Last minute Christmas in Argentina - help me with an itinerary!
 

Grandma has agreed to take the baby, so my husband and I would like to spend the week between Christmas and New Years (ie in two weeks from now) in Argentina. Neither of us has been anywhere in Latin America before. I can understand and communicate roughly in Spanish.

We are very flexible as we have no plans at all yet. As this is going to be a kind of honeymoon we'd like to stay in a romantic hotel. We love sitting in cafes, listening to music, visiting interesting art. We'd also like to spend a few days doing some serious hiking or other nature activities.

You don't have to plan my whole itinerary, but I'd love to know your favorite haunts.

(btw we are vegetarian, so no steak related activities!)

Thanks!

Spend a few days in Buenos Aires (ideally the weekend), then fly to Bariloche and enjoy the outdoors.

Congrats on the marriage!

We have spent the last two months two months in Argentina and, whilst I would not pretend to have seen it all, our favourite places have been the north west (Salta and around) and Iguazu (for the falls).

Good luck with the veggie food - BA would be the best for this (a plus is that it is one of the worlds great cities and it is THE place for cafe culture and visiting galleries etc...

No steak related activities? Tell Grandma the trip has to be cancelled :) Here are a couple of ideas:

To be near cafes, music & art, I would suggest hotels in the Recoleta or Palermo area. Recoleta is more of the European feel, Palermo a little more modern. We love staying at the Melia Recoleta Boutique. 5 stars, intimate & along quiet treelined streets within walking distance to all the Recoleta cafes. Having a guy play the piano while you have breakfast is a nice touch too.

My favorite place in all of Argentina is El Chalten. The scenery is from another world and is without a doubt the place to go if you want serious hiking. You can camp and do the circuits or if you want to stay in the only 4 star hotel, los Cerros and do day hikes. Suggested hikes: Laguna de los 3, Laguna Torre & Pliegue tumbado.

Rent a car in El Calafate and go see the massive P. Moreno glacier on your own schedule. Go after 3 or 4 pm and you'll have the place to yourselves. Have a romantic lunch or dinner on your way there or back at La Usina (hidden on the right a few miles before the park entrance). Their vegetarian menu was one of the best meals I've had. Make sure to make reservations.

I agree with crellston, Salta is perfect, peaceful, realed, but nature all over with the most beautiful display of birds and flowers...
COlourful mountains, wine, and good food to make your "honeymoon" even more interesting. The Salt Flats is the perfect scenery for a crazy picture holding your husband in the palm of our hand.
Do not miss theNW of Argentina.
Flintstones.

No problem with vegetarian meals in Argentina. The pasta dishes are delicious and every restaurant serves them. You can also have fantastic grilled vegetables and wonderful tortas de verduras. I am pretty sure that is what they are called in BA. It is sort of an eggless quiche made with swiss chard or spinach. There is also a tasty version made with squash. Arent you lucky to go to Argentina for Christmas especially before the they enforce the new entry visa.

you should get on the stick and make your reservations! hope there will still be some hotels available!

I, too, loved visiting the NW! you can get your culture, cafe and nature fix there for sure!

Definitely get on it for reservations ASAP. Spend time in BA. Lots of wonderful little small botique hotels that would be very romantic to stay in. I agree that Salta is fabulous but perhaps not in the short time you will have. Iguazu Falls makes a great addtion to BA for a night or 2. If you're into horseback riding an estancia is a good day trip or go and spend a night at one. Even if you don't like horseback riding estancias are a nice change of pace from city life.
Have a great trip!

Thank you so much for the generous and wonderful advice. This is such a great site. The north west sounds beautiful, I would love to go there, but do you think it is feasible given our short stay (7-9 days)? I will take your advice and start making reservations. Unfortunately I can't buy a airplane ticket until my husband gets complete confirmation from work!

No, I dont think 7-9 days gives you enough time to enjoy BA and the NW. Many people see the highlights of the NW in 4-5 days, but having spent 9 days there, I think you would spend an awful lot of time just in the car getting from place to place...not very romantic! U can see Iguazu Falls and get nature and hiking in. The Falls are incredible.
I'd be more concerned getting hotels booked than airfare at this point.

In Frommer's guide on Buenos Aires, there's the mention of an organic, vegetarian restaurant in Hollywood Palermo. I think it's called, "Bo", I just read it tonight, but I've left the book in my car. In the morning I'll look it up and post it for you.

I'll also need either some vegetarian/vegan/macro food or some fish dishes as I will eat fish. But, I haven't eaten meat/poultry for over 30 years. I always pack peanut butter for emergencies. If it's a regular-sized jar, then it has to be packed in the check-in suitcase or TSA will take it away which happened to me once at LAX.

So, what I did was went to the Container Store and bought their tiny 1-ounce, glass jars and then put the peanut butter in several of those jars and put all the jars in a huge ziplock bag and then didn't check it in the suitcase, but took it through the regular x-ray security checkpoint and TSA let it through.

I also pack some Cup-Of-Noodles as more than a few times the airlines have forgotten my special meal request on my 17.5 hour, non-stops to and from Bangkok. It is horrible when the special meal is forgotten. So, it's Cup-Of-Noodles, which only needs hot water, and peanut butter sandwiches sometimes. I've survived on both in some difficult places like West Africa and other places. Smiles. Happy Travels!

<b>Bio</b> is supposed to be Excellent.. We don't eat red meat and have been planning to go there, but there are actually so many good places to eat that still offer plenty for people who don't eat meat, that we haven't gotten there.

Last night we went to a place that served huge platters of calamari in provencal sauce with roast potatoes on the side and great large bowls of shredded carrots and tomatoes salads .. desserts are wonderful, there is generally always a taste of Dulce de Leche in most desserts :)
Even steak restaurants serve great fish dishes and they do vegetables here very well.
There is a heavy Italian influence in most restaurants so pasta is always on the menus..
You can also find decent Chinese restaurants as well as Indian, if you want a different sort of vegetarian meal..

This is a cafe society, almost every place has some tiny bit of sidewalk with a couple of tables and chairs.
At all hours of the day and night you will see couples, families, single people, sitting outside, enjoying a cup of coffee and a sweet or a glass of wine or a meal.

No matter where you go here, there is Music.
I enjoy it , even when shopping, the stores have really good music lol.

Best Museums for a short visit&quot;
the MALBA http://www.malba.org.ar/web/
Belle Artes Museum http://www.mnba.org.ar/
Palais de Glace http://tinyurl.com/6jfzmv
Borges ( top floor of the Galeries Pacifico Mall) http://www.ccborges.org.ar/informacion/sedei.htm

there are Museum guides that you can buy here, there are over 100 museums in Buenos Aires

The Law School - Faculdad de Derecho has free classical concerts on weekends.. amazing, world class orchestra, and free.
http://www.derecho.uba.ar/extension/conciertos.php

The Bibliotech (National Library) has a state of the art music theatre where you can see all sorts of concerts and performances.. Free.
http://www.bn.gov.ar/Default.aspx

Hotels here are pretty much on par with the prices of hotels in the rest of the world, there are some in Palermo that are smaller/boutique style and charming.. the big ones are either chains which I find charmless or grand, the Hyatt , Alvear and Four Seasons.. very expensive.
So the hotel is probably the hardest part to figure out.

Christmas Eve and Day the city comes to pretty much a standstill... then everything is normal again, be prepared for that.. everything closes.

On the music front -- the CDs sold with local music or artists are good buys. We brought back maybe 10 CDs, some we bought on the street or at fairs...all really good and provide nice memories of our trip.
Scarlett, your food descriptions make me hungry!

OK... The book is in front of me now. Yes, it's Bio Restaurant. I think I forgot to type the &quot;i&quot; in my previous post.

It's at Humbolt 2199 at Guatemala.

The telephone number is: 11/4774-3880

It only accepts cash.

It's open: Tues-Sunday from noon-3:30PM and 8PM-1AM.

Monday from 8:00PM-1:00AM.

Hope that has helped. Happy Travels!

Guenmai - if you are into fish go to Fervour an upmarket Parrilla that avrooster took us to.

http://www.guiaoleo.com.ar/detail.php?ID=3995

The salmon blanco and rosado was excellent! Also make sure you bring your peanut butter. It is my breakfast staple and so hard to find here!

You can usually find peanut butter in the Jumbo supermarkets.

In addition to Jumbo, Disco and Carrefours now carries peanut butter.. Peter Pan and Skippy.

Anyone know where I can find Marmite (or Vegemite) . It goes so well with peanut butter!

Never heard of it. What is it?

I wonder if they have it here... there is a nice large amount of British and Australians here.. I can ask.. our good friend is Australian .. I have had marmite.. I can't imagine in with peanut butter... jelly or bananas but not marmite lol..