Best museum destinations in South America
Best museum destinations in South America
Pre-Columbian gold artifact collections and fine art galleries in South America
South America's best known museums lean heavily toward art and pre Columbian history, with a handful of standouts spread across the continent's major cities.
Sao Paulo's MASP is instantly recognizable for its architecture alone, a glass and red concrete building raised on giant support beams, and holds one of the most important art collections in Latin America. Bogota's Museo del Oro houses one of the largest collections of pre Columbian gold artifacts in the world, drawing visitors specifically for the scale and craftsmanship of the pieces. Buenos Aires adds MALBA, a well regarded museum focused on twentieth century Latin American art in a striking modern building of its own. Lima's Museo Larco takes a different approach, set inside a colonial era building surrounded by gardens and known for its extensive pre Columbian ceramics collection.
Most of these museums are easy to reach within their respective city centers and pair well with a half day of walking nearby.
Lists by region
City in Brazil
São Paulo
A vibrant mix of culture and cuisine
Assis Chateaubriand and Pietro Maria Bardi founded the São Paulo Museum of Art in 1947. Lina Bo Bardi designed its building on Paulista Avenue. It was inaugurated in 1968. The building has a 74 metre span between its supporting pillars. That was the largest free span in the world at the time.
City in Brazil
Curitiba
Green City of Urban Innovation
The museum opened in 2002 as the Novo Museu and took its current name on 8 July 2003. Oscar Niemeyer finished the project at age 95. It is also called the Eye Museum for its eye like design. The two building complex covers 35,000 square metres. It focuses on visual arts, architecture and design.
City in Chile
Santiago
A vibrant city between mountains
The National Museum of Fine Arts was founded on 18 September 1880. It is the oldest museum of its kind in South America. Its building, the Palacio de Bellas Artes, opened on 21 September 1910. It stands in Parque Forestal. Two other museums here cover Pre-Columbian art and human rights.
City in Peru
Lima
Historic Charm Meets Coastal Vibes
The vice royal building holding the Larco Museum is older than Peru's independence in 1821. The museum opened on 28 July 1926, which is Independence Day. Its Cultures Gallery covers 10,000 years of history. The gallery of erotic ceramics is described as the largest in the world.
City in Peru
Cusco
Gateway to the Incan Empire's Heart
Spanish builders in Cusco often set their churches on Inca foundations. At Qorikancha, the Church and Convent of Santo Domingo is built on the walls of the Inca sun temple. The temple was dedicated to the sun god Inti. Its walls were once covered in gold sheets. An underground museum holds mummies, textiles and idols.
Museum in Santiago
Museum of Precolombian Art
Ancient Americas' Artistic Treasures
The Royal Customs House, built from 1805 to 1807, holds more than 3,000 pieces. They come from almost 100 groups of people. The collection spans about 10,000 years. It covers Mesoamerica, the Caribbean, Amazonia and the Andes. Sergio Larraín García-Moreno, an architect and collector, founded the museum in 1981.
City in Colombia
Bogotá
Vibrant Culture in the Andean Highlands
The Gold Museum faces Parque Santander in the city centre. It holds about 55,000 objects with about 6,000 on display. A Muisca raft found in Pasca in 1969 is linked to the El Dorado myth. The Botero Museum in La Candelaria opened in 2000 with 123 works by Botero and 85 by other artists.
Museum in Santiago
Museum of Memory & Human Rights
Reflection on Chile's Past
President Michelle Bachelet opened the museum on 11 January 2010, two months before her term ended. It covers the Pinochet dictatorship from 1973 to 1990. A design by Brazilian architects from São Paulo won a public competition. Exhibits include letters from prisoners to their families, newspaper clippings and survivor testimony.
Art Museum in Buenos Aires
Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires
Dynamic showcase of Latin art
Bold colour runs through two famous works in the collection. Frida Kahlo's 1942 self portrait with a monkey and a parrot was bought in 1995. Tarsila do Amaral's Abaporu from 1928 was bought the same year. Eduardo Costantini founded the museum, which opened in 2001. It stands on Figueroa Alcorta Avenue in Palermo.
Other lists you may like
Discover
Best museum destinations in Africa
Africa's museum offer spans an extraordinary chronological range, from the ancient civilisation collections of north Africa and the ethnographic institutions of the colonial era to…
Read more
Discover
Best museum destinations in Asia
Asia's museum offer encompasses one of the world's most diverse ranges of cultural traditions, artistic languages and historical periods, with institutions across the continent…
Read more
Discover
Best museum destinations in Europe
Europe holds the world's greatest concentration of significant museum collections, accumulated over centuries of patronage, scientific inquiry and in many cases imperial…
Read more
Discover
Best museum destinations in North America
North America's museum offer is anchored by some of the world's most significant permanent collections, built during periods of concentrated private philanthropy and institutional…
Read more
Discover
Best museum destinations in Oceania
Oceania's museum offer is shaped by the extraordinary depth of its indigenous cultural collections, with Australian and New Zealand institutions holding material that documents…
Read more
Discover
Top museum destinations and cultural institutions
Museum travel has developed a dedicated following built around the world's great permanent collections, blockbuster exhibition programmes and the architecturally significant…
Read more
What other users say about travelfilters
“travelfilters made it easy for me to find ski areas and compare what else they offer, so that I could find the best place for my personal travel style.”
Chris
Snowboarding & Onsen trip to Japan
“I love how transparent the data feels. There is no pushy upsell, just honest information and settings I can tune to my own travel style.”
Maria
After booking her 2027 winter escape
“The level of detail for each destination and how well those are displayed, make planning feel confident instead of overwhelming.”
Mina
Planned a week in New York City
“We used travelfilters for our planning from start to end. The trip turned out even better than expected, thanks to all their tools and customisation options.”
Allan & Etienne
Trip to Japan to see autumn foliage
“Thanks to travelfilters, I found some hidden gems to see. Being able to filter for exactly your interests is a game changer for my travel planning.”
Michael
Tour through the old cities of Northern Italy
“The customizable filters helped me find a quiet beach town with good wifi and low season crowds in under five minutes.”
Diego
Weekend Escape to Llanes, Spain
“The airport connection map saved me hours by showing good flight options from my home airport to lesser-known cities.”
Nguyen
Planning a 2027 trip to France
“The website is clean, fast and focused on the search itself, which makes travelfilters feel more like a professional tool than an ad-heavy booking site.”
Hassan
Christmas Market trip, Germany
