Timeline working backwards from a destination
 

Say, I have 28 days of holiday a year. I can stretch that to 31-33 total days off by being clever with weekends and national holidays.

Say, I want to ride to Ushuaia. Where do I start, that's convenient and will work with my time budget? Santiago? Lima?

What if I have 45 days instead? What if I have 90 days?
What about other popular adventure destinations?

Can we build up a table to match people's time budgets to viable adventure routes? :)

Where are you starting from? Do you want to race like a bat out of hell or see anything along the way? What type of bike do you have, will you riding alone, what are your ideas about bad weather, earthquakes, roads washed out? I went from New Orleans to Bolivia, ran into a lot of unexpected "experiences", took me longer than 28 days. Had a lot of fun along the way.:-)

Easy enough for you to figure out. Make a good guess as to how many miles you want to ride per day. 100? 200? 300? more?? Then multiple by the number of days you want to spend riding. You'll get a good mileage total. Divide by two if you are returning to your starting point to get rid of the bike and fly home.

I would suggest that on average if you ride 200 miles per day, times about 25 days, that's roughly 5000 miles. If you were riding south to Ushuaia, start from a northern point that is 2500 miles or closer. Google Maps says the road distance from Santiago to Ushuaia is about 2100-2200 miles each way, so it sounds doable to me if you ride pretty much 200 miles every day for the duration.

That's the point of the exercise. I have a target that I want to accomplish; tell me where to start. :) Assume I'm starting from somewhere that would require me to fly out, anyway.

The former. If I wanted to know the absolute minimum viable time, I'd look at Google Maps and divide by 500km a day.

Something specific to local conditions. In the example of Ushuaia, assume I'm buying a Chinese dirtbike or an old ADV/enduro off another traveller. (Being in a big enough city to pull that off is part of the puzzle.) If the question is about Europe, something old and cheap and plentiful like a V-Strom. Etc.

For sake of simplicity, assume yes; stop when I want, go when I want, don't have to wait on anyone.

In my personal case? I come from a wet country, where the occasional drenching is the cost of doing business. I know the value of layers and rainsuits. Washed out roads and the impact of foreseeable disasters is, again, part of the question. I.e. "Santiago to Ushuaia is 3342 kilometers, at two weeks that's under 240 km a day". In Europe that's a very laid back average - you could do Skagen to Faro in three days if you really put your mind to it. In Vietnam that's caning it as hard as you can.

So I suppose, let's start with the minimum realistic time, and try to draw up how much time you'd need to add for probable obstacles, worthy detours, etc.

S. America is a big place, hard to see it all on one trip. Even just the Southern
regions are huge. I would do it in sections, on separate trips.

One thing that could use up your time is getting a bike legal to cross borders.
Even if you buy new from a dealer there, it can take TIME to get the paperwork. See Toby in Peru' to get a bike quick and on the road.

In some cases this means you can't cross a border until you get proper paperwork.

If you buy a used bike from a fellow traveler ... you have to figure a way to get that bike into your name and deal with the TVIP as well.

There are "ways" to do this ... not all strictly legal. Depending on how that goes ... that too can take time.

In any case, my advice would be to plan on doing several trips to the area. Leave the bike each time in a secure location, then return in a year or so and continue on.

Once you get the bike in your name and paper work sorted, this will really streamline things and you will get more riding time in your short 30 day window.

Contact folks in the various HUBB communities down there, try to find a place to store your bike until your return.

I did this in France, stored my Triumph for 3 years, did two 6 week long trips, then rode back to UK and sold off that Triumph. Worked out really well for me.
bier

That's the question. To do a 30-day section ending in Ushuaia, where would that section have to start?

I was last there a million years ago but based on my time ... and memories...
I think I would start in Chile. Far Southern Chile is quite beautiful and crossing back and forth to Argentina and back is a hoot. Lots to explore. Don't miss Torres del Paine (I did!), spectacular.

I've only seen a fraction of it ... but flew around there a bit with Argentine Air force and took a boat that used to run from Punta Arenas to Puerto Mont.
It took 5 days and stopped twice, one stop was Isla Chiloe. We stuck mainly to the inland Fiords. Beautiful. Cost $30 in 1975! :Beach:

You can hit a few towns on the way South, work your way to Punta Arenas then over to Ushuaia. Punta Arenas used to be a dump ... now? No idea. Ushuaia used to be small and quaint ... I hear those days are now gone. Touristy and expensive.

I would try to find an interesting (and different) route BACK to Santiago or possibly to Argentina around Bariloche ... or where I lived ... San Martin de Los Andes. (beautiful area)

If you have more time you could head North East over toward Mendoza in Argentina. (beautiful Wine country)

The Southern Atlantic coast of Argentina is not my fav. Pacific coast of Chile is great, Peruvian coast not so interesting and fairly bleak once North of Lima. Atacama on your right, Ocean on your left! (I rode it to Ecuador)

Best time of year (IMHO) (based on 4 visits over 3 years) and time spent in Ushuaia, is November through February. Less wind then. When the wind blows, hunker down cause it's a bitch.
Good luck, good planning!

My 2 cents would be to start in Santiago. It sounds like your plan is to buy a bike rather than ship your own. Santiago offers a decent chance of getting a foreign plated bike.

The ride from Santiago to Ushuaia can be done in 14 days or quicker if you really push the riding days. However, you could easily spend the 30 days exploring and enjoying Patagonia instead of rushing thru everything.