Argentina Sept 2010

[mushroom22]

It's official, I booked my flights and just paid off my credit card, I'm heading to Argentina Sept 1-13 with my bf.

I'm so excited and am already researching in any spare time I have but I know the best info always comes from people who have "been there, done that" (you guys).

So, we have basically 11 full days + 2 days travel.

Here is what I want to do FOR SURE:
BA
Football game in BA (any advice on if there will be games at this time and how to get tickets would be awesome)
Igauzu Falls

Things I'm thinking about fitting in:
Mendoza
San Paolo
Rio or Paraty (suggestions?)
Salta (is this worth it?)

Am I missing anything that would fit in nicely? Or anything that I should fit in? I originally really wanted to go to Patagonia but now think it's not the right time of year for that.

I haven't looked into transportation once I get to BA. I know buses are long, but possible and flights are short but expensive. Any good websites with this info?

Thanks!!

[mooloo]

A few bits n pieces which might be all over the place but will hopefully help...

We used via bariloche for buses when we were there, make use of night buses where possible just make sure you get cama exec/super cama seats which fold into beds, you get pretty decent food and champange/whiskey if you want it before you go to bed and you can watch movies as well. Igauzu > BsAs was $270-$310AP ($70-80usd) which seems pricy but considering its your bed and dinner and breakfast as well as your transport its pretty good - try and book the very front seats of the top story if possible cas then you get an awesome view - otherwise go anywhere else on the top, i found the top way better than the bottom.

In Igauzu if you want something for just the two of you a nice place we found was Las Araucarias on Bompland (Street?) we had an apartment with aircon & tv which had a double bed and a single and then a set of bunks as well as a seperate bathroom and fridge/freezer for 100AP a night ($26 usd) for the whole room.

When you get off the bus go pretty much straight across the road from the station and down to the left a little bit and you will see an 'english spoken here sign' it is kind of like a tourist office and the guy here speaks english and spanish and a couple of other languages and can point you in the right direction.

If you want to stay at a hostel the ones out of town look the nicest but then again your not in town which i actually quiet enjoyed being there cas its such a nice little town. The pizza place across the road from the bus station is really nice as well we ate there a few times and the people were really nice and the food was reasonably priced.

Ummm to get to the falls go to the bus station and you can get a return bus ticket for $10AP.

In Buenos Aires go to Galerias Pacifico just because its really nice inside for a shopping mall, even if all the shops are expensive! We also got a really good map of BsAs from here! Its on Florida & Cordoba.

Ummm what else... i kept all our receipts and bits n pieces so am just going through a bit to see what might be helpful...

If you go to the argentine side of the falls keep your receipt in case you want to go back the next day then you get 50% off the admission for the second day. - I believe it was $60AP for the first day when we were there.

If your on a budget pack some lunch and plenty of drink when you go to the falls because the food is stupidly expensive there.

Ohhh its $8.50AP to get to la plata from BsAs if you want to go somewhere a bit more relaxed for a day, theres a big area of the town which has a zoo and parks and stuff which is nice to just wander through. La Plata was all planned out before it got built so its meant to be awesome if your into city planning or something? Obviously i'm not into that so didn't pay that much attention.

The buenos aires bus isn't too bad if you don't want to take public transportation - it was a bit much for us to take in at once! It goes in a big circuit that takes like just over 2 hours to do the whole thing and has like 8 stops where you can get on and off whereever you want, good for getting from one suburb to the other, it was $25AP for a 24 hour ticket - expensive compared to public transport, but it was convenient and was a nice shelter for when it rained.

Thats it for now Lol!! Hope something was helpful.

[mooloo]

Ohhh and I would say rio is prob too far to go if you are looking into buses its like 20 hours from igauzu... hopefully someone can advise you about Salta, I was a bit annoyed we didn't go there when we were over there.

[mushroom22]

Thanks so much for the advice! I'm taking notes.

[mooloo]

Not a prob, let me know if you have any other q's

Ohh and if you havn't found it already this site Welcome Argentina travel guide: 2010 Summer vacations in Argentina has heaps of good info about argentina, just choose the region you are going to!

[Somnambulation]

Hey Michelle, my gf and I will probably be there around the same time. Meetup in Buenos Aires?

[mushroom22]

Sure! Keep me posted on your travels.

[TheWills]

hmmm 11 days eh..
Well I hate to be a bit of a downer on this one, but when I did S.A. the thing that hit me was really how freaking huge that continent was! I remeber at oe point being on a bus for lke 2 straight days.
Unfortunetly Argentina itself and Brazil are friggin huge countries so it does take time to get around and all it takes is a bus breakdown and you can chalk a few more hours on a trip ( happend a couple times)

What I would do if I was you and had 13 days in total would be this!
Im guessing your flying into B.A. btw.
pfffttttt you could easily spend some time there, but try for 2 or 3 days and do it over the weekend!
Im not sure if they will be playing in sept. Due to it being the world cup this year. im not totally sure becuase the 2010 season schedual isnt out. However if you can get into a Boca juniors home game then totally do it! If they are playing against river plate then shit are you lucky!
Any Boca game would be sick to go to, check at your hostel about it becuase they usually can set you up on a group outting, you dont really wanna go down to Boca district without someone who knows what they are doing becase it is a really rough part of town.
Also you are gonna wanna check out a tango show, that was totally cool!!
There is a cafe...something or other down on B.A. main drag the huge blvd. they have there its famous for its tango shows its where we went it was totally sick! im sure when your there someone will point you in the right direction :D
They run nightly.
During the day check out the pink house and evitas grave thats kinda neat things to do and just to cruise Ave Florida, lots going on there, again its kinda down by B.A.s main blvd there. I reccomend staying at the Clan hostel in B.A. its a not a great hostel but its location is unbeatable! its walking distance from everythig you could want, also about a 30 minute walk or so I think i was from the main bus station, I might be rusty on that. But yeah Clan Hostel! Remeber that one. Also if you or your boyfirnd are steak fans then head out to a parissha or somethig simular, its a Argentine BBQ its just a mad gorge on meat, its awesome! There is one place down by the water a short cab ride and it translates into Follow the Cow, if you can find that place your in for a treat!!! B.A. is really surprising easy to get around we ere there 4 days and had it licked! just have a L.P. with you they have some good advice in there for things in town.

After B.A. thats a tough one, becuase no matter what you are lookin at some serious bus time! Like someone said, take a night bus a cama if you can, just head down to the bus station and they hve al the booths there for the buses, certain companies go certain places so you gotta look around a bit. Andesmar is probably the biggest bus company, you cant really go wrong with them, Chevallier is another but if I remeber they are really geared towards the north only, and Pengin is another one but they are geared to the south more. I think your gonna be rocking Andesmar probably the most! Just a heads up the ride from B.A. to Bariloche or Salta is gonna be around 19-25 hours
Well if your willing to rip up to salta, I would say skip that all together. Its almost exactly equil distance to Bariloche. Bariloche is awesome to spend acouple days, its like a swiss ski resorst in Argentina, in the very beautiful lakes district. I said to my friends if my parents move to Bariloche and I was born and raised there I would be totally ok with it. If you like walking and doing hikes its a great place, quirky little town. I think its so cool cause its so much diffrent then the rest of south america! Reserch bot cities and see what you like more. One thing though, if you go to Bariloche stay at the... 1042 or something like that hostel, its a building number. Its at the top of the tallest building in town and I gotta tell you it is probably the 2nd best hostel I have ever stayed at becuase the view alone is unreal! No other hostel in the world gives you this view, grab a lonely planet and look for the hostel with just a number, and if you go make a reservation I swear to you its stunning!!!
Whats nice if you go to either of those cities, is that they are also amost equil distance to Mendoza. I cant remenber what bariloche to Mendoza was but again its a bit of a doozy something like 16 hours or so.
Mendoza is great if you wanna run around and check out wineries. Go and get lit! spend a couple days check them out drink a ton of malbec and just enjoy the town. Other then that all it offers is the standard outdoor hiking rafting rock climbing etc.. you can do that pretty much anywhere in Argentina.
Then I would zip from Mendoza back to B.A. this is only a 12 hour bus trip... and here you decide do you wanna do another day in B.A. or straight shot for Iguazu that night ?
Guess what ??? Another shit kicking bus ride! 18 hours WOOT WOOT!!!
Iguazu is something else, its like right in the jungle and you dont really know where the center of town is lol. Stay on the Argentina side to seee the falls its wayyyyy better! easy spend about 5 hours just chilling out on that side, there is less to see on the brazil side, but yo get a better view of the big semi circle Devils mouth fall... I reccomend Arg side!
now the Hostel-Inn in Iggy... man this place is something else, its unlike any other hostel I have stayed at. Its like a mini resort, but heads up it really is a party hostel, they have a bar and they pump music any everyone is there to have a good time. If you wanna party at a hostel while is SA this is the place to do it!! The pool they have is savage, its a really really badass pool area. I would say be there on a wednesday or a sunday cause they have dancers and stuff show up but they do a all yo can eat buffet but who cares about that, its the unlimited Caprihinas that your there for!!!! WOOT!!! I would say spend a day at the falls and then spend a day at the hostel by the pool hanging out having a few cocktails and nursing a hang over!
. By now your probably looking at only about 6 days left or so 3 in B.A. 2 in bariloche/salta 1 or 2 in mendoza 1 or 2 in Iguazu that leavs you like only a few days left. So if you are gonna go to Brazil do a straight shot to Rio, I think its something like 24 hour bus trip for this one, but Rio is Rad, if you are getting tight on time then I wouldnt not even reccomend going to Brazil becuase it is a bit of a headache, you take a bus to Iquazu Brazil and then you hav eto change over and that was a bit of a mess I remer, then you head to Rio. But Rio is a cool city easy to spend a few days checking that out, and also if you can catch a soccer game at the Mericana (Largest stadium in the world hold 200,ooo) thats cool too but they say the buzz is better at a boca game.
But going to Brazil is your call, you can always just spend more time in Argentina. Whatever you do with your time frame stay awy from Patagonia, its nice and the glacier national park and el Calafarte are very cool but its not worth killing 2 days on a bus 1 way. That was like a 38 hour haul ro something, brutal!!!!!!
You ca always fly around as well that will save a shit ton of time but i dunno what kinda cake your bringing.
Ok thats enough for now lol ask if you have more questions

[mushroom22]

wow! thanks for all the info TheWillis. I'm sure I'll have a few more questions for you but I'll need to read back over it a few times before. thanks so much!

[TheWills]

no worries mushy! Just shoot me a line whenever you wanna ask a question
Im still trying to catch my breath from that last rant hahah, Take care and good luck!

[mushroom22]

and the official countdown begins - my bf and I are off to Argentina in exactly 2 weeks from today - so excited.

our trip turned out as follows

BA day 1-3
Mendoza day 4-6
Iguazu day 7-8
BA day 8-11

can't wait!!!

[mish99]

im so jealous - this is one country I REALLY wanna go to!

[Dig]

I'm a bit jealous too! Let us know how it turns out.

[mooloo]

I Kind of hate you :P
We went over almost exactly 1 year ago and I really really really want to go back!

Have an amazing time!!!!!

[mushroom22]

Hey TPunks! My bf and I just got back from Argentina last Tuesday, we had an amazing time. I ate a ton of red meat, jamon y queso and drank so much red wine and cafe con leche.

We were in the city in Buenos Aires, in the country in Mendoza, in the mountain in the Andes and in the jungle in Iguazu! Everything went perfectly and we had a blast.

Let me know if anyone is looking for any travel advice in these areas, would love to share.

I can't figure out how to attach a photo, sorry

[mooloo]

Yay glad to hear you had a great time!!!!!! Can't wait to see some pics, are you going to put any on facebook?