This is a continuation of my trip planning from this thread here (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=634415) where I had (insanely) tried to cram multiple too many cities in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile for a trip spanning 15 days.The comments from that thread indicated that I would not have much fun fitting in all three countries in one visit.

Since then, my plans have changed. I will be traveling at the end of March to Buenos Aires for 9 days with some friends. We are graduate students in our mid 20's and would like to keep our expenses below $3000USD per person (below $2500USD would be even better). We are interested mostly in sightseeing, perhaps just a little nightlife and very little shopping. We probably won't go out on a wine tasting excursion, but may enjoy a bottle of wine with our meals.

We have identified two places that we would like to visit: Iguazu Falls and El Calfate. We will be flying instead of taking a bus. Again, I need a sanity check here. Is it reasonable to visit both places during our trip? Or should we spend more time in Buenos Aires and only visit one of the two places? Are there any cities you would recommend instead (Bariloche, Mendoza, Colonia, Montevideo)? We will all be first time visitors to South America.

Below is a rough sketch of our itinerary. I have allocated 1.5 days to Iguazu Falls and the same for El Calfate. Is this enough for each city? What would you change about this itinerary? Is it better to spend the weekend in Buenos Aires or the weekdays?

Fri Mar 23 - Arrive EZE (morning)
Sat Mar 24 - Buenos Aires
Sun March 25 - Buenos Aires
Mon Mar 26 - Buenos Aires->Iguazu Falls (morning)
Tues Mar 27 - Iguazu Falls
Wed Mar 28 - Iguazu Falls->AEP->El Calfate (morning)
Thurs Mar 29 - El Calfate
Fri Mar 30 - El Calfate->AEP
Sat March 31 - Depart EZE (evening)

Also, I would appreciate input on cost-effective methods on getting flights between each city. Right now I have been simply pricing tickets through matrix.itasoftware.com, and I think we're planning to purchase SFO-EZE; AEP-IGR; AEP-FTE; roundtrip tickets separately.

Based on what you describe as your preferences/likes/dislikes, you may want consider shifting your itinerary to add one more day in Califate & one less day in Buenos Aires. Keep in mind that you land in EZE in the morning, so your trip as it stands gives you about 3 days there...and much less in Califate.

Now, don't get me wrong, EZE is one fun city..but, it sounds like you'd be up for a little less city & a little more scenery.

Since you're bringing a group, I'd suggest all picthing in on a couple of rooms at the Sheraton Iguazu....location, location, location.

I'd suggest seeing your doc now about that Ambien script, so you can arrive well-slept from your overnight flights to EZE & hit the ground running.

A couple of days in EZE, a couple of days in Iguazu, a couple of days in Califate...not a bad week at all.

Argentina where we also visited 3 cities. To be honest, it all felt a little rushed. I was grateful to have seen what we saw, but it felt like we were constantly packing and unpacking. So keep that in mind when you're planning your trip. You don't get a full 3 days in each city b/c you have to use up your days to travel to the next destination.

If you plan to use a bus to go both up to the falls and all the way south to El Calafate, please note that you will be investing a very relevant amount of time to sitting around in a bus.

If you plan to use a bus to go both up to the falls and all the way south to El Calafate, please note that you will be investing a very relevant amount of time to sitting around in a bus.

You must have missed the part of my post indicating that we're flying this time. :) We've changed the dates to late March which corresponds to my spring break. It is a shorter trip, but the opportunity cost is significantly lower since I won't be taking a 2 week (unpaid) vacation in May when I could be working.

Based on comments so far, we might spend another day in El Calafate and reduce our stay in Buenos Aires by one day.

Yes, sorry for my oversight.... :D

You may be able to tweak your trip a little so you're not spending so much time at, or going to, or coming from, or between airports. Example, upon landing, just stay in "airport/tranport" mode & continue on to Iguazu. You could time your connections so you're not wasting a half day to do the EZE/AEP transfer (altho' not crunching it too short either, to allow for delays). Maybe just straight to Iguazu, then straight to Califete, then end on a day or two in Buenos Aires...something along those lines.

And, to keep your transports to a minimum, I would def. just stay at the Sheraton in Iguazu. Otherwise, you're dealing with the back & forth to town thing for each day you're there, and since you're only in Argentina a week, that's the kind of back & forth crap to keep to a minimum. Land at Iguazu at park yourself at the Sheraton for your time there. Put 4 people in each room if you have to, to keep the costs down, or something (I'm sure a group of grad. students can be resourceful enough to figure it out). I'd encourage a similar strategy for the Califete area but I dont' know it well enough to make an intelligent suggestion on it.

I've been so busy the past month that I haven't had much time to plan much of this trip. We've gotten all flights book and still need to deal with accommodations.

Another question, to those who may be able to help out:
For our itinerary, Iguazu Falls, El Calafate, and Buenos Aires, is there a specific guidebook that you would recommend?

I've taken a look at Amazon reviews and they seem all over the place. Can't really decide which one to buy.

The best comments Ive heard on guidebooks concentrate on Fodors and Lonely Planet. I guess that aside from the publisher, whats most important is that the edition you buy is basically updated, something thats older than -say- 2 years is probably not going to be that useful.