South America Packing List

Are you still in the planning stage of your trip?

capurgana sea colombia — 🇨🇴 Dan in Capurganá, Colombia

On this page, I’d like to share with you my South America packing list.

Maybe you’re looking for new ways to enhance your travel gear? Or, undecided on what to wear. Don’t worry, I may be able to help.

One of my pet-peeves as a world traveler is ensuring that I have all the necessary travel gear with me. Or, leaving the stuff I don’t need behind.

Backpacking Packing list: Dan Data

south america checklist — Dan in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Travel Statistics:
🇺🇸 $25K+ on Flights
Countries Visited:
13+ in Latin America
New Words Learned:
Over 3K Spanish Words
Travel Gear Investment:
Over $20K Spent

On my journey backpacking the Americas in recent years, I’ve collated a useful list of resources that are a result of continuous round trips.

Use the links below to jump to items most relevant to you:

Inside my backpack
Music for the Road
Keeping me charged
Backing me up
Blogging Tools
Keeping Organised

Staying Secure
My Best Backpacks
Learning Spanish
My Workstation
Important Books
Hostel Packing List

Without further ado, let’s take a look a look at this backpacking checklist. Before we do though, I’d like to mention one piece of advice below.

immersion travel colombia — 🇨🇴 Traveling light in Jericó, Colombia

Planning solo travel or even just thinking of backpacking in South America, can be a daunting experience. But trust me, today we’re going to fix that.

Packing for South America: Do not overpack

Overpacking is one of the most crucial things to know before going backpacking. Overpacking is one of the biggest mistakes travelers make.

Seriously, I’m not even going to embarrass myself like that again.

I feel like it’s my duty to share my backpacking essentials for South America. Obviously I don’t carry everything all at once but you get the idea, right?

Please note: This list is not exhaustive and I’ll update it regularly ☺️

Inside my backpack

Things I carry that make my trip more comfortable when on the road.

For Toiletries – It hangs so it’s really useful
To Protect my Eyes – These glasses are very stylish
For Power – I’d be lost with out one of these
Laptop Protection – Probably the best cover I’ve used so far
Anti-Bacterial Towel – Can’t travel without it
Charcoal Toothpaste – Who still uses fluoride?

I aim not to carry expensive camera equipment with me. I have created a camera guide to help travelers on a budget to decide which camera to carry.

Dan’s Camera Review Page

Travel Headphones

I carry my Marley Chant plus my headphones so when on a bus I can keep the music low. I use them for audiobooks too.

This Speaker – I can’t travel without loud music
These headphones – For when I’m out in public.

I am a big musical fan and listen to music constantly whilst on the go. I often have to carry two pairs of headphones as a backpack-up.

Keeping me Charged

My packing list for South America keeps me charged at all times, even if not connected to the internet.

For Power – I’d be lost with out one of these
For Storage – Keeping everyhting clean & tidy

After testing quite a few of these, below you can read my review on some of the best power banks you can find online.

Dan’s Powerbank Review Page

Backing Me Up

I’ve made this mistake in the past. Not carrying adequate memory.

For my Camera – I have at least three of these
For Backing me up – Military tested for hardness

Having a few SD cards with you also serve as an extra backpack up for your photos and take up minimal space.

Keeping everything Organized

The ultimate way to travel light whilst and utilise space. Also whilst backpacking around South America you can pick up more souvenirs.

Cubes – The Best on the market
Space Savers – Perfect for squeezing more in

Staying organized is somewhat of an art form, adding space savers or packing cubes to your backpack can really change the way you travel.

Securing everything

Keep all this travel gear locked up and deterring theft is a must.

For Securing – My backpack gets locked securely with this

I created the page below for people who are concerned about carrying their belongings safely and need a specific backpack to help conceal valuables.

Dan’s Anti-Theft Review Page

Best Backpack for Backpacking

I have a vast collection of backpacks in my arsenal so it would be difficult for me to suggest a single best backpack for South America.

Dan’s Favourite Backpack 2019 – The most durable yet
For the day (2018) – I used this as a daypack
Osprey Backpacks – See backpacks by Osprey
Patagonia Backpacks – Ethical made backpacks by Patagonia

My favorite backpacks get used time and time throught my years on the road.

I’m a big lover for canvas backpacks and tend to use them in-between longer trips because there durable and look cool.

Now I know how to travel lighter than ever before – Learn from my mistakes.

If you know you struggle from a dodgy back you should see these backpacks for back pain that will help you in the long run.

Learning Spanish

Here are some tools for learning Spanish on the road.

Fluent in 3 Months – Tips and Tricks to become fluent
My Library – Dan’s vocabulary [built over 5 years]
Portable Translator – Perfect for lazy learners

In addition to that, ensure you’ve got a proper travel journal that you can jot new words and phrases in.

Blogging Tools

I use the genesis framework and wrote all about my travel blogging journey if you’re curious about starting your own travel blog.

Genesis – My blog’s theme

My Workstation Essentials

For working online here’s a list hardware that I carry. I have recently traveled without some of these items and added new items the list.

I can fit all of these into one backpack. Usually either a Herschel or Tortuga that can hold some good weight. By the way, I love backpacks 🙂

My Tool Belt

This list is like my digital pencil case. I still carry pens and paper but without these tools, I have a difficult time publishing content to the rest of the world.

Strong VPN – A must have for security
Evernote – All my digital journaling
WorkFlowy – For creating next action list
Bluehost – I manage my website here
Genesis – My blog’s theme
WordPress – I use to run my blog
Gmail – Use for all my email activity
Hootsuite – Handling social media posts
Slack – For teamwork
Sublime Text 2 – Writing all my code
Keynote – Building presentations
Trello – Creating visual boards

Travel Tools

Expert or not, when it comes to travel, whether you decide to backpack South America or not knowing the best app’s to find flights is crucial.

Skyscanner – My go-to app for finding flights

Where I Stay

As always and as part of any backpacking travel checklist I recommend you consider where you’ll stay before arriving in a new place.

Luxury Hotels – I use this site mostly
Air BnB – I use for my accommodation
Hostel World – For when I want to be more social
Couchsurfing – Not got around to using this yet

Here are just some ideas to get you to start and to make sure you get the best deals, AirBnb has been one of my favorites lately.

Money

No South America travel checklist would be complete without mentioning money. I use this delightful app to help me with all the conversations.

Currency App – The most elegant currency app

Travel Insurance for South America

I always recommend backpackers and travelers (no matter who you are) use World Nomads Insurance for fully comprehensive cover.

travel insurance for latin america — Click this image to get your FREE quote!

If you are due to travel soon, you can get a Get A Free Quote by clicking the link or the image above and filling out your details – that way you’ll get instant cover from the exact date that you choose.

On many occasions World Nomads has provided me with reliable insurance cover for travel in Latin America and the rest of the world.

Apps I use on the Road

Google Maps – By far my most valuable travel app
Pocket – For bookmarks synced across devices
Google Translate – For when I need speedy translations

7 Most important books for solo travel

One for everyday of the week. Although I have hardcopy versions of these books. I read most books on an Ipad to save room whilst backpacking.

Don’t like reading? Get an Audible Membership Free – great for those long bus or plane journeys.

Personal Pleasantries

I aspire to live a minimally with minimal possessions. I don’t like to rely on things but here are some quintessential items I’ve not quite learned to live without.

I would never have thought that packing for South America should include personal luxuries, but the more time I spend there the more I miss them.

Hostel Packing List

Believe it or not, staying in hostels can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your entire adventure.

In the same token, it can be one of the work experiences of your entire year. With just these 4 items you can ensure that you’ll have a better experience.

I have put all my learnings from this blog and all my knowleadge from Latin America into my travel bible which you can get via my products page.

The travel bible will give you more insight into the way I travel.