Buenos Aires Hotels
 

I'm searching for a hotel in BA for the last week of March. Hotels.com is giving me a lot of "Kempinski" hotels, and the Claridge Hotel keeps popping up as well. Has anyone experienced either of these?

Any other suggestions are appreciated as well. I'm looking for under $200 (US) per night, in a neighborhood with plenty of shopping and nightlife. I hope I didn't wait too long to book something!

Thanks in advance!

There are severak Kempinski hotel scatered around town. I understand that they are ok but rooms tend to be a little on the small side.
The Claridge is a wellkwon hotel but its location is a little of Recoleta more in the old downtown. Its bar used to be the most wellknown in Bs As. I think you would need inf from people that recently stayed in these hotels.

I would suggest doing a search on www.sidestep.com for hotels in your price range for the exact dates of your travel. Sidestep includes hotels.com and several other hotel sites thus allowing you to comparison shop.

There should still be ample space available for late March. The Kempinski hotels get widely differing reviews...apparantly some of the rooms are much better than others and some of the hotels are better than others. The Claridge is in the middle of downtown Buenos Aires, as Graziella notes.

Other options include: Esplendor and Esplendor Palermo, the Bobo, Home Hotel, Dazzler Tower, and the NH Lancaster...there are probably other choices but these are all solid options....

I would suggest highly the Holiday Inn Express Puerto Madero / Centro area. We stayed there for 8 nights back in early November. The staff is fantastic and helpful all the time. The hotel is walking distance to Florida Street, the large mall, many restaurants and the Port area, ferry to Uraguy. A quick 5 minute cab ride to San Telmo, Recoletta etc. You can rent a remise or cab from EZE airport $75 pesos

The rooms are very modern and clean and a little larger than you may expect (compareing to Europe).

They have a large breakfast area and free use of several internet computer stations.

We felt safe at night in the area as well.

I am not sure of the price because I used free nights from Priority Club points. But I am sure it is well below $200US.

We cannot wait to go back hopefuly next December.

Good Luck,
RC

i just returned from nine nights at the melia buenos aires, at 945 reconquista. it is in retiro/microcentro near puerto madero (there are two melias, a bit confusing) the room was beautiful, modern and inviting. the bathroom was surprisingly large, with separate doors to the fabulous shower and w.c/bidet. we stayed in a newer section of the hotel, with impressive floor-to-ceiling cherry and maple doors and wider hallways. the only downside was that they didn't have any superior or jr. suites with two beds. as i was traveling with my nineteen yr. old son, that wasn't gonna work!

it was during the busy week between xmas and new years and i paid $180/nt + tax. i got the best rate by calling directly. you can go to their web site, solmelia.com. i also like tripadvisor.com. and the advice from the folks here.

it is two blocks from florida st., galleria pacifica, the estacion retiro (train station) and ave. libertidad, making any taxi ride to any other area easy and cheap. when the whole city shut down for xmas and new year's, we had neighborhood restaurants (el establo)and bars (john john) open on our doorstop.

the desk clerks, who also function as concierges, were unfailingly helpful and cheerful. they always followed-up; asking how our dinner, night, tango lesson, sports competition was. breakfast was wonderful, 15 fresh fruits, delicious medialunas and other pastries, eggs, bacon, fiambres, juices, excellent coffee. the hot chocolate was wicked.

as this is my mini trip report, i want to say thanks to avrooster, drdawggy and scarlett...yum yum love your city! met such nice people, interesting, interested and patient with our spanish. ate such great food (the luscious land of meat), drank wonderful wines, ate gallons of helado, learned some tango. i was sorry to leave and need to return!

Thank you for saying thank you, cheryl_b!

Come back soon and we'll organize a forum members' dinner for you!

BTW, drdawggy, did you notice Cheryl mentioned me ahead of you? No "capitis diminutio" meant, I'm sure, but she did. LOL!!!!

Don't worry, folks, just kidding with my great friend drdawggy!

Hola cheryl b ! So glad to hear that you were happy here..it is pretty wonderful, isn't it ? :)

BA is wonderful! it was hot, hot, hot, but i don't mind - i came back to cold, cold; from about 106F to 5F in one plane trip home.

portenos were lots of fun to meet. i think my favorite story is the day we hired a taxi to drive us to a remote soccer field in pilar. up to that point, we had taken the train to tigre or buses, with the nightly taxi for the ride home from around town. when our driver, richard, heard that we were going to watch our son/brother play against chile in an important match, he asked if he might stay and watch. yelling, vamos, sam!! and criticizing and cheering for our boys. what an indelible memory.

i'll be back when i rack up enough miles with my credit card. i would absolutely love to meet for a coffee or dinner or mate with you good people. and please, if you ever find your way to my fine city (chicago), let me know how i can help!

p.s. skip winter here...

cheryl

oh, um, avrooster, drdawggy, scarlett is alphabetical, right??

Oh, so it was just alphabetical? Sniff, sniff.....

cheryl, that is the <b>best</b> story!! So typical of most people we meet here too!

Thanks for posting it :)
and thank you for thanking me lol I take it in whatever order I get it :D