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Stories about South America

22 stories from our editors. Filter by part of the world, or page back in time.

Ten responsible places to watch for whales from shore

Newest story

Ten responsible places to watch for whales from shore

These ten coasts put people on paths, platforms, dunes and cliff tops while whales follow their own routes offshore. Pick the right season, stay on land and accept the essential uncertainty: even in peak months, the sea may hold no whale in view.

Mara 13 September 2026 6 min read

Five South American beaches, ranked beyond the postcard

South America · Uruguay · Chile

Five South American beaches, ranked beyond the postcard

Red rock, ancestral monuments, city apartments, Caribbean forest and volcanic cliffs define these five very different shores. This ranking weighs landscape, local setting, nature value, the kind of visit each beach suits and a deliberate spread across South America; it makes no absolute claim about the continent’s “best” beaches.

13 Sep 2026 6 min read

The 10 Cities Best Understood from the Water

Europe · Venice · Rio de Janeiro

The 10 Cities Best Understood from the Water

A fine skyline is not enough. In these ten cities, a ferry or small boat reveals how trade, terrain, buildings and daily travel grew around a river, canal or bay.

13 Sep 2026 7 min read

Ten trading cities where the old streets still work

Europe · South America · Venice

Ten trading cities where the old streets still work

At Venice’s Rialto market, fishers and wholesalers still sell the morning catch beside open-air fruit and vegetable stalls. Across ten old trading cities, quays, lanes, workshops and fortifications still show how goods once moved and how people use these places now.

4 Sep 2026 6 min read

Ten Squares That Change After Dark

Europe · Plaça Reial · Piazza Santo Spirito

Ten Squares That Change After Dark

At sunset, restaurant stalls fill Jemaa el-Fna and listeners close around storytellers who adjust each performance to the crowd. Elsewhere, evening brings aperitivo tables, commuter tides, street food, ceremonies and concert audiences to public ground.

4 Sep 2026 6 min read

Eight mineral landscapes shaped by salt, iron and hot water

South America · Europe · Middle East

Eight mineral landscapes shaped by salt, iron and hot water

On Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, a hard white crust runs towards an empty horizon. Elsewhere, iron colours whole mountains red, hot springs build terraces, and Roman miners have left cliffs behind.

4 Sep 2026 6 min read

Ten dark-sky landscapes, ranked from moorland to mountain basin

Wadi Rum · La Palma · Atacama

Ten dark-sky landscapes, ranked from moorland to mountain basin

Pink sand runs below Wadi Rum’s sandstone walls, while telescope domes stand on La Palma’s volcanic crest. This ranking places New Zealand’s glacial Mackenzie Basin first, where a wide alpine floor gives the night sky a large, uncluttered frame.

4 Sep 2026 7 min read

Eight deltas shaped by water and work

Europe · Asia · North America

Eight deltas shaped by water and work

From Botswana’s inland floodplains to Argentina’s tidal islands, eight deltas show rivers at work in very different ways: feeding fields, carrying boats, building marshes and supporting communities at the water’s edge.

4 Sep 2026 5 min read

The world’s 10 best accessible waterfalls, ranked

Europe · North America · Rhine Falls

The world’s 10 best accessible waterfalls, ranked

A great waterfall needs more than height or brute force. It needs a public route that lets people grasp its scale, whether from the bank, a platform, behind the water or across a gorge. This ranking weighs practical access alongside the force of the river and the landscape around it.

4 Sep 2026 7 min read

Eight cultivated landscapes, from Douro vines to Kericho tea

Europe · Asia · Central America

Eight cultivated landscapes, from Douro vines to Kericho tea

A dry-stone wall in Portugal holds vines to a schist slope. On Bali, water runs from mountain channels through temples and down a chain of rice fields. Below the Andes, old irrigation ditches carry meltwater to Malbec vines. These eight regions show farming not as a backdrop but in the walls, canals, food and daily work that give each landscape its form.

4 Sep 2026 5 min read

Eight archipelagos where the boat still matters

South America · Ecuador · Azores

Eight archipelagos where the boat still matters

A ferry from Bodø reaches Lofoten beneath granite ridges that rise almost straight from the Norwegian Sea. Across these eight archipelagos, ferries, island flights, small launches and expedition ships make arrival part of the place.

4 Sep 2026 6 min read

The world’s 10 most remarkable deserts, ranked

Asia · Thar Desert · Gobi, Mongolia

The world’s 10 most remarkable deserts, ranked

In Egypt’s White Desert, wind-blown sand has carved snow-white chalk into mushrooms, cones and solitary towers. This deliberately subjective ranking weighs access alongside landscape and distinctive character, so a spectacular place can fall when reaching it requires a serious expedition.

4 Sep 2026 7 min read