flytoeat

Hello, kindly seeking some input. My 19 year old son and I will be in Buenos Aires for 7 days, 6 nights in early January. We'll be staying at the Park Hyatt and our first priority is to see Buenos Aires in depth. It seems as though we may have time for a side trip as well, possibly 2 days with an overnight. A couple of ideas have emerged, and I'd like some feedback:

Iguazu Falls (obvious attraction)
Tierra del Fuego (bucket list destination)
Mendoza (red wine lovers)

Thoughts? Thanks.

MSPeconomist

You could also take a day trip by hydrofoil to Colonia, Uraguay. It's a small town with interesting historical buildings and sites, views, an old fort, a modern art museum, good food and wine, etc. This could be very low key and relaxing unless you decide to book yourself on a very early boat.

Mendoza is primarily wine. Is your son old enough to enjoy/appreciate this (and do you allow him to drink even someplace where it's legal and/or he's with you?)?

For the Falls, a visa in advance is required for many passports, including USA, to visit the Brazil side. Does this make sense logistically?

IMO you can easily spend 6-7 days exploring BA and enjoying the PH.

flytoeat

Thank you for the response. Colonia would be interesting. I assume I could expedite a Brazilian visa. My son lived in France last year and enjoys a good glass of wine. What are the best transportation options for BsAs-Mendoza? I would think 2 days with one overnight would be a minimum for any of these side trips. Thanks.

tuchop

I'd go to Mendoza if you're okay with your son trying some amazing reds. Best option is probably LAN (or AR), since you only have 2 days. There's a nice PH over there, and lots of places to visit. If you won't be coming back to Argentina in quite some time, then do it. Otherwise, if you know you'll be back.. I'd suggest you stay in Buenos Aires and get to know it well. There's lots of things to do in here!

catmndu

I would second this recommendation about Mendoza. This past May I visited nine wineries in 3 days - with a designated driver (Miguel Sanz). It was the highlight of the trip and I had great time. The PH was very nice and quite comfortable. I used LAN for my flights between Mendoza and Buenos Aires.

Doc Savage

Mendoza is a perfectly nice place, but it is not spectacular.

Iguazu Falls is spectacular.

Spend two full days at the falls.

anna_cate

Try to check for Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires, and i hope you will love it.

Marambio

7 days in Buenos Aires seems good, but it does leave you time to do a side trip.

Early January can be (will be) very hot. If you want to escape the heatwave, a weekend getaway to Punta del Este, in Uruguay, could be nice. AR and BQB offer nonstop flights to PDP, although you might want to check fares to MVD (also AR and BQB), as it's usually cheaper to get to Montevideo and then take a bus or rent a car. I'd personally rent the car, MVD-PDP is a 1.5-hour drive through a nice highway and while there's almost no public transportation in PDP, the city is quite spread out. Otherwise the same hydrofoils that go to Colonia (Buquebus) offer connecting buses to PDP.

Iguazú will be even hotter and wet, plus you have the Brazilian visa issue if you're travelling on a US passport. Ushuaia would be nice and you'd get very long days, the sun sets almost at midnight in the summer. The same applies for El Calafate.

Mendoza is also a good possibility. The city itself is OK, the surroundings are very nice. You might want to consider staying at The Vines of Mendoza, which is a 5-star hotel located 2 hours outside the city in the middle of the Andes. I haven't been there personally, but friends who stayed really liked it.

Eastbay1K

Colonia is a day trip, best done by taking an early boat and coming back in the afternoon, and that is plenty of time, including a relaxing lunch.

Montevideo is a pleasant city.. That is an approx. 3 hour each way ferry (although I think a higher speed boat is serving the route) and makes for a pleasant overnight trip.

Mendoza - I recommend getting a driver and let your guide know what you are looking for, or you could end up on tourist hell tours. People here can guide you in the right direction for that.

Punta del Este can be very expensive and crowded in January and will be full of pretty people who need to be seen. It doesn't seem like anything that a tourist that isn't on a "beach vacation" would want to do.

I wouldn't recommend an overnight to the "deep south."

Doc Savage

A great way to get a feel for BsAs is to take these two walking tours (free, just tip the guides whatever you want), especially if you enjoy walking. Great young guides, I think your son would love it.

http://www.bafreetour.com/english-home
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio..._District.html

flytoeat

Thank you all, great feedback for consideration.

SpammersAreScum

Iguazu Falls is great, but as others have noted, allotting just 2 days -- including travel time -- is really rushing it. I suspect that would be even more true for Tierra del Fuego. Note that there are great Falls views from the Argentina side; no need for a Brazilian visa and given the time constraint I wouldn't recommend trying to do that side as well.

I made the side trip to Uruguay with a night each in Montevideo and Colonia; personally, I preferred Montevideo. One or both would be a good choice for you.

Marambio

I agree. Colonia is beautiful but it's a very small town, in a couple of hours you're done visiting. Montevideo is an actual city with nice areas and things to do (albeit in early January the whole Southern Cone comes to a halt), and it also has a nice beach. On the new fast ferry ("Francisco") it's a 2-hour journey from downtown Buenos Aires to downtown Montevideo. Buquebus offers Business and Economy Class. Having travelled in both, there's no big difference, so you might want to save some money and just book Economy. On a side note, Uruguay tends to be more expensive than Argentina.

I also agree with the fellow member who said in Mendoza you should hire a chauffeur. There are many tourist traps and a good chauffeur should know where to take you.

Another, easier option is to book a weekend in a estancia off Buenos Aires. They usually have hotel pick-ups and it's much closer than any of the destinations we've mentioned in this thread.

Leavinglondon

Sounds like the best option - and much better than Colonia.

As for the others options, have you check how long the flight is to Tierra del Fuego? Iguazu would really need 2 nights to give a full day there..... still worth going even if you don't go to the Brazilian side. Mendoza is pleasant but dull, a trip to a winery or two is fun but I don't know it's worth going all the way just for that. Salta, and Cafayate, is a more spectacular location - but again you need 2 nights to make it worthwhile

HIDDY

Eastbay1K is spot on January is when everyone goes on holiday here so prices will be up and transport very busy to the locations you have in mind. Personally I would stay put in Buenos Aires and go to Tigre for a day out of the city.


A week in the capital is about right...not too short to miss anything and not long enough to get totally bored.