jpie

My husband and I are making plans to go to Argentina at the end of May until mid-August or so for close to 90 days and I am just starting the planning process and would appreciate some help.

We are going to be renting an apartment and I have collected a number of suggestions of agencies from this forum and TA but I would love you thoughts on how to approach the process and also some details of the rental process.

Since we are going to be there for quite some time, I am trying to decide if we should just rent one place for a month "sight unseen" since it is quite a bit cheaper than the weekly rate or whether we should just rent a place for a week or two to make sure we like the neighborhood, etc. In that same vein, I am thinking since we have almost 3 months, maybe it would be fun to rent in 2-3 neighborhoods, but I am torn because it is also nice to get to really settle in to one place and kind of establish your own favorite places-markets, restaurants etc.

In terms of neighborhoods we are thinking of starting (at least) in Recoleto-but are wondering about others ideas from folks here about Palermo, San Telmo etc. To tell you about us so you might get a better idea of the kind of neighborhood we might like: we are in mid-fifties and I can get by in Spanish (I actually was an exchange student a billion years ago in Buenos Aires for a summer in 1970) and my husband doesn't speak any Spanish yet but he is French so I think after some kick start on intensive lessons he will be able to pick it up. We are pretty adventurous-we live in LA now but moved here from Paris and lived in neighborhoods like the Marais and near Montparnasse-places with great restaurants, markets, etc. but not too stuffy. No kids with us. Our plan is to just rent a place, take intensive Spanish for at least 2 weeks both to learn a bit of language and meet some other folks, etc. Then for us it is all about just discovering Buenos Aires. So any thoughts on the kind of neighborhoods we might like would be appreciated. We are aware that it will be winter in Buenos Aires, so don't know if this might make a difference in neighborhoods that would be more fun etc.

Also in terms of renting apartments, it looks like most places want cash deposits for a certain amount, then full payment once you are there. Is getting enough cash an issue when renting apartments for a fairly long stretch or should we focus on places that will take paypal etc.?

Finally, our intention is to mostly stay put in Buenos Aires, but we are using frequent flier tickets on American that will allow us to fly out "open jaw" from another destination. We are considering visiting Rio for maybe a week (probably not longer since it seems pricier than Argentina for hotels etc). We are dual French nationals so we don't have to worry about visa considerations for Brazil if we travel there with our French passports. So my question is, do you think it would be good to consider something like the one world air pass? I know you need to have a certain number of segments-so I was thinking that maybe we would use the other segments to visit some other destinations in Argentina-but don't know if that is a good idea in winter-places like Iguazu Falls for instance.

All input would be greatly appreciated at this point! I have already taken copious notes off the site about food, tango etc. but am much more concerned about some of the logistics at this point.

PS I feel like such a babe in the woods in Argentina-but if anybody needs help in Paris I am your gal-I hang out a lot in the Europe forum

jpie

ttt. I am hoping someone can fill us in on more details of renting apartments and/or the air passes.

thanks in advance,

jeanne

crellston

Hi jpie'
We spent a similar amount of time months in Argentina last year as part of a very long trip around the world. Here is a link to our blog of our experiences which, hopefully may contain some useful info for you. Entries fro Argentina start at 69:

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...ai/1/tpod.html

Rather than base ourselves in BA and fly to different locations we travelled the country entirely by bus. Partly for cost reasons (flights for foreign matioals within the country are expensive - 3 times the price for residents) and partly because the bus provided more flexibilty. Apart from renting an apartment in Palermo for our last month, we made up itinerary as we went along. Bus travel is very comfortable and efficient and one third of the cost of air travel. Many of the longer trips can be done overnight (flat beds) thus saving the cost of a nights accommodation.

Air passes i think are only available for foreigners booking outside the country and will probably save a bit.

There re loads of post re apartment rental on this forum. www.bytargentina.com and www.apartmentsba.com seem to be favourites.

You are correct that getting the cash for the deposit and rent is a major issue. In our case we had to get at total of $2200. ATM withdrawals at most banks are severely limited (from memory approx AR$300!) we and we could find no atms that would dispense US$. Luckily we had prempted this by withdrawing sufficient cash from Chile and Peru ATM before we arrived. We could have wired the cash beforehand but feared we would have problems getting it back if we changed our plans.

Re renting a single or multiple apartment in different areas. We found that we could rent for one month for the cost of three weeks. Plus getting around BA was pretty straightforward.

We based ourselves in Palermo which is a VERY large Barrio with several subdivisions near to Santa Fe and found the proximity to the Subte very handy. Many parts, Palermo Soho etc, are a lot like Marais and Montparnasse - lots of great little restaurants and shops and we found ourselves gravitating towards this area a lot during our time in BA.

Don't miss out on the rest of the country. It is an amazing place. Hope this helps a little.

jpie

Hi Crellston-thanks so much, this is exactly the kind of info I was looking for! I think Palermo may be exactly right for us. I read part of your journey-it sounded really amazing! And I appreciated your comment about Recoleta seeming more upscale but maybe seeming a bit too popular with the tourists. I know Recoleta sounds like the popular vote for first time vistors but I have a feeling we may feel the same about it as you did. Did you have a specific apartment or agency for Palermo that you would recommend? I have culled the forum for agencies and there seem to be plenty to choose from. Also Palermo sounds really big and varied. Do you think the Frommer's neighborhood description: http://www.frommers.com/destinations...299020048.html is accurate? If it is, it sounds like we should be looking in Palermo Viejo-maybe the Soho or Hollywood areas.

Also, would it be a good idea to take traveler's checks as a good way to get the kind of cash needed each month for rent? We haven't used them in ages but I thought others here might have some experience using them in Buenos Aires.

Thanks again to all of you-we are happy to hear all input and suggestions at this stage.

jeanne


Regarding the money issue

avrooster

Local expert Crellston will answer your question about Palermo when he wakes up in England tomorrow. LOL!!!

I believe Amex traveler checks can be exchanged at parity in the Amex office. Otherwise, traveler checks are not very popular here.

crellston

Thanks for reminding me of my current location avrooster! Only yesterday, when we were discussing what to do for Christmas, Carolyn suggested checking to see whether we could get tickets to BA! Maybe not such a silly idea....

jpie - link you posted above seems like a pretty accurate and fair description of the areas. We stayed at Scalabrini Ortiz/Berruti mainly because it was close to the Subte line (which we used a lot to get around) and found this to be very convenient. However, we did find ourselves frequently going to Hollywood/Soho to eat or shop. We like walking a lot and consider it the best way of getting to know a city so this was not a problem but on balance it would have been nice to have been a little closer if only to step out of the apartment and fall into one of the many excellent restarants in those areas.

We used bytargentina to book our apartment and found them to be very efficient both in the booking process and on arrival. We had a couple of problems with the apartment - a couple of elctrical devices were not working - these were fixed by the owner who came around straight away. The promised swimming pool on the roof was not availble which we weren't told about. Otherwise we were quite happy with them.

NB My recollection about the option to send the cash by bank transfer was wrong - see this reply I got from BYT:

"Thanks very much for your email.

Let me inform you that payment for rent and refundable security deposit is expected in cash only. It can be in either U$S dollars, EUROS or ARG pesos.

What you said about argentine ATM´s is true. They rarely dispense U$S dollars. You can get pesos from them but only a certain amount per day (I believe is ARG 1000 pesos a day).

I would suggest you try getting enough cash from your bank now in EUROS or U$S dollars until your check in day (28/11/08) in order to get the total amount requested.

We do not work with bank account transfers.

Should you have further questions do not hesitate to contact me"

avroosters's suggestion to collect the cash from the Amex office is a good one but I am pretty sure the Amex office is close to the Alvear Place which is a long way from where you are thinking of staying and it could be a bit of a pain to go there and then to your apartment on your day of arrival.

You could pay the rent in pesos but when we were in Argentina the withdrawal limits seemed to change from day to day, many ATMs did not work/had ran out of cash and, to top it all, the ATM "fillers" went on strike for a couple of weeks! Plan for the worst and hope for the best. I know it seems a lot of cash to carry into the country , but we split is between the two of us and carried it in several different places to reduce the risk.

avrooster

We got the knowledgeable answer I expected from England's Crellston. Great!

I hope you can come to BA soon, Crellston and I stand ready and willing to buy you a large egg salad (private joke). Your wife Carolyn is graciously excluded from this dubious privilege. LOL!!!

The Amex office is in the Plaza San Martín area, certainly nowhere near Palermo, but near the subway.

My suggestion for forum member jpie is to bring cash, but I fully realize many people are reluctant to do so.

Have great time in our town.

MarnieWDC

We followed the good advice on this forum and brought cash U$S for our apt., including the damage deposit.

This was easy and safe as we took a remis from the airport to our apartment (after changing ~ 1,000 U$S to Arg. Pesos at Banco de la Nacion in the airport - Euros are just as easily exchanged). Later in our stay, ATM and Credit Cards covered our needs. Travellers' Cheques are not recommended as they are very difficult to exchange.

The only difficulty with money that we encountered was trying to obtain smaller bills for Taxis and other small bill needs, and finding ways to get change for the collectivos. Even that became an engaging challenge.

Enjoy your stay in BA. ~MarnieWDC

jpie

Hi All:

Thanks so much for the tips. I am pretty comfortable bringing the rent money in cash for the first month (I am guessing around $1000-$1200) as crellston suggests, but what about month 2 and 3? Is is smarter to just start collecting cash before the rent is due each month and stashing it around the apartment or maybe going to AMEX just before to cash the full amount....or am I missing something? We aren't expecting to use travel checks for anything but perhaps this rent issue and will have probably 2 ATM and credit cards with us at least.

Thanks also for the detailed apt. info. I will send you guys some actual "potential apartment locations" when we get closer to booking to get feedback if I may. We can't book our exact dates yet because we need to settle some things here first. And it is kind of wacky because we have just enough frequent flier miles for 2 tickets to Argentina on American's off peak times, which end on May 31st and then pick up again August 15th. So we need to book a ticket that leaves no later than May 31st and doesn't come back before August 15th! If we miss that window, then we may slide the trip til December-March to fit the off peak times, but my remembrance is that BsAs can be kind of hot and sticky during the summer months.

avrooster-I have read your long thread and I am hoping you still do your tour? As I mentioned, I spent an incredible time in Buenos Aires decades ago at age 16 but I have kind of a blurred mixed up memory of everything....mostly I remember taking long strolls around the city with my host sister and her abuelita strolling behind us keeping a close eye on us while we were busy flirting with all the good looking guys (don't tell my husband) We were quite a sight-my raven haired sister with her long black hair and me with matching waist long blond hair looking like the fresh faced girl from Kansas which I was! It was a blast of course.

crellston

If you are renting apartment(s) in BA for the whole of your time in Argentina then I would take up avrooster Amex suggestion. If not then the ATM withdrawal route will work fine if you are staying in places for a few days at a time. We got into the habit of getting cash every virtually everytime we walked past a working ATM (well almost!!). Check out your banks policy on charges and rates - some can be horrendous. Taking more tahn one card (i.e. different people/different accounts) increases your options and capacity to withdraw more cash daily. For our next trip we will be using one of the new prepaid cards available in the UK e.g. www.fairfx.com - great rates and v. low charges.
Is there something similar avilable in the US?

Finally, if you do take advantage of the famous avrooster tour - and I suggest that you do, get him to take you the renowned egg salad restaurant but make sure you order the fish! The white salmon was the best I have ever tasted!

jpie

Thanks all-this has been extremely helpful. I am now thinking about a couple of options for getting cash for a 3 month rental. In any scenario, we will probably carry with us from the US at least the exact amount needed for the first month's rent in cash (US dollars.) But there seem to be a couple of options for months 2 and 3:

1) We may end up going with an agency that accepts paypal payment. It seems that this is around 3.5% extra, so on $1000 that would mean an additional $35. But that may be worth it not to have the currency hassles.

2) We may just start "collecting" cash before rent is due each of the following months and get good at spotting anything counterfeit. There was a long thread on TA: http://tinyurl.com/yg9s24g

The conclusion there seemed to be:

"If I read the collective advice correctly, just to ensure there are no problems, I should do the following:

1. Educate myself in advance on fake bill spotting

2. Get my cash for the apartment here in LA before leaving.

3. Record the serial numbers of all the bills

4. After permitting the owner or agent to inspect all of the bills upon arrival, seal the DEPOSIT in a separate envelope, and obtain the owner or agent's initials.

5. Go out for lomo and malbec after checking in."

I also think we will look into the pre-paid cards you mention crellston. They seem like a good idea in term of getting more cash and a good exchange rate. We will also take at least 2 different ATM's (we always do this in Europe just in case 1 card won't work for some reason). For US citizens, here are 2 links to the "equivalent" of the fairfx card:

http://www.mastercard.com/us/persona...ravelcard.html

http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/p...vel_money.html

I will be back with more questions on other topics soon I am sure-but thanks agaif for all the help on this one

avrooster

Jeanne:

For the reasons given in my "The REAL Buenos Aires" thread, http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...enos-aires.cfm that tour doesn't exist any more, at least in that form.

Besides, if you read another old thread titled BsAs-Beware of the "Offer you can't refuse" http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...ant-refuse.cfm
which is about the tour Crellston is referring to, you will understand that now I'm less inclined to meet strangers than I was when I started the thread mentioned in the first paragraph of this post. You will also understand the jokes about the egg salad. LOL!!!

However, if after reading that second thread, you still wish to get in touch with me, write to me to albertovgalloATyahoo.com

I'm counting on meeting a French/American lady called Jeanne with "waist long blond hair looking like a fresh faced girl from Kansas". Just kidding, I'm almost 69. LOL!!!

BTW, I have reread this whole thread and I believe that, since you are going to be here for three months in a period which should be considered "low season" for tourism, I may have some good ideas for apartment rentals.

Have a great time in our town, Jeanne & French hubby.

jpie

Hi AV:

Wow-what a crazy thread on the offer you can't refuse! No worries on that side with us however-we always hold our own in the eating and drinking department-so unlikely to not get our fair share

I will be in contact as the trip get closer. We are still fingers crossed that we can wrap up some things so that we can come in end of May. If not, we have to wait until December when the next off-Peak cycle hits for American airlines frequent flyer miles. But we are still hoping for the off season I think-I can hear BsAs can be kind of humid in summer.

It is a good thing that you are almost 69-that way if you squint you might be able to imagine me back then since now I am 55 (hair is still blond with a little "ahem" help and now shoulder length!) And luckily my husband isn't the jealous type-he knows that the porteno men will always be special to me.

avrooster

So, you don't yet know for sure you'll be coming next May Jeanne?

Like I said, I have some ideas for renting for 3 months, but we have to know for sure when you are coming. If you decide to come in our summer, that's a different matter.

I'll squint as much as I have to, in order to qualify as a special porteño. ALT 164 for the "ñ"! LOL!!!

jpie

We are still hoping to come in your winter-we should have a better idea in March or April-we need to rent our house here in California, so we are leaving it kind of open. I will let you know if it works and would love ideas on renting off season-I know summer things change for most folks.

Thanks for the tilde code!

avrooster

Jeanne:

Since you are coming for 3 months, if I were you, I'd look for an apartment here: http://www.topinmobiliario.com/

If you have trouble with the Spanish, I'll help.

But I wouldn't rent without first seeing the apartment.

So, I would stay for a week or so in a hotel or any good short term rental, while you take a look at what's available and decide which apartment in which part of town you wish to rent.

Besides, I have some friends from California who own an apartment they rent short term to tourists, but for that we need to know exactly when you are coming.

You'll have a great time in our town for sure!

jpie

Thanks AV!

I will take a look and email you as we get closer if it looks like we can stick to our original plan.