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 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 traveler is ensuring 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 Stake:
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 Organized

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

Without further ado, let’s take 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, 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, it is one of the biggest mistakes travelers make.

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

It’s my duty to share these backpacking essentials for South America. Obviously, I don’t carry everything at once but you get the idea.

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 don’t carry expensive camera equipment traveling. See this camera guide to help travelers on a budget decide which camera to carry.

Dan’s Camera Review Page

Headphones

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

Read below for the books I’ve read during my travels, and remember to get your free Audible Membership so you can listen to them gratis.

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

I’m a big fan of music and listen to music constantly whilst on the go. I often have to carry two pairs of headphones so I have a backup pair.

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 everything 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 takes 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.

See the page below for those concerned with carrying their belongings safely and who 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 best backpacks get used time and time again after years of travel.

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

Now I know (or have a better idea at least) 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 while 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 I carry. I’ve recently traveled without some of these items and added new items to the list.

I fit all these into one daypack. Usually either a Herschel or Tortuga that can hold some good weight. I love testing out backpacks 🙂

My Tool Belt

This is like my digital pencil case. I carry pens and paper but without digital tools, I’d have a difficult time publishing content online.

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 go backpacking 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 a delightful app to help me with conversions.

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

Although I have hardcopy versions of these books. I read most books on my Ipad to save room whilst backpacking.

Don’t like reading? Get your Audible Membership free to trial the books! They’re great for those long bus or plane journeys.

Personal Pleasantries

I aspire to live minimally with minimal possessions. I don’t 100% rely on things too much but here are items I’ve not learned to live without.

I never thought packing for South America would 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.

Hostels can also be one of the worst experiences of your life. With just these six items you can ensure you’ll have a better experience.

I’ve put all my learnings from this blog and my knowledge 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.