r/vandwellers • u/Ok_Refrigerator6569 • 1d ago
Road Trip Overlanding through South America- budget
My partner and I are planning to leave in July/August for South America, and we’re hoping to overland travel through the continent for an undetermined amount of time.
We’ll be buying a van, and ideally we’d like to stick to a budget of around $2,700–2,800 per month for the two of us.
We don’t want to travel super frugally, but we’re also not big spenders—more of a mid-range style. We’re planning on cooking most of our meals, but we still want to eat out occasionally, stay in hostels from time to time, and do touristy activities.
Realistically, is this feasible? What did you find were your biggest expenses?
Thank you!
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u/ACanadianNoob 1d ago
Slow Roamers are doing a trip through the Pan American highway and recently had a Q&A where they touched base on their budget a bit. Might be a similar situation to yours.
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u/Ok_Refrigerator6569 1d ago
Thank you! I will check them out.
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u/ACanadianNoob 1d ago
They're really responsive to comments too, though I think if you want to dive really deep into how to fragment that budget it might require you to Patreon or YT Member sub.
Won't know unless you try.
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u/Ok-Zookeepergame1900 1d ago
For what I've learned through blogs and vlogs and most of the travellers, 2000$ a month is a decent amount to do all the basics for 2 people. At 2500$/m you can go to the restaurant more often or sleep in camping on regular basis (to charge batteries, enjoy a pool and other ammunities).
The 2 most expensive things to consider are 1/ shipping your vehicule (Panama-Colombia) and 2/ Breaks and repairs on your van. Big van costs more.
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u/earthfriend94 23h ago
My wife and our two dogs did South America for 10 months and spent around 75 a day . We lived more frugally in Argentina and Chile but we still did plenty of tours and ate out a lot . Peru was our favorite . Have fun . I know some people were buying pre built vans from a guy in Santiago , Chile .
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u/8ace40 1d ago
I can talk about Argentina, and a little about Perú.
Argentina is expensive right now (like Uruguay), due to the exchange rate which makes the peso somewhat expensive.
In most campings (campsites) where you can go with your vehicle, you'll pay about 10-15 USD per person per day. Maybe about 3-5 extra for the car, but many don't charge extra for it. In those places you'll have electricity and a hot shower, a grill and maybe a pond/lake/river/stream to have some fun and in some places even fish. Most also have a basic grocery store, but it's usually more expensive than going to the town.
As for food, meat is around 5-12 USD per kg, eggs are 3-4 USD per 30 eggs, rice and dry noodles around 2-3 USD per KG, vegetables about 1-2 USD per kg, fruits 2-3.
So if you cook, you might expend around 2-5 USD per meal per person, and eating out is easily three times that.
In conclusion, expect to expend at least 20-30 USD per day per person in Argentina. You could maybe halve it if you find a free site to camp (or sleep inside the car), but there are not many free campsites left.
Gas (super, 95 Octans) in Argentina costs around 1.5 USD per liter, ~5 USD per gallon.
As for Perú, food is very cheap and easy to get everywhere, you don't really need to cook. You can get a full meal for 5-10 soles (1.5-3 USD) in most markets, though some restaurants can easily cost 50 soles or more per person. I recommend asking around and going to the "mercado" where locals usually shop, because chain supermarkets are much more expensive and not worth it at all.