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This was my first time writing a trip report, so bear with me! We spent 17 nights away with 2 adults and a 15-month-old baby. I wanted to share our experience since:
a) I used a lot of advice from this forum.
b) I think there could be helpful datapoints for other travellers.
c) It was my first long-haul business class flight, booked with tips from this forum/website.**Itinerary:**
– 2 nights in Madrid – Stayed at Melia Serrano.
– 8 nights in Buenos Aires (split) – Stayed in Airbnbs in Palermo and San Telmo; 1 night at Alvear Palace.
– 3 nights in Puerto Iguazu – Airbnb in the town; 1 night at Grand Melia Iguazu.
– 4 nights in El Calafate – Airbnb in the town.**Flights:**
– LHR-MAD (cash)
– MAD-EZE-LHR in Business Class (Avios 241 redemption)
– Several internal flights, mostly uneventful.It was our first long-haul business class experience, and it was unforgettable. We flew Iberia and had a mostly great experience. The staff was attentive and checked on us and our baby often. The food was decent; as vegetarians, we didn’t expect much but enjoyed the wine and cava.
The Madrid to Buenos Aires flight was on a newer plane with spacious seats. On the return flight, the plane was older, and the seats were narrower and less comfortable. My wife’s seat did not fully recline and I had the hinge of the seat digging into me in certain positions. I was keen to raise this with the staff however, given we had a (finally) sleeping baby and couldn’t really see what the resolution would be, we didn’t raise the issue. (I do wish I did now – easier said than done!). Nevertheless, it’ll be hard to go back to long haul economy.
**Madrid:**
We chose to fly out of Madrid due to lower taxes. While the cost of getting there didn’t fully offset the savings, we enjoyed exploring the city and neither of us had been before. The Melia hotel was very nice and conveniently located near parks, restaurants, and a pool. Used the 20% voucher being Melia Gold through Amex Plat.**Buenos Aires:**
Buenos Aires is an fantastic city! We stayed in two Airbnbs in Palermo and San Telmo, both pleasant and safe areas. There were plenty of great restaurants, bars, and coffee shops. We took day trips to Tigres and Colonia, Uruguay, and explored the city largely on foot. Finding vegetarian food was easy, and we always found a table since we dined early compared to the locals.For our last night, we stayed at Alvear Palace Hotel for a guaranteed late checkout due to our evening flight. The hotel was grand, with excellent service, though a bit dated. The atmosphere was quite upscale, with many guests displaying flashy wealth (bags, fur coats and other clear overt signs of wealth) – I did feel a bit out of place here; we were dressed smartly but something just felt off.
**Iguazu and El Calafate:**
We did the usual tourist activities in both places, including visiting the Brazilian side of the falls. Both sides were amazing and very different – I’m glad we did both. We benefited from the off-peak season with fewer crowds but struggled to find vegetarian options beyond pizza and pasta in both places.We stayed at Grand Melia Iguazu for one night for our anniversary, opting for this hotel over the Belmond in Brazil due to logistics and convenience. The hotel allowed us to skip queues at the park entrance and was excellent value with a another 20% voucher. We were upgraded to a waterfall view room, and the stay was generally quiet. The restaurant was disappointing, but the wine was excellent.
We hired a car and, having only ever driven once on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, I was nervous but given how quiet it was, we had most of the road to ourselves and found the driving experience actually quite pleasant. We used Cactus cars who were great and able to guarantee a car seat (which wasn’t the best tbh, but did the job). Interestingly the big boys in the car hire couldn’t guarantee a car seat.
**Prices and Currency:**
I read a lot about Argentina not being “cheap” anymore. As a Londoner, I found prices in Argentina neither cheap nor expensive. Restaurant food and wine were cheaper than in Western Europe, but supermarket prices were similar to London. Tourism activities were reasonably priced, and accommodation was cheaper than in Europe. We didn’t choose to go to Argentina because of it’s perceived ‘cheapness’ so for us, this wasn’t a huge issue. Our total trip came to around £3200ish and we felt in terms of our experience, we left nothing on the table.I was really stressed about the currently situation, however when I was out there, I realised it was as simple or complex as you make it. You can pay by card, which gives you a rate of about 1550 pesos per pound and ‘lose out’ on the cash rate which was around 1890. But then you don’t have to carry bricks of cash, nor change money every other day. Also the rate fluctuated significantly when we were there, and outside of BA. I was quoted between 1250-1890 pesos per pound. So I stuck to card where I could (and 90% of places took card) and changed a small amount of GBP for tips/cash purchases.
Happy to answer more detailed questions, especially around some of the restaurants we visited and the tourism in Iguazu and El Calafate.
No questions, just happy to see some additions to the reporting on South America. We’ve only just started touching the continent so reports like this help us newbies.
Thanks for the report, made for interesting reading.
Until recently Argentina was considered a very cheap destination for travellers arriving from western countries. What has changed? I was aware of the situation with the ‘blue dollar’ exchange rates but these were very much in the favour of tourists holding hard currency, either in cash or on cards. Tales of £5 steaks and £3 bottles of wine were very tempting.
@Londonsteve – Argentina isn’t as cheap as it was, but it still feels cheap in absolute and relative terms to most of Europe or the US. It still offers extraordinary value. The prices feel a fair bit less than Spain which is already cheaper than the UK, most of France, Italy & Greece, let alone the Nordic countries or Ireland.
Argentina also varies on the exchange rates – not so much the absolute rate (because local inflation takes care of much of that) but the difference between the official bank rate and the credit card very positively affecting hotels priced in US$. Most imported goods are going to be relatively expensive and Buenos Aires has got more expensive as it has become increasingly popular with tourists and places like Iguassu which are basically 100% tourist aren’t cheap any more. That said you can eat like a king for a fraction of the price of London, even in BsAs and taxis cost peanuts. Museums are free or inexpensive. Outside the most popular places, everything is incredibly cheap, including accommodation, but there is quite often a two tier system of local vs tourist prices to navigate but that’s the case in lots of countries.
The net effect is that one spends far less than one would in some of the popular destinations and you get more bang for your buck with better accommodation and dining despite that reduced outlay. Long way to travel though!
Long way to travel though!
All the more reason why it’s an excellent use for Avios when flying IB Business! You want the premium cabin on a flight of that length to ensure you can make the most of your destination when you arrive.
I guess the exchange rates following Milei’s reforms have somewhat moved against western tourists. A year ago reports of low prices were eye popping but clearly this wasn’t sustainable longer term, but I hear what you say about it generally being excellent value. I like value 🙂
For future readers, I’d strongly suggest skipping Calafate or doing at most a night there. If you want to spend time in Argentinian Patagonia go to El Chalten, Bariloche or El Bolson to start with and avoid the worst tourist trap in the region.
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