volcanoes of the Andes. Trek the Inca Trail to the awe-inspiring remains of Machu Picchu, marvel at the colonial architecture of Cartagena, let loose to the hedonism of Brazil´s Carnaval, doze to frog songs in the Amazon and wake up to the thundering magnificence of Iguazú Falls.

You can stay in jungle lodges, cloud-forest campgrounds, backpacker party pads or indigenous shelters. You can down an aperitif before dinner on a deluxe bus in Argentina, race the tide in the back of a rusty truck or ride the roof of a boxcar down the Andes. What´s more, South America is an incredible cultural kaleidoscope, where Lake District towns seem plucked from the Bavarian Alps, cities rival their European counterparts, and delicacies range from football-sized steaks to pint-size piranhas and spit-roasted guinea pigs. And with every adventure there´s a soundtrack, from modern break-beat bossa nova to traditional tango to the haunting panpipes of the Andean páramo (grasslands). Add to the mix the gregarious, open nature of the South Americans, and you have a traveller´s paradise.

Best Places to see the History of South America:

Machu Picchu - mystify your mind at South America´s most famous and spectacular archaeological site
Ciudad Perdida - trek through the jungle to the ´Lost City´ of the Tayronas, one of the largest pre-Columbian cities discovered in the Americas
Rapa Nui (Easter Island) - fly to one of the world´s most remote inhabited islands and marvel at the colossal stone moai (large anthropomorphic statues carved from volcanic tuff), whose history is still shrouded in mystery
Jesuit missions - explore the beautifully preserved and sometimes hauntingly decrepit