Anyone any "must-see's" for Argentina (excl BA)? Got a 2 week trip there.

Re: Argentina

If the conditions are right, go skiing in Las Lenas. Its 90 minutes from the nearest town, has incredible lift accessed terrain, is inexpensive compared to any other ski resort (anywhere). If you have lots of time, it might be worth a look!
 
Re: Argentina


Hi,
just back from Peru,Argentina and Brazil trip. I discovered that the way to get around Argentinian Airlines charging foreigners more is to use a travel agent based in Argentina. I got the name of 1 that was recommended on other websites. I gave her the flights I wanted (from looking at the Aerolineas Argentinas website) and she booked them for us. Worked out 40% cheaper than I i booked them myself from here. Nothing illegal about it and no hassle when checking in on any of the legs we booked. The agent we used is called Mayra Brill and she is based in Buenos Aires. She can be contacted at:
Mayra@ArgentinaTravelServices.com

We got very good service from her and no problems at all. Mayra even confirmed our flights 24 hours before take off which is something you have to do everywhere in Sth America even though you've already paid for your flights.

As regards to the trip - don't miss Patagonia..superb. We flew to El Calafate and got a hire car to drive to El Chalten. Some superb trekking there in a very remote and unspoiled setting. We also visited the Perito Moreno glacier in El Calafate. the town itself is beautiful,very well kept...bit touristy but nice after the remoteness of Chalten. Did'nt get to go further south for time reasons but would love to see Ushuia. Found BA to be very quiet - very little night life.Good place for a couple as the restaurants are superb and shopping seems good, but bars/nightclubs are poor.

if you need any more info just let me know
 
Re: Argentina


thanks a million for that info. Due to the short time we have there, we were going to just go to BA, Iguazu and Bariloche. Do you think we should squeeze in El Calafate as well? Is it easy to drive there - could you drive from El Calafate to Bariloche or would it be a ridiculous journey?
 
Cannot comment on Bariloche as was'nt there. But to drive from the iarport in Calafate to Chalten is about 2.5hours or 220kms. We hired a car at the airport for only 150euros for 3 days. Some of the road is unpaved and thus you have to take it handy.
I'd defo recommend Chalten and the glacier at Calafate over Iguasu. Far more to do in terms of hiking/passing a few days/avoiding tourists than in Iguasu. I found Iguasu boring to be honest...you'll see all there is to see in under 3 hours and it's a long way from anywhere for that length of time. If you do go to Iguasu avoid the 1 hour tour through the rainforest by truck and up the river by boat. Waste of 100 pesos and the soaking you get when the boat goes under 1 of the waterfalls is not worth it-your walking around in searing heat for the rest of the day trying to dry out. Plus the boat does'nt go anywhere near the main body of the waterfalls for obvious reasons.
Nothing beats the remoteness of Chalten,the mountains and rivers...really wild and unspoiled countryside.
Calafate and Chalten win hands down in my opinion.
 
Re: Argentina

Delboy said:
Found BA to be very quiet - very little night life.Good place for a couple as the restaurants are superb and shopping seems good, but bars/nightclubs are poor.
Click to expand...
Wow, I find this a bit surprising to be honest! It was the party capital of South America when I went a couple of years ago. Nobody heads out to the clubs until about 2 in the morning though so it may appear to be quiet until then.
 
Re: Argentina

Delboy said:
Hi,
Found BA to be very quiet - very little night life.Good place for a couple as the restaurants are superb and shopping seems good, but bars/nightclubs are poor.
Click to expand...

We were there and we thought it had the best nightlife ever! Don't think we got home before 6 o clock any night! And we had the best laugh, the people over there were the friendliest and we had great craic. It has a really wide range of nightlife, and some of the late night tango clubs are fantastic and a great experience.
 
Re: Argentina


I have driven this .. it's a fabulous journey through utterly deserted amazing landscape ... it's a huge distance almost all on upaved roads and it's really remote ... you can drive for serveral hours and not see any other vehicles or indeed people.

I would say that given the roads it would take you probably at least 4 days of fairly hard driving to get from Bariloche to Calafate
 
I was in Argentina/Brazil last year and I fully agree with all those people about El Calafate and Iguazu bariloche, puerto Madryn. The one other place that in my mind is actually the most amazing place is actually El Chalten in Patagonia. Its a four hour bus ride from El Calafate so if you are in Patagonia you definately should not miss it. With two weeks its hard to get everything as the distances are huge compared to here. You can fly to El Calafate for 110USD so maybe take in that and El Calafate for a few days along with BA. Iguazu is amazing too so i dont envy your position. Try and get an extra week is what you really should do as it is cheap over there.
 
Just read and you asked about bus trips. You arent there long enough to think of anything more than one long bus trip. BA to Iguazu in itself takes 22 hours I think and Bariloche to BA is as much. Bariloche to ElCalafate is well serviced by air and is cheap.
 
Re: Argentina



Hi, unfortunately Mayra is now on maternity leave. Does anyone know of another travel agent whom i could book with? the prices to book on my own are so expensive!!
 
Mayra is no longer on maternity leave so I contacted her and want to update a comment made previously by Delboy in this thread.

I asked her for a quote for 7 internal flights, she replied with an itinerary.

I used the details to go directly to the airline's website, ie LAN, and see what the difference would be between her quote and the price I could obtain.

Mayra quoted 712 euro and the cost from the website was 740 euro.

Now this is still good as I am saving some money but it is certainly not 40% cheaper anymore.
 
Hi

Anybody got any updated recommendations or tips on Argentina/Brazil? Heading to Brazil and Argentina in November, I've booked the international flights, but no internal flights yet.
Thanks in advance!
 
Was in Chile Argentina and Brazil about two months ago, mainly Santiago, Buenos Aires and Rio De Janeiro. Liked Argentina and Chile couldn't wait to depart Rio, its not cheap and its as seedy and dangerous as you could imagine. We weren't three hours in it before we had an attempted mugging at knife point. Your always on your guard in Rio and NEVER feel entirely safe despite umpteen pockets of police all over the place and whats to see can be done in a day, Corcovado, sugar loaf etc. Buenos Aires I liked, loads of very good restaurants and you'd feel safe there, its also a shoppers paradise, everything is roughly 40% cheaper there. Buy a good guide book and follow from there.
 
Don't forget that there are airlines other than Aerolineas Argentinas that operate internal flights in Argentina. Chilean airline LAN (www.lan.com) does not appear to have an apartheid system and charges passengers of whatever nationality the same fare. It is reliable and flies from Buenos Aires to Iguazu, Mendoza, Cordoba and other cities.
 
I'll second to be careful in Rio. I had a gold chain snatched from my neck while walking down the Copacobana. Worse could have happened me & it didn't spoil my holiday but just have sense in not carrying or wearing anything valuable.
It's worth seeing though once you use some cop on.

I had several flights with Lan & they were all fine. Iguassu is definitely worth the trip. You just need an overnight there to see both the Brazillian & Argentinian sides, but it's unforgettable.

I loved Buenos Aires. It's a classy city & feels much safer. Don't forget to take in a Tango show. The dancing is incredible. Visit the markets at San Telma, the Recoletta (where Eva Peron is buried ) and of course the colourful La Boca. Leather goods are very good & reasonable - they have to do something with the hides from all the steaks !

It's worth a day trip to visit an Estancia (ranch) where you can go horseriding & see the way life used to be lived.
You can also take the ferry for a daytrip to Uruguay, which is interesting especially the very old town of Sacramento de Colonia.

You'll have a wonderful time .....enjoy.
 
Nice as Rio is, you just cannot stray an inch from the tourist spots or else you’re at high risk of being mugged, I even found it tiresome in cocacabana just sitting outdoors at any of the restaurants along the strip, the amount of clowns, jugglers, acrobats etc etc coming up to tables looking for money was unbelievable. Beautiful city but once is enough.
Other spots in Brazil are much nicer, the islands south of Rio, the Pantanal and Florionalapolis.

Argentina and Uruguary are just so much more enjoyable places to visit. Buenos Aires is just a great city, atmostphere, people, prices and most of all the food and wine. Other great spots would be iguazu, uashuaia, towns around bariloche like el calafete or el bolsen are much nicer and less touristy than bariloche, punto tombo is a great spot for nature lovers,
You can take the ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguary which was a stunning port town, punto del diablo is also stunning.
 
Just an FYI I have been in touch with Mayra to book internal flights for Argentina. She is very helpful, but booking the flights through her wasn't any cheaper than booking myself on the internet. Can't wait to go now!
 
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