My buddy and I are trying to decide between Rio or Buenos Aires to hang out in the first week in June. We want to stay for 5 nights. Which is the better choice. We have never been to South America. I know it will be warmer in Rio than Buenos Aires. Which would be better for two educated guys from the United States. One African-American and one Hispanic guy. We would only depend on public transportation and walking. Which is the best bargain.

Tough choice, I love both cities. Both have fantastic restaurants, bars, museums, and very friendly people. Great architecture in both places. Both have plenty of things to see and do for 5 days.

Rio is a much more spectacular city in terms of geography: the landforms and the beaches. There's also an amazing mix of cultures in Rio, the Afro-Brazilian cultural presence is strong, particularly round music, and even stronger in Bahia (many of the famous musicians like Gilberto Gil etc are from Bahia).

Rio is also slightly less safe for tourists than BA, you need to have your wits about you in Rio. As a consequence, there seems to be a lot more tourists in BA, particularly from the US. BA is often referred to as the most European of the South American cities.

The peso is low against the dollar, whereas the real is going up against the dollar. Food, wine and all consumer goods are a lot cheaper in BA than Brazil. I've found hotel prices seem to be a bit cheaper in Brazil, Rio is the exception here it's like the NY of Brazil hotel price-wise.

Rio has a metro and bus system, but the areas that most tourists stay in Zona Sul (like Ipanema etc) are not connected to the metro. They were extending the line so maybe that's rectified now. Taxis are however cheap and plentiful as are the buses. The BA subte is much more extensive than the Rio metro system. Taxis are also cheap and plentiful.

I walked a lot in both cities, the historical centre of Rio is a great place to walk around, as well as areas like the Botanical Gardens, St Teresa.

Hope this helps!

Both are fantastic cities! For June, though, I'd recommend Buenos Aires. Rio is gorgeous but it won't be ideal beach weather (in my opinion) and that is such a fun part of the Rio scene. Plus overall, Buenos Aires is a lot more accessible by public transport and walking--we didn't take a cab the whole time there, while we did for safety reasons just at night in Rio. Buenos Aires has lots of great culture, food, unique neighborhoods, gorgeous buildings. But if you want a place that is more about natural beauty, Rio is your better bet. More info and pics about both destinations at http://patrinadoestheglobe.blogspot.com/

Rio better beaches ambience party vibe...

for food wine museums BsAs

Rio. No doubt. Especially at that time of year. A great city to either relax or live it up

The weather should be substantially better in Rio that time of year than in Buenos Aires. Might I suggest waiting a week - it will be the opening week of World Cup.

The World Cup isn't in Rio until 2014.

Correct although it's still worth waiting a couple of weeks. That way you'll have the excitement of watching a Brazil game in a local bar, the next best thing to being there. If you venture to BsAs, by then Argentina will have been eliminated in the first round and you can have a great deal of fun asking the locals about who will replace Maradona as tecnico or just simply asking how they are faring in the ccompetition. ;-)

The metro now extends as far as Praça General Osorio in Ipanema, Rio's public transport is easy to access and cabs aren't particularly exepnsive anyway.

I like BsAs but really given a choice it would be Rio every time.