Peru or Argentina: which suits you better?

Peru is a journey into an ancient civilisation. Argentina is a journey across enormous landscapes. Both run sixteen days, and they suit different people almost entirely.

If you are choosing between them, the useful questions are not about which country is better. They are about altitude, distance, and which half of the year you can travel in.

In short

• Peru — 16 days. Machu Picchu, the Sacred Valley, Lake Titicaca, the Colca Canyon, Arequipa and the desert coast. Max 15 travellers
• Argentina — 16 days. Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, Patagonian glaciers, Salta, the salt flats and Iguazú. Max 12 travellers
• Peru is high; Argentina is mostly low but very spread out
• Peru works in our summer; Argentina in our winter — they are opposite-season trips
• Peru is the stronger first trip to Latin America; Argentina the better second

This is the practical fact that often settles it before anything else.

Peru's Andean dry season runs through our summer — broadly May to September. That is when the mountain weather is most reliable and the trails and viewpoints are at their best.

Argentina is a southern-hemisphere country, so its summer is our winter. Patagonia in particular only really works from around November to March — outside that window the far south is cold, windy and much of it closes.

So if you can only travel in, say, January, Argentina is your answer and Peru would be a green-season trip. If your leave falls in July, Peru is at its best and Patagonia is out.

It is worth checking your own calendar before reading any further — it may have decided for you.

Peru: Treasures of the Andes — 16 days. Lima at sea level, then Cusco and the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu by train, the Andean train across the altiplano to Lake Titicaca and the Uros reed islands, the Colca Canyon and its condors, colonial Arequipa, and finally the desert coast — the Nazca Lines, Paracas and the Ballestas Islands.

Across All Four Corners of Argentina — 16 days. Buenos Aires for two days, then far south to Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel at the end of the continent, on to the Patagonian glaciers and Lake Argentino, then north to Salta, along Route 40 through vineyards and coloured mountains, the vast white of the Salinas Grandes, and finally Iguazú — from both the Argentine and Brazilian sides.

One is dense with history. The other crosses a continent's worth of scenery.

Altitude. Peru is the high one: Cusco at 3,400 metres, passes at 4,323 and 4,910. Argentina is largely low — Buenos Aires, Patagonia and Iguazú are all near sea level — with the northern section around Salta and the Salinas Grandes climbing to real altitude for a few days. If altitude is a concern, Argentina is much the safer choice; see where to go in Latin America if altitude is a problem.

Distance. Argentina is the eighth-largest country on earth and this route runs from the far south to the far north-east, so it involves internal flights and long transfers. Peru's distances are shorter but slower, with mountain roads and a full day on the Andean train.

Climate. Peru means cool days and cold nights at altitude, and desert sun on the coast. Argentina means Patagonian wind, subtropical heat at Iguazú, and a city climate in Buenos Aires — pack for three countries.

Physically, both are moderate: sightseeing on your feet, steps at sites, no trekking and no camping on either.

Choose Peru if this is your first trip to Latin America, if Machu Picchu is on your list, if you are drawn to ancient civilisations and markets more than to landscape, or if you can only travel between May and September.

Choose Argentina if altitude worries you, if glaciers and the end of the world appeal more than ruins, if wine and steak are part of the attraction, or if your travel window is our winter.

Choose Argentina too if you have already done Peru — it is the natural second Latin American trip, and it feels nothing like the first.

Both are land-only, so you book the flights that suit you, and both run on guaranteed departures — they go ahead regardless of how many others have booked. Our guide to which Latin American country to visit first sets both against Costa Rica, Mexico and the Galápagos.