with a trip to Argentina, with Buenos Aires just a short flight or an easy ferry across the Río de la Plata. Although it can also be reached via Montevideo from other parts of South America.
A short drive from Punta del Este, José Ignacio is about as low-key as high-end beach destinations get. It’s tiny but has a handful of excellent restaurants, some beautiful boutique hotels and beaches that stretch out from a small headland with a lighthouse. Despite its increasing popularity, it still feels genuinely quiet and relaxed. It’s the kind of place where not very much happens, and that’s exactly the point.
Like Punta del Este, it works best as part of an Argentina and Uruguay itinerary, although it can also be reached from other parts of South America via Montevideo.
As a classic final chapter to your South American journey, the Caribbean offers crystal-clear waters, powder-soft beaches and palm-lined shores. Easily reached from several South American hubs, it provides the perfect opportunity to unwind after a busy itinerary. Whilst there are plenty of islands to choose from, these are some of the easiest and most convenient to access.
Cartagena is easily one of the most beautiful cities in Latin America, and its location on the Caribbean coast makes it a great choice for adding some beach time at the end of a South American holiday. For the beach itself, head to Barú, which is a short boat ride (around 40 minutes) south of the city. Here you’ll find powdery white sand, clear waters, and a collection of stylish boutique hotels and beach clubs. When you’re ready for a change of pace, the city’s walled Old Town (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is genuinely lovely. With its colourful colonial buildings, flower-covered balconies and lively plazas, it’s the perfect place for a stroll and a coffee in the shade of a leafy square.
Cartagena has direct connections from many South American cities, making it an extremely flexible and easy-to-reach option.
Aruba sits just off the coast of Venezuela and is one of the most reliably sunny spots in the Caribbean, making it ideal if you want guaranteed sunshine and a relaxing end to your holiday. It lies outside the hurricane belt and benefits from almost constant trade winds, keeping things pleasantly breezy even when it’s hot.
Eagle Beach, which is consistently ranked as one of the best beaches in the Caribbean, is Aruba’s most iconic stretch of sand. It’s wide, uncrowded and beautifully framed by turquoise water and fofoti trees. For a livelier alternative, Palm Beach offers a more resort-style setting with beach clubs, water sports and a vibrant atmosphere. Beyond these, there are quieter coves such as Baby Beach and Arashi. The island has a friendly, easy-going atmosphere and a good range of restaurants and hotels. Aruba is generally well connected from South America, particularly via Bogotá and other regional hubs, with connections from cities such as Buenos Aires and Lima.
The Dominican Republic has long been one of the Caribbean’s most visited destinations, and the beaches are a big part of the reason why. The east coast around Punta Cana and Bávaro has some of the best stretches of white sand in the region. Playa Bávaro alone stretches for almost 50km, with calm, warm, turquoise water that’s ideal for swimming. For something quieter, Playa Macao is a beautiful, more natural beach, a short drive north with bigger waves and far fewer resorts. The north coast, around Las Terrenas and the Samaná peninsula, has a completely different feel. It’s quieter, more low-key and less developed.
You can fly here from a number of South American hubs, including Bogotá, São Paulo and Lima, so it works well with lots of different itineraries. Punta Cana also has good direct connections back to the UK, making it a practical and popular final stop.
The Yucatan coast has everything going for it when it comes to beaches, with pure white sand, clear turquoise water, swaying palm trees, and the added bonus of Mayan ruins. Head to Cancún if you are looking for a resort-style beach hotel with a lively atmosphere, or choose the Riviera Maya, with options including Playa del Carmen and Tulum, for something more varied, from boutique jungle lodges to stylish beach hotels with a more relaxed pace and some incredible cenotes (natural freshwater sinkholes, perfect for swimming) to explore inland.
There are plenty of direct flights from South American cities, although some routes go via Mexico City, which is well worth a night or two in its own right and makes for a great way to break up the journey. Cancún has lots of direct long-haul flights back to the UK, making it a very easy place to complete your holiday.
If you’d like help planning your South American multi-centre holiday with (or without!) a beach finale, we’d love to talk through the options and put together an itinerary that works for you.
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