Lacking the aggressive tourism practices found in Rio de Janeiro, Petrópolis is delightfully free of pressure. Visitors here find a more wholesome and native Brazilian experience, whether it involves walking the same cobblestone streets that the Brazilian imperial family once did or gazing out at the Atlantic Rainforest from the top of a mountain.

Once a place travellers were advised to avoid, Colombia no longer suffers from the ill effects of powerful drug cartels at war with one another and the government. It is now a place attracting ever larger crowds, drawn in by its world-class natural and cultural attractions. Here are just two of them, as well as the kind of community-conscious tour operator that will help you make the most of your stay.

The Travel Word caught up with Nicholas Stanziano to talk about Peru, travel in Peru and SA Luxury Expeditions reviews of how tourism can support the burgeoning middle classes in urban Peru.

Set in an Andean mountain valley, the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, is headquarters of a unique organisation known as the Bolivian Network of Community and Solidarity Based Tourism (the Spanish acronym is Tusoco). A product of grassroots peasant and indigenous community organisations, Tusoco is a thriving organisation with a new approach to sustainable and responsible tourism.

Few Latin American have transformed themselves into travel Meccas quite as completely and quickly as has Peru. But parts of Peru still remain thoroughly out of bounds for tourists. Travel safety in Peru means you need to tread lightly and appreciate the complexities of your host community.