10 Best South America
South America rewards broad, country-spanning curation rather than a single headline list, because the continent’s most compelling stays cluster around very different kinds of experience: city landmarks, Andean heritage, Amazon-edge lodges, Pacific coast retreats and remote Patagonian outposts. This selection is designed to give readers an editorially balanced route through those contrasts, with established names in Brazil, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Argentina and beyond, while also acknowledging that some countries have much deeper international coverage than others. It is therefore a guide to the continent’s leading hotels and visitor experiences as they are represented by recognised travel curators, not a popularity chart. The shortlist starts from current independent travel coverage and then checks each candidate against operator, destination and tourism information so that naming, geography and practical access are accurate. Where a property appears in a major reader-voted list, that supports recognition; where a place stands out through setting, design, heritage or landscape access, that informs the editorial choice even when awards coverage is thinner. The aim is to preserve regional diversity and distinctiveness, rather than over-representing one country simply because it has stronger international publicity. Because South America is large and highly varied, the final mix necessarily favours places that can be substantiated across multiple sources and that represent a clear reason to travel in their own right. That still leaves room for smaller or more specialised experiences, but the standard for inclusion remains the same: an identifiable physical property or experience, a precise location, current operational evidence where available, and a defensible place in a continent-wide travel picture. Where evidence is sparse or access is limited, that is recorded explicitly in the issues.