Want To Spend Less Than $1000 On An Unforgettable South America Trip? No probLlama

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Saving $5550 on our South America trip was easy. I can’t say the same about the Huayna Picchu hike!

One of Ryan and my first trips together was to Brazil where we celebrated his 30th birthday almost 10 years ago. This was before we got into miles and points, but it was a great trip. I’ve always been a wanderluster but that trip definitely set the wheels in motion for travel becoming a huge part of our lives.

Fast forward 10 years… Ryan is turning 40 tomorrow, and we just returned from a trip to South America to celebrate! We had an incredible time in Argentina and Peru. Ryan and I started in Buenos Aires and Mendoza. Then we met my best friend and her husband in Lima. We headed to Cusco for Machu Picchu, then returned to Lima for the ultimate tour of Paracas and Huacachina. We packed in LOTS of adventures and enjoyed every minute of our time.

I love South America for many reasons but here are a few:

• The people. Such great people who are eager to share the beauty and culture of their countries.
• The American dollar is strong (especially to the Argentinian peso)
• Little to no jet lag because most time zones are within 3 hours of US time zones
• The food and wine
• And of course, great miles and points options for hotels and flights

Before I get to all of the great things Argentina and Peru have to offer, I wanted to post an overview of how we booked all of our flights and hotels. Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards points saved us lots of money on this trip, and they can do the same for you.

While logistics posts such as this one are important, I cant wait to share all of the fun things we did with all of the money we saved! Those posts are coming next.

The out of pocket total for both Ryan and my flights and all of our hotels was less than $1000. We saved over $5500 on this trip by redeeming points and miles.

Our Hotels

Peru hotels

All of our Peru hotels were Marriott properties. You can earn Marriott Bonvoy points with Marriott co-branded cards from Chase or Amex.

Tip: You can also transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points or American Express Membership Rewards points to Marriott, though the ratio is not ideal. Due to Marriott’s inflated chart, it’s usually not a good value. There is another way to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards for Marriott stays, though. You can read more about using Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book Marriott properties here.

Urubamba/Sacred Valley-Tambo del Inka (a Luxury Collection Hotel)

First on our list in Peru was Machu Picchu. After reading about our options, we decided to stay in the Sacred Valley. The altitude is between that of Cusco and Machu Picchu, so it is often recommended as a good area to acclimate. There is also a train station on the property that goes go Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu). I have read about Tambo del Inka in various articles and travel magazines so I had some pretty high expectations for this hotel. Well, my expectations were exceeded. This is definitely one of my top 5 hotels.

The best part is, the amount of points required is reasonable. The current welcome bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® credit card from Chase is enough for up to 3 free nights after meeting the minimum spending requirement.

Ryan and I actually ended up booking with free night certificates* (see credit card details below), but this property is Marriott Bonvoy category 5. Category 5 properties require 30,000/35,000/40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night (off-peak/standard/peak). Our dates were subject to standard pricing, FYI.

Update March 2020: Unfortunately, Tambo del Inka is now a higher category. The free night still has the potential for great values at other qualifying properties, though.

*Ryan and I actually have 3 free night certificates from credit cards between the two of us. We each get one from the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card (formerly the Starwood Preferred Guesst card from American Express) and Ryan gets one from his Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card. We have had these cards for a while and rules have changed. Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to open a Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card if you already have the Marriott Bonvoy card from American Express (formerly the Starwood Preferred Guest card from Amex). But you and a partner can each earn 1 certificate every year by opening a Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card.

Rates for our dates were about $471 per night. We did have to pay the destination amenity fee (resort fee). Unlike Hyatt does when redeeming World of Hyatt points, Marriott does not waive resort/destination fees when you redeem Marriott Bonvoy points for free nights. Although it says $34.90 here, we were charged $30 US per night on our final bill.

• Total points redeemed: 0 because we used our annual certificates
• Total for 3 nights: $90 ($30 resort fee per night that Marriott does not waive)
• Total value for 3 nights: $1413 ($471 X 3)

Paracas- Hotel Paracas (a Luxury Collection Hotel)

Hotel Paracas was such a gem and our only regret was not being able to spend more time there. Like Tambo del Inka, this is a Marriott Bonvoy category 5 property. Category 5 properties require 30,000/35,000/40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night (off-peak/standard/peak).

The paid rate for our date was $236 after all taxes and fees and it included breakfast for 2, so we decided to just pay for our room. Our friends Lexie and Chris had lots of Marriott points thanks to the SPG merger, so they redeemed points for their room. We got upgraded to a suite, and so did Lexie and Chris. I’ll talk more about the rooms in a future post.

• Total points redeemed: 0
• Out of pocket total: $236
• Total Value: $236

Note that we could have also booked with Chase Ultimate Rewards points via the Chase Ultimate Rewards redemption portal, but a standard room at Hotel Paracas was not an option in the portal for the date we needed. At least not standard rooms. In other words, upgraded rooms and suites were available, but I did not want to redeem the amount of points that would have been required. Inventory for the Chase Ultimate Rewards redemption portal comes from Expedia, so if Expedia has sold out of their allotted rooms for any given date, the room will not be available to book via the Chase redemption portal. Anyway, I did end up booking our Lima hotel with the redemption portal as I’ll explain in the next section.

Lima- JW Marriott

The JW Marriott Lima is in a great location (Miraflores). It’s waterfront and close to many of Lima’s amazing restaurants, attractions, and shopping. As a Marriott Bonvoy category 5 hotel, free nights require 30,000/35,000/40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night (off-peak/standard/peak).

For this hotel, I had originally planned on booking with Marriott points (and some Chase points transferred to Marriott) but I checked the rates as our date approached and noticed they dropped. So I decided to check the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.

Important: Remember, there are 2 ways to book Marriott hotels with Chase Ultimate Rewards points. You can use your Ultimate Rewards points at a fixed rate to book through the redemption portal, or you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy at a 1:1 ratio. As I stated earlier, the redemption portal is often a better way to book Marriott stays if you’re trying to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Note that with Hyatt, that is not the case; it is usually better to transfer UR to Hyatt. Click here for more information about using Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book Marriott stays.

Since I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, my Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1.5 cents each when redeeming points for travel in the redemption portal. For a rate of $186, this means I would need to redeem 12,400 Ultimate Rewards points per night.

Note that points redeemed in the portal linked to the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Business Preferred cards are worth 1.25 cents per point in the portal. That would make the total 14,880 points.

Either way, the Ultimate Rewards portal is a better way to book a free night than the other option of transferring to Marriott. To transfer Ultimate Rewards to Marriott Bonvoy to book, you would need 35,000 points for a standard night. If you do not have existing Marriott Bonvoy points and you plan to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points by transferring to Marriott, I highly suggest checking the Ultimate Rewards portal prices first.

Lexie and Chris used Marriott points to book, but it made sense for them. They had lots of existing Marriott points to burn. In other words, they did not transfer Ultimate Rewards to Marriott to book. Their Marriott points came from their former SPG accounts. When SPG and Marriott combined, any SPG points were multiplied by 3. So ~11,667 Starpoints yielded 35,000 Marriott points.

• Total points redeemed: 12,400
• Out of pocket total: 0
• Total Value: $186

Total for Peru hotels:

• Points redeemed: 12,400 Chase Ultimate Rewards points
• Total value of stays: $1835
• Out of pocket expenses: $326

Argentina hotels

In Argentina, we stayed in Hyatt hotels. To get World of Hyatt points, you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to your World of Hyatt account at a 1:1 ratio.

This article has lots of details and information about using Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book Hyatt hotels.

Buenos Aires–Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt Buenos Aires

As a World of Hyatt category 6 property, you can book the Park Hyatt Buenos Aires Palacio Duhau for 25,000 points per night. Rates at this property averaged $478 per night. After taxes, it’s way over $500, though. Remember, you do not have to pay taxes and fees when you book a Hyatt stay entirely on World of Hyatt points. This rate seems pretty average for this property, but rates for your dates could be more or less.

• Total for 2 nights: 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to World of Hyatt
• Total value for 2 nights: $1156

Mendoza-Park Hyatt Mendoza

For some reason, rates were really high for our dates so this ended up being a really good value. At a rate of $480, 12,000 points gives you a redemption value of 4 cents per point! But, it’s actually even higher because after taxes, the total would have been at least $500 per night.

Rates can be well under $200 per night, though. If the rate is low enough and you have Chase Ultimate Rewards points, it may make more sense to book via the Ultimate Rewards travel redemption portal. You can read more about booking Hyatt hotels with Chase Ultimate Rewards points here.

• Total for 2 nights: 24,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to World of Hyatt
• Total value for 2 nights: at least $1000

Total for Argentina hotels:

• Points redeemed: 74,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points
• Total value of stays: $2156
• Out of pocket expenses: $0

Cents per point value: 2.9 (If you’re new here, we like to see values of 2 cents per point or more, especially when redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points)

• 2156/74,000=0.029
• 0.029 X 100=2.9

Our Flights

DFW-Buenos Aires (EZE then AEP)-MDZ-LIM-CUZ-LIM-MIA-DFW

We took more flights than usual on this trip. We also paid for more flights than usual on this trip, but only because fares were so low (for example, $60) that I did not want to use points or miles. We redeemed points for the longer flights (DFW to Buenos Aires, Mendoza to Lima, and Lima to DFW).

We redeemed points for flights operated by both American Airlines and LATAM. We did not use any American Airlines or LATAM miles, though. All flights that we booked using points were booked using the frequent flyer program of British Airways.

Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards to British Airways at a 1:1 ratio

The two credit card rewards currencies I mostly collect are Chase Ultimate Rewards points and American Express Membership Rewards points.  Both of these transfer to British Airways at a 1:1 ratio. Neither of these transfer to American Airlines or LATAM. So if I want to book American Airlines or LATAM flights and I do not have AAdvantage or LATAM miles, I can transfer my Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards to British Airways to book flights operated by either airline.

Update: LATAM is no longer in the Oneworld alliance.

This post explains more: How to book American Airlines flights with British Airways Avios.

DFW to Buenos Aires (EZE)

As I stated earlier, we used British Airways Avios to book a flight operated by American Airlines. American Airlines operates a nonstop flight from DFW to Buenos Aires. We booked economy because business class was not available.

This lunch (empanadas and wine) was only $12. Our flights were $11.20:

DFW to EZE on a nonstop AA flight required 25,000 British Airways Avios at the time of booking. To get the 25,000 Avios per ticket, we were able to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to British Airways during a transfer bonus offer. The offer was that we would receive 30% more Avios when transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards to British Airways Executive Club. To get 25,000, we needed to transfer only 19,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to British Airways for each ticket.

British Airways raised their redemption prices since then (very slightly), so the current price for this exact flight would be 25,750 Avios each way.

• Total points: 19,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per ticket and $5.60
• Total Value: $500*

*Remember, when figuring out value for a one-way, I always search roundtrip and use half that amount. One-way international flights are significantly more (sometimes more than roundtrip), so to keep this as accurate as possible, I want to give realistic numbers. I also use the lowest prices I can find, so keep in mind that the values reflected on this site could very well be significantly lower than what you will find on different dates. When paid fares are higher, it means your points are saving even more money!

I did use my $200 airline incidental credit on the Platinum Card from American Express to book Main Cabin Extra seats. The extra leg room makes a huge difference on long-haul flights. The $200 credit covered most of it.

Buenos Aires (AEP) to Mendoza

Norwegian Air now has a subsidiary in Argentina. Flights from Buenos Aires to Mendoza were only about $50-70 per person, so we decided to just pay (with a credit card, of course).

• Total: $60
• Total Value: $60

Tip: There are two airports in Buenos Aires. If you’re flying in from the states (or internationally), you’ll most likely fly into EZE which is about an hour outside of the city. Once in Buenos Aires, if you are flying within Argentina or to a very limited selection of other South American cities, AEP may be a more convenient option. The taxi ride from our hotel to AEP was 15 minutes and less than the equivalent of $5 USD. 

Mendoza to Lima 

There are a limited number of nonstop flights between Mendoza to Lima. And I mean really limited, as in only a few per week. But we happened to be flying on a date where LATAM was operating this route. Normal prices for this route on LATAM for our dates were around $200-300.  

Like American Airlines, LATAM is in the Oneworld alliance. This means you can use British Airways Avios to book LATAM flights the same way you can use Avios to book AA flights. Based on the distance between MDZ and LIM, the total is 11,000 Avios per person. Taxes and fees total $84 per person.

Thanks to the American Express transfer bonus a few months ago for transfers to British Airways, Iberia, or Aer Lingus, we only needed to transfer 16,000 Amex Membership Rewards points to British Airways to yield the 22,000 Avios for our two tickets. 

• Total: 8,000 American Express points transferred to British Airways and $84 in fees per person
• Total Value: ~$250 per ticket

Lima to Cusco

Flights between Lima and Cusco are only about an hour. Avianca, LATAM, and a couple of low-cost carriers operate nonstops on this route. You can usually find sub-$100 roundtrip fares, especially if you book in advance. Ours were slightly more but only because we had specific times and flights we wanted.

Because Lexie and Chris were meeting us in Lima, we wanted to be on the same flight to Cusco. The drive from Cusco to our hotel in the Sacred Valley is 90 minutes so it made sense for us to be together so we could share a taxi (and have some good company). They were booked with United miles from New Orleans on a Star Alliance itinerary MSY-PTY-LIM-CUZ (operated by Copa Airlines and Avianca). Their LIM-CUZ leg was included in their itinerary from New Orleans and was on an Avianca flight, so Ryan and I ended up booking that flight.

You can certainly book flights between Lima and Cusco with miles but since fares were so low, we just paid. The Avianca flight was about $60 per ticket and there were no extra baggage fees for the amount of luggage we had.

• Total: $60 per ticket
• Total value: $60 per ticket

Tip: Pay close attention to the baggage allowances. The low cost carriers may not include anything, including a carry on. It may be worth it to pay a little extra for an airline that does have better luggage allowances.

Cusco to Lima

Our flight back to Lima was operated by LATAM. We needed to be back in Lima early to meet our tour guide for our 2 day tour in Paracas and Huacachina. By the way, I cannot recommend this tour enough and I’ll be sharing more info and our guide’s contact info very soon! Anyway, LATAM had an early flight for about $65 per person. Again, we just paid instead of using points. We did have to pay $16 to check one bag. LATAM (and some other carriers) actually weighs carry-on baggage and the weight limits are not very generous.

• Total: $65 per ticket
• Total Value: $65 per ticket

Lima to DFW

There is a nonstop Lima to DFW route operated by AA, but it leaves so late at night and we needed to be back that evening. So we booked LIM-MIA-DFW.

We ended up having to book it as two separate tickets (LIM-MIA and MIA-DFW). This is due to AA award availability. Booking each leg separately was possible, but booking the itinerary as one ticket was not available if I was going to book with British Airways Avios. Since we booked with British Airways, this did not change the redemption cost. Remember, BA prices award tickets by distance and per segment.

It was frustrating that I could not book it as one itinerary, though, because I worried about what would happen to the connecting flight (MIA-DFW) in the event of irregular operations (delays, cancellations, etc).

Anyway, we booked these flights before BA increased their redemption prices for partner redemptions so our total required was 12,500 for LIM-MIA and 7,500 for MIA-DFW for a total of 20,000 avios. Fees are about $52 per person.

Don’t worry, British Airways redemption prices did not increase much for these tickets. LIM-MIA on a nonstop AA flight is now 13,000 avios and MIA-DFW is 9,000 avios for a total of 22,000 Avios per ticket.

To get the 20,000 Avios per ticket, we were able to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to British Airways during the transfer bonus offer mentioned on the DFW-EZE flight. To get 20,000, we needed to transfer only 15,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points each (or 29,000 points to get both tickets) to British Airways.

The total value for our AA flights for LIM-DFW is about $400 per ticket.

• Total points used: 15,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points
• Total Value: ~$400

Flight totals

• Total points redeemed per person: 42,000 (34,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards and 8,000 Amex Membership Rewards points)
• Total out of pocket for all 7 segments (fares, taxes, and fees) per person: ~$327
• Total value for all flights per person: $1335

Remember, if you’re calculating cents per point values, you want to subtract the out of pocket costs/taxes/fees before doing the math. If you subtract our out of pocket costs from the value, that’s still a little over $1000. Think of it like this, we redeemed 42,000 points for $1,000 worth of airfare. If you’re new here, we like to see values of 2 cents per point or more when redeeming. Using 42,000 points and a value of $1,000, here is the CPP math:

• 1,000/42,000=0.0238
• 0.0238 X 100= 2.38

The value is almost 2.4 cents per point. For more info about calculating cents per point, click here.

Grand Totals

This includes all of Ryan and my flights and hotels for Argentina and Peru.

Bottom Line

• Total points redeemed: 170,400
• Total out of pocket: $980
• Total value: ~$6600

For under $1,000 out of pocket and 170,400 points, we booked all of our flights and amazing hotels for our South America trip thanks to Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express points! If you subtract our out of pocket ($980) from the total value (~$6600), we saved over $5500 by redeeming just over 170,000 points.

The breakdown:

Total flights for Ryan and me:

• Total points redeemed: 84,000 (per person: 42,000… 34,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards and 8,000 Amex Membership Rewards points)
• Total out of pocket for all 7 segments (fares, taxes, and fees): ~$654 (per person: ~$327)
• Total value for all flights per person: $2670 (per person: $1335)

Total hotels for Ryan and me:

• Total points redeemed: 86,400
• Total out of pocket: $326
• Total value: $3991

The best news: you can book a similar trip

Important: If you’re new to award travel, you may want to read our comprehensive guide for beginners. It covers everything you need to know to get started. Also, this is covered in the guide, but it also deserves a mention here: please do not apply for any cards until you have familiarized yourself with Chase’s 5/24 rule. Generally, you should try to open Chase 5/24 cards before opening any other credit cards.

The quickest way to earn the points needed is to open credit cards. You’ll earn lots of points from welcome bonuses, and you’ll earn points on your everyday spending. In addition to earning lucrative travel rewards points and miles, these cards also come with benefits that may step-up your travel experiences.

Here are the cards I suggest for Argentina and/or Peru:

You can find more information about each of these cards in our monthly list of top offers (all cards are on the list).

5/24 cards:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred
• Marriott Bonvoy Boundles credit card
• World of Hyatt credit card

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the first card I suggest to almost anyone who does not already have one, regardless of your plans. You can use Ultimate Rewards points for your flights or for hotel stays.

After that, opening a hotel credit card such as Marriott Bonvoy Boundless or the World of Hyatt credit card can help save lots of money on hotel stays.

Over 5/24 cards:

• Platinum Card® from American Express
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

The Platinum Card from American Express has a welcome bonus of: earn 100,000 American Express Membership Rewards points after spending $6,000 in the first 6 months. Membership Rewards points would be helpful for flights between the US and South America. Other details: Earn 5 points per dollar on flights booked directly through airlines or through amextravel.com on up to $500,000 per calendar year. There are also lots of benefits and statement credits that help offset the annual fee of $695 _{^{[rates and fees]}}. Receive up to $200 of reimbursement on airline incidentals per calendar year, receive $100 reimbursement for TSA precheck or Global Entry enrollment, and up to 100$ total in statement credit for purchases at Saks Fifth avenue annually. Also, get up to $200 back annually in statement credits each year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection bookings with Amex Travel (this requires a minimum 2 night stay), up to $20 in monthly statement credits (for a total of $240 annually) on eligible purchases on these digital entertainment providers: Peacock, Audible, SiriusXM, and The New York Times; up to $25 back each month on select Equinox memberships (for a total of up to $300 annually), receive up to $179 back annually on a CLEAR membership. Terms apply.

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card would be especially helpful for off-setting any out-of-pocket costs. The welcome bonus is 75,000 miles (worth $750 or 37,500-75,000 airline miles). 75,000 Venture miles are worth $750 in travel expenses. The annual fee is reasonable at $95. Capital One’s addition of airline transfer partners consistently lands this card on our list of top offers. Click here to compare the Capital One Venture to the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

Business cards:

• Chase Ink Business Preferred
• Business Platinum Card® from American Express

If you own a business, I highly recommend opening a Chase Ink Business Preferred. The welcome bonus is welcome bonus is 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $15,000 in 3 months. 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points are worth at least $1,250 towards travel when booked in the redemption portal, but possibly more by transferring to airline and hotel partners. The annual fee is very reasonable at $95. 

If you want a premium card, the Business Platinum Card from American Express is a strong contender. This card is especially lucrative for those who regularly make large business purchases. Terms apply.  Membership Rewards points are great for booking flights as there are 17 airline transfer partners.

Final thoughts

Argentina is amazing. Peru is amazing. You should go.

If you are planning a trip to Argentina and/or Peru, there’s no shortage of credit card options to help save lots of money!

Amex Rates and Fees:

• The Platinum Card from American Express [rates and fees]
• Business Platinum Card from American Express [rates and fees]

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