Condé Nast Traveler has released the South America edition of its 2026 Readers' Choice Awards, with tens of thousands of regular travellers voting on the hotels they'd happily fly back for. The result is a top-20 list that spans the continent, from tango-era grandeur in Buenos Aires to walled-city elegance in Cartagena.
What makes these rankings useful is that they're not critic-driven. Readers vote based on actual stays, so the list skews toward places that deliver on service, location and value rather than one-off design statements. The 2026 South America selection stretches across the continent's big hitters: Argentina's capital and Colombia's Caribbean coast are both firmly represented, alongside the usual suspects travellers shortlist for this region — think design-forward city hotels, colonial conversions and a scattering of remote lodges.
Buenos Aires entries tend to win on atmosphere and positioning: the city's best-rated hotels cluster around Recoleta and Palermo, putting steakhouses, cafés and nightlife within a short walk. Cartagena's top scorers, meanwhile, are mostly boutique properties inside the UNESCO-listed old town, where rooftop pools and plazas full of fruit sellers are part of the package. That mix — cosmopolitan city stays plus heritage conversions — is the through-line of the 2026 list.
For anyone planning a South America trip, the awards work best as a shortlist rather than a itinerary. Because voters span the whole continent, the list doubles as a rough map of where the region's hotel scene is strongest right now: Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay all regularly feature in these rankings. If you're booking a multi-stop trip, anchoring each city stop at a Readers' Choice property is a low-effort way to keep quality consistent.
The full top 20, with scores and booking details, is on the Condé Nast Traveler site — worth a skim before you lock in rates, since award-listed hotels often see a booking bump once the results land.
