<p>Hello ITN readers,</p>
<p>Could those of you who have been to Buenos Aires offer some insight into this question ?<br />
My husband is accumulating dollars for our upcoming trip to Buenos Aires.</p>
<p>He plans to use them for taxis. Thus , he thinks, avoiding the problem of receiving fake pesos from taxi drivers.</p>
<p>Did anyone use dollars in Buenos Aires ?</p>
<p>Thank you !
</p>
Using American Dollars in Buenos Aires
Message Submitted by katrina on Sun, 11/28/2010 - 11:16
Argentina has had a long history of inflation and of currency devaluation. Before they went to the Peso in the early 1990's, their currency had dropped 9 zeros.
I was in Argentiina about five years ago and the US dollar was readily accepted, except for hotel bills and some restaurants. Right now it is trading 3.97 Argentine Pesos to 1 USD. So if you use dollars, you should get 4 pesos to 1 USD. Be sure to check the rate just before you leave the US. If you are due change, you will probably receive it in pesos.
If you take US dollars with you, make sure they are gently used and clean -- no marks, tears,etc., and have newer dates on them. Many countries are suspicious of $100 bills and as this is one of the most counterfeited bills in the world - the other being the 100 Euro. It is best to have gently-used bills, rather than new ones. I'd take the $50. rather than use $100's; and a bunch of lower denomination notes, including a good assortment of $1's, $5's and $10's.
Please report back to the message board how it went -- many of us would be interested.
Thank you for this answer. It's very helpful.
Our trip is in January, and I will definitely report back to the message board.
We really appreciate your informative reply !
Just a suggestion..... even though you want to use American dollars, you should change a bit (maybe about $25 for each day) into Argentinian pesos. Ask for small denominations - maybe nothing bigger than a 20 peso note (worth $5) or a 50 peso note (worth $12.50). You can also use ATM's, but they dispense larger notes. A god mix of currency, plus a credit card or two and you will be able to pay for everything.
You might want to consider contacting Pablo Menendez for taxi services while in Buenos Aires. He is very reasonably priced and can be contacted at pablo336menendez@hotmail.com. We got his name from an issue of ITN and contacted him. He met us at the international airport (at 11:00 PM!) when we flew in from Santiago and took us to the domestic airport the following morning. We did not use taxis for most of our time in Buenos Aires since our hotel was very close to a subway stop. We did use Pablo again on our last day to take us to some places that would have been impractical (or even slightly dangerous) to visit on our own and then had him drop us off that night at the international airport for our flight home. We agreed on prices in US$ in advance and those were the only US$ that we used in Argentina. Otherwise we used pesos or charged our expenses on a credit card with no foreign transaction fee. We highly recommend him.
I was in Buenos Aires in November and use US dollars for some small purchases on the street, and for tips. No Problem