Dublin to Argentina for £275 Return [Threads Merged]

DoctorDre wrote: »

I'm so amazed that I created this thread, not even expecting a response and it may be the reason that some of you have gone to Argentina :eek: Love coming to read what everyone has to say about it

It's definitely the reason I'm here. Heading home tomorrow, well, I'll get there Tuesday evening. Thanks a lot.

johnnykilo wrote: »

I'm with Tesco Mobile and I have coverage through Movistar here, so I reckon you should be OK.

Bring euros! I got 13.1 on Florida last week. The Euro is so weak against the dollar it's not worth changing euros to dollars and then into pesos.

My Spanish is pretty non-existent and no one apart from tour guides and airline staff speak English, you can just about get by, by pointing etc... but I'd recommend anyone coming to at least try and learn the basics as it will make things a whole lot easier.

Is bringing Euro to change over there ok? Do most of the dealers accept Euro or would I have to go searching for someone that takes Euro? Would it be easier to just stick to US dollars?

Anyone go to the football museums at either River or Boca? If so, is there one you would recommend?

Another thanks to the OP, we're just back from our 15 day trip. It was amazing. Got to see and experience so much.

Days 1-4 BA - included in that are a BA bikes tour of south BA inc. Boca stadium and the La Boca area. Did a closed door restaurant too (Casa Felix - amazing).
Days 5,6 - Iguazú. Stayed in a lovely hotel - Posada del Jacaranda. One full day of the Falls - Arg side. Breathtaking.
Day 6,7,8 - bus to Salta + 2 nights there. Love Salta. Nice buzz in town, decent cafés. Hired a car to do Purmamarca and the Salinas Grandes. Well worth the long spin.
Day 8 - 14 Mendoza. Including Siete Fuegos restaurant in Tunuyan. Good, nit great for the price imo. Martin's bike tour of the wineries. A full day trip but half a day might have been as good, we were tired at the 3rd one. The wineries are class, you really get a good insight into the whole process. Also had a car for 2 days, visited wineries ourselves and took a spin to Aconcagua and the Cristo del Redentor statue on the Arg / Chile border. This might have been my highlight of the whole trip, the scenery here is immensely beautiful. The dirt track up to Cristo is as hairy as it gets but worth it. Mendoza is a great town too, full of great food spots and the wine goes without saying. I suspect the wineries themselves don't pose as great a bargain as you might imagine. Cheapest bottles run at ~60 pesos, whereas in the shops you can get drinkable stuff for 25. Something to keep in mind, at least. If you're near a big vinoteca, maybe check out their prices before hitting up the corresponding wineries.

Brought home 24 bottles of wine, only 1 (cheap one) smashed en route. Result!

Tips.
- We flew everywhere apart from Iguazú - Salta. Worth it if you can afford it. We spent an hour in with LAN in MDZ as the site was quoting us €155 but no processing the sale. We got this price in the end, so worth persisting with them. Don't buy any "foreigner price ticket" bs they can sometimes give you. We weren't impressed with the bus. Terrible food, bumpy roads, at least for that stretch. Mightn't be as bad if you were doing Mendoza - BA, for example.
- Airbnb. Always my preference, you struggle to get a decent breakfast unless you're splashing out on an expensive hotel. I find it's a less sterile experience too.
- Cash. Bring lots. Our ATM cards wouldn't work in the airport, with the result that we spent the last ~4 days living via credit card. That'll end up costing us ~30+% more when I get the credit card statement, I imagine.

A trip that'll live long in the memory, thanks to posters here for the tips along the way.

No bank's or FX Bureau de Change stock pesos because the risk of a devaluation is very high. You can always try Islanderre (see above post) or just wait till you get down there. I had no pesos when I arrived, I put my airport transfer on my Credit Card and when I checked into my hotel the guy behind the desk offered to exchange dollars and euros for pesos. If the hotel won't do it you will have no bother changing money on Calle Florida.

For those of you who are interested, and this isn't quite as good a deal as this one was, I've just booked flights to Japan in October for £360 with Turkish Airlines, which seems like a great deal. I've just put the same dates for Dublin into Kayak and they're coming up at £350 return to Tokyo.

Hong Kong and Singapore are also showing up at those prices.

Just in case anyone fancies the far east.

johnnykilo wrote: »

What dates in October did you put in? Cheapest I'm getting is around £650 on Kayak.

I'm going from the 16th until the 27th.

http://www.kayak.co.uk/flights/DUB-TYO/2015-10-16/2015-10-27

Does anyone have any peso's left that they brought back to Ireland that they want to rid off? I need around €300 worth to cover a taxi and accommodation for when I first arrive. Give me a PM if you have some to sell.

walshy_c wrote: »

Does anyone have any peso's left that they brought back to Ireland that they want to rid off? I need around €300 worth to cover a taxi and accommodation for when I first arrive. Give me a PM if you have some to sell.

I'd say you'd be lucky to find anyone with that many Pesos here. There's a Taxi place called TaxiEzezia who will take dollars (and I presume euros) just after you walk out of arrivals at the airport. It's $40 to the City Centre (and $50 if you take a normal/radio taxi).

There is a bank at the airport but I waited 20 minutes to try and change money and not one person in the ****ing massive queue had moved in those 20 minutes.

Depending on where you're staying I reckon they'd take euros or dollars as payment, you won't get as good a rate as on Florida but it will get you out of a hole. Pretty much anyone (including businesses large and small) I encountered in the 2 weeks I was there was happy to take payment in dollars/euros. Why wouldn't they? They charge you a slightly worse rate than less than they'd get in Florida so they make more money.

MagicMarker wrote: »

Yeah it was Spanish, I never once considered I was paying in USD until I received the confirmation email, then I just had a moment of panic. But it's all good!

Regarding currency actually, azimo seems to offer rates very close to the blue dollar rate. Would it be better to go with Azimo over visiting a cueva? On the one hand I'd be nervous about collecting from Azimo with my non-existent Spanish, but then I'd be worried about getting ripped off from a cueva too.

Azimo was perfect for me, solo traveller no spanish, over the counter transaction in a safe environment. Would do again. Just hand them the form and straight forward apart from a few weird questions about purpose of my trip.