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Whether you’re a nature lover looking for an otherworldly landscape, or just have a soft spot for freshly baked street arepas, Latin America is probably on your radar right now. The question is: where should that go? both accessible and safe for American tourists?
As much as we love LatAm – as you may already know if you’re a loyal Travel Off Path reader – we can’t ignore the fact that not the entire continent is exactly tourist friendly.
Listen, we are not the ones spreading fear and portraying an entire group of countries as a no-go zone. Of course, nuance is needed here, and even in places like Brazil or Colombia there are relatively safe zones.
That said, in generalsome countries are doing better than others. Perhaps not surprisingly, two of the safest countries in Latin America are now also two of the fastest growing destinations in the world…and no, Argentina is nowhere to be seen here:
El Salvador
El Salvador is officially the third best performer in UN Tourism’s latest report, with a 43% year-on-year increase in visitor numbers. Part of it has to do with the small Central American country’s mountain-crossed, volcanic nature, black-sand beaches and vibrant city breaks.
And then, one enormous some of the renewed interest can be attributed to El Salvador’s impressive level of urban security. At least now.
Previously one of the most dangerous countries in the world, with a staggeringly high murder rate, El Salvador has gone from the gang hotspot of America to the Switzerland of the Western Hemisphere in just a few years.
Love him or hate him, you can thank the incumbent president Nayib Bukele for that.
Since coming to power in 2022, he has effectively arrested more than 90,000 gang members, with two of the country’s leading gangs, MS-13 and Barrio 18, losing much of their street presence in the meantime, not to mention extensive police patrols in previously crime-plagued neighborhoods.
San Salvador went from a place you wouldn’t wander around at night, even if accompanied, to a safer capital than many Western European cities. Don’t believe us? Just look at what they say on the Traveler Safety Index, where El Salvador scores impressive 91 out of 100:
If you look only at violent crime and homicides, which are the top concerns for Americans visiting LatAm, El Salvador is in a much better position than it was a decade ago. or even 5 years ago:
- 2015: about 106 murders per 100,000 people (one of the highest in the world)
- 2024: 1.9 per 100,000
- 2025: 1.3 per 100,000 (the lowest ever recorded in the country)
For tourists and residents alike, this has meant a much lower risk of random violence on the streets, fewer armed robberies in many areas, and finally the ability to travel virtually freely throughout El Salvador without having to worry about restricted zones.
Such is the case with El Salvador. It may not be the same elsewhere in Latin America.
If you are going to the region this year, be sure to check the Travel Advisory that applies to your destination on the Travel Advisory Checker. including embassy warnings and city-specific advice.
Paraguay
Curiously, the fastest growing destination in the world is the landlocked, offbeat Latin country of Paraguay, sandwiched between the tourism powerhouses of Argentina and Brazil.
We might not consider Paraguay a ‘bucket list’ destination like other countries in the area, but it has its own unique strengths that often go unrecognized. To start, you won’t encounter huge crowds or high prices here as in neighboring Brazil.
Hotels, food and transport are generally cheaper, with every $100 you spend here going much further than elsewhere. In short, it’s great if you’re traveling on a budget.
Furthermore, the nature is incredible on Brazil’s level, only much less spread out and easier to access: the Pantanal, shared with Brazil itself and Bolivia, is an excellent place for wildlife viewing, while El Chaco is a vast dry forest, home to jaguars, giant anteaters and literally hundreds of bird species.
Last but certainly not least: the history here soooo underestimated: the ruins of the Jesuit mission are a UNESCO World Heritage Siteand perhaps one of the most beautiful colonial sites south of the equator line.
In terms of security, Paraguay is a very different story from El Salvador, although the outcomes are quite similar.
It is also at level 1 of the American travel advisory, which means that it is not just Americans not discouraged from visiting, but they can still observe normal precautions. That is the same classification that traditionally safe countries such as Switzerland and Iceland use.
Unlike El Salvador, Paraguay does always was one of the safer countries in Latin America.
- There have never been big gangs like MS-13
- Drug trafficking exists, but gangs do not control entire neighborhoods or extort ordinary people on the scale seen elsewhere on the continent.
- The low population density helps: there are about 7 million people spread over 157,048 square kilometers, and any violent crimes that do occur are often confined to major urban centers
- Violence is concentrated and often exclusively linked to drug trafficking, organized crime or border regions
Here’s how safe travelers currently feel in Paraguay, according to the Traveler Safety Index: a respectable score of 84 out of 100, thank you very much.
Last year, Paraguay’s murder rate had dropped to about 6.1 per 100,000, obviously slightly higher than in El Salvador, but still much lower than the Latin American averageespecially places like Colombia (25.8/100,000) and Brazil (16.0/100,000).
To translate these figures, the average tourist is much less likely to encounter this in Paraguay, in countries where gangs run amok.
The most common problems in Paraguay are:
- Pickpocketing
- Phone theft
- Minor scams (rather than violent crime)
The biggest risk areas are… you guessed it, limited to the border with Brazil, and to a lesser extent fellow countryman Bolivia.
You may want to avoid places like Ciudad del Este unless you’re really keen to bargain for cheap perfume imports from the Middle East, and Pedro Juan Caballero.
I don’t know, man, there’s something about cities with three names that just smacks of trouble.
