Few places on Earth capture the imagination like the Amazon. Towering trees, slow-moving rivers, howling monkeys, brilliant birds—it’s everything you envision and much, much more. One-third of the world’s species and one-fifth of its forests are found here.1
But travel to the Amazon isn’t only about wildlife and natural beauty—and it’s not all one unbroken landscape. The Amazon basin is home to more than 350 indigenous groups. It includes some large cities, such as Manaus, Brazil; Iquitos, Peru; and Leticia, Colombia. And it’s not all an unbroken stretch of rainforest, either. There are rivers, lakes, savannas and floodplain forests, all of which change dramatically from the dry season to the rainy season.
Whether you’re looking for a luxury Amazon River cruise or a remote ecolodge, we’ll offer some recommendations in our guide to Amazon rainforest travel.
3 reasons to buy travel insurance for South America (and specifically the Amazon)
- Insurance can cover emergency medical evacuations. The more remote your destination, the higher the costs of a medical evacuation. If you become seriously ill or injured on your trip to the Amazon, it could potentially cost more than $100,000 to transport you to the nearest high-quality hospital. Your regular health insurance plan probably won’t cover this—but travel insurance can. Emergency transportation benefits can cover the cost of a medically necessary evacuation for a covered illness or injury plus your repatriation home, up to the limits in your plan.
- Insurance can cover last-minute cancellations. If you’re thinking about an Amazon River cruise, you should know that cruise companies typically have very strict refund policies. If you need to cancel your cruise, you’ll only get back part of what you spent—or nothing at all, if it’s too close to your departure date. What if you miss the cruise for a reason out of your control, such as a storm that delays your arrival in Iquitos? Your Amazon cruise won’t wait for you—and the company won’t give you a refund, either.2 That’s why travel insurance with trip cancellation/trip interruption benefits is essential. It can reimburse your nonrefundable, prepaid trip costs if you must cancel or interrupt your trip for a covered reason (up to the limit specified in your plan). For extra peace of mind, upgrade to Cancel Anytime and get 80% of your prepaid cost reimbursed when you cancel for almost any reason not listed in your plan.
- Insurance can help you manage common travel mishaps. A lost bag. A misplaced passport. An unexpected delay. A forgotten prescription. These things happen when you’re traveling. And when you’re in a remote part of South America, how do you solve them? Contact us! Get help by calling 24-hour assistance or using the Allyz® app—your ultimate travel companion.
3 of the best travel insurance plans for Amazon rainforest travel
- OneTrip Prime is our most popular protection for international trips. It includes all the essential benefits you need for your Amazon journey: emergency medical benefits, trip cancellation and interruption, travel delay, baggage protection and more. Traveling with the family? Kids 17 and under are covered for free when they’re traveling with a parent or grandparent. (Free coverage for children is not available on policies issued to Pennsylvania residents.)
- OneTrip Premier doubles nearly all the post-departure benefit limits of OneTrip Prime, with up to $1 million in emergency medical transportation. That way, you can travel to the remotest parts of the Amazon with confidence. Both OneTrip Prime and OneTrip Premier include SmartBenefits: You can receive a fixed inconvenience payment of $100 per insured person, per day, for covered travel delays and baggage delays—no receipts required.
- AllTrips Premier is ideal for world travelers, with automatic protection for every trip you take in 365 days. Four tiers of trip cancellation/interruption coverage are available, up to $15,000 per policy, per year. Plus, rental car protection up to $45,000 is included (not available to residents of KS, TX, and NY).
Find your plan and get a quote.
3 of the best Amazon rainforest destinations
Despite decades of deforestation, the Amazon remains incredibly vast. The Amazon basin is about the same size as the continental United States and includes parts of nine countries: Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, French Guiana, Guyana, and Suriname. In this huge area, how do you know where to go? Here are three popular destinations.
- Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve: Peru’s largest natural protected area is a vast expanse of flooded forests and distinctive oxbow lakes. That’s sometimes called “the jungle of mirrors.” Begin your journey in Iquitos, the world’s largest city that can’t be reached by road, for access to the northern part of the Peruvian Amazon.
- Manu National Park: A UNESCO World Heritage Site, this 4-million-acre park encompasses the area where the foothills of the Andes and the Amazon basin meet in southern Peru. It’s home to indigenous residents as well as spectacular wildlife like jaguars, pumas, giant otters and harpy eagles.
- Jaú National Park: Reached by a river cruise from Manaus, Brazil, this park is the world’s largest protected rainforest. In the water, you may see manatees, pink river dolphins, giant otters, and several species of caimans. Look up to the canopy to see rare primates, such as the white-bellied spider monkey and the golden-backed black uakari.
3 of the best Amazon River cruises
- Pure Amazon: This luxury Amazon cruise from Abercrombie & Kent offers three-, four- and seven-night itineraries in the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve. With 12 gorgeously decorated cabins and one staff member for every guest, you can expect five-star service. Take guided wildlife-viewing excursions on a small skiff, hike through the rainforest (weather permitting), fish, kayak, and visit local villages.
- Delfin Amazon Cruises: A Peruvian-owned luxury cruise line from high-end hotelier Relais & Chateaux, Delfin operates three small ships in Pacaya-Samiria. The four-suite Delfin I has just four suites for an intimate experience; the 14-suite Delfin II hosts Lindblad Expeditions – National Geographic’s seven-night Amazon cruise; and the largest ship, the Delfin III, has 22 suites— including the 600-square-foot Owner’s Suite with soaking tub and panoramic windows.
- Amazon Clipper Cruises: What if the luxury yacht experience is a bit out of reach? A popular budget-priced Amazon cruise line, Amazon Clipper offers weekly departures from Manaus, Brazil. Small boats offer basic but comfortable accommodations: air-conditioned cabins with bunkbeds and private bathrooms. Premium sailings have larger, hotel-like cabins with hot-water showers. One highlight is seeing the “Meeting of the Waters,” the place where the light-colored Amazon and the darker Rio Negro flow side-by-side without mixing.
3 of the best Amazon rainforest lodges
One of the best luxury lodges in the Amazon is Anavilhanas Lodge, on the banks of the Rio Negro in Brazil. Book a cottage, bungalow, villa, or glass-walled suite and enjoy a thoughtful itinerary that invites you to experience nature to the fullest. Take a boat ride through the Anavilhanas National Park, search for sloths and pink and gray dolphins, cool off in the pool, hike to the Madadá Caves, and stargaze at night. As a bonus, mosquitoes are nearly non-existent here thanks to the river’s acidic pH.
For a true adventure, stay at the most remote lodge in the Amazon rainforest: the Tambopata Research Center in Peru. Tambopata is one of the world’s most biodiverse areas, with more than 1,000 species of butterflies and 600 species of birds, plus monkeys, caiman, and even jaguar. View wildlife from elevated walkways or at two nearby clay licks, where macaws and other wildlife come to consume minerals from exposed clay. The research center has comfortable accommodations and delicious food, but don’t expect hotel-like amenities and luxury.
The Chalalán Ecolodge in Bolivia’s Madidi National Park is an Amazon lodge owned by local indigenous people. There, you can stay in traditional tacana cabins, paddle around Lake Chalalán, fish for piranhas, learn about the local Uchupiamonas community, and go on guided walks searching for tapir, capybaras, monkeys and more.
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