long distance bus experiences--Argentina
 

thinking of trying a long distance over night bus from BA to Mendoza for the first time...

who has experience with this?

i'm a big guy and am a bit leary...think the fold down seat would work for me but not sure....

my wife is balking at doing this trip..

thanks

All I can say is that our buses are said to be very good and the more expensive seats quite comfortable.

Have a great time in our country.

Very good option. Very cheap and comfortable. Like going in first class on a plane. You will have no regrets.

Don't hesitate about taking the trip by bus, they are very comfortable.

Regards
Javier

Hmmm, not to be contrary but my experiences with long bus rides in SA are not great. I've paid for first class fares and not received anything remotely resembling first class accomodations. Some of buses are very nice and some are not, and you really don't know which one you're getting until it pulls into the depot.

Pros: cheaper than flying
Cons: possibility of loud music, loud bootlegged/dubbed movies, old buses.

If your wife is a seasoned travel vet I'd say it's worth considering but if not... be prepared to feel the wrath midway through the ride.

There is a huge difference between the bus services in the different countries in South America. Argentina, Chile and Brazil have excellent buses if you pay for the best service (and even second best isn't bad). The service is a lot more variable in other countries but geography often has a lot to do with it.
Since the question is specifically about long distance buses in Argentina, the top service on well traveled routes is excellent. The run between Buenos Aires and Mendoza has some of the best buses.

Hi Bob - Thanks for the birthday good wishes BTW

We ahve now travelled on a few buses in Argentian and other SA countries and it seem that there are three basic choices:

Semi-cama - Think airline Premium Economy - 4 rows accross on the top deck. A fair amount of legroom but I found the seat backs quite narrow. Having said that we did 20 hours from Puerto Madryn to San Rafael in this class and I felt much better than I would have done after a 20 hour flight! _ I even managed a good sleep!

Cama - more like airline business class with wider seats (1+2 across) and much better upholstery. On the bottom deck with probably c 15 seats.

Both of the above have fold-out footstools and recline to approx 130/140 degrees.

Top of the range seems to be Ejecutivo/ First Class with 180 flat beds and more space - not tried this yet but Carolyn has promised we can do this either from BA to Iguassu or Mendoza - Salta.

Argentine buses are IMHO not a bad way to travel at all. A lot cheaper and, taking into account time traveling to and waiting around airports, the difference in real journey time (i.e. lost vacation time) is not as great as at first appears, particularly if you travel overnight.

On balance, given the cost differential, for longer journeys I would opt for a minimum of Cama but book in advance as they tend to get booked up a week or so in advance.

Good companies include:
www.andemar.com

www.viabariloche.com.ar

thanks....just the type of info i was looking for clive...

Great info!

Clive is well on his way to becoming our resident expert on bus travel.

But he'll have to do his job, day in and day out, to earn his salary!

LOL!!!

Any recommendations for buses from Buenos Aires to Cordoba? I want to go 10 Nov. Are the buses only overnight, or are there buses during the day? Thank you.

El Pelar

There must be day time buses. The night bust worked for us and we actually thought it was more time and $$$ efficient to take the bus than to fly. We left around midnight and were there around 7ish in the morning. Maybe around 8 but anyway it was very comfortable and I would definitely do it again.

If you are doing this for the adventure of riding the bus I can see your point. Otherwise it is less than $100 to fly one way . It is a very monotonous ride, like Kansas of Nebraska the entire way - flat farmland, few towns. Once at Mendoza you finally see the White Wall of the Andes. On the other hand - a spectacular bus trip is from Mendoza to Santiago - 6 hours across the Andes - one of the most beautiful bus rides in the world. A great site for adventure travel in Argentina and Chile is http://www.arctictropic.com

we're planning to do an overnight from BA to Cordoba, and then a few days later from Cordoba to Mendoza. i was planning to buy tickets upon arriving in each city, so a few days in advance of the bus departure. should this be a problem? any other tips on purchasing tickets once there??

thanks!!

p.s. only a couple more days until we arrive in BA!

fly for $100???? i see r.ts for between $400-1000.

We have been buying bus tickets the day before for all of our trips without a problem except when we wanted cama seats from Puerto Madryn to San Rafael (20 hours). All cama seats were booked ahead for 4/5 days. My advice is to book as soon as you get to a bus station i.e. upon arrival, book the next ticket. All bus stations usually have 5-10 companies vying for your business. Some conpnaies have very efficient online booking facilities, Andesmar is one. Even with my appalling Spanish they seem easy enough to follow!

rhkkmk

Go to the Aerolineas Argentinas site. You can get one way from 384 pesos which is about $119 a today's rate. ( Sorry I was a little off) I think you were looking at peso prices and mistaking them for dollars. What does the bus cost ?

Of course, it varies according to the date of travel and you have not given us that info, rhkkmk, but I cannot find any one-way flights to Mendoza on Aerolíneas for 119 dollars (maybe on dates I did not try).

Anyway, I do not recommend flying Aerolíneas unless you have no other choice.

You have to go to the site for Argentina and operate it in Spanish. I tried for the next 3 days and I think that fare was available for Sunday. Aerolineas is perfectly fine within Argentina, there is really not a whole lot of choice.

Well I'm not JUST looking for adventure in my bus trip. I've been planning a 24 day honeymoon trip (starting this Nov. 21) since May. We've got 8 days in Argentina after our cruise. Our original plan was 2 days in BA, 2 days Iguazu, and 4 days in the wine country of Mendoza. After getting laid off from work unexpectedly, my plans in Argentina needed to be trimmed to save about $1000 from our original number. By cutting out Iguazu (a heart breaker) and changing the one way flight to Mendoza to a first class bus ride we were able to cut out that $1000 easily. Even more. I made that decision after a lot of research in other places as well as with the help of the fine experts here. In fact, my wife and I were just talking last night about offering to buy AVROOSTER a drink while in BA to say thank you as genuinely as we can.

rhkkmk:

In this and other forums, the matter of buying a flight online, posing as if you were a local resident, has often been discussed.

You MIGHT get away with it, but I DO NOT advise trying it.

Todd:

Tell me your travel dates and where you'll be staying and I'll call you. You can also look for my e-mail in my The REAL Buenos Aires thread.

Have a wonderful honeymoon in our country and get a job soon, so you can return pronto! LOL!!!