South America offers a unique and diverse travel experience. It boasts everything from the Amazon rainforest and the Andes mountains to vibrant cities and rich cultures, making it a compelling destination for adventure, history, and cultural immersion. 

Few, however, have managed to visit all 12. Swiss citizen Nicolai, of the Road to 197 blog, has the dream to visit all 197 countries in the world and has made good progress. Now, he has ranked all of South America’s countries, from his least favourite to his top choice. 

In third place was the northern country of Venezuela, which Nicolai described as a “hidden gem”, with beautiful scenery and “the nicest people in South America”. 

“I came with low expectations and left completely flabbergasted. What a gorgeous country with friendly locals and a surprisingly good tourism infrastructure, considering that the number of international tourists has dropped drastically in recent years.”

While the country has a reputation for being extremely unsafe, Nicolai said he saw “nothing of this” during his trip. 

“I was so impressed with the country that I almost put it in second place in this ranking…”

In second place was Colombia, bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north: “I visited four different places in Colombia and actually liked them all (even the unloved capital Bogota).

“What I loved about Colombia were the people who do everything they can to make sure the country is better than its reputation.”

Nicolai’s top-place spot was awarded to Argentina, which, he argued had no cons. He arrived in the southern American country just as it reopened its borders after the pandemic and spent three weeks exploring what it had to offer. 

“In my opinion, Argentina has it all: a variety of incredible landscapes, an amazing capital city, sensational food, a (reasonably) good infrastructure and, of course, football! For me, Argentina is not only the best country in South America, but also one of the three best countries in the world, period.”

Nicolai was not left impressive by all of South America’s nations, however. Coming in last place was Guyana the small northern nation, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean.

“Guyana is not only my least favorite country South America, but would also be in my 10 least favorite in the world. The capital is dangerous and makes you feel unease, the hotels, transfers and almost everything else are quite expensive, and there’s not a lot to do in the country that I find exciting.”

While he enjoyed the Kaieteur Falls, he described it as “dangerous”, “expensive” and the capital, Georgetown, as a “s******e”. 

Not faring much better was the landlocked country of Paraguay: “Seriously, I had a hard time finding anything interesting to do there. And this in a country four times the size of Germany. Imagine that”.