Brazil, Iguassu & Buenos Aires: 3 Countries - 1 Grand Journey

Rio hits you immediately and comprehensively. The full day tour combines the city's two greatest icons: Corcovado — where the rack railway climbs through the Tijuca Forest to the summit and Christ the Redeemer stands with arms open over the whole extraordinary panorama — and Sugar Loaf, reached by cable car for sunset views over Copacabana and the bay. In between: the Maracanã stadium, the Sambódromo and a lunch at a typical Brazilian churrascaria. That evening, the boteco crawl: a food and bar tour through the city's most characterful neighbourhood pubs, with local craft beer, caipirinhas and petiscos until the small hours.

A two-and-a-half hour drive and a boat crossing delivers you to Ilha Grande — a car-free island of virgin Atlantic rainforest and some of the most beautiful beaches in Brazil. The island spent most of its history as a pirate lair, then a leper colony, then a prison — and that unusual history is exactly why it remains so pristine. Days are spent swimming at Lopes Mendes (repeatedly voted Brazil's most beautiful beach) and exploring the trails. From Ilha Grande, a short transfer brings you to Paraty — a perfectly preserved 18th-century colonial town of whitewashed churches, cobblestone streets and mangrove-fringed bay. The kayak tour through the mangroves and out to offshore islands is extraordinary.

The flight to Foz do Iguaçu is the pivot point of the journey — the moment South America stops being beautiful and becomes overwhelming. Half a day on the Brazilian side for the panoramic perspective: the full horseshoe of 275 cascades visible from a single viewing platform, the spray catching the light in permanent rainbows. The afternoon on the Argentinian side for the immersive version: catwalks extending over the falls themselves, the roar of the Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat) — the largest single drop — louder than anything you have heard before or will again. Between the two perspectives you experience something so complete it's difficult to talk about sensibly.

Buenos Aires is the final chapter and earns its place as one of the great capitals of the world. The Power & Aristocracy walking tour through Recoleta reveals the extraordinary cemetery where Eva Perón is buried, among the mausoleums of Argentina's most powerful families. La Boca — tango, football and the coloured tin houses of the Caminito — tells the immigrant story of the city. The tango experience at a milonga (an authentic tango salon) goes far beyond performance: a lesson, then dancing among locals for whom this is Tuesday night. The farewell is the gaucho farm tour at Estancia El Ombú de Areco — asado, horsemanship, and the particular sadness of understanding this is your last day.