The northern hemisphere seems too much trouble. For a great holiday, look south

April 14, 2026 — 5:00am

North America always grabs the headlines, but for sheer cultural and physical diversity you can’t beat the continent below the Panama Canal which shares several parallels of latitude with Australia.

South America.

Sydney roughly shares the same latitude as Santiago; Melbourne as Buenos Aires. Darwin is level with Lima and Hobart with Patagonia. The Tropic of Capricorn crosses Queensland and Chile, Brazil and Paraguay.

Continents in the southern hemisphere share a lot more than latitudes: seasons, vegetation such as jacarandas, and the same vast skies. Every time I arrive in Johannesburg, I think how much it feels like home in Sydney.

But the differences are immense. Think about giraffes, zebras and hippos versus koalas, kangaroos and wombats, and sloths, alpacas and capybaras.

The indigenous peoples of each continent have developed widely different crafts and traditions.

Australia is unique in that it is one nation. Africa has 54 officially recognised sovereign states.

South America comprises 12 countries, two independent territories (the Falkland Islands and South Georgia) and one internal territory (French Guiana).

The Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Trinidad and Tobago, are located on the South American continental shelf. Panama, Ascension Island and Bouvet Island, a dependency of Norway, are also considered parts of South America.

Within South America, the geographical landscapes vary dramatically from ocean to ocean – the Amazon River, the Andes, the Atacama Desert, Lake Titicaca, the Argentinian pampas and the Galapagos Islands.

Argentina’s estancia (cattle ranches), the wild plains of Patagonia, Chilean fjords, the craggy peaks of Torres del Paine, the sprawling cities of Sao Paulo and Lima and the ramshackle beauty of earthquake-stricken Valparaiso.

The northern hemisphere seems so troubled now, but in terms of travel for adventure and discovery, we don’t need it. We have so many riches below the equator, particularly if you include Oceania.

I like to call it latitude tourism. Follow your latitude.

I haven’t explored nearly as much of South America as I would like. I first stepped on its shores about 15 years ago, when I took a cruise from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso in Chile.

I’d highly recommend this way of travel as an introduction to the continent. The distances are vast, but this classic cruise itinerary does give enough flavour to inspire deeper travels.

Choose a small ship and group sizes for excursions involving fewer people. The ship can go further in some destinations, taking you to ports and communities that larger ships can’t reach.

It’s easy to fall in love with Buenos Aires, all its different barrios, the steak, the Malbec, the poetry of Borges and the museum dedicated to Eva Peron.

On this cruise, we managed to set foot on the Falkland Islands, something only the occasional cruise manages to do, thanks to inclement weather and big seas (we had those too).

I’ll never forget Port Stanley, with its English cars and red phone boxes, and the old woman who beckoned me into her house to tell me all about the war and how she hid soldiers in her cellar.

Then there’s the eccentricity of Ushuaia, the jumping-off point for Antarctica and the magnificence and poignancy of the Chilean fjords, which even a decade ago were shrinking dramatically due to climate change.

Or a day trip to an estancia in Patagonia, we met charming hosts who prepared a traditional barbecue (asado) and cooked a whole sheep over an open pit.

And wonderful Valparaiso on Chile’s coast, the impossible city that still stands despite its flimsy dwellings and successive earthquakes that have flattened it, only to rise again.

I have only really touched the edges of the continent on successive trips. (I have about eight countries to go.) I’m hungry to see more.

Travelling across the 34 degrees south latitude is a much easier trip than many I’ve endured lately, including the multiple stops and days it took to reach Greenland.

The quickest way to fly non-stop from Sydney is to take Qantas or LATAM to Santiago, with an extra short stop on the way to Lima, Bogota, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires. It’s two stops to Santiago from Melbourne.

It’s a long haul (12½ to 14 hours depending on direction) but Santiago itself, while not the prettiest, is a vibrant city with so much to offer, notably wineries.

Perhaps my next trip to South America will be to the Amazon, Galapagos or Cartagena.

These days I’m certainly thinking more of travelling “across” rather than “up”.

Follow the latitude. It will lead to wonderful journeys.