Visit Argentina: a guide
Argentina is one of my absolute favorite countries in the world. It has it all; amazing food, friendly people, a gorgeous capital and the best nature has to offer. It is absolutely huge and you can spend months here, getting lost in the wilderness and taking your time driving all the way down to the southern most point, but it is also a great place to visit for a shorter period of time, if you want a city-trip to the bustling city of Buenos Aires. Whatever your preference is, this is your guide on what to see, when to see it, and how to about it.
Language: spanish
Currency: Argentinian peso
Plugs: Type C and I
Best time to visit Argentina
Because the country is so large it spans a lot of temperatures. This makes it difficult to suggest a specific window where you should see the country; it entirely depends on where you want to go.
Argentina is in the western hemisphere, and the spring/summer period is from September to February. This is also considered to be the best time to visit the country. In the winter it gets too cold to go to Patagonia or the Andes, and it actually shuts down. But in the summer it can be excruciatingly hot in the big cities in the north and the desert regions. Late spring is therefore often the golden window.
Patagonia in the south should be visited from October until March, and Aconcagua in the Andes has a shorter window from about December until February.
If you mainly want to focus on the desert and wine-regions in the north, it can be smarter to go in the autumn/winter-period, where March-April is often the best time. These are a bit cooler periods.
How to get around when visiting Argentina
How to get around in the cities
The most common way of getting around in the cities are public buses, and in Buenos Aires there is also a pretty good subway-system. You use it by buing a Subte-card from streetkiosks, and it is very easy to use. This card can also be used in some cities for the buses, such as Mendoza and Bariloche, so definitely hold on to the card you buy as you may need it again.
How to get from city to city
By bus
The buses in Argentina pretty much takes you wherever you want to go. They connect the country, and pass through the biggest tourist places, and is a great way to see the country. It is also surprisingly comfortable. Some of the best buses I had in South America where in Argentina; they even serve you food!
It is worth noting that it is really expensive to take buses, because the distances are so big. This will take a huge chunk out of your budget, and sometimes a plane can actually turn out to be cheaper and more convenient, so bare that in mind.
By plane
Because Argentina is such a large country, a bus or a car will take a considerable amount of time. I’m talking 24+ hours of constant driving. For this reason it could be worth it to fly instead. There are numerous airports in the country, and there are flights that go to the biggest cities and tourist attractions, and can be worth it if you are short on time, and can afford it in your budget.
By car
If you’ve got plenty of time, and want the freedom that a car will give you, this is the option for you. It’s a great way of seeing the country, and letting you stop wherever you want and not be dependent on bus times or making sure there’s available tickets left. It doesn’t even have to be very expensive, especially if you are more people that can chip in.
Argentina cost of travel and suggested daily budget
Food
You can easily find cheap meals in this country. Just grab a couple of empanadas for under a dollar and call it a day. HOWEVER, this is the land of the steak, and you would be missing out if you didn’t at least once try the glorious chorizo-steak, with some mashed potatoes on the side paired with a good wine. This will set you back about 15-17 USD, so even though it is more expensive than an average meal (about 3-7 USD), it is still very cheap for a full steak dinner. For 30 days of travel in Argentina, I used about 370 USD on food, which means about 12 usd per day. However, I did mostly eat in restaurants and did enjoy a few steak-dinners, so you can definitely go cheaper than this
Accommodation
A lot of different hostels and hotels can sometimes be the same price, unless you want to go a little bit upscale. These prices can vary drastically from region to region, with big cities such as Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Mendoza being on the cheaper side, but the south regions of Patagonia and Tierra de Fuego being ridiculously expensive. Here it could be worth looking into camping in free camping spots.
Hostels usually cost between 6 to 11 USD, and can get as crazy as 25 to 40 USD in the south-regions.
If you want to mostly stay in hotels it will probably cost you around 50-100 USD per night for two people
Attractions
Much of the attractions can be done for free – such as visiting El Chalten in Patagonia and the Perito Moreno glacier in El Calafate, as well as most of the tourist attractions in Buenos Aires and the treks in Bariloche. Swimming with sea lions in Puerto Madryn and tours in Salta, as well as any tour you do that you could do alone will make your budget higher, but this also means that this post can be close to zero if you want to. This varies greatly with what you want, and if you want to do tours for most of the activities that you want to do, even the trekking, than this will set you back a lot because Argentina generally has expensive tours. Most of them have a starting point of about 100-150 USD for daytours, and Patagonia-treks will probably be closer to 350-500 USD and up.
Transportation
Buses makes this country almost as expensive as brazil, the distances are crazy long, and this will take a huge chunk out of your budget unless you only plan on staying in one place. This budget is however adjusted to the crazy bus rides from north to south and north again
Again, this post will vary with how far you want to travel and how. Generally speaking a bus ride to a different city can be between 30-100 USD per way
Suggested budget
This budget is roughly what you would spend for a month travelling around the country to different cities. If you are only going to one city, the transportation costs won’t be so high. Also if you travel for longer than a month, the daily costs won’t be as high, but if you travel shorter it will probably be higher (if you want to travel to more cities).
A backpacker budget means going out to eat in cheap places, but you can afford some better steak-dinners. You’ll be staying in hostels, and travel cheaply with a bus and doing most of the activities on your own
A mid-range budget means you can get a good hotel room, eat out and have a steak dinner for every night, and do a lot of planned activities, and take a plane to some cities
A luxury budget means you can take a plane between cities, eat out at every meal and stay in upscale hotels.
|
Acommodation |
Transportation |
Food |
Activities |
Daily cost |
|
|
Backpacker |
6-11 USD |
10-15 USD |
10-17 USD |
5-10 USD |
30-50 USD |
|
Mid range |
50-100 USD |
30 USD |
15-30 USD |
10-40 USD |
100 – 200 USD |
|
Luxury |
150+ USD |
50 USD |
50+ USD |
70+ USD |
320 + usd |
Top things to do and must see places in Argentina
Go tango-dancing Buenos Aires
Tango originated in Argentina and is a great pride and joy for the Argentinians. You can either learn tango yourself, or you can watch a spectacular show and see how
Eat a great steak
Argentina is famous for their great beef, and they should be. It tastes delicious. You can enjoy it at a restaurant with some chimichurri as the sauce, paired with a great wine. Or you can have a traditional asado which is a barbeque with different assorted meats. It is truly something everyone that goes to Argentina should try!
Visit a Parrilla
A parrilla tour is a visit to a local ranch where they raise the cows that become the famous beef! They show you around the farm, maybe take you on a horse trek and eventually offer you a great meal (asado). It is a really cool way of getting a feel of the local way of life on the ranches.
See the spectacular natural wonder; Iguazu falls
Iguazu falls is really a natural wonder. It’s being shared with Argentina and Brazil, and the Argentinian side tends to get a better rep, because it is a lot more adventuring to do and a lot less crowds (and cheaper)
Go trekking in Patagonia
My absolute highlight of my whole trip in Argentina. This was actually where I had my first solo multiday hike, and it was spectacular. A definite must.
See the Perito Moreno glacier
This glacier is absolutely huge and a wonder to see. It is a really cool day trip from El Calafate, and as you walk around it you can actually here the ice cracking. You can even take a boat tour to really get a close up.
Swim with wales and sealions in Puerto Madryn
Puerto Madryn is on the east coast of Argentina, and is a great place to catch a glimpse of some great sea life up close. You can snorkel with sea lions or snorkel with humpback whales. A great place to visit, and a really nice opportunity to catch some of that ocean breeze!
Drink wine and ride horses in Mendoza
Mendoza is the go-to place for great wine and some fun horseback excursions. Spend your days cycling from winery to winery trying out all the different tastes, and take sunset horsebackriding-trip. Have you actually gone to Argentina if you haven’t been on a horseback?
Go to the end of the world; Tierra del fuego
This is the starting point for any Antarctica trip, and a really cool city in and of itself to visit. It is usually packed with old pensioneers who can afford those crazy priced cruise-ship to the 7th continent, but if you can squeeze it in your budget it has some really stunning nature and a really cool vibe worth checking out
See the Quebrada de Humahuaca in Salta
This valley is famous for its dramatic rockformations, especially the seven colored hill which is really stunning. The town of Salta itself also has a cool vibe to it, and the desert-scenery is very unique.
Climb Aconcagua
This one is for the mountaineer and definitely not something anyone should try out as it is very dangerous. It is the highest mountain in the southern hemisphere at about 6962 meters, and lies in the Andes close to Mendoza. It takes about 20 days to complete, and takes a lot of preparation. It is definitely something on my bucket list
How to stay safe in Argentina
Argentina is a very safe country. You do not have to worry about being a solo traveller, or even a female solo traveller here. The people are very friendly and even the big cities seemed very safe.
However, always show precautions and don’t do anything you wouldn’t do at home. Also be aware of pick pocketers, and tourist scams.
