This vast continent is an extraordinary mixture of scenery: mountain ranges, river basins, rainforest and jungle, deserts and plains, with huge lakes, intricate coastlines and indigenous wildlife. Add a rich culture, both native and imported, and you have a destination you will never tire of.
South & Central America Expedition Cruises
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Our top picks
Celebrity Cruises
7 Night Galapagos Inner Loop Cruise
From Baltra to Baltra
5 Jul - 12 Jul 2026 (7 Nights)
From £5,750 per guest
HX Expeditions
Galápagos Islands - Nine of the Best Isles
From Lima (Callao) to Quito
7 Jul - 22 Jul 2026 (15 Nights)
From £8,053 per guest
National Geographic - Lindblad Expeditions
Galápagos Escape: A 7-Day Voyage
From Quito to Guayaquil
7 Jul - 11 Jul 2026 (4 Nights)
From £9,046 per guest
HX Expeditions
Galápagos Islands – Iconic Wildlife & Sublime Scenery | Western Route
From Lima (Callao) to Quito
7 Jul - 22 Jul 2026 (15 Nights)
From £5,295 per guest
Our Insight
Highlights of a Luxury South & Central America Expedition Cruise
South America's lively cities such as Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago de Chile and Lima are an extraordinary mix, with European and indigenous languages and influences reflected in the architecture, ruins, cuisine, music and people. Travel out from the cities to explore diverse scenery: national parks such as Tierra del Fuego in southern Chile, where subantarctic winds shape everything, Brazil's vast rainforests, Ecuador's volcanic highlands, Bolivia's salt flats stretching white to the horizon, or Iguazu Falls where water thunders across the Brazil-Argentina border.
Search out wildlife in the wetlands of the Pantanal, the Galapagos Islands where giant tortoises move slowly through volcanic landscapes, the Amazon basin where the air is thick with humidity and bird calls, or the fjords and channels of the Straits of Magellan. Learn about other cultures as you visit ruins at Machu Picchu, the pre-Colombian city of Chan Chan, or the gold museum of Bogota. Travel by train to Lake Titicaca and admire condors circling Colca Canyon.
Baja California and the Sea of Cortez offer extraordinary marine biodiversity, a World Heritage Site famously called 'The World's Aquarium' by Jacques Cousteau. Gray whales breach, sea lions bark from rocky outcrops and the desert coastline meets water so clear you can see manta rays gliding beneath the surface.
The mountainous lands of Central America offer a wealth of opportunities to explore, combining lush rainforests where howler monkeys call at dawn, cloud forests dripping with moisture, volcanic mountains, fertile valleys and Caribbean and Pacific coastlines. Journey through the Panama Canal, watching the locks lift your ship between oceans, or explore the aquamarine waters of the Caribbean, where adventurers can investigate marine life, beautiful bays and colonial history.
In Central America, explore Mayan ruins such as Xunantunich, Lamanai, Altun Ha and Tikal rising from the jungle canopy, or immerse yourself in Garifuna culture. Belize offers barrier reef snorkelling, including the famous Blue Hole and Calabash Caye, home to hawksbill sea turtles, crocodiles and Antillean manatees.
The Small Ship Difference in South & Central America
Small ship expedition cruises carry fewer guests, enabling closer interaction with the natural environment as you explore with Zodiacs, kayaks and skiffs in flooded forests, hidden coves and remote islands. Expert naturalists guide excursions, offering insights into wildlife, plants and local communities on everything from village visits and snorkelling with manta rays to spotting rare Amazonian species on nighttime wildlife walks, when the forest comes alive with sounds you never hear during the day.
Small Ship South & Central America Expedition Cruise Itineraries
- Amazon expedition cruises navigate the river and its tributaries over 4 to 7 days, slipping through narrow channels where pink river dolphins surface and caimans sun themselves on muddy banks.
- Costa Rica cruises tend to be a week and include hikes through cloud forests and kayaking among mangroves, national parks, rainforests and volcanoes, sometimes adding a transit of the Panama Canal.
- Sea of Cortez cruises start from La Paz, Cabo San Lucas or Loreto, with a focus on whale watching, the sound of a gray whale exhaling beside your Zodiac is something you do not forget, and opportunities to explore islands and beaches that are inaccessible to larger ships.
- Some cruise lines offer Patagonia expedition cruises that focus on the Brazilian coast, often voyaging down to explore Chile's mountain-framed fjords and Ushuaia, the gateway to Antarctica, where the wind is constant and the light never quite settles.
What Wildlife Can You Expect on a South & Central America Expedition Cruise?
Expect extraordinary biodiversity. Birdwatchers will delight in hundreds of species, with vibrant marine life for divers and snorkellers. In the Amazon rainforest spot jaguars moving silently through the undergrowth, sloths hanging motionless in the canopy, black spider monkeys and over 1,700 bird species including macaws whose calls echo across the water, toucans, jabiru storks and hoatzins. Costa Rica's cloud forests, volcanoes and rainforests host capuchins, spider monkeys, three-toed sloths, toucans, hummingbirds hovering at bright flowers, tapirs, coatimundis and over 600 butterfly species. Patagonia is home to wildlife including the Big Five of puma, guanaco, Andean condor soaring on thermals, huemul deer and Darwin's rhea, alongside whales breaching offshore, dolphins and penguin colonies stretching along rocky beaches, best seen in Torres del Paine and Peninsula Valdés.
At Mundy Adventures we love helping you plan the perfect itinerary to suit you.
collections
Highlights of South America
Galapagos
Visiting this isolated archipelago is like stepping into another world: the wildlife, both fearless and curious, either ignores you or finds you intriguing.
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Costa Rica, Panama Canal & Caribbean
Lush jungle, pristine silvery beaches, turquoise waters – exploring away from the crowds in Costa Rica and the Caribbean is like waking each morning in paradise.
Chilean Fjords & Patagonia
Patagonia, the southernmost tip of South America, is a land of contrasts: fire and ice, heat and dust, mountains and grasslands, glacial fjords and temperate rainforest.
Sea of Cortez expedition cruises
The Sea of Cortez, protected by the wilderness of Baja California, is a most exhilarating destination, a place that Jacques Cousteau called ‘the world's aquarium’, perfect for exploring on an expedition cruise.
Amazon River
More than a third of the world's animal species live in the rainforest of the Amazon’s vast river basin, along its extraordinary 4,000 mile trajectory.
