Tour guide in Buenos Aires, and other BA suggestions?

[Turtles06]

We'll have a couple of days in Buenos Aires next January; we're experienced travelers, but have never been to South America before.

 

Can anyone recommend a private tour guide for BA?

 

Also -- would appreciate thoughts on "must do/must see" things in our short time there.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[no fuss travel]

We used Virginia Panetta while in Buenos Aires and recommend her highly. I found out about her through Trip Advisor and she came very highly recommended. email address is privatebatours@yaholl.com.ar She has a website http://www.privatebatours.com We saw more in a day that the cruise ship tours did for about 70% of the cost of a cruise ship tour.

[sammiedawg]

We used Defrantur for a private all day tour, tango show and Tigre Delta tour. They did an excellent job. We saw the main square, the cathedral, subway ride, La Boca, San Telmo, Palermo, Recoleta, the cemetary , an Evita museum as part of the city tour.

Nearly everyone we met had done a tango show, many good ones to choose from.

Try to eat at an Argentinian steak house, fabulous food.

[HDS]

The hop-on-hop-off bus worked well for us when we visited in February 2012. One circuit to get orientated, then hop off and explore where ever we pleased. A two-day ticket cost less than $US20.

The recently restored Teatro Colon (opera house) was stunning, Recoletta Cemetry was an interesting place to wander and speculate about other families' history and relationships. Casa Rosada (the president's building) had good tours, weekends only, which included "Evita's balcony". Excellent art collections, Museo de Arte Latinamericano also had a great restaurant for lunch. We were fascinated by the milonga at Confiteria Ideal where the Portenos enjoyed their beloved tango but others prefer the glitz and pzzaz of a professional tango show.

We're not great shoppers, we bought the obligatory take-home gifts at Galerias Pacifico on Florida.

For us the thrall of Buenos Aires was its magnificent buildings, a legacy of the huge wealth of the late 1800s and early 1900s. We enjoyed wandering and had to remind ourselves daily that we were not in Europe. Stark contrast to the housing on the roads to the airports and on the fringe of the city.

[John Bull]

Can't help with guides, we prefer to DIY - pretty easy in B.A. But hail metered cabs in the road, avoid the rip-off fixed-price taxis parked-up at the cruise terminal gates.

 

The amazing necropolis at Recoletta, kinda like the one in New Orleans, so much more to it than just Eva Peron's family mausoleum (look for Famille Duarte on the layout plan by the entrance, it's not prominent or easy to find)

Casa Rosada (the "Pink Palace") and near it Cafe Tortone & the pedestrian street of Florida with its stalls.

The colourful bohemian district of Boca, with its tango cafes. But stick to the tourist streets & don't go near the place at night.

 

JB :)

[Turtles06]

Thank you all for the suggestions!

[HDS]

Agree with JB about taxis. The taxis we hailed in the streets downtown, domestic airport and the inner suburbs were metered and very good value. So good we stopped trying to work out how to buy bus and train tickets with our limited Spanish.

Exception was the international airport. Taxi booth and touts outside were very aggressive and quoted $US100 for trip to town. We retreated inside and arranged private car (remiss) with Manual Tienda Leon for less than half that. There is a taxi booth inside international terminal where taxis are available for reasonable price but jet lagged, we missed it.

Know nothing about the cruise terminal.

[willis]

My Dad and I hired Madi Lang of BA Cultural Concierge ( baculturalconcierge.com ) back in January/February 2010 for a four day pre-cruise and one day post cruise visit.

 

Madi is American and speaks fluent Spanish. She leads private tours , or will make arrangements for specialty tours. She'll handle all of your transfer arrangements, including for those who have mobility problems (which was very helpful in our case). She'll book estancia visits and other day-trips, as well as tango shows and other entertainment. Madi will even accompany you to dinner, shopping, or on your day trips, to translate for you and provide great company. Dad and I spent a lot of time with Madi and loved every minute!

 

I posted some photos of our time in BA on Picasa Web Albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/101896291710545146815/BuenosAiresJanuary2010# I've also posted a Buenos Aires trip report: http://www.fodors.com/community/south-america/trip-reportbuenos-aires-fun-city-lovely-hotel-wonderful-guide.cfm .

 

Madi's receiving great reviews on the Tripadvisor website, including mine dated April 9th, 2010. Here's that link:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g312741-d1738497-r127480782-BA_Cultural_Concierge-Buenos_Aires_Capital_Federal_District.html#REVIEWS .

 

Madi also loves to write about Buenos Aires. You'll find several of her articles on her BA Cultural Concierge website, plus she also has a BA Blog. Here's a link to her blog: http://buenosairestripplanning.blogspot.com/ .

 

I hope this helps...Happy planning!

 

Bill

[dr__dawggy]

Agree with JB about taxis. The taxis we hailed in the streets downtown, domestic airport and the inner suburbs were metered and very good value. So good we stopped trying to work out how to buy bus and train tickets with our limited Spanish.

Exception was the international airport. Taxi booth and touts outside were very aggressive and quoted $US100 for trip to town. We retreated inside and arranged private car (remiss) with Manual Tienda Leon for less than half that. There is a taxi booth inside international terminal where taxis are available for reasonable price but jet lagged, we missed it.

Know nothing about the cruise terminal.

 

This is a very, very important distinction....never, ever take a cab from the curb at the international airport. Always arrange transfers from one of the remise (private car) companies inside or from the blue/white taxi booth in the main terminal (Taxi Ezeiza).

[JNB]

Visted BA 2 years ago.

Did the Hop On/Hop Off

Used the transport offered by the hotel; was reasonable.

Used taxis called to the hotel by the front desk.

Walked a lot and felt safe everywhere-simply avoided the parts of the city that we were told to avoid.

Used the local train to visit Tigre; was very simple to buy the ticket at the train station and very cheap.

[pmacher61]

We'll have a couple of days in Buenos Aires next January; we're experienced travelers, but have never been to South America before.

Can anyone recommend a private tour guide for BA?

Also -- would appreciate thoughts on "must do/must see" things in our short time there.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

1. To get a bit of a read on BA spend some time looking the BA Herald, a local English language daily that provides a pretty good sketch of what is going on locally and nationally. http://www.buenosairesherald.com/

 

2. Unable to access the international lending markets (because of its still uncured bond default back in 2001), the AR government has tried to stop the outflow of capital especially US dollars. To achieve this it has adopted severe restrictions on imports which have led to the US, EU, Mexico and Japan all filing complaints against AR with the WTO. This has caused a spike in the cost of imported goods (when available at all) and has fueled inflation which has already averaged about 30% per year for the last three years.

 

The AR government has also placed severe restrictions on the purchase of officially priced US dollars even for those needing them for international travel. Consequently, not only is there a black market for US cash, but the central bank of AR, wearied of having to sell US dollars at the official rate (which it does when settling accounts with the VISA/Mastercard interchanges) has also just recently adopted some harsh tax laws (apparently by Executive office fiat) on users of AR debit and creditcards. These laws have made the locals very dissatisfied with Pres. CFK (i.e. Cristina Fernadez Kirchner or, as she is derisively known, KFC).

 

AR creditcard holders now pay a 15% surcharge on all purchases made outside the country with their plastic and must pay an additional 50% duty on the combined cost of all goods totalling over US$ 300 purchased with AR plastic which are then brought into the country. Not content to rely of customs officals to ascertain and collect this tax, the government will apparently be examining cardholder bank/card statements in order to determine the amount due. These measures will not effect other nation's cardholders, but may explain the gloomy mood of the BA man on the street you perceive during your visit.

 

3. I used to do volunteer work for the BA Herald. Oscar Medina is a fluent bilingual Argie who currently works there (at night) as an editor. He would make a great guide for the experienced and curious traveler. He can be reached at olmedina88 @ hotmail dot com. Oscar is writing a compendium of food related terms - he's an interesting guy who is not your typical guide.

 

4. Must see/must do? Eat a steak, hear and see some tango, shop for antiques/art (check out the work of the La Boca school made famous by "Kiki" Martin - http://listado.mercadolibre.com.ar/cuadros-benito-martinez ), leather goods, if rainy go to MALBA or Museum of Belle Artes, ride a bike around Palermo parks, San Telmo or Mataderos street fair or arts/crafts fair at plaza in front of Recoleta cemetary, eat another steak.

[pmacher61]

In addtion to Martin whose originals are now 6 figures , check out the more affordable work of his students < Osvaldo and Dalmi Imperiale. See http://listado.mercadolibre.com.ar/osvaldo-imperiale and http://listado.mercadolibre.com.ar/dalmi-imperiale

Also the very fine and affordable work of that drunkard, Octavio Rojo (http://www.artnet.com/artists/octavio-rojo/past-auction-results

[pmacher61]

"State-run banks and agencies will be the only ones officially allowed to operate foreign currency exchange offices in airports and ports, the Central Bank announced yesterday. Each foreign traveller will be allowed to change up to US$500 dollars on arrival in Argentina, the Central Bank said."...

"President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner imposed currency exchange controls last year which have since been tightened considerably. Buying dollars and other foreign currency is virtually banned. Argentines travelling abroad must request AFIP approval to purchase dollars at the official rate. Travellers are usually sold 70-100 dollars for every day they will spend abroad."

 

When I'm in BA, I trade my US$ at my local grocery. The owners are happy to do so at close to the widely published unofficial rate (now 6.35 and sure to rise based upon the government's policies).

[Turtles06]

We used Virginia Panetta while in Buenos Aires and recommend her highly. I found out about her through Trip Advisor and she came very highly recommended. email address is privatebatours@yaholl.com.ar She has a website www.privatebatours.com We saw more in a day that the cruise ship tours did for about 70% of the cost of a cruise ship tour.

 

Now that we've returned from our trip, I wanted to circle back on my thread here and report that we did use Virginia Panetta as our guide, and she was terrific! Not only did we spend a wonderful day and a half touring with her, but she arranged for a car to pick us up at the airport, and also suggested a great steak house (parrilla) for us and other places to eat, etc.

 

Thank you " no fuss travel" for recommending Virginia. I strongly second that recommendation!

[Just adding that there's a typo in No Fuss's email address for Virginia; her correct address is: virginiapanetta@yahoo.com.ar]

[marilynfaye]

We had a wonderful day with Maria Angeles Fernandez. Her email address is: privatetoursba@hotmail.com or check out her website: http://privatetoursba.wordpress.com/

[ncsongbird]

We did 2 different private walking tours with Buenos Tours and were very happy with both tours. One was with Oliver for the Half day City Center Historical tour and the other was with Jessica for the half day Recoleta & Cemetery Tour. The company if very helpful and prompt with any questions we had and both tours were full of information, covered everything we wanted to see and were lots of fun.

 

http://www.buenostours.com

[Bethcb]

We did 2 different private walking tours with Buenos Tours and were very happy with both tours. One was with Oliver for the Half day City Center Historical tour and the other was with Jessica for the half day Recoleta & Cemetery Tour. The company if very helpful and prompt with any questions we had and both tours were full of information, covered everything we wanted to see and were lots of fun.

 

http://www.buenostours.com

 

We had Jessica for a full day. Highly recommend.

[bobzee]

check out http://www.theargentineexperience.com, a fun interactive dining experience with lots of local culture info, and the best empanada and steak we had in argentina.

You can also exchange dollars for pesos on the street for about 7.5 pesos to the dollar, in the main shopping areas you will be approached, just make sure you know how to detect conterfeits

[travelingjerry]

Now that we've returned from our trip, I wanted to circle back on my thread here and report that we did use Virginia Panetta as our guide, and she was terrific! Not only did we spend a wonderful day and a half touring with her, but she arranged for a car to pick us up at the airport, and also suggested a great steak house (parrilla) for us and other places to eat, etc.

 

Thank you " no fuss travel" for recommending Virginia. I strongly second that recommendation!

[Just adding that there's a typo in No Fuss's email address for Virginia; her correct address is: virginiapanetta@yahoo.com.ar]

 

We strongly endorse the above recommendations. Virginia provided our group of eight with every thing we had requested and more in our three day visit. At times our group can be like herding cats and she managed quite well. She handled all of our transfers seamlessly. She was always on top of what we were doing, even at night when we were on our own. You can not find a more thorough guide.

[Mtreas99]

I can highly recommend Madi Lang from BA Cultural Concierge. She is quite knowledgable, personable, and will handle all details!

[4774Papa]

Regarding the disparity in official and unofficial rate. Is it possible to use cash (US$) to pay for tours, meals, other items while in Argentina?

 

Are there ATMs available to exchange if needed or should we exchange at the airport?

 

Also, can we find a tour that doesn't focus too much on Evita?

[Turtles06]

Regarding the disparity in official and unofficial rate. Is it possible to use cash (US$) to pay for tours, meals, other items while in Argentina?

 

We were just there in January and oh yes do folks want our US dollars. In fact, our guide in advance quoted her price to us in US dollars and told us to pay her that way. Street merchants selling souvenirs readily took US dollars. We did have some pesos with us, so we used them to pay for taxis and smaller meals, and so we didn't try using USD for that...

 

 

Also, can we find a tour that doesn't focus too much on Evita?

 

This question made me laugh, because I'm a big Evita fan, and I had a running joke with our guide about this, because it was pretty clear that a lot of Argentinians are tired of tourists asking "which balcony?" About the funniest thing, though, was when we were in La Recoleta cemetery, and some Brazilian tourists came up to our guide and asked her, in Spanish, how to get to Evita's tomb. Cracked me up; it's not just American tourists!

 

My point: especially if you have a private guide (we loved ours,btw, see my post earlier in this thread), you can do whatever you want. And a huge chunk of what is great to see in BA is not about Evita. (For example, don't miss the interior of the Teatro Colon -- go on the hour when they do a tour in English.)

[dr__dawggy]

]Regarding the disparity in official and unofficial rate. [/b] Is it possible to use cash (US$) to pay for tours' date=' meals, other items while in Argentina?[/quote']

 

There is a post from last Sept. that mentioned an informal rate of 6.3. That rate has gone up to 8.4-8.5 vs a formal rate of 5 pesos per dollar.

 

Best to have some pesos as some venues do not take dollars (taxis taken from the street) while others insist on payment in dollars (hotels, tour guides) and still others take either currency.

 

Re: your other question. It is possible to spend many days touring BA without mentioning Eva Peron. There are specialized tours organized around different interests--Graffiti and street art, food and wine, architecture, Jewish or Muslim Buenos Aires, a trip to the cattle auction barn, tango, and "undiscovered" barrios, and historic cafes to name just a few of the myriad of options. The beauty of working with an individual guide, such as the ones mentioned in this thread, is you can tailor a tour to suit your interests.

[SmartTraveller]

We'll have a couple of days in Buenos Aires next January; we're experienced travelers, but have never been to South America before.

 

Can anyone recommend a private tour guide for BA?

 

Also -- would appreciate thoughts on "must do/must see" things in our short time there.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

When last in BA two years ago, my friend and I used Pablo Piera. An absolutely delightful man, educated, knowledgeable about his city and willing to tailor his tour to your interests. He was fun too! We danced the tango on the stage at Cafe Tortoni, had a great lunch at El Obero, ran ahead of a funeral that seemed to be following us around Recoleta cemetery, rode the old style underground line, visited so many places..it was a day I will never forget - to see this amazing city through the eyes of someone who lives there

 

His email is: Pablo Piera <pablopiera@gmail.com>

 

Independently of Pablo, we also did an Eva Peron tour which included a visit to the museum that is run by her family and supporters. Very interesting and very moving...

[ozscotart]

We arrived in BA off the Veendam on the day of the general strike (20 Nov 2012). We had fortunately booked the tour with Maximo to do a city tour and transfer to the airport for our flight to Iguassu that afternoon. We had been told on the ship that our flight was going. We were met by Natalie and our driver at the dock. Natalie spoke very good English ! She informed us that the domestic airport was closed due to the strike. Natalie was very helpful to us : we arrived the day of the general strike and were supposed to be flying to Iguassu that afternoon. She contacted the airline, confirmed our flights were cancelled and assisted us with sorting out our hotel with our travel agent before starting the tour. The tour itself was great and she seemed to pay close attention to our interests, pointing out places of greater interest to us. We later met up with other folk from our ship who had had a tour at the same time on the hop-on hop-off bus and they said they were forced to get off and walk around the demonstrators (very alarming) while we were chauffeured around in complete safety. Our driver seemed to keep in touch with others who were informed of the developing situation with the strikers. We ended up spending 5 days in BA due to our Iguassu package being cancelled, and we eventually realised that we had seen pretty well everything there, from the outside at least. Natalie also took us on the mandatory tour to Evita's mausoleum in Recoleta. Highly recommended.

http://www.batourguide.com.ar/