Hi,

Starting in December a friend and myself are driving from foz do iguacu all the way up to Colombia. For the first leg of the trip im wondering what would be the best route to take. Maybe you can give me some advice.

Option 1:
Route 81 trough Argentina to Salta

Option 2:
Route 16 trough Argentina to Salta

Option 3:
Trough the Chaco via Route 9 and onwards to Uyuny

Option 4:
North trough Brasil via Bonito then on Route 4 trough eastern Bolivia

Thank you for any infos and ride on!

The problem with answering to your post is that «best» could mean a whole lot of different things and if you ask many people about which is their favorite country for travelling, favorite road to ride, favorite music or food you will get about as many different answers as people you ask.
What do you put into «best»? Easiest and most conveniant with smooth roads? Most interesting route (and what are your interests btw?)?

To be honest I havent ridden R16 or R95 of Argentina but I belive both of them goes through a relatively flat scenery and thus maybe not so interesting area. But Salta and northern Argentina when you get closer to the Andes and in general the northwestern area of Argentina is indeed both scenic and interesting.

I have however ridden through Paraguay from Villamontes in Bolivia and I found that route very interesting. Visiting the old Jesuit missions in Paraguay, the main cities of the country and Filadelfia with the mennonites and more and further into Bolivia I think would be a very interesting route. But best? Well - depends on what you consider best... Paraguay will almost always be very hot - so that might be a drawback. And the road through Chacos was not the best when I rode there (potholed and some parts was deep gravel on the Bolivia side)
I have also ridden Brasilia-Campo Grande-Corumba-into Bolivia and used R4 in Bolivia to Santa Cruz and further through Bolivia. Its also certainly a nicesnd interesting route, you can also in lowland Bolivia visit several old Jesuit missions, visit hot springs etc. Be aware that many of the lowland roads in Bolivia are still gravel roads that can and will be impassable at times during the rainy season (Des-April) so that might be a drawback if going that way. R4 in Bolivia is however paved from the border to Santa Cruz and most of the way to Cochabamba or Sucre.

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

Thank you snakeboy. You are right it is very much a matter of personal taste, i should have added more info.

We first wanted to go south to Buenos Aires and then crossing over to the Andes via Rosario/Cordoba/Mendoza. But we only have 4-5 months for the trip up to colombia and this is why im looking into a shorter route.

I prefer an interesting route over smooth surface, the stretch from Iguacu over to the andes seems to be mostly flat and not too many things to see on the way. I'm interested to see beautiful lakes and rivers where i can take a swim. I really prefer hot weather over cold, more so when its raining. Also i dont mind the occasional bustling city.

The trip is not about seeing as many things as possible or putting endless miles on the clock. If there is a place i really like i want to be able to stay there for a few days or a week.

Its probably going to be either option 1 or 2 because i dont want to miss the Salta region. Option 3 trough the chaco is still possible but it would mean backtracking to salta. Its not possible to see Bonito this way but cant do everything.

with your preferences i would go through Paraguay or brazil/Bolivia and head afterwards down to Salta /San Salvador de Jujuy and San Pedro. Than Heading through the lagoon route to Uyuni and further to la Paz...

The Routes in northern Argentina are very straight and boring.
Bonito is fits perfect to your description what you like.

Thank you pickypalla. I really would like to see the Bonito region.

I looked a bit more on different maps and it seems possible to enter Paraguay from Porto Murtinho. This route did not show up in google maps, probably because there is no bridge yet and we would need to take a ferry across the rio paraguay. It would be possible to drive up from Iguacu to Bonito and then trough the Chaco(Filadelfia) to Jujuy/Salta. This would only add ~400km to the most direct route.

Then from Salta over the Paso de Sico to San Pedro de Atacama and into Bolivia via the Lagunas Route like pickypalla recommended.

Not sure yet about the way from Uyuni up to la Paz. Maybe trough Potosi, Sucre, Cochabamba and Quime.

Paso Sico i like more than Paso Jama You will see already some really nice lagoons. Check out the dirt way 10-15km after Paso Sico to Vulcan Lascar. Beautiful Scenery, but you would miss Piedras Rojas for which you have to come back or turn around at this point.

The route from Uyuni to Oruro and La Paz isn't that exciting but really good asphalt. One corrupt police station on the way, don't pay if he asks you for toll, only at the toll houses...
If you ride over Potosi the scenery is more exciting.


Best wishes

UPDATE:

Bought the motorcycles 2 weeks ago, we are still in paraguay waiting for the cedula verde.