We will be in Buenos Aires, Salta and Mendoza later this fall. We are staying in B&Bs and small hotels, and in several cases only cash is accepted -- no credit cards or checks. It seems that Argentina is much more of a cash-based place than Europe or America.

Is there a limit on ATM daily withdrawals -- or other options for efficiently changing cash while travelling, to pay for hotel bills? Should we carry traveller's cheques? Are there American Express offices in the smaller cities that might be of assistance?

Any advice would be welcome as we do not typically carry large amounts of $$ when travelling, for reasons of safety.

Thank you ...

There IS a limit on ATM withdrawals, but I'll defer to other forum members' expertise for that part of the question.

Traveller's cheques are NOT widely accepted and I believe the only place where you could change them at face value is at the Amex office in Buenos Aires.

I would suggest carrying cash, but, of course, you would have to be careful. The present rate of exchange is about 3,80 pesos per dollar.

Have a great time in our country.

Yes, the limit is between 800 and 1,000 pesos .. but you will be charged 11.46 pesos per transaction and your bank will charge you too.
There is no getting around it here, you can see if your bank will do anything on that end.

As AVRooster says, forget the travelers checks.

We carried thousands of dollars here in a money belt ( husband wore it) .. using ATM machines sounds like your only option aside from bringing Cash with you.

Never carry large amounts of cash on you, in pockets, wallets or purse.
Try not to attract attention , flashy jewelry, counting cash in public, cameras ..
Be aware of your surroundings and the people around you but don't get paranoid.
Salta, Mendoza and BA are full of travelers and residents and they all carry money and go about their days.. if you have been to European cities, it is much the same.

All good advice from the above posters. I would add that duringour 3 months in Argentina last year, the maximum withdrawals were reduced without warning. When we arrived we could withdraw 3000 pesos per TRANSACTION. By the time we left this had been reduced to 300 pesos. NB The ATM would not allow multiple withdrawals up to the daily limit.

The exception to this was Citibank where we could always withdraw 3000 pesos per day. Also, when we were there there was a strike by the ATM fillers and we couldn't get any cash for over a week!

I think the rule is - there are no rules! Don't let you cash to get too low and keep topping up whenever you have the opportunity!

Use my Capital One Visa Credit Card

no ATM fee foreign exchange fees

for ATM works great set my max withdrawal with them.

Have had no problems that way

TC's have gone the way of the dodo too many charges fees

difficult to negotiate.

300 pesos is only $82 CAD - not a lot of money. I wonder what the daily max is now. We don't like to carry a lot of cash on us, but prefer to use ATMs (even with the fees).

It all depends on your bank. We set up an account with HSBC for our travels. HSBC is all over Argentina. We used its ATMs last year without a problem. Yes, it limits to AR$300 per transaction. We were able to take out another AR$300 in a second transaction. Also depending your level with HSBC either you get 4 foreign ATM transactionsn per month or preimer you can use any ATM.

Also beware that most credit cards will charge a transaction fee for using the card to charge in foreign currency aprroximately 3%. HSBC premier does not charge the fee. Sounds like Captial One does not either.

Check with your bank. We were charged $5.00 by Bank of America in China b/c we used a none corresponding bank and that's why we set up the account.

I too bank with HSBC (in the UK not the US). Be aware that the explicit charge quoted is not the only thing to consider. There may be less obvius charges. We found that the fx rate used by HSBC was about 5% worse than that used by our other bank.

Pre-loaded travel card are becoming popular in the UK with very competitive charges AND rates. e.g. http://www.fairfx.com/

I imagine there must be something smilar in the US?

I have not heard of preloaded cards in the U.S. Compared to Chase cards and Bank of America charges, HSBC offers the best option if you have a premier account. Chase includes that fee and you do not see it.

I found that we could make repeated withwdrawls at one time from the same ATM. I did not get any charges by my bank, or at the ATM. Since you are traveling with another person, I would share the responibility of carrying the money and I would also suggest carrying the money in different areas of your body. I carried larger bills in my wallet, but smaller bills in the front where the money can be more accessible. Worked for me. Happy Travels in Argentina!

The charges have gone up to $11.53 (pesos) for every transaction on an ATM machine here in BA.
Some US banks are ( very few) are taking care of those fees but for the most part, you will be charged here and from your own bank.

This has all happened in the past few months, I don't know how recent anyone else's experience is but there are no banks here that are not charging the extra fee and not limiting the amount you can take out at one time.
Today we were able to take out $1000 pesos at a time.. which was good.