Christmas Abroad - on the cheap

[DoRayMeMeMe]

Kids will be with their Dad, and I have potentially 16 Days to - well do what I want.

I would like to visit somewhere I haven’t been before (so not Europe or Asia), preferably not super expensive to get there, that can be a bit of an Adventure. Not touristy/resort, would be small hotels and moving every 3-4 days.

Any suggestions? If I had to pick today it would be Uruguay and Argentina… but what would be better.

I know it won’t be “cheap” but maximizing the sights for the spend.

You can do both in 16 days, you can take a ferry from Buenos Aires to Montevideo. Uruguay is nice but not particularly interesting culturally, it has some nice towns and beaches. (Punta del Este!) Both Argentina and Uruguay are cheap, flights are probably the highest cost.

How about Mexico or another Central American country? Belize or Costa Rica?

Peru is also amazing, forget Lima but go to Cusco, Lake Titicaca, Machu Picchu, Arequipa…

What about going on a group tour holiday? These can often be good value for money and a good way of seeing lots in a short time. Someone like explore or exodus offer a range and some unusual destinations.

Thank you for those suggestions. I will go have a look.

I find booking independently is usually cheaper, but organized tours can be great (had a fab one in Japan decades ago!)

Not Peru in December, unless you want to get very wet.

Costa Rica has a reputation for being quite expensive but it can be done cheaply. Use shared shuttles like Interbus to get around https://www.interbusonline.com/

Christmas Island? 😃

LOL. I think it takes a long time to get there.
After years living in Asia, I have an absolute horror of jet lag.
Part of me would love to go Tahiti, but it takes so so long that really you would have to be traveling for months to justify it.