About how long does it take to get from EZE to central areas of BsAs? What are the good options besides taxis. I speak fluent Spanish, so the language barrier is not an issue.

I'm going to see U2 on March 1st can get a Varig flight to get me to EZE at 17:55, if on time. Fortunately (or unfortunately), I have a 5h layover in GRU, so misconnecting isn't really a major threat. The show starts at 22:00, so I've basically got 4 hours to get out of the airport to my friends' apartment and out to the show. Is this an unlikely time frame?

Also where is the Estadio River Plate? Is it far out of the city center?

Or if anyone has 3 or 4 tickets for the 2nd and wants to go on the first, so I can avoid all of this (mild) craziness.

I think you can take the public bus to downtown, but I've never done it myself. I think you have to walk a bit to get to the stop. You can take the charter type bus for 25 or 30 pesos.

Do the charter type buses get there about as quick as taxis? How long does take for taxis to get to town?

Thanks again.

"Tiendah-lee-on", as some call it :D , is nearly as quick as the taxis. It's a non-stop to the city center (c. Plaza San Martin) but then there is that time to the hotel. The only time a taxi saves more than 15-30 minutes to hotel/accomodations downtown is when you just missed the bus or if you happen to get to the bus office downtown and a taxi is not there. (Generally, taxis are plenty.)

If one person, the bus can make a great value. If two persons, a cab may be a good value. If three or more people, the taxi is the best value.

Here's the Manuel Tienda Leon web site... Sometimes the web site is down for days at a time... It was up when I posted this...
http://www.tiendaleon.com.ar/prehome.asp?flash=S

Thank you for posting the site.

The tickets can be bought either in the airport or just outside the airport near where the bus is loaded.

For return to the airport, the hotel concierge should be able to arrange for a return by the same too. (Note that some concierges may try to dissuade you, but this company's service has seemed perfectly reliable to all persons whom I have personally known to have taken it.)

In either going from the airport or returning to the airport: if one person, the bus can make a great value. If two persons, a cab may be a good value. If three or more people, the taxi is the best value. Of course that is presuming luggage will fit in one cab, which given the size of cabs and their trunks may be presuming too much -- at least with some travellers.

Largely because of this thread (and the fact that AR is one country us Americans can actually get a deal with our $ these days) I am now booked with my GF on a trip to BsE at the end of Feb.

Two starter questions (more later!):

1) We are booked at the Sheraton Libertador (mostly because I booked a room in Dec at old Cat. 1 point rates - 17,000 total for 6 nights :) ). How is the location of this hotel? It seems it is not as "nice" as the other Sheraton but perhaps a bit better located? I really have no idea what area it is in nor where we would want to be except that we will be very touristy :) By that I mean a lot of eating, shopping, exploring and excursions. I would consider changing hotels but hope this one will work just fine. Would appreciate advice there.

2) I don't know any Spanish and my GF only barely does. I plan to take a one day course before leaving but know that won't do a heck of a lot. It sounds like we'll get by OK. But it is also my first trip to SA at all and I've heard a lot about safety issues. Does the kidnapping of North Americans go on in the city of BsE? Are there any specifics you could give on areas to avoid, behaviors to avoid, etc? I have traveled quite a bit but my lack of knowledge of SA in general gives me some pause and I'd like to be prepared. We live in NYC so we don't lack general city smarts....

Thanks!

I am also originally from New York City and was in Buenos Aires for the first time last May.

Relax. More people probably speak Spanish in New York than in Buenos Aires.

Seriously, you should get along just fine. However, knowing basic Spanish would certainly be useful, especially when ordering food, directing a taxi driver, or asking for basic information or directions. Just remember that the Spanish spoken in Argentina is slightly different from the Spanish spoken in Central America. For example, amarillo is Spanish for yellow. It is pronounce amareeyo in many Central American countries, but pronounced amareejo in Argentina. Also, the word mantequilla is Spanish for butter, but in Argentina, I have found (please correct me if I am wrong, Gaucho100K) manteca is the word for butter.

As in New York, keep your guard up and your eyes open. Nothing happened to me. In fact, I found that the people of Argentina are usually friendly and quite helpful, for the most part.

Enjoy your trip, and eat some beef! You will be amazed at what your dollar will buy in Argentina!

You are going to love BA. Language is not going to be a big problem. That being said my wife is fluent in Spanish and I can order, etc. In all the Spanish speaking countries we have been in Argentina has been the easiest. As far as security BA was no problem for us. I felt more secure than in most US cities. Last year was our first trip and we are going back this year! We did experience a small rip off from one taxi. That is one out of 20 or 30, no big deal. Relax and enjoy your trip.

Thanks guys.... puts me at ease re: safety. Hey Canarsie, are you from Canarsie by any chance? ;-)

Any comments on the hotel location?

I stayed at Hilton, Marriott and InterContinental when I was there, so I am not qualified enough to offer a reply to information pertaining to the Sheraton.

Yes, I am from Canarsie. I lived there for many years.

Is Gaucho on vacation?

For answers and further information pertaining to the Sheraton Libertador, please refer to the following threads:

• Which Sheraton in EZE (Buenos Aires)
• Sheraton BsAs
• Sheraton Libertador (Buenos Aires)

For additional threads, please search the Starwood Preferred Guest forum for additional information.

I hope this helps, daveland!

Thanks, Canarsie. Appreciate the effort :) There's lots of good stuff in those threads. I do still hope, though, that someone can give some comparative advice about the location of the Libertador vs. other lower priced options as of course the threads in the *wood thread are completely biased towards the 3 *wood options being about the only ones in all of BA ;-)

Just back from BsAs in December '05 and with trepedation booked a modest hotel sight unseen at the intersection of Florida and Lavalle pedestrian streets, not too far away from your Sheraton Libertador. I loved being in this part of town, absolutely loved it.

The street you are on is a busy one, but also a wonderful one to stroll and by all means go out to the "Palacio de Agua Corrientes" (spelling?) - which I believe is on the corner of Cordoba and Riobamba - an extraordinary building and they have daily tours around 11am. You are also near a few subway stops so very cheaply you can make excursions all over the city using this fast and efficient alternative to cabs. I got a 10 ride ticket which saved standing in lines and it works just like any other major city subway.

I felt safe walking in this area, even walking home at night from Teatro Colon after the performance. You will be in the middle of everything and can go in any direction you want from that starting point to see most of what tourists like to see and do on their first (and hopefully not their last) visit to this lively, welcoming and always engaging city.

Take a look at the www.guiaoleo.com (spelling?) interactive restaurant guide as you can locate a lot of well-recommended restaurants right within a few blocks of where you will be staying.

You can manage without knowing Spanish, but do encourage you to get a travelers Spanish guide and keep up with that short course because every little bit helps. I found the English versions of the menus often indecipherable, but I also learned all I wanted was "chorizo and chimichurri" - that was enough Spanish for me in that setting. (!) Other than that vino is like wine, patate is like potato --- you can guess at a lot and not be far off.

FAKE CURRENCY SCAM WARNING (Skip the rest of this post if you are tired of hearing about this)

Since it is your first trip, please take into consideration tourist can become victims of the fake currency scams, where usually a cab driver returns bills you offer for the fare as fake and you can end up giving him more and more bills and he surreptitiously keeps changing them for fake ones he has ready and waiting taking your good bill and keeping it, while you get a hand full of his fake bills in exchange.

Stop at the very first instance if this happens to you - go to a police station to sort this out. Or have some one peso coins ready to pay with these instead, or carry a few US dollars as well and tell him take it or leave it. And be sure to check your own bills ahead of time to make sure you in fact are not giving out fake bills.

sbagal