The South America Specialists Reviews 

Argentine November 2018
A wonderful holiday made even better by the excellent, inspired, efficient, responsive, kind and generous help we got from Nick at The South American Specialists. Big thanks. M&M Johnston

Ed Chaplin organised a fabulous trip to Northern Chile, following our specifications.
As had been himself a short time ago, he was able to advise on a sensible itinerary and time to stay in each place. All transfers and arrangements went without a hitch, and the hotels he chose for us were amazing.
Without reservation, I would recommend this company.

We really enjoyed working with Nick and his team. They had good recommendations and you can't beat that the service is free - would definitely recommend if you're looking for a low stress way to plan a trip to Argentina.

Just got back from our honeymoon and thanks to the South America Specialists, it was a truly a memorable experience. We couldn't recommend more. Nick was extremely helpful and we spent about three months or so specifically tailoring the trip we were looking for. The hotels they suggested and booked for us were all great (location and staff were perfect). The team is very responsive and were able to change our itinerary midway through the trip and everything was confirmed on the spot. The tour companies they work with locally were very helpful as well. They assisted with restaurant bookings, private tours, and general recommendations about the places we were in. You wont regret booking your next trip with them!

Wonderful trip organised by Ed. We went to Argentina on our honeymoon and visited Buenos Aries, Los Glaciares National Park, Peninsula Valdes and the La Pampas region. It was a fantastically organised trip and we were very well looked after at every point. I would highly recommend The South America Specialists!

We used The South America Specialists and couldn't have had a better experience. The service they organised was impeccable and I will use them again on our next booking.

The South America Specialists are a small team. Their undoubted strengths are that they really do know Latin America, their recommendations for where to go and what to see are excellent, they are flexible at the planning stage of a trip and keen to meet the traveller's wishes, they are quick to respond to emails and suggestions, and the documentation and online support (via the app Vamoos) is efficient and helpful.

The downside of being a small team is that they rely a lot on their service partners, suppliers and in-country agents. Their in-country agents are mixed, and in some cases they in turn have delegated to a local agent, which means contacting anyone in the event of difficulties can be challenging, time consuming and expensive in calls. They also rely on being updated by their in-country agents when things change, which did not always happen.

They use FlightCentre as their flights booking agent and on my trip they and I were badly served by some unimaginative and unhelpful routings/timings selection from FlightCentre which I had to put right myself.

In summary, The South America Specialists delivered a first rate holiday for me, but not without quite a bit of input from my side and double-checking that things were practical and would work on the ground. I would certainly recommend them for the experienced traveller who knows what he or she wants and has some familiarity with Latin America, but the traveller who has not been to South America before or who wants their trip more closely planned and their hand held more tightly during the trip may prefer a bigger or more established agent.

We did a 2 weeks trip in Chile and Peru for our honeymoon. Overall it was spotless and even above expectations
In the trip preparation they took our requests and desires into considerations and definitely delivered. They also offered some sounded advises based on their strong experience.
Organisation on site was perfect and even though we didn't have any issue, we could feel we were in good hands in case anything happened.Hotel selected were awesome and the places visited breathtaking.

We had the most fantastic 2 weeks in Peru and Nick and the team really helped us to make the trip the best it could be. I'd highly recommend them as specialists for this extraordinary country.

Both Kerry and I had travelled to various south American countries before and we knew that - as well as being a fascinating part of the world, it can be a challenge to work out an itinerary and make all the logistics work properly. In choosing The South American Specialists to organise or honeymoon adventure to Argentina and Brazil, we knew we were placing considerable trust in the company to help get all of these aspects exactly right so that we could relax and enjoy ourselves.

Fortunately, Nick and his colleagues proved to be excellent at all of this. Nick took the time to work with us - using his considerable local experience to help us plan the best places for us to visit given our available time, our preferences and the season. Our trip was going to take us from Buenos Aires to El Calafate in Patagonia - then Mendoza, Iguazu - over the border to Buzeos, in Brazil, and finally to Rio de Janeiro. From start to finish everything worked flawlessly: airport pickups, flights, and tours. The company has great taste in choosing hotels, guides and other local suppliers - as well as suggesting the best places to see en route. We stayed nowhere that we did not love or which did not treat us as special guests. We were provided with ample, and flawlessly accurate information on each place we were to visit. We were left with a series of wonderful memories of both counties from our honeymoon - and we would recommend The South America Specialist in a heartbeat to anybody else looking to plan such a trip.

The South America Specialists organised our honeymoon in Peru and we couldn't fault them. Communication before the trip was great and they did everything we asked of them. Arrangements when we were there were all seamless and all of our travel and transfers went smoothly, and our guides and excursions were all brilliant. We had an incredible trip and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them!

Issy and Simon really enjoyed this trip. It was well arranged, efficient and on time. We got to Cusco and a super hotel - easily. The trail itself was such fun. Our guide, Henry Joel Mesicano, was quite outstanding. We learned a great deal from him about Inca history but also the flora and fauna we were coming across during the hike. I would thoroughly recommend, The South American Specialists, Lima Tours and Henry who is self employed. Thank you to one and all. Simon

Thoroughly recommend Nick French at The South America Specialists - he was very helpful and responsive in the booking stage and was able to provide helpful insights and contributions to make our South America trip very memorable. The support during the trip itself was fantastic - excellent ground agents and Nick was always responsive to our emailed queries and itinerary changes while we were travelling.

Excellent company. We have used them twice. Just returned from a trip to the Pantanal. Salvador and Paraty. Previous trip was to other parts of Brazil and Argentina. Nick and the team have in depth knowledge of South America. We have been pleased with all the locations, hotels, guides and drivers. The organisation of our holiday has been superb with first class support within South America.

Fantastic organised trip from Nick and his Team. Everything was superb, couldn't recommend high enough

Nick (the South America Specialist) did an amazing job of planning our vacation in Chile, as well as making sure all parts of the trip went well.

We worked with our travel agent, Lauren Rock, who, along with Nick, planned the perfect vacation. All aspects were well thought out and tailored to our particular needs and wishes.
However, due to a airline strike for internal Chile flights, we did have a couple of unsettling incidences. But - Nick to the rescue. He spent time on the weekend contacting the airline and making sure that our reservations were recognized and that we would have seats. Hence, the vacation proceeded as planned - and better than we could have imagined.
We are most appreciative of all.

We travelled as a twosome for 6 weeks from January to March 2018.

The service from The South America Specialists was faultless.. they booked all our internal flights, transfers, hotel, car hire and some of the tours. It all went incredibly smoothly and the drivers and guides were very genial and well versed in local history and culture sot we enjoyed an excellent introduction to the areas we' visited on the way from the airport to our accommodation.

The whole trip was stress free due to their impeccable attention to detail.

Excellently organised trip to Chile with most important highlights visited. Organised all along the way, with great varied itemaray, accomodation and reliably organised transportation. Instructions for itenanary given clearly and in advance. Contactable and quick to reply. No complaints would happily recommend and use again

The South American Specialists was really a great company to work with in all staging of planning and execution and final delivery. We used their company in Jan/ Feb of 2016 and believe that we definitely chose the right service providers with Nick and Holly as the representatives facilitating our every question and concern. They helped vet out the final selection of hotels and day tours in Argentina and ensured that the local partners were tracking on the daily schedule and venues and adjusting and communicating effectively any changes that occurred. My husband and I experienced a high level of customer service and care and that really made the trip special overall.

It was our honeymoon and the trip of a lifetime! Absolutely an unforgettable experience from start to finish. The South America Specialists do know their stuff and gave us great advice. Holly, our advisor, was brilliant: she prepared a spectacular itinerary and picked fantastic accommodation for us. Once we were there it was all taken care of for us, we simply had to enjoy it! Highly recommended.