Hiking South America

When to hike South America

From January to March, all 20 destinations clear our recommendation criteria. The area is quietest in September, with 13 of 20.

Averaged across the destinations, February is the warmest month at 16 degrees in the hiking window and July the coldest at 10. 17 of the 20 destinations lie in the southern hemisphere, where the year runs the other way.

How far apart the destinations are

The selected grid cells run from 371 metres at Tierra del Fuego to 4,110 metres at Chimborazo, with a median of 1,198 metres. Tierra del Fuego clears the criteria in 4 months (from December to March), Chimborazo in 12 months (all year).

The longest season belongs to 13 destinations, including Quebrada de Humahuaca and Serra da Canastra, at 12 months each; the shortest to Torres del Paine, at 3 months (from January to March).

What closes the missing months

Where a destination loses months, a critical climate component falls below the threshold at which we stop recommending a month. The main reason is snow cover for 6 of the 20 destinations and heat for 1. 13 are recommendable in all twelve months.

In September, the quietest month, 7 of 20 destinations are closed, 6 of them by snow cover.

Not counted here are 13 further destinations for which we publish no recommendation. They are listed below with the reason.

Conditions in February

February is when the open destinations score highest on average. Hiking-window temperature then runs from 8 degrees at Tierra del Fuego to 26 at Serra dos Órgãos, and rain falls on 20 to 99 percent of days depending on the destination.

What these figures cover

Each destination is described by one selected ERA5-Land grid cell, averaged over 1991 to 2025. The figures above summarise those 20 cells. They are not a map of the whole area or of any route, and they are not a forecast.