How to plan your itinerary to visit ABC South American Countries?

Valparaiso, The Seaside City, Chile

Andean Mountain/Lake/Border Crossing (Chile/Argentina) - Osorno Volcano (Chile) in the background

ABC stands for Argentina, Brazil and Chile. These are the countries I visited in 3 weeks in April 2011. However, I made a mistake by using Buenos Aires in Argentina as my travel hub. Buenos Aires has 2 airports, one in downtown called Aeroparque Jorge Newberry and the other is called Ezeiza Ministro Pistarini International Airport (serves flights to and fro North America, Europe, etc), and the distance between the 2 is 39km or 24mi or 45 minute bus ride (during off peak hours), the cost is 65 pesos. The traffic is very congested during peak hours, and the facilities and services at the Aeroparque (which also serves flights to and fro Chile and Brazil) are lacking and poor (with very little information in English), while one’s experience is then often exacerbated by the notoriously unreliable Aerolinas Argentina (the Argentinian National Carrier), don’t expect good inflight service either, but do expect flight delays.

Bariloche Town and Lake Nahuel Huapi (Argentina)

 Here was my itinerary (most people already know what to see and do in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Santiago, and travel info on these 3 cities are abundantly available, so I just focus my travel description outside of these big and famous cities):
1*Arrived Buenos Aires (capital of Argentina) via Houston Texas. Spent 4 nights in Buenos Aires.
2*Flew from Buenos Aires to Bariloche in the Argentinian Lake District (sometimes known as Northern Patagonia). Spent 2 nights in Bariloche.
Full name for Bariloche is San Carlos de Bariloche, a beautiful mountainous lakeside town (by the lake of Nahuel Huapi), also famous for chocolates, ski/golf resorts and its German influence in local architecture and culture. Bariloche made headlines in the international press in 1995 when it became known as a haven for Nazi war criminals.

Bariloche Town Hall (with German architecture), Argentina

3*Crossed the border (and the Andes Mountain) to Chile, took a 6 hour bus from Bariloche to Puerto Montt in the Chilean Lake District (sometimes known as Northern Patagonia, likewise, this region also has strong German influence), the bus ticket costs 120 Argentinian Peso, or one can take the 10 hour ferries/bus routes run by Cruce de Lagos (Andean Lake Crossing) catered for rich tourists which costs 950 Argentinian Peso (but views of the volcano/mountain from the lakes are spectacular). Spent 2 nights in the scenic Puerto Varas town (also visited the beautiful lakeside town called Frutillar).
Puerto Montt is the largest city in the Southern half of Chile, it is not a tourist town, it has the largest salmon farms in the world, but the nearby tourist towns of Puerto Varas and Frutilla are a lot cuter, with spectacular views of the coned shaped snow capped Osorno volcano at the end of lake Llanquehue.

Puerto Varas and Osorno Volcano (Chile)

4*Flew from Puerto Montt to Santiago (capital of Chile). Spent 2 nights in Santiago, also visited the seaside city of Valparaiso (120 km or 75 mi to the northwest of the capital Santiago, its nickname is Chilean "San Francisco" and "Jewel of the Pacific", was declared the World Heritage Site in 2003).
5*Flew from Santiago to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Spent 6 nights in Rio de Janeiro.
6*Flew from Rio de Janeiro to Foz do Iguacu (Brazilian side of the Iguacu Falls). Spent 2 nights in Foz do Iguacu.
For information about my travel in the Iguazu Falls area, please see my other article in this blog.
7*Crossed the border to Argentina, took a local bus to Puerto Iguazu (Argentinian side of the Iguazu Falls). Spent 2 nights in Puerto Iguazu.
8*Departed Buenos Aires for Houston Texas.

Lake Nahuel Huapi, Bariloche, Argentina

If you have 3 weeks and wish to visit ABC countries in South America, then I would recommend that you use either Santiago (the capital of Chile) or Rio de Janeiro in Brazil as your entry/exit point to/from North America. It is not only cheaper, but also you can avoid flying in Argentina and using their airports (long distance bus companies in Argentina offer better service than airlines, and is less prone to delays). For example: arrive Santiago, then fly to the south to visit the Chilean Lake District, then cross the border to Bariloche in Argentina by bus, then to Buenos Aires by bus, then to Puerto Iguazu by bus, then cross the border to Foz do Iguacu in Brazil by bus, then fly to Rio de Janeiro, and depart from here back to North America. Or you can do the other way round, arrive Rio de Janeiro from North America and reverse the rest of the itinerary, where you depart from Santiago for North America.
Santiago's national and international airport is modern and is called Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport, the distance is 11.5mi or 19km, 24 minutes from Santiago downtown. Rio de Janeiro has 2 airports, 1 is located in downtown, mainly serving shuttle flights to and fro Sao Paolo, while the other is located about 20km/13mi north of the centre of Rio de Janeiro city and is called Galeao-Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport. Not only airports in Chile and Brazil are generally more modern than in Argentina, but also you will find more people speak English and information in English are also more plentiful.