South America - which is better - Bueno Aires or Rio

DulchieLaois

;)Hi,

Ok, my wife were thinking Europe but now, we decided to go exotic and look at Bueno Aires or Rio for 10 days in early December.

We would like to hear from people with opinion on which city is best.

We are mid 30's, no set plans than to walk around and explore cities with no safety concerns and of course, cost is key

Which is ideal for us then ?, thank you

schemingbohemia

DulchieLaois wrote: »

;)Hi,

Ok, my wife were thinking Europe but now, we decided to go exotic and look at Bueno Aires or Rio for 10 days in early December.

We would like to hear from people with opinion on which city is best.

We are mid 30's, no set plans than to walk around and explore cities with no safety concerns and of course, cost is key

Which is ideal for us then ?, thank you

I think that would rule Rio out!

Haven't been to either but from people's reports, Rio can be scary and expensive (compared to the rest of SA). Buenos Aires supposed to be lovely but perhaps 10 days might be stretching it a bit.

To mix it up, would you consider Panama? Was there last year and loved it. Cheapish flights can be found via Amsterdam or Madrid, you have a choice of Pacific or Caribbean coasts, lovely highlands with coffee plantations, superb snorkling and Panama city is interesting for a couple of days at the start.

DulchieLaois

Thanks, am leaning towards Argentina myself but have to wait on the other half decision

iusedtoknow

Rio is fun, but you have to keep your wits about you there.

I travel to Buenos Aires quite often (my sister in law lives there) and it is such a fun city. It reminds me a bit of Madrid but 100 times larger. There is a huge influence of Italian and German culture there - as well as Spanish and Latin American. It is extremely safe and the food is outstanding. As with any big city, you need to take the normal responsible actions (i.e. don't flash your cartier watch around, or leave your iPhone on the table in an outdoor cafe) but it is the safest SA Capital city (second on the list would be Santiago de Chile)

John from ennis

stayed in Copacabana 7 years ago. quiet expensive then,food was decent in the hotel but very expensive an rubbish on the front.
apart from sugar loaf mountain, Christ the redeemer,the maracana wasnt a lot else to do. if you like beeches, rio has wonderful beeches.

by pure coincidence,i was checking out hotel prices for 7 nights earlier. just checking thats all. why would i go back? well,this time id like to go into the fevalas instead of lounging on the beech all the time.

the beechfront is as safe as it gets tbh,which is why i never ventured from there on my previous visit,the cops need to look after the tourists.... no tourism then rio would be an even bigger kip.

also december is rainy season. had a chat with a french guy there an he told me it rained for his two weeks while he was there,luckily for me,we had little to no rain for my week there.

but the sights are wonderful from sugarloaf and christ the redeemer..... on a clear day.


haven been to argentina... yet.

silja

***** Moving from USA forum to Travel forum as question is not about the United States ******

MagicMarker

I'm just back from Buenos Aires, nice city, but I wouldn't call it exotic!

John from ennis

MagicMarker wrote: »

I'm just back from Buenos Aires, nice city, but I wouldn't call it exotic!

cam you do a boat trip to Uruguay from the argies?

LXFlyer

John from ennis wrote: »

cam you do a boat trip to Uruguay from the argies?

You certainly can take a day trip across the Rio Plate to Colonia del Sacramento, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Well worth the trip too! You can get a visa on arrival in Uruguay.

To the OP, 10 days is indeed too long to spend in either city (voice of experience here). Both would be ideal for a long weekend, but then you need to do something else. For that length of trip, I would go for Buenos Aires. You could spend the long weekend there, fit in a trip to Uruguay as above, and then fly to Iguazu on the border with Brazil to see the incredible waterfalls (2.5 days), and maybe take in Rio on the way back. Most airlines will allow "open jaw" bookings, and internal South American flights aren't that expensive.

Buenos Aires is safer than Rio de Janeiro. Staying in Recoleta or Palermo is perfectly safe, as is the city centre area. Around the main railway and bus stations and La Boca you do need to remain more alert.

Rio de Janeiro is somewhere you do need to remain more alert to what is going around you (within reason!). There are gangs of children going around who are looking to pick pockets. But provided you keep all your valuables out of sight, and stay in the main tourist areas (Copacabana/Ipanema/Sugar Loaf Mountain/Corcavado), and use taxis to get from one area to another you should be fine.

iusedtoknow

MagicMarker wrote: »

I'm just back from Buenos Aires, nice city, but I wouldn't call it exotic!

exactly, it is almost european in it's mentality. Argentina is for the most part, except for the mad welsh town - that is just off the charts

What is great about BA is that you can get over to Uruguay pretty easily which has a completely different atmosphere, even though it is just as european in feel. Montevideo is a beautiful city.

catbear

My wife and I recently did three months in south america, we had followed the Inca culture from Ecuador down into Chile and we were about to head for BA when we had to head home for a funeral.
All I can offer is from our forward travel plans which were greatly influenced by other backpackers.
We were going to do 5 days in BA but intended to hang out in for much longer in Montevideo, everyone said it was chilled and much easier than BA.
Hopefully we'll get to finish our trip someday.