11 Most Expensive Cities to Visit in South America in 2015

If you’re planning a trip to South America soon, you’d be advised to take a closer look at our list of 11 most expensive cities to visit in South America in 2015. If you are thinking – 2016 is on the corner, aren’t information for 2015 a bit old? – you should know that 2016 data naturally won’t be available for quite some time. Furthermore, things won’t change dramatically in a matter of few days – at least not across the entire continent. Some countries like Venezuela, for instance are economically unstable and prices there change day in, day out. In addition, complex currency and inflation situation makes Venezuelan cities hard to rate. This is the reason why we’ll exclude Caracas and co. from our list. Know, however, that Caracas would have made the list, even if its rankings would have been quite different depending on chosen official rates. In fact, Caracas and rest of larger Venezuelan cities might just be some of most expensive places in the world for expats.

Compared to rest of the world, South America is generally considered more affordable – at least to some extent. Speaking of rest of the world, here’s a list of 20 most expensive cities to live in the world in 2015. Living in a city and visiting it are quite different things, though. While both groups of people share similar expenses in most categories, those that live in a city have to pay rents and taxes too, which tend to be game changers. If you’re only visiting one of countless South American cities, you probably won’t have to worry about that, but most likely will have to worry about hotel prices and, of course, other necessary commodities such as food.

For the purpose of this article, we have pulled the data from Mercer’s annual cost of living report for cities around the globe. While they tend to offer very precise ratings, Mercer only rates around 200 cities globally which is way too low a sample for us to use. Considering that only 10 or so South American cities in total have appeared in Mercer’s 2015 report, it’s clear why we’ve had to resort to other means. Instead of only naming cities from Mercer’s report, we have decided to combine it with Numbeo in order to fill the gaps. While La Paz in Bolivia, for instance rates 195th in the world judging by Mercer’s report (would have made the list), it’s inaccurate to expect that only Buenos Aires (rates 19th) is more expensive than La Paz, if we take Argentina into consideration. This is only an example of why we have used Numbeo as our secondary, but the equally important source. Here’s our list of 11 most expensive cities to visit in South America in 2015 judging by both Mercer and Numbeo data.

11. Lima (Peru)

Peruvian capital takes a high spot among the most expensive South American cities. According to Mercer, it’s now 122^nd city by expensiveness of those 200 and some that were rated, and it moved there from 135^th spot in 2014. Numbeo suggests that Limean CPI, groceries and restaurant indexes average a total of 47.44 which means that The City of the Kings is much more affordable than New York, which has a base index of 100.

10. Porto Alegre (Brazil)

This Brazilian southern jewel boasts much different culture than rest of the country, but it doesn’t manage to avoid high prices that Most of the Brazilian cities exhibit. Porto Alegre wasn’t rated by Mercer, but Numbeo suggests consumer price index, groceries and restaurants mean index of 47.57 – slightly larger than that of Lima.

9. Florianopolis (Brazil)

Another one of Brazil’s southern cities, Florianopolis has just a tad bit larger index of prices according to Numbeo. 47.73 is the number that makes capital of Santa Catarina province rank as high as ninth most expensive city in South America. Needless to say, Florianopolis wasn’t rated in Mercer’s 2015 cost of living report.

8. Fortaleza (Brazil)

The capital of the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceara – Fortaleza continues this pattern of Brazilian cities with similar overall prices. CPI, groceries and restaurants overall index amounts to 47.94 which is another slight increase over the predecessor on the list.

7. Santiago (Chile)

Santiago de Chile has an overall Numbeo price index of 49.9, making it twice as affordable compared to New York. It is still, however, one of the 11 most expensive cities to visit in South America in 2015, and Mercer ranks it 70^th in the world. Compared to 88^th position in 2014, Santiago has become a tad bit more expensive. It remains to be seen whether the trend will continue or get reversed?

6. Campinas (Brazil)

Just a tad bit north – north-west of Sao Paulo – largest Brazilian city, Campinas features a mean CPI, groceries and restaurant index of 50.43 according to Numbeo. It hasn’t been rated in Mercer’s report, though, but being close to Sao Paulo, it’s easy to figure out why it’s slightly more expensive than previous Brazilian cities from the list.

5. Brasilia (Brazil)

Brazilian capital and one of the most modern cities in the world is rated 150^th in the world by Mercer for the year 2015. It dropped in ratings slightly from 2014 when it was 144^th. Numbeo, on the other hand, rates it with overall consumer price index, groceries and restaurant mean index of 52.3.

4. Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

One of world’s best known and most prolific cities simply has to make an appearance in 11 most expensive cities to visit in South America in 2015 list. Numbeo’s index of 53.25 is just slightly larger than that of Brasilia, but Mercer’s report puts Rio on 67^th spot in the world by expensiveness. It hasn’t moved much since 2014 when it was positioned in 65^th spot.

3. Sao Paulo (Brazil)

Slowly but steadily, we have come to the largest Brazilian and South American city. Sao Paulo is 40^th in the world by expensiveness according to Mercer’s 2015 cost of living report. It used to be 49^th a year before, and its combined CPI, groceries and restaurant index amounts to 55.14, according to Numbeo’s 2015 report.

2. Montevideo (Uruguay)

Mercer puts the city on the left side of La Plata’s estuary in 83^rd position by expensiveness globally, and it rose there from 114^th spot in 2014. Numbeo, however, shows that combined consumer price index, groceries index and restaurant index soars as high as 63.53 – much more than previous candidates from the list.

1. Buenos Aires (Argentina)

You don’t have to go far from Montevideo in order to get to the most expensive South American city. Buenos Aires is just across the estuary, on River Plate’s right bank or coast if you will. Argentinian capital has risen to 19^th spot in Mercer’s global ratings which is a huge jump from 2014’s 86^th spot. No matter how you turn the page, Numbeo too, rates Buenos Aires first overall on our list of 11 most expensive cities to visit in South America in 2015. Combined indexes amount to 71.87 which is by far the largest figure on the list. Reason for such a high rise in rankings are hefty increases in prices of goods and services. Thanks to that turn of events, Buenos Aires is now more expensive than the likes of Dubai, Copenhagen, Sydney, Los Angeles and Oslo, for instance. Nice company to keep; wouldn’t you agree?