How to get around
 

We wil be flying NY-GRU-IGU then IGR-AEP and finally EZE-NY

any idea what a taxi(we dont have Uber) should cost with 1 carry-on and 1 checked bag from AEP to The Park Hyatt and also from The Park Hyatt to EZE both in local currency and USD, Do taxis take credit cards? This way I will know if the driver is trying to rip us if he says no meter and quotes a fare

Also by anyone know the fare from IGU to The DoubleTree in Foz , from the DT to Melia Hotel in the park on the AR side and from Melia to IGR

would appreciate any info U can supply I havent found anything on the forums

Get the Cabify app. We used it everywhere in EZE and MDZ. It talks to you in English (or your native app language), bills in ARS(IIRC) and tells you the cost in advance and you can save frequent addresses. Set it up here in the States first.

I agree with Cabify when I set mine up in the United States. When I arrived at EZE the first time I had to put in some type of information to verify. I tried my passport, that did not work then I put in my US visa credit card, and per suggestions on this board I set the payments to cash.

Worked very well, inexpensive and efficient. Only had one time I wasn’t really pleased with the driver. I started using the second gradient Of service I forgot what that’s called but it was one level up from basic and it was only a few pesos more each ride and I found the quality of drivers and cars were much better that way.

When are you travelling?

1- we are traveling the end of Aug for a week

2- both of our phone plans do Not work outside the US, nor can any other local company be utilized unless we get a local SIM and for < 1 week its not something we will do

3- thats why I asked about Taxis and said no Uber , should have mentioned or any other company that a phone will be needed to makl the res/ride. It will Taxis all the time unless say theres other public transport that will work

There should be reliable wifi at the airports to get a ride. (That said, what is the AEP situation? I've not arrived there in a few years, and just finding the arranged ride (not an app) was a quilombo).

Taxis, for the most part, are reliable and inexpensive. Best to hail the ones from Premium or another "radio" service - the cars are typically better and you're less likely to get the rare rogue taxi. I don't ever recall seeing a taxi that takes CCs, but I'm only there every few months, so maybe I've missed something ;)

You need to obtain a SUBE card for public transit (Subte and Bus) and finding them can be challenging, although some SUBTE stations can occasionally have them.

Lots of wifi in lots of places, so you should probably install Cabify, as well as What's App, which is the most common communication means (both texts and calling). Traveling without reliable mobile service these days is asking for trouble. I know that is more information or advice than you want or asked for, but if you're out and about and need help, you may find yourself helpless. I would certainly ask my home mobile provider what the daily charge (or however it charges) for out of country use, and make sure it will work, because in an emergency, it really doesn't matter if it is $5 or $20 or $100 to get you out of a situation.

We do appreciate this but both of our phones are US based only (wont work outside the US) and for 4 days we will do OK w/o being able to use them, no different then any other Country we have been to

I truly don't recall the prices, but have made your exact trips several times, most recently last year.

When you arrive at AEP, there's a taxi line and depending on the flow, there could be quite a line of people or you could just walk up to the front. However, it's relatively organized and I've never found it to be an issue. At one point they had a system where you could scan a QR code that then allowed you to enter your destination and a pre-determined fare would be printed on a receipt that you then handed/showed to the driver so they couldn't charge more. However, I truly can't recall that I did that last year. It's not far to the Park Hyatt and shouldn't be too much. You'll need cash - even though the taxi may say it accepts credit cards, I've never actually tried that in Argentina. It seems this will your last leg in Argentina, so hopefully you'll already have some ARS. In all my trips through AEP, I've only once tried to use an Uber and it was a bit of a pain to find the pick up area and coordinate, so I've always been perfectly happy to just use a taxi. They're usually the typical black and yellow radio taxis and it's a fairly straightforward trip to the Hyatt, so they're not going to veer much out of the way to try and charge you more. It's not expensive and I've just not found this trip worth the effort of a booked car. The only taxis that I think are sketchy (just being judgy on my part) are the guys who try to pick up at the median/island where they're not supposed to stop because they don't want to get into the taxi line if it's busy/crowded.

When you head to the Hyatt, make sure you know if you've booked a room on Palace side or Park side as it's a bit of a pain to walk through the underground tunnel if you've arrived on the wrong side. Alvear for the Palace, Posadas for the Park, just give your driver the correct street.

As for Iguazu, it's been a few years since I made the Brazil-Argentina crossing, but I don't recall it being too expensive ($50USD or less?) although it's a bit of a drive and the driver has to stop and help you with the border crossing formalities. If you're coming from the hotel, I'm sure they can call you a taxi and assist with ensuring the pricing is reasonable. The Melia to IGR is actually closer than if you were heading from Puerto Iguazu so not far. However, i think I've always just asked the hotel to call a taxi for me.

When heading from the Hyatt to EZE, you can have the doorman hail a taxi for you or you can pre-book with Tienda Leon or Taxi Ezeiza, it all comes out around the same (about $40USD - at least that's always the figure I have in my head). I'm not sure why, but I generally just take a taxi to EZE but use a service from EZE into town. I can't recall why I do this, but it's been a habit/routine that's just developed over the past 15 years and it's worked for me. If you prefer a prebooked car, it's pretty simple to reserve online.

Overall, I've not found taxi drivers to be the scam artists they are made out to be on the forums and certainly not like in other cities. Years ago, they used to warn about $100ARS bill switcheroo but that seems a worthless endeavor now with the money being worth very little. I've only once had a driver that drove a bit out of the way to drive up the fare, but even that was a small amount. I've also had very nice drivers and one time, had a driver who was hopefully lost and he felt so bad he turned off his meter and said he wouldn't charge me.

OskiBear THANK YOU this was exactly what we hoping to find out.

Seems our only problem will be getting ARS, since it seems our only chance will be when we get to AEP and there from an ATM till we get into the city where we will find the changers for the Blue Rate, hopefully the taxi will take USD if not a CC

thx again it will make things alot easier for us knowing what to expect

Based on your itinerary, it seems that you should be able to get funds while at Iguazu. You can get money from an ATM at the Melia, ask the front desk to make change, or perhaps you can ask your taxi driver to stop at a cambio in Puerto Iguazu once you've crossed the border into Argentina. In a worst case scenario, there are ATMs at AEP and there should still be Banco de la Nacion window at AEP where they will exchange funds for you. Just get a small amount for the cab fare in either event until you're able to get to a proper cambio to exchange at the blue rate.

Once you're at the Hyatt, you can ask the front desk if they have a recommendation for where to find a good cambio. When I've stayed at the Hyatt, I've usually gone down the street (Posadas) to a place called Cambio Posadas - it's a couple of blocks over and they're very nice and professional. It's a small place but you go in, take a number and when they call your number, they actually usher you into another room to do the exchange. It's very clean and safe and in a nice neighborhood. Here's where you can find it on the map: https://www.google.com/maps/@-34.587...8192?entry=ttu

great thx! we are already upgraded into a suite in The Palace wing, my DH prefers the so called classic over a modern feel.An ATM will work in as much as our bank doesnt charge any fees and refunds any that is charged by the other side.

as for Cambio you listed, it sounds like what we experienced in Chaing Mai, Thailand do appreciate everything as neither of us speaks Spanish or Portugese having this to reference takes alot off our backs

btw this is why we wanted to get a ballpark idea what it would cost for a cab AEP-PH & Melia-IGR so we could get enough ARS without over doing it before getting the blue rate, or if we could use a CC which is better then an ATM, unless someone posts they got the same rate using their bank debit card as a CC

we had our share of drivers trying to rip us in other Latin/ South American Countries on the fare, they usually carryon and say they will call the police to scare us, instead we say great thats exactly what we want , please call them, which they never do. But who needs the bother if it can be avoided

Melia at Iguazu
 

We stayed at the Melia @Iguazu. Airport to/fro Melia was pretty cheap. We got the taxi @ the airport ( plentiful) to the Melia, and had the Melia get us one back to the airport. We used AR Pesos exclusively. Even paying @ the Melia in Pesos!!! 350,000 pesos. They use a bill counting machine it's so many.

I think the cost was equal to $12.00 USD. I will ask DH and edit this post if he has different info. We LOVED this hotel.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1a76189b8.jpeg
Make sure you have a beverage or 2 from the rooftop!

Thx, that puts everything into place now for the trip, as we can pretty much now know what we need to bring in USD and what to expect fare wise

As others mentioned, there are a lot of options here. I've been using Uber, Cabify and Didi a lot. There seems to be a lot more Didi drivers than before. I'm amazed that the # of actual taxis has way way gone down as all the drivers have shifted to these other apps.

If you land at EZE, there's a machine in the entrance area between the McDonald's and the kiosco that might be able to sell you a SUBE card (I know it does top-ups). The kiosco itself might also sell them. You can also buy them from ticket booths or machines at the Subte stations downtown. If for whatever reason they're sold out, they should at least be able to tell you where to find one.