Where is the best place to change money in BA? Also, our hotel offers a cash discount which is enticing, but a friend told me there is quite a bit of pick pocketing so I'm not sure if carrying around that much cash is worth it. Any thoughts?

You can change your money at the bank in the airport.
We paid our hotel in cash when we came to BA on a visit and got a discount.
Where will you be carrying all the cash? From your home to the airport to the plane to the hotel?
Wear a money belt. We brought thousands of dollars when we moved here and carried it in a money belt .. it all went into a safe upon arrival ( see if your hotel has a safe in the room btw) and we had no problems at all.
Never carry a lot of cash with you in town.. just what you need for the day with one credit card.

We went to Banco Santander in downtown BA.

Hello,

Money in Argentina is always a tricky subject since cards are often not accepted and people often give you a discount for paying in cash, but... you can only take out AR$300 a day from most cash points and you cant change money in normal banks unless you have an account there!! So the trick is to come with quite a lot of USD, change it at the Bank at the airport (not the currency exchange stands by the luggage collection as its a complete rip off), at a "casa de cambio" (a few in Recoleta, but make sure you know the rate) or at "Banco de la Nacion" (in plaza de Mayo) and then leave most of it in the safe when you go out.

Hope that helps!

There is no such thing as a "best" place to change money in BA. Just go to any conveniently located place which offers a decent rate.

Take a look at http://www.dolarhoy.com/ to know the prevailing rate.

Avoid like the plague the conveniently located (in the airport's baggage pick-up area) "Global Exchange" booths. They are crooks.

Have a great time in our town.

jbh555:

My wife and I spent about 5 weeks in Argentina last winter [4th trip there] and needed cash for everything.

Being a senior in Canada, I am able to "buy" American Express cheques in US$ at no charge for the cheques, just the fee for the foreign exchange.

In Buenos Aires, I was able to cash those cheques at the AMEX office downtown at 1% fee if I wanted American dollars and 0% if I wanted Argentine pesos. I usually got the pesos until we were close to going home, then I got US $.

The apartment we rented was excellent in the matter of payment. They took us to AMEX where I got pesos and paid for our apartment on the spot, not requiring that I carry that large sum anywhere.

The apartment had a safe with a key, not electronic lock and so I would cash about US$1000.00 cheques every so often and keep most of the money in the safe taking only what I needed for the next day or two. Even then, I would carry half in several pockets and my wife carried the other half. We thought it would help to spread any risk.

Never a problem.

However, like any other large city anywhere, watch where you go, how you adorn yourself with gold jewelry and do not flash large sums in public.

I never ever felt unsafe.

Woodie

You can take up to about $800 pesos at a time in ATM machines.. as many times as you want.
Of course, you get fees from your Bank and they charge $11.46 pesos for the transaction here .. the amounts vary depending on banks.

I would really avoid Travelers Checks..

you can always exchange money in any bank or 'casa de cambio', do not exchange at the airport since their rate is really bad...
When walking around the city don't wear expensive jewelry or anything that may draw some people's attention... Thieves in Buenos Aires can be really quick...

i used only the ATM's....it was easy and they are everyplace....but be careful....i was the victum of an assault where the intent was to take my wallet....i knew what was happening as soon as i felt the goo on the back of my head....i just waved them off and they ran away....they hit someone else 5 minutes later....don't carry much money...

hotels rip you off on money exchange...

thanks for all of the tips! We will be very careful. Can't wail to get to BA!