A long Andean highway and a remote forested route further west anchor South America's van travel scene, both covering genuinely vast, sparsely populated Patagonian terrain that rewards travellers prepared for serious distance and limited services.
The destinations on this list range from long steppe highways covering huge distances between towns to remote forested mountain routes that demand real self-sufficiency and careful fuel planning. Both reward travellers willing to cover serious ground.
Planning fuel stops carefully on both routes matters enormously, where towns and petrol stations can be separated by hundreds of kilometres of genuinely empty road. Most routes require at least three weeks to complete properly. Packing warm, waterproof layers also matters considerably given the unpredictable southern weather. Most stretches see little traffic outside peak season.
