Argentina - The Rough Guide to South America on a Budget - page 49

INFORMATION AND MAPS
Argentina's main National Tourist O ce
is at Santa Fe 883 in Buenos Aires
(Mon-Fri 9am-5pm; T 011 4312 2232,
W

and supermarkets - never in taxis - and
look out for counterfeit money. Check
your notes for a watermark, and that the
number is printed in shiny green.
Argentina has an unpredictable
economy , with high inflation and
currency controls. The situation is fluid,
and it's advisable to check the latest
situation before you travel. At the time
of writing there were two dollar/peso
exchange rates - an official rate, used by
AT M s ( cajeros automáticos ) and exchange
offices, and an increasingly divergent
black market (“blue”) rate, which you
will be offered (illegally) in the street. If
you offer to pay cash dollars for services
such as hotels, tours etc they will often
give you a rate just short of the blue rate,
that equates to a substantial discount
(as much as 50 percent), so you may wish
to take a supply of dollars with you.
ATMs are plentiful in Argentina, though
you can sometimes be caught out in very
remote places, especially in the northwest.
Travellers' cheques are not really a viable
option as few banks accept them.
At the official rate of exchange,
Argentina currently ranks as a fairly
expensive destination by Latin American
standards, though it's still cheaper than
Brazil and, if you travel outside the main
tourist areas, you can still find some
surprisingly good bargains.

1

turismo.gov.ar) and offers maps of the
country and general information about
getting around. Every province maintains
a Casa de Provincia in Buenos Aires too,
where you can pick up information
about what there is to see or do, prior to
travelling. The standard of information
you'll glean from them varies wildly,
often reflecting the comparative wealth
of a given province.
The clearest and most accurate map
of the whole country is the one you can
get free from the national tourist office;
it's called Rutas de la Argentina and has
small but clear inset maps of twenty
towns and cities as well as a 1:2,500,000
national map, the ideal scale for most
travellers. Another useful resource for
route planning is the website W ruta0
.com. The ACA (Automóvil Club,
W

aca.org.ar) produces individual maps
for each province, which vary enormously
in detail and accuracy; the regional maps
or route planners the club publishes may
be enough for most travellers.

MONEY AND BANKS
he Argentine peso is divided into one
hundred centavos. In Argentina, it's
represented by the dollar sign ($) but to
avoid confusion we have used the symbol
AR$ throughout this section. Notes
come in 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 peso
denominations, and 1 and 2 peso and 5,
10, 25 and 50 centavo coins are also in
circulation. Guard your loose change in
Buenos Aires as you will need it for the
buses. Try to cash large notes in hotels

OPENING HOURS AND HOLIDAYS
Most shops and services are open
Monday to Friday from 9am to 7pm, and
Saturday till 2pm, although later in large
towns, including Buenos Aires. In smaller
towns they may close at some point
during the afternoon for between one
and five hours - sometimes offset by later
closing times in the evening, especially in
the summer. Supermarkets seldom close
during the day and are generally open
much later, often until 8 or 10pm, and
on Saturday afternoons. Large shopping
malls don't close before 10pm and their
food and drink sections ( patios de comida )
may stay open as late as midnight. Most
of them open on Sundays, too. Banks
mostly open on weekdays only, from
10am to 5pm, while casas de cambio

STUDENT AND YOUTH
DISCOUNTS
An ISIC card will entitle students of any
age (over 12) to substantial discounts
for many museums, travel and cultural
events, as well as other services. See
W isic.com.ar for details. For travel
discounts, contact Asatej T 011 4114
7595, W asatej.com.ar.