It's possible in South America to hop from one place to the next without booking accommodation ahead; it provides greater freedom and the possibility to stop in towns and sites encountered along the way. Nevertheless, in large cities places can be located far apart, information kiosks might not be as helpful as imagined and when arriving later in the day many popular accommodation choices might be full, setting you on a long, sweaty, exhausting trek around town with a backpack on your back.
Wanting to avoid such adventures, we tend to book accommodation a night or two in advance, when possible, for a duration of two nights and adding more nights when we enjoy the place. We have found the following links to book accommodation online quite useful:
Bookings.com
Hola (South American association of hostels)
Airbnb
If all fails, looking at popular accommodation options in TripAdvisor and contacting them through their website is a good option. Finally, using a travel guide such as Lonely Planet or Footprint also works well. Note that it is possible to save money by finding, in person, local accommodation options which have still not entered the online world. The cost savings and extra the effort in finding such places might not outweigh the convenience and benefits of online bookings which feature reviews from prior visitors minimizing the odds of unpleasant surprises upon arrival.
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