Costs

27 May  2019

Its been a long held desire to visit the vast country of Argentina. Finally both myself and my husband David! 

Planning started in October 2018, idea being to travel around Argentina in November 2019, a total of 32 days.  Spring time, a desirable time to visit. Bought and studied The Lonely Planet guide to Argentina, which has proved to be very informative. Trip Advisor has also been great especially regarding reviews.

Booked and paid for a great deal on British Airways using airmiles from the Amex companion deal to and from Rio de Janiero, business class (hoping they will have upgraded their rather poor biz class by then, at least flat beds). Fancied a few nights in Rio on the way there and back! Plus it was an available airmiles deal that suited our dates.

Initally we contacted a travel agency that had been recommended to us called Audley Travel to see what they might offer us. Discussed the areas we wished to visit, hotels to be boutique style and at least 4 star, to include a few guided tours, book car hire where required and transfers when needed, plus the internal flights to the various destinations. Audley came back with a suggested route and hotels. The total cost (not including the major long haul flight) was double to that which we costed it out to be, so beware! If you havent the time to organise a trip like this, then a good travel agent will be the way to go.

The flights took an hour or so to book and was very straight forward with Aerolineas Argentinas. The hotels were booked over several days, direct where we could, otherwise through Expedia. 4 Star hotels are relatively inexpensive starting at around one hundred pounds a night. Note foriegners are not subject to the 20% hotel sales tax. Transfers are easily booked through the hotel or online through the many limo companies available. Most airports have reliable and inexpensive taxi services and even Uber in most destinations. Tours can also be booked online and thoroughly reviewed. Car hire was also super easy online, our preference being Avis in Argentina.

Understandably if you are working and earning a lot of money and have little time, by all means use a travel agent such as Audely but also expect a mark up of 100% of what it would cost you to organise. With a little focus an itinery similar to ours would take no more that a few evenings or a weekend to fix.

If anyone who is looking to do something similar wants a full break down of costs, let me know through the contact page.