Travel to South America in March

March brings subtle transitions across South America, with summer lingering in some regions while others ease into cooler, calmer days. It’s an ideal month for travelers seeking fewer crowds and a balance of seasonal highlights.

In Patagonia, it’s the tail end of trekking season, with warm days, calmer winds, and autumn colors brushing the lenga forests. Northern Argentina and Chile’s Atacama Desert enjoy clear skies and gentle warmth, perfect for exploring high-altitude landscapes, while Chile’s and Argentina’s wine regions come alive with the vendimia — grape harvest festivals brimming with music, food, and local wine traditions. In Antarctica, the season draws to a close, offering some of the best whale encounters of the year, alongside fledgling penguin chicks and dramatic late-summer light for photography.

The Galápagos remains in its warm season, with calm seas, excellent snorkeling, and wildlife spectacles including nesting green sea turtles, hatching marine iguanas, and the first waved albatross returning to Española.

The Amazon’s high-water season continues, allowing boats to reach remote flooded forests where pink river dolphins, monkeys, and macaws thrive. In Peru, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu stay in their lush green season with fewer rainy days, while Lima’s coast enjoys the last stretch of sunny summer weather.

Along Colombia’s Caribbean coast, dry days make March perfect for combining vibrant city life in Cartagena with tranquil island escapes, and if Holy Week falls this month, towns like Mompox and Popayán host unforgettable religious processions. In Bolivia, the Uyuni Salt Flats still dazzle with their mirror-like reflections, and in Ecuador, local equinox celebrations and green highland valleys mark the seasonal shift.