Is BA safe?
 

My husband and I are going to Buenos Aires in July. The more reading I do, the more I start wondering how common muggings, bad taxi incidents etc. are. Is BA more unsafe than a major US city? How on guard are we going to have to be? Any insite would be appreciated. Thanks.

We live in a big city and are used to taking the usual big city precautions. That said, we were in BA for 8 days in December and felt safe the entire time. At first we only had the hotel or restaurants call taxis for us, but as the days went on we started hailing them from the street -- radio taxis only. Never had any trouble with taxi drivers. We heeded the advice in travel books and hotels about what areas to not walk in at night etc and did just fine. BA is a fabulous city with warm, friendly people. We loved our stay there.

I was there for 2+ months and had no problems. I did see the aftermath of a local (BA) man having his wallet grabbed out of his back pants pocket + spoke with two women who had gold chains jerked off their necks. Moral: no wallets in back pants pockets + leave gold jewelry at home.

Look at uniform crime stats: You will be safer in BA than in most U.S. cities, especially for violent crime.

I live in a small town in the U.S., but spend about 1/3rd of the year in BA. I have never had a problem, by observing the guidelines outlined in this thread--take off your gold jewelry and move your billfold out of your back pocket and take radio taxis.....

I have stayed in Retiro, Recoleta and now in Palermo....all are good areas of town. As noted, there are areas to avoid, such as LaBoca at night and outside of the city limits to the south of Buenos Aires.....

I live in Buenos Aires and have for the past 9 months. I moved here permanently. Before moving here I came over 15 times. Never any problems.

I take about 15-20 taxis every single day because I always have many meetings around the city and I'm looking at real estate to buy. I've never even had one taxi try to cheat me. On average I take over 400 taxis a month. I always hair them from a street and never had any problems. The really funny thing is I take so many, now I'm starting to repeat drivers. I got the same one I took the other day that I caught in Las Canitas and I was in downtown. We started to laugh and he said that was a sign I'm taking too many taxis.

You will find that most are very honest. The only time I had a problem was when one tried giving me counterfeit money. When in taxis try to pay with smaller bills. Never pay with big bills. Many taxis never have change to break bigger bills anyway.

I have traveled around the world the past 3 years and I feel safer in Buenos Aires than most of the cities I went to including in Europe.

Still, be careful and follow the advice of the others. This is one of the largest cities in the world. There will be crime. The only crime I experienced in all my time here is my laptop got stolen right in front of me and I was at a nice restaurant in Recoleta.

I never left the table and I had a friend/client sitting across from me. The laptop was in between us so I'm not sure how they got it. The thieves are magicians here so just don't have expensive items out in plain sight.

Use common sense and you will be perfectly fine. It's tough sometimes to get smaller bills. In the ATM machines, ask for 490 instead of 500 and it will give you change. Or always in the morning when you eat, pay with a 100 peso note and get change. Always inspect your money well. There are some good counterfeit bills out there.

Have a great time. You'll love it here.

It's one of the safest big cities in south America. had 40 americans come down to Argentina for my wedding. None of them had been there before. All had a great time and stayed in Buenos Aires for part of their trip without incident. I have been there 7x and spent a month there before and after my wedding, never encountered a problem. Not to say that crime doesn't occur there, but Dr. Dawggy and Mike's tips are good advice.

Stay away from Boca after sunset and you will be fine.

Thanks everyone- I think I feel better now. Looking forward to our trip.

I am travelling to BA in July too. Many friends travel in the last 3 or 4 years and they didnt have any problem. Of course you have to take care as in any big city. Places recomended are Puerto Madero, Palermo Hollywood, La Recoleta.
On Sunday San Telmo antiques in the morning too. Shopping Abasto, Santa Fe,and mall Unicenter(a full day).
Have a nice trip!!!!

Having spent a few days in BA this past February, I agree that it is a comfortable city to be in. Upon arriving in BA, we were advised by locals that under no circumstances should Rolex or Cartier watches be worn - they are immediately recognized and removed from their wearers post haste!! I was given recent examples from a very reliable source so I would believe it. This being the case, I agee with the previous poster who noted that gold (other than modest wedding bands, etc.) be left home. It's just one less thing to worry about. The other side of BA is that the people are great, the city is sophisticated and beautiful, and it's amazingly economical for Americans right now.

My husband and I (we are 30) were almost mugged (teenage boys physically acosted us, attempting to get his watch and my camera) in BA last year (2 blondes) Actually, we were idiots because we were standing on a main street as a very VERY very large celebratory crowd was passing by us after the Boca Juniors beat AC Milan. I had a bad feeling (woman's intuition) as the crowd approached, but my husband assured me if we just stayed against the wall we would be OK. LEsson: LISTEN TO YOUR GUT!!! (and don't get caught in a soccer parade.) Julie

Hi, yes listing to your gut and using your common sense isthe right way to approach any large city and Buenos Aires is no exemption....
Use radio taxi, preferably calling them which is very easy because buenos aires is full of Locutorios, these are places where they rent phone booths and internet booths . So the only thing you have to do is have handy the phone of a good taxi company , ask for a booth, UNA CABINA POR FAVOR, call and give the locutorio address. In a few minutes you will have your taxi.Good luck.