My wife and I traveled to Buenos Aires in February of 2023.
We had a 10.5 hour flight that was a direct service to Buenos Aires. As with many South American-bound flights, ours was an overnight flight. It was one of the longest flights I have ever been on, yet the destination time was only 2 hours ahead of our time. In a way, this was great. It truly felt like an overnight flight because when we arrived, it was roughly the same time in the morning as it would have been at home. The experience with European flights is quite different since their time is so far ahead of U.S. east coast time.
When we left home in North Carolina it was quite chilly but knew that when traveling beyond the equator, the season would change. Arriving in Buenos Aires was a little shocking. I knew it would be summertime there, yet didn’t realize how much of a difference it would be. It was a little weird jumping into an Uber and the full-blast air conditioning actually feeling good…but it did.
The drive from the airport felt comfortable and honestly…quite normal. My first impressions of Buenos Aires were that it was simply “another big city”. Nothing crazy good, nothing crazy bad. After a long night on a flight, I wasn’t looking for excitement anyway. The city seemed a little crowded, yet clean and efficient. The roads were well maintained, people seemed happy, and like every big city, traffic was terrible.
We exited our Uber at our apartment/condo Airbnb. I was very surprised at just how nice the room was. It wasn’t very large, but the fits and finishes of the interior were amazing. It was very modern and felt welcoming. Neither the Uber driver nor the apartment front desk staff spoke any English, yet were super polite and helpful when I spoke to them in Spanish.
After checking into our room and unpacking our suitcases, we took a quick nap. After some rest, we hit the streets to start exploring. I immediately noticed that many locals were very light-skinned. I think some Americans have a preconceived notion that all latinos are tan/olive skin. This wasn’t the case. When passing someone on the sidewalk, they could have easily been mistaken for an American. People were fair-skinned, well kept, dressed casual, and had similar characteristics of Americans.
We were visiting during their summer season, so many food trucks and the like were open for the sale of ice cream, cold drinks, etc. We visited a weekend flea market (sort of) where merchants were setup with their booths, selling handmade goods. A difference I noted though is that many of the goods were nice and legitimately handmade. I felt like markets in America have turned into nothing but tumblers, t shirts, and welcome signs. The vendors at this Argentinian market were selling items that were unique. I loved it. We purchased a handmade ring, where the ring was made of a coin. We also purchased some handmade knives and a tongue drum, again handmade. We met lots of people at the market, both sellers and people shopping. Every single person we talked to was super polite and legitimately seemed happy. Not many of them spoke English, but with a translator app or Spanish speaker, you’ll be fine.
Price of goods in Argentina, specifically Buenos Aires, are what I would consider, “comparable”. Nothing felt super cheap compared to being at home. However, it didn’t really feel overpriced either. Food was affordable, Ubers were “normally” priced, and leaving a 15-20% tip was acceptable. We did meet an occasional American, yet they all seemed to be there for business, not recreation.
I absolutely loved Buenos Aires and would certainly go back. The people were just so polite and happy, and didn’t mind struggling through the language barrier to speak to us. The city felt super safe, clean, and had plenty of options for shopping, food, and anything else we needed.