Buenos Aires to Patagonia: money, steaks, distances, when to go, traveler tips, and mobile data via eSIM.
Secure, effective and private eSIMs across the globe
Argentina is a capital that eats dinner at 10pm, a waterfall that out-noises conversation, and a south that looks like the end of the world on purpose. Buenos Aires is tango, steak, wine and neighborhoods you will pick a favorite of. Mendoza is the glass. Iguazú is the roar. Patagonia is the wind and the reason you packed a better jacket.
The money situation changes. Cards and official rates are the calm way; cash still appears in the conversation. Ask a recent traveler or your hotel how people are paying this month, and do not take financial advice from a man at the airport with a backpack full of stories.
Distances are Australian. Fly Buenos Aires–Patagonia or Buenos Aires–Iguazú. A bus is a story; a flight is a morning. Stay long enough in one barrio to have a regular café.
Eat the steak, drink the Malbec, try a medialuna at 5pm, and do not show up to dinner at 7. The city is not ready for you yet.
Essentials
Traveler tips
Real advice from people who have been to Argentina, curated by our team with links to the original sources.
A restaurant that fills at 7pm is feeding tourists. Locals sit down after 9 or 10. Have a late afternoon ice cream, a vermouth, and then the steak. You will sleep better and eat better.
The informal rate is a local saga that shifts. Use ATMs, cards, and whatever official or hotel-endorsed method is current. A man saying 'friend, better price' is not your CFO.
El Calafate, Bariloche, Ushuaia — fly. The bus is 20+ hours of a story you will tell once. Spend the days you saved on a glacier or a lake, not a reclining seat.
Walk the walkways, take the boat if the water is up, and start early. The Brazilian side is the wide postcard. Border rules depend on your passport — check before you assume you can hop.
Palermo and San Telmo are the usual (and good) bases. Once you have a café, a bookstore and a parrilla you would return to, Buenos Aires starts working. Recoleta is prettier and quieter. Puerto Madero is a waterfront that could be anywhere.
TripAdvisor Forums
The old move — haul a brick of dollars to pay the room at the informal rate — is no longer the default. Foreign Visa and Mastercard now clear at a tourist conversion that regulars treat as close enough, and hotels take the plastic. Bring some notes for taxis and the stall that still wants pesos, not a suitcase of bills for four nights in Palermo. Confirm the card works at reception before you wander Florida Street looking for a shouty cambio.
View sourceTripAdvisor Forums
Café de los Angelitos, El Querandí and El Viejo Almacén will sell you a seated spectacle. Most of those kitchens are not why you came — book the show alone and eat a parrilla first, unless someone you trust names an exception. A milonga is the other night: a floor, a live band if you are lucky, and porteños who came to dance. Take a lesson that afternoon if you want to be on the floor instead of at a banquet table.
View sourceFAQ
Dinner is 9:30. Have ice cream at five. Fly to Patagonia; do not bus 20 hours for the plot. Unlocked iPhone XS, Pixel 3 or Galaxy S20+ take an Argentina eSIM; a country-only plan may die on a Colonia or Iguazú hop.
City maps and a Patagonia photo habit: 1–2 GB a day, so 15–20 GB for two weeks. Bus movies and hotspotting the hostel push you up.
Towns are fine. The steppe, glacier roads and some lake circuits are not. Download offline maps before you leave El Calafate or Bariloche.
Possible, with ID. An eSIM is simpler for a two-week visit and avoids a shopping trip on day one when you would rather be eating.
Only on a regional plan that lists those countries. A Colonia hop or the Brazilian side of Iguazú can drop a country-only plan. Check the list.
eSIM plans
Uber, a Subte map and a message to the asado that is 'around 10': Argentina is a phone country. An eSIM is online at EZE before you hit the taxi chaos, without a SIM shop that wants to explain the peso to you.
Get enough data for maps and translations. The steak will not require a signal. Finding the second parrilla will.