Continuing from before...
We started our Argentina trip from Patagonia and had to dedicate a whole post for it. You can check it out here.
Day 8 Buenos Aires - San Telmo
After a life changing experience and crossing off the ultimate bucket list item- Antarctica (You can read about our experience of lifetime here and how to prepare for it here), we landed back in Buenos Aires to explore this cultural and trendy Tango city.
We stayed at uniquely architected Anselmo hotel in historic San Telmo district. You can quite literally step out from hotel and explore cobbled streets around Plaza Dorrego, enjoying antiques fair of San Telmo and walk to major attractions of Buenos Aires. Every Sunday they have the famous San Temlo Fair the whole day right in front of the hotel and in evening the streets light up with performers of all kind. You get a complete feel of the Argentinian culture.
Day 9- Buenos Aires- Plaza De Mayo, Recoleta
For our second day in Bueno, we decided to check out the city by walking around and exploring many of the historic spots around. We headed towards Plaza de Mayo, where we saw Casa Rosada, their presidential building. Next we entered the famous church - Catedral Metropolitana de Buenos Aires. The stop after was Obelisco, the landmark obelisk made from Cordoba white stone. Just walking around smaller pockets in Bueno, gives a great sense of how culturally rich this country might have been in the past. At the end of long morning exploration, we had plans to meet a local friend who took us to the famous restaurant in town and treated us with the local delicacy - Milanese de Pollo. Post lunch we went to another interesting area of the city called - Recoleta. It is famous for Cementerio de la Recoleta - cemetery for the affluent. It has mausoleums of many famous Argentinian notable people and their families under their own vaults. It is very unique kind of spot and definitely worth the visit.
Day 10- Buenos Aires- Floralis Genérica, Palermo, NYE Tango Show
It was our third day in Bueno, and it still had so much we had not yet explored. We started our day by visiting a very unique structure called Floralis Genérica. It is a 105 foot wide giant metallic flower, made of steel and aluminum, and architected in a way that it blooms each morning when the sun rises and closes at the sunset. Our next spot was Palermo shopping district, a chic neighborhood. It had tons of shops and restaurants to hangout. We came back to San Telmo after that and checked out GalerÃa Solar de French, a pictursque spot and shopping arcade. The evening arrived and we were all dressed up in the costumes for our New Year`s eve traditional Tango Show - El Querandi. It was a great show, showcasing the rise and shine of Tango in this country.
Day 11- Iguazu falls - Devils Throat
We jumped on early morning flight to Iguazu falls, located on north-most side of Argentina and surrounded by tropical forests. It was drastic change of scenery for us coming from Ushuaia to Iguazu.
After checking in the hotel we immediately headed out to the park. It is a 30 min taxi ride from the town and park also closes visitors entry around 4.30, so you need to plan you itinerary accordingly. Usually taxis are difficult to find on your own because of language barrier, but the hotel staff is usually pretty helpful and they will book a cab for you for the whole day or even the entire stay as per your convenience.
Once inside the park, it is quite spread out and you can hop on the train which takes to different visitor spots. We went straight to Devil’s throat and soaked figuratively and quite literally in the magnificent and vast Iguazu falls.
Day 12- Iguazu falls- jungle tour and lower trail
Next day, after breakfast, we reached park again and boarded jungle cruise truck. Make sure you prebook this, as it can be tricky to get it on the spot. It takes you through deep forests of park and gives some information about wildlife in the park. The tour ends at the base of this majestic Iguazu falls boat tour. The speed boat then takes you up close to the falls and drenches you completely in its enormous existence. Its a ride worthwhile. We ended the day at Marco das Três Fronteiras, the tri border area shared by 3 countries - Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.
Day 13- Mendoza Vineyard horseback riding (Gaucho Style)
Our next destination was the wine county of Argentina - Mendoza. The wine region of Argentina has very different vibe than that of Napa or Italy for that matter. It is very secluded and so has very indigenous experience. We reached our hotel for the night - Casa Glebinias , which was an antique homestay in the countryside. Our first vineyard visit was Bodegas Nieto Senetiner, where we started the day with horseback riding with a personal tour of the vineyards. After the tour we indulged in some amazing Malbec and artisanal cheese. Next we went to Bodega Viamonte to taste their high end wines with some Argentinian bites. Usually most of the vineyards in Mendoza require reservations to be made at least a day or two in advance, and they pair the tour along with special lunch. Very handful of vineyards have walk-in available so make sure you plan accordingly.
Day 14- Mendoza explored local vineyard and drive through the countryside
Next day we visited Alta Vista, a French style vineyard famous for its picnic style lunches, in exclusive garden area overlooking the vineyards. They also had an outdoor Argentinian style barbecue corner with chefs cooking right in front of you and bringing you gourmet lunches. After that we headed out for a long drive along the country side, viewing the vineyard region spread all along.
Day 15- La Boca, el caminito
Our last day of the trip was here and we wanted to have that one last plunge in the Argentinian culture, so we decided to spend the day in colorful district of La Bocca in Bueno city. They had famous Sunday fair going on in the main square at Caminito de la Boca. We spent hours enjoying the local food and engrossing ourselves in the Tango vibes filled in the air all around. It was time to head back home after a fantastic experience in this culturally rich country down south.
Logistics
Season- Being in southern hemisphere, Argentinian summer coincides with Christmas holidays in USA and this makes Argentina a perfect destination to escape the cold up north. Days are long with 18 hours of daylight in Patagonia, and bright sunny days in Buenos Aires.
Visa- You need to go for in person interview at nearest Argentina Consulate to get tourist visa. Appointment can be made via email correspondence and it might take few weeks before slot opens up, so would encourage to start process sooner than later. Some of our friends were able to get the visa via video interview as well, so you might want to check that option with the consulate in advance.
Flights- Argentina is vast country and distances are long so flights are most efficient means of transportation and it has big network of low cost carriers, so definitely take advantage of it. (We got some of the flights for <30 dollars.) They also have first class sleeper coach buses which will drive you overnight to your destinations, so it might be affordable option for certain situations as you can skip booking accommodations during the night transports.
Cars- We highly recommend to rent car in Patagonia as it will let you enjoy the magnificent landscapes and will help you utilize maximum sunlight. However catch here is, its difficult to find rental cars with automatic transmission and stick (manual) will be ubiquitous choice. However roads are well built and traffic is next to none, so it's not that difficult to drive around.
Language- Well if you don't speak Spanish, you are out of luck. Only in Buenos Aires you will find some English speaking people. For rest of the country you will need to rely on some translation app or universal language of hand gestures. Alternately you can pre book English speaking tours which will make your experience smooth.