Anyway I wanted to write a post on my recent travels in Argentina. With the crazy inflation (officially, something like 11%, unofficially more like 20%), lots of prices you find on the Internet or in guidebooks are way off current prices. These prices are correct for October 28th - November 6th). I'll continue to update add my trip continues.
At the time of my trip, the official exchsnge rate was ~ AR$8.4 to US$1. The blue rate was AR$13.5-14.0, which we managed to get in our hotels. On the street, you can get slightly higher rates (14.2-14.5) but you have to beware of fake pesos.
(All prices in pesos)
Buenos Aires
Taxi from Ezeiza airport to Palermo Soho (~30-40mins) $380
Public transport $3-4 per journey (with a subte card, works like an oyster card)
El Calafate
Taxi from airport to town centre $300 (but only $200 the other way)
Entrance to national park $215
Bus to El Chalten (one way) $275
Mini ice trekking with Heilo y Aventura $1100
Mendoza
Taxi from airport to city centre $90
Tastings at wineries $40-$100
Bike hire $150 (daily at Baccus bikes)
Salta
Taxi from airport to city centre $90
Note: the blue exchange rate is harder to get in Salta. We got 12.8 from a guy who drove to our hotel to exchange the money. However, this rate was only for US$50 and US$100 bills - smaller bills only got 12.0
Iguazu
Taxi from the airport to town $220 (this price is fixed)
Bus to Brazil $40 (each way with Rio Uruguay, see below)
Bus to Argentinian falls, $40 (each way)
Bus to Brazil $40 (each way with Rio Uruguay, see below)
Bus to Argentinian falls, $40 (each way)
Getting to Brazil
The bus will stop twice on the way there: 1. Get an exit stamp from Argentina immigration (you must get off the bus); 2. The bus driver will collect all passports and get an entry stamp from Brazil immigration (stay on the bus)
There are buses to Brazil around every hour on the half hour, run by two different companies, Rio Uruguay and Crucero del Norte. CdN buses look nicer but I don't know if they are more expensive.
Return buses run every hour on the hour, the last one at 5pm, which is the time the park closes on the Brazilian side anyway. You get very wet at the falls, even if it's good weather so bring a waterproof, or you can buy one there for $60. Also bring a towel to dry down afterwards, and maybe even a change of clothing.
Entry to the park is c.50 brazilian Reals, or $348. If possible pay in reals or on card, as the official exchange rate is much better than the cash rate.Return buses run every hour on the hour, the last one at 5pm, which is the time the park closes on the Brazilian side anyway. You get very wet at the falls, even if it's good weather so bring a waterproof, or you can buy one there for $60. Also bring a towel to dry down afterwards, and maybe even a change of clothing.
General
Bottle of wine in a restaurant
- cheap $65 (usually only one or two bottles at this price)
- mid $100-$200 (usually loads at this price)
- expensive: all the way up to $000s of pesos, but usually less than $1000
Dinner
Anything from $400 (empanadas to start, one bottle of wine, two mains around $100 each) to $900 (eg very good steak, nicer wine, water, starters, sides)
Bottle of water $25 (1l ish I think, in a restaurant)
Ice cream $40 (small)
Luggage Allowance
Most internal flights have a luggage allowance of 15kg (Aerolineas, LAN, Austral). However this isn't very strictly enforced - we had bags weighing up to 19kg and it was never a problem. In addition you can take several items of hand luggage. Be aware however that the rules for what you can carry in it seem to be different than for the UK - e.g. no tweezers, nail files, and liquids (including cosmetics). Despite this, I often had suncream (<100ml) in my luggage and it was never a problem. So risk it at your peril!
Most internal flights have a luggage allowance of 15kg (Aerolineas, LAN, Austral). However this isn't very strictly enforced - we had bags weighing up to 19kg and it was never a problem. In addition you can take several items of hand luggage. Be aware however that the rules for what you can carry in it seem to be different than for the UK - e.g. no tweezers, nail files, and liquids (including cosmetics). Despite this, I often had suncream (<100ml) in my luggage and it was never a problem. So risk it at your peril!
Airports
All the airports we visited (except EZE, the main international one in Buenos Aires) were very efficient - think 15 minutes from landing to getting your bags and finding a taxi, so any transfers shouldn't need too much time. There is also no passport control or ID checks when flying internally which speeds the process up significantly!
All the airports we visited (except EZE, the main international one in Buenos Aires) were very efficient - think 15 minutes from landing to getting your bags and finding a taxi, so any transfers shouldn't need too much time. There is also no passport control or ID checks when flying internally which speeds the process up significantly!
Language
English is not widely spoken. I would suggest learning some numbers before you go (they are pretty easy to understand if you know 1-20 and 100) and a few foods as most menus don't have translations.
If you order water, you will often be asked "sin or con gas?". This means without (sin) or with (con) bubbles - i.e. still or sparkling.
If you order tea or coffee you will hear "sin or con leche?" - leche is milk.
I don't speak spanish myself so I won't go into any more detail on translations! I would advise having written addresses for all your hotels to make navigating taxis easier.
English is not widely spoken. I would suggest learning some numbers before you go (they are pretty easy to understand if you know 1-20 and 100) and a few foods as most menus don't have translations.
If you order water, you will often be asked "sin or con gas?". This means without (sin) or with (con) bubbles - i.e. still or sparkling.
If you order tea or coffee you will hear "sin or con leche?" - leche is milk.
I don't speak spanish myself so I won't go into any more detail on translations! I would advise having written addresses for all your hotels to make navigating taxis easier.
Hopefully this is helpful to someone! Definitely bring dollars as you can only withdraw pesos from ATMs and then you get the official rate, which add explained above is much less favourable. Your hotel / hostel should be able to exocrine where to exchange if they won't do it themself.
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