As we start sliding into chillier temps, the mercury starts rising south of the equator. Here are a few of our favorite packages to get you there on the cheap.
Gate 1 Travel has an eight-day combo to Rio de Janeiro starting from $699 per person out of NYC. You'll stay in Augusto's Copacabana Hotel for five nights, with all morning meals and one dinner included, plus escorted sightseeing by bus. The base price for this itinerary is for departures on November 23, 2004 and March 29, 2005 only. Prices bump up on other travel dates, for upgrades to other accommodations and for departures out of other cities. Contact them at www.gate1travel.com or phone 800/682-3333. Be forewarned that in addition to taxes and security fees of around $150, you'll also have to pay $100 for a tourist visa to enter Brazil.
Costs start from $549 to take a vacation in either Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro this Thanksgiving when you go with OffPeakTraveler.com. Each is for five nights, with roundtrip from Miami to either city, as well as daily continental breakfast. Departures are from November 22 to 26, 2004. In BA, you stay at the Waldorf Hotel, with private bath. In Rio, it's a private bath at the first class Savoy Othon Hotel. Each package has a $35 surcharge for weekend travel. Add-ons run from $100 (New York, Boston, etc.) to $270 (Phoenix, Seattle, San Diego, etc.). Contact the Internet-only purveyor at www.offpeaktraveler.com.
With an Interhostel package planned for March 10-23, 2005, you have a chance to see Argentina and Uruguay and to take in the magnificent Iguazu Falls. Included in the $4,895 price is airfare on American Airlines from Miami, all meals and lodging for 14 days, activities, excursions and more. Cities and attractions visited include Buenos Aires, Ceferino, Montevideo and Iguazu National Park. You'll be surprised, no doubt, at the homogeneity of the people of Uruguay, nearly all of Italian or Spanish background and with a mostly middle class outlook, and by the diversity of things to do in and around Iguazu. Naturally, "the Paris of the South," as Buenos Aires likes to call itself, is full of attractions as well. Contact Interhostel at www.learn.unh.edu/interhostel or e-mail them at interhostel@unh.edu. Their phone is 800/733-9753.
