Skipping the hassle of a US connection is easier than you might think. Direct routes from Europe to Latin America have multiplied, and the timing makes sense: UN Tourism figures show visitor numbers climbed 7% in South America and 5% in Central America in 2025, with Brazil surging 37% and Guyana 24%.
Madrid-Barajas is the star of the show. Iberia, Air Europa, LATAM and Plus Ultra all use the Spanish capital as their springboard, meaning it's the single best-connected European airport for the region. London, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Lisbon follow close behind, with the national carriers of each serving multiple South American capitals.
Brazil tops the arrivals table with 9.3 million international visitors in 2025, and São Paulo's Guarulhos airport is served from at least ten European cities — LATAM alone flies there from Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Paris, Amsterdam and London Heathrow, with BA, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, SWISS, TAP and Turkish Airlines all in the mix too. Rio de Janeiro also has direct options from Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Rome and London.
Colombia (6.2 million visitors) is next, with Avianca linking Bogotá to Madrid, Barcelona, Paris and Heathrow. Cartagena's UNESCO-listed walled city gets direct flights from Madrid, Rome, Milan, Amsterdam and Zurich. Chile and Argentina follow: Santiago is reachable from Madrid, Barcelona, Paris and London, while Buenos Aires welcomes Aerolíneas from Madrid and Rome plus Lufthansa, Air France, KLM and ITA. For Peru and Machu Picchu, fly Iberia, Air France or KLM into Lima.
Central America and the smaller South American countries have thinner but real coverage. Costa Rica's San José is served from six European cities including London and Zurich. Guatemala and Panama both have direct links from Madrid and beyond, and Air Europa is the only way to reach Paraguay nonstop. Bolivia's salt flats are reachable via Air Europa or the national carrier BoA from Madrid.
For the adventurous, the Guianas are the frontier. KLM flies from Amsterdam to Georgetown in Guyana (290,000 visitors last year) and Paramaribo in Suriname, while French Guiana — home to the ESA spaceport — is reached from Paris with Air France or Air Caraïbes. Just 70,000 tourists made it there in 2025.
A few planning pointers: use flightconnections.com to check which days of the week a route operates, since not all are daily, and to spot seasonal services. Iberia's stopover programme lets you break your journey in Madrid for up to 10 days at no extra cost in each direction. And do check your government's travel advisories — many currently warn against travel to Venezuela, with alerts also covering parts of Ecuador and Colombia.
For anyone who dreads transiting through Miami or Panama City with luggage in tow, this is genuinely good news: most of the region's headline destinations are now a single long-haul flight away.
