Montevideo & Buenos Aires / Iberia or BA??

[damboy5]

Hi everyone, I just posted this on the chat thread for today, but then realised it may get more responses if I placed it here under destination advice.

I am a regular business traveller with BA but never flown long-haul with Iberia. I am considering business class return from Madrid to Montevideo to use my BA 2-4-1 companion voucher, Does anyone have any experience of flying Iberia long-haul and how does it compare to BA?

I know that flying Iberia from Madrid is much cheaper in Avios and taxes than flying BA direct from London, although it will take longer and I need to pay for repositioning flights London to Madrid return.

Are there any tips for how to book these flights – I think I recall somewhere that you should book this through the BA website rather than Iberia – is that correct?

Does anyone have any knowledge of Montevideo and Buenos Aires? I was thinking to try out both places while I am there.If you had 9 days, how would you recommend splitting your time?

Many thanks in advance for any advice.

[qc]

Monte Video itself is not terribly exciting but if you want to combine a trip to Uruguay with Buenos Aires I suggest you have a view days in Colonia del Sacramento a lovely old town with interesting old architecture (avoid the weekends as it gets overrun with portends) and then travel back to B.A.by hydrofoil across the river Plate.

[yonasl]

Since BA’s business class is nothing to write home about you should find Iberia’s offer similar.

Food offering is much better with IB (specially the wines) but my last flight had no proper mid flight snacks (other than crisps and cookies).

The seat on the A350 (and specially the very new A350) is comfortable enough. HfP has some reviews on that. I believe the A330 is a tad smaller. Depending of who you travel with you can pick a couple of central seats next to each other. Bedding is above average.

The main thing with IB is they the crew can be huge hit or miss. Specially with foreigners they can appear quite cold and detached (which is strange as you will expect Spaniards to be nicer than most).

As for booking, you do that from the BA website as you would for a BA flight (only that you can pick IB’s flights too).

[Jasdev]

I flew economy to Bogota and premium economy return, on Iberia.
And I visited both Argentina and Uruguay with flights via Buenos Aires on Norwegian Air.

Montevideo felt like a very chilled and sleepy Buenos Aires on a smaller scale. You can eat well, drink good red wine, and additionally Montevideo has a shoreline, which Buenos Aires lacks.
However Buenos Aires felt much more energetic, exciting, vast, and interesting.

You might find flying to Buenos Aires is cheaper and with more frequent flights than Montevideo. In fact, you can easily travel from Buenos Aires to either Colonia del Sacramento or Montevideo by hydrofoil.

My experience of flying LON – MAD – BOG was that MAD was a little chaotic and disordered, but generally fine.
Iberia Premium Economy was nice, and I managed to get some sleep on the overnight leg home.

I didn’t go to Punta del Este in Uruguay but this is where wealthy Argentines fly for sun, sea and more.

I was in the region for 10-11 days, and if I could do it over, I’d skip Colonia and Montevideo entirely. I would still do two days in Puerto Iguazu, with one day spent visiting the Brazilian side of the Iguazu falls and one day visiting the Argentine side.

I’d also add Patagonia to my itinerary, I didn’t visit the region and I wish I had.

If hiking isn’t your thing, my colleague spoke of hazy bike rides up and down hills in Malbec country (Mendoza) visiting wine producers.

[Richie]

There’s beach at Punta Del Este, not sure if it’ll be warm enough when you’ll be going.
Consider flights from MVD to BA’s AEP, more convenient than EZE for BA.
I always try to reply in Spanish to IB cabin crew.

[Mandy]

I have BA business booked going to Sao Paolo and returning from Buenos Aires this summer using 1 old style 241 and 1 new 241 for solo traveller. We have to fly from Inverness to London anyway, would there be any benefit to changing to go with IB via Madrid?
We are also going to Iguassu Falls for a couple of days and then to Buenos Aires and onto Montevideo.

[qc]

The old style 2-4-1 can’t be used from MAD.

[JDB]

Buenos Aires and Montevideo are not really comparable. From a travel perspective, Montevideo is a good gateway to Buenos Aires that is only three hours away by boat. Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world 100+ years ago, so has correspondingly grandiose streets, buildings, monuments etc. from that era as well as some more bohemian areas. The country may now be rather impoverished but remains a great city to visit for culture of all types, incredible cutting edge food including Italian (the heritage of most people rather than Spanish) superb Nikkei restaurants in addition to more traditional Argentine cuisine (not just meat) and incredible wines, the best of which aren’t exported and currently all at half price. The northwest is very dramatic, unspoilt and still pleasingly untouristy. Bariloche, Llao Llao, Villa Angostura and that lake area are some of the most beautiful places we have ever visited. Both areas have great hikes. Valdes peninsula for nature, south for glaciers (but better in Chile). And that’s just for starters.

Montevideo isn’t quite such a wow destination, still a nice city with a growing tourist industry but Uruguay itself is a fascinating country to visit, except for Punta del Este. It is very traditional and old fashioned in the best possible way. We have stayed a few times near Carmelo (where remarkably they have just built a new airport terminal) not far from Colonia mentioned above and the area is very beautiful and unspoilt with very few tourists and underrated bargain wine.

For booking redemptions in business on IB, married domestic segments (although rarely BCN) will often show better availability.

In response to the original question, if you only have 9 days I would stick to Argentina.

[damboy5]

Thanks everyone for your comments. Much appreciated and has helped me figure a few things out.

[Matt]

I’ve done 1 long haul return on Iberia in business class, and thought they were a bit better than BA. The food was good, service was good (not as good as a good BA crew, but at least as good as the average) and the seat (A330 I think) was definitely better than the old Club World you’d get on flights to EZE.

We’re going to Argentina later this year – we’ve booked MAD-EZE and EZE-MAD-LHR for avios (annoyingly just before the changes to the companion vouchers) so that we can check luggage through on the way back, but avoid high taxes and charges on the outbound. We’ve then got a cash booking LHR-MAD the night before the outbound.

[cin3]

IB over BA every single time. Obviously BsAs incomparable to Montevideo but if people haven’t found great culture in Monte they obviously haven’t been trying hard enough.

Patagonia is obviously amazing but you’d need at least a few weeks there to scratch the surface.

[kwho]

Travelling during Christmas & NYE to Buenos Aires.

Anyone has experience how to book reward flights on Aerolíneas Argentina from Buenos Aires to Montevideo? Amex MR transfers to where? Delta does not give me any reward seats on that short route. The ferry is costing GBP 2,300 per person return for 3 of us, which I am not sure it’s worth paying for a couple of days in Montevideo.

Any suggestions?

TIA

[JDB]

I think the ferry price you are quoting is wrong unless there’s some special NYE pricing. There’s a cheap ferry that’s open and the Buquebus that’s closed, insists on very early check-in and hot queuing. Price c.£30.

I have always paid cash for AR flights, abd with the blue dollar, I would be amazed if reward flights were cheaper.

Montevideo is a very different proposition to BsAs – it’s seriously quiet and non touristy, with a huge sea front to cycle along but I would say it’s more for adults who enjoy a very traditional atmosphere, good food, local music/theatre at low prices rather than having any must see sights. I’m not sure what it might be like at NYE, but probably even quieter. For a first visit to Uruguay, Colonia and Carmelo might be more interesting, but equally just so many possible side trips in Argentina.

[Michael C]

For me, Cabo Polonio is by far the most beautiful part of Uruguay.
Barrio Anglo is also cute & interesting…and v near Fray Bentos!

[kwho]

Yes, it was Buquebus which was giving me those crazy prices. So, that is closed? Interesting. A £30 fee for crossing is very good, not the £2k i was getting.

I note the comments about far more to do in BsAs. Especially with a young child. If anyone can recommend stuff to do within 1 hour of the city, I’d appreciate it.

Thank you again.

[qc]

We had a great 2 nights stay at this Estancia https://www.estanciaelombu.com/en/ which should be fascinating for a toddler. We also spent a night in the local town.

[qc]

qc wrote:

I suggest you have a view days in Colonia del Sacramento a lovely old town with interesting old architecture (avoid the weekends as it gets overrun with portends) .

I’ve just seen my typo – Portenos!

[redlilly]

kwho wrote:

Travelling during Christmas & NYE to Buenos Aires.

Anyone has experience how to book reward flights on Aerolíneas Argentina from Buenos Aires to Montevideo? Amex MR transfers to where? Delta does not give me any reward seats on that short route. The ferry is costing GBP 2,300 per person return for 3 of us, which I am not sure it’s worth paying for a couple of days in Montevideo.

Any suggestions?

TIA

Be aware that there is a not a lot “going on” over Christmas in Buenos Aires. Lots of people stay home with families etc. and a lot of restaurants and shops are closed during the festive period.

I would personally head in to the countryside of either Argentina or Uruguay over that period.

As someone said above, Montevideo is not exactly “happening”, but has lots of good food and a few interesting spots.

My personal highlight of Uruguay is the coastline between La Paloma and Punta Del Diablo. Absolutely stunning. Very easy to hire a car at Punta Del Este and drive up around here. The roads are super nice and also quiet to drive on.

[JDB]

kwho wrote:

Yes, it was Buquebus which was giving me those crazy prices. So, that is closed? Interesting. A £30 fee for crossing is very good, not the £2k i was getting.

I note the comments about far more to do in BsAs. Especially with a young child. If anyone can recommend stuff to do within 1 hour of the city, I’d appreciate it.

Thank you again.

When I referred to the Buquebus being closed, I probably should have said ‘enclosed’ dirty windows and no fresh air. The ordinary ferry is nicer but slower. You don’t give the age of the young child – the youngest we have been with was seven. B.A. is really a bit of a grown up place but our seven year old enjoyed La Boca (not sure we did though!) and as it was then our first trip we had a very good guide who engaged him. He enjoyed the tango show! Nowadays, Palermo is good fun as it’s always very lively, lots of music, colourful street shows etc. There are lots of nice parks/gardens with playgrounds. The Recoleta cemetery is rather intriguing for children. The Italian heritage of many Argentines ensures great pasta and gelato!

Colonia, mentioned above is good for a day trip. Tigre is another but I fear would be incredibly busy around Xmas.

[Biki]

Has anyone managed to book the ferry from BsAs to Montevideo lately? I was trying to book on the Buquebus website last night, but apart from it being pretty slow and clunky, I couldn’t get the payment to go through.

I tried with Chase, HSBC visa and Amex, but nothing. It seems to suggest that only Santander and some other banks are accepted. Any ideas?

[JDB]

Biki wrote:

Has anyone managed to book the ferry from BsAs to Montevideo lately? I was trying to book on the Buquebus website last night, but apart from it being pretty slow and clunky, I couldn’t get the payment to go through.

I tried with Chase, HSBC visa and Amex, but nothing. It seems to suggest that only Santander and some other banks are accepted. Any ideas?

It’s often difficult to book on Argentinian sites with a foreign card. Aerolíneas used to take them but no longer does. There’s also sometimes an issue with providing a CUIT/CUIL tax number. To get round it you may need to book via an agent or get your hotel to arrange it. It may also work on the Buquebus Uruguayan site although you will lose the benefit of the amazing ARS rate. People also use the Colonia Express to get to Montevideo from Bs As although it’s much longer (and Colonia to MVD on a bus), but enables you to visit Colonia en route.

[Biki]

JDB wrote:

Biki wrote:

Has anyone managed to book the ferry from BsAs to Montevideo lately? I was trying to book on the Buquebus website last night, but apart from it being pretty slow and clunky, I couldn’t get the payment to go through.

I tried with Chase, HSBC visa and Amex, but nothing. It seems to suggest that only Santander and some other banks are accepted. Any ideas?

It’s often difficult to book on Argentinian sites with a foreign card. Aerolíneas used to take them but no longer does. There’s also sometimes an issue with providing a CUIT/CUIL tax number. To get round it you may need to book via an agent or get your hotel to arrange it. It may also work on the Buquebus Uruguayan site although you will lose the benefit of the amazing ARS rate. People also use the Colonia Express to get to Montevideo from Bs As although it’s much longer (and Colonia to MVD on a bus), but enables you to visit Colonia en route.

Hi @JDB thanks for your help. I’ve seen another website called direct ferries, so might have to give them a go, or otherwise try the hotel or Uruguayan site as you say!

[AFKAE]

JDB wrote:

Biki wrote:

Has anyone managed to book the ferry from BsAs to Montevideo lately? I was trying to book on the Buquebus website last night, but apart from it being pretty slow and clunky, I couldn’t get the payment to go through.

I tried with Chase, HSBC visa and Amex, but nothing. It seems to suggest that only Santander and some other banks are accepted. Any ideas?

It’s often difficult to book on Argentinian sites with a foreign card. Aerolíneas used to take them but no longer does. There’s also sometimes an issue with providing a CUIT/CUIL tax number. To get round it you may need to book via an agent or get your hotel to arrange it. It may also work on the Buquebus Uruguayan site although you will lose the benefit of the amazing ARS rate. People also use the Colonia Express to get to Montevideo from Bs As although it’s much longer (and Colonia to MVD on a bus), but enables you to visit Colonia en route.

Yes, I couldn’t book a bus trip on an Argentinian site despite trying everything. Had to give up and get an agent to do it.

[Scott]

I think Colonia Express are generally considered better, so I’d used them if their crossings work for you.

I couldn’t pay with Mastercard online and after messaging them they called me back (on Whatsapp, the agent spoke English), still couldn’t get the payment to work, but when I tried with Visa it went through fine.

This was on the Uru site which was cheaper pre the ARS tourist rate being implemented.

[Biki]

I messaged Buquebus via whatsapp and they offered to call and book over the phone. They wouldn’t take Chse for some reason, but used HSBC visa credit card. I’ve had the email confirmation