Argentina itinerary- feedback wanted!
 

Hello Fodorites!

By reading past posts and doing a little web searching, I've come up with the following itinerary...any and all feedback is appreciated! We'll be traveling the last week in January and the first week of February.

Depart San Francisco on Saturday, arrive BA Sunday- connect to Mendoza

1 night in city of Mendoza, 3 nights in wine country (2 days tasting, 1 day rafting)

Fly to El Calafate- stay 4 nights

Fly to BA- stay 4 nights, departing late Friday night and arriving home Saturday.

I'm seriously agonizing over hotels in Palermo: Bobo or Home?? The rooms at Home look better and there's a pool, but Bobo's location seems preferrable. Thoughts? I'd like to book something asap as this is high season.

Hi ALG,
I'd spend my first night in BA, you never know about flight delays these days and it gives you a day to re-charge. Besides, the domestic airport is very close to DT.

We spent three nights in wine country, it's only 1/2 hour outside of Mendoza. Spent one afternoon there, it's a city. I would skip staying there and spend all the time in the wine burbs (a taxi is only 20 or 30 pesos). Was not that impressed by Mendoza, but loved the wine country. We spent one day wine tasting and one to the Andes.

I've heard you only need 2-3 nights in El Calafate.

If you do cut these places short, you should add Iguazu Falls, it is not to be missed. I also feel 4 nights at the end for BA is fine too. It's a great city, we usually do one or two days on either end of our vacations.

We stayed at Bobo and loved it. Very hip and like Palermo a lot. BA is very easy to get around, so you need not agonize over where to stay.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Ah...thanks for the tip. I didn't realize that the domestic flights leave from a different airport. Good to know! Our flight arrives around 9:30 am, but I'm not sure that 3 hours would be enough time to board a 12:30 pm flight for Mendoza (even if everything is on time). It looks like we'll split up our time in BA.

I think I have room to add the Falls, but I'm afraid of spending too much time in the airport. A quick review on Aerolineas shows that pretty much every domestic flight goes through BA- so that would be BA to Mendoza, back to BA to get to the falls, then back to BA to get to Patagonia, and then back to BA.

Is there an easier way?

Not that I'm aware of, I would fly to Iguazu first, then go from there either to Mendoza or El Calafate. At least you'd be going North, than South.

We've used a travel agent from BA for both our trips, she always works out the best logistics!

Hey alg!

If you're flying with Aerolineas Argentinas you should consider delay in their flights.

Have you think of flying to Ushuaia and then on the way back to Buenos Aires stop over Calafate... ? Calafate and Ushuaia are on the same route, so maybe you would maximize your time!.

I wouldn't recommend you to stay 4 days in El Calafate, it's a little town although beautiful. I would give it max 2 days.

Many thanks for the suggestions. We've done a bit of tweaking (and then tweaked again when I realized one of our two wine tasting days fell on a Sunday). So, this is what we have now:

Arrive Sun- overnight in BA (this takes care of the Sunday/winery conflict).

3 nights Villa la Angostura

3 nights El Calafate

3 nights Mendoza

3 nights Buenos Aires

depart late at night on the 4th day in BA.

What do you think? Is this pass an improvement?

Hi Alg

I would reverse El Calafate and Baraloche (Villa La Angostura). There are flights El Calafate to Bariloche. This will enable you to make the connection in BA when you fly Bariloche to Mendoza. There are many flights Bariloche to BA. Also consider staying at Llao Llao instead of Villa la Angostura. Villa is much further from the airport and you will get more out of your 3 days by staying at Llao Llao. Llao Llao will pick you up and take you to the airport. It is a great place to stay and the activities are all right there. Also take in the Sunday market at San Telmo. It will get you off to a great start in BA. You might consider making you stay in BA 2 days and 3 days.
Hope this helps.
Gary

Hi Alg
Seeing that you are from NoCal with Napa-Sonoma, I would sub Mendoza with Iguazu. Iguazu falls is one of the great sights in the world. There would be no more airport time. Still fly to El Calafate 1st.Have a glass of Malbec Luigi Basca at El Cabrera in Palermo with your Bife de Lomo.
Gary

I agree that Iguazu is not to be missed and if you have done California wine country tours you will find the tourist infrastructure primative by comparison (improving but still primative). I also agree that Llao Llao is an option worth considering...beautiful setting and superb service!

La Cabrera in Palermo Soho is indeed a good place to go for a steak, but I prefer the Bife de Chorizo over the Lomo....and one glass of Luigi Bosca Malbec is not enough :) Order a bottle of Luigi Bosca DOC....

Salta is wines, Salta is amazing sceneries, Salta is traditions, SAlta is delicious empanadas, Salta is folk music... SAlta is GREAT!
For a next visit...
Flintstones

I like that idea of skipping Mendoza for Iguazu Falls..even though I have not been to Mendoza, I have been to Napa..but I have never been to a Falls as amazing as Iguazu.

dr dawggy, we went to La Cabrera Monday afternoon, they were closed (weeping)..so we had lunch at Cluny.
Will go back when La Cabrera ( corner of Cabrera and Borges) is open but I highly recommend at least lunch at Cluny ((F)) Scarlett

Thanks for the correction drdawgy. I did have Bife de Chorizo (two different dinners along with a bottle of Luigi Basca Malbec)at La Cabrera on my trip to BA last April. I did this based on a recommendation of yours on this form.I wrote lomo during a senior moment.

Hi, drdawggy!
Wondering what a "primative" structure can possibly be?
A structure built by local primates?
LOL!!!!

Thanks for all the info! Our initial interest in visiting Argentina was Mendoza so that portion needs to stay :-). We also have 4 friends traveling with us so the timing depends a bit on their availability.

Now, we are staying 3 nights BA, 3 at Eolo near El Calafate (2 full days of glacier trekking), 3 near Bariloche, 3 in Mendoza, then our friends leave and we'll stay one more night in BA.

We will save Iguazu and Salta for our next trip!