I have been warned a number of times not to take curb side cabs in Buenos Aires. From the airport or Hotel, that can be easily avoided, but when we are ready to return to our Hotel from a day of touring, how do we get a cab? Also, are cab fares negotiable? How much do we tip? Thanks again. I have been getting great advice from posters at this site and very much appreciate it. It will make our first trip to Argentina that much more pleasant.

I dont think you can negotiate taxi fares. they are what they are according to the distance. You dont need to tip a taxi driver but if he helped you with a lot of luggage I think he would appreciate 2 $A note.
You can ask the Argenta to send a car to the airport and then when you go back.
With a company or a guide all the tours leave you at the hotel where they picked you up. If you do it on your own and you are afraid of hailing one in the streets, just have the teleph on you or ask in the place where you are to call one for you. People say it is always safer to call a taxi that has some numbers on the door or a notice on the roof. It means it is registered with a company.

No long ago, a taxi driver´phoned a hotel saying he wanted to return a briefcase to a pax he had left downtown. He found the name of the hotel inside the briefcase where he also found l000 u$s which in Argentina is a lot of money.

Many refuse to accept any tip but i would insist if they were nice to me and deserve it.

regards,
milla

We are usually not happy with Taxi's as we travel in most areas of the world.

BUT...the BA Taxis were, without exception, the best, safest and cheap of anywhere we have been.
The fares are metered.

They are cheap and clean and the drives are respectable. They do not expect tips but are very happy to get them. They were so cheap that I usually just doubled the meter...usually about a $2-$3 tip.
I would only use a well marked Taxi as you would anywhere.

Argentina is not a third world country and is similar in most respects to Europe.

Do not take curbside taxis from the airport. Ever. Use one of the booths in the lobby or outside.

Do not take a taxi downtown that does not say 'RADIO TAXI' on the outside. Note the name and number of the driver.
Non-radio taxis are black and yellow and look just like radio taxis but do not say radio taxi.....

Radio Taxis are metered. Make sure the meter starts at 1.44pesos (may have gone up since Nov...but not much)....I have had taxi drivers start with the meter at 4 or 5 pesos....this is not the lawful fare....

You can negotiate a non-metered fare for longer trips, such as to/from the airport or out to Tigre...but not usually for shorter trips in town.

Tips...I usually offer a small tip but not as in the US.

I would use a radio taxi. Have your hotel desk personnel call if you can. And, make sure you check that the meter is on and the driver is clear on where you want to go. We had some trouble with a taxi in BA when the driver took us on a long jaunt only to try to drop us a couple blocks from our hotel -- obviously it wasn't where we had asked to go. Fortunately, we recognized where we were because we had taken a walk the night before. When we made a fuss and threatened to call the police, he took us to our destination without charge. Admittedly we were worried we would be taken somewhere remote or worse, but I pretended to call someone on my cell phone and we also had a map out to make sure we were going in the right direction. I regret now that we didn't call the police because he surely has done the same to others.

I agree that you should only take taxis that are RADIO TAXIS. However, you can take a taxi "at the curb." I did it all the time in BA, never having a problem as long as RADIO TAXI was printed on the side of the cab. A good way to get a cab back to your hotel is to find a hotel, cafe, or shopping center that will have radio taxis dropping people off and picking them up. Just wave the cab down the way you would in NY or London. There are a lot of taxis around Recoleta Cemetery/Cafe Biela. One night I went to Cabana Las Lillas for dinner. When I walked outside (after dinner), there were taxis lined up at the curb. You will find taxis at most popular venues and tourist attractions.

I think that BA has more taxis than any other city in the world. As we toured the city, we would just hail a taxi that said "radio taxi" on it. The meter starts at 1.60 pesos. We did have one incident with a driver. The fair was 7.80 pesos and when we offered him a 10 peso note he kept shaking his head no. He said "no good, cambio". It happens that we got this from the bank so we knew it was good. Then, as we went to get a different 10 peso note, he grabbed a 100peso note from our hand, and crumpled it in his fist. When we raised a major fuss, he gave it back, took the ten and threw the change at us. All this was done very fast and he was very loud, but we were not going to leave until we got it back and he knew it. It was our only incident and we probably took 20 cabs during the 6 days.

Even though the drivers don't expect tips, we rounded up and added a peso or two.

If something like the situation described above happens to you, make a big fuss about writing down the identifying information about the taxi driver and make noises about calling the polica or the company....

Also, it is a mistake to pull a 100peso note out so a taxi driver can see it...